I remember growing up and the old rotary phone ringing during dinner time and we’d frustratingly find out that it was telemarketers. This was before caller ID or the ability to just silence the ringers. We as kids were advised to try and determine if it was someone our parents actually knew, and then if not, to lie and say they weren’t home. Wait, then the kidnappers would think we were home alone. We had to tell a better lie... For years telemarketers thought my parents took really long nightly showers.
The days of telemarketing have changed with the ability to make robo-calls, but another big change is that rather than it being a straight telemarketing sales call, the calls have turned more into scams. The most popular type of scam is actually a call telling you that you’ve been a victim of a totally different scam on your computer. The caller misrepsents themselves as someone from Microsoft or Apple and they are there to actually help you detect the virus and get rid of it. One scam predicated on the fear of another scam.
I seem to get my fair share of these calls and when in the right mood I playfully mess with these callers and try to turn the tables on them. I love telling them that their computer is slower than mine. So I was very amused when one of my favorite podcasts received this type of call that turned out to be a scam. Only instead of just hanging up the phone, one of the hosts of Reply All put his journalism to good use and created an entire show out of the ordeal. It even ends up with him traveling to India and meeting the person who called him telling him his Ipad had been compromised. Listen to the podcast here
If you know me, you know I am fan of brews and bites. Heck, if you look at me you can probably make a fair assessment that I am a fan of brews and bites. Cyber Advisors has an event coming up called ‘Brews and Bytes’, our 2017 Cyber Security Fall Forum, at Utepils Brewing. We will spend the afternoon exploring cyber security solutions, while enjoying European style beers from Utepils Brewing and food from Panini Pinups food truck. The agenda will include live demonstrations of wireless attacks, security awareness training, and email encryption solutions. To sign up, please click here.