In this video, I break down why hackers, scammers, and data brokers often want your phone number even more than your password. Your number is static for years (sometimes decades), which makes it a perfect “digital thread” for tracking you across apps, accounts, and real-world activity. I show you a quick gut-check: Google your phone number in quotes and see what pops up—because for a lot of people, that search reveals just how widely their number is being indexed, packaged, and sold as part of an advertising ID/consumer graph. I also explain how this goes beyond annoying ads. Data brokers and “risk” platforms can use your phone number to infer where you live, who you’re related to, and even influence decisions like tenant screening, insurance pricing, and hiring—sometimes with crude judgments based on things like your area code. Then I walk through practical steps I use: set up a secondary “burner” number (like Google Voice) for low-consequence signups, audit and opt out of data broker listings, disable “Find me by my phone number” on social platforms, and stop using SMS as a 2FA/recovery method when you can (use an authenticator app or, better, a hardware key). If you want to do this systematically, I point you to my Data Deletion Blueprint for a more complete removal and monitoring process.