Topic: The Threats Abound

[arakish]

Here is something EYE-OPENING.

Just went looking over the logs on my Linux-SGI workstation machine which I proxy through and found this.

4,386,809
5,127,164
3,518,726
4,325,981
4,671,258
4,682,145

Since I use (from what I am told) an Enterprise version of Symantec's protection software (I just let the IT guys install and update it over the Internet), the above is a listing of "Identity Threat Assessments Protected" on a per month basis.  My log file only keeps the last six months per my orders.  (I just did look at this logfile when one of the IT guys told me about it.)

However, is it not astonishing, flabbergasting, stupifying? on how many ID threats there are to little old me?  Per month?  Where in 7734 did I warrant that much attention from hackers?

Damnit!  I don't make enough money to warrant this.  In my Southern Dialect, "And me credit ain't that damned good!"  Not when working for the State of New Mexico.  One of the poorest, if not poorest, states in our great nation.

Then again, with almost 7e9 people on the planet, the above only represents about 0.06% (0.0006 decimal) of the population of the entire world.

Just thought y'all liked to know.

rmfr

[Cory Magel]

I just had an interesting conversation with someone who claimed to be trying to help me with my computer the other day.

Supposedly he was with a support group that was calling to help my mother correct a problem with her computer.  I was there and she thought it sounded odd so she asked me to talk to them.  He claimed there was a problem with her windows program on her computer and that they were calling us to fix it.  I asked if he worked for Mircosoft and he said no.  I asked why he was calling to fix a Windows problem then and he said they had received information from her computer that there was a problem with Windows.  I asked how they would received this kind of information if they didn't work for Microsoft.  He said he worked for the company that manufactured her computer (I didn't bother asking who that supposedly was at that point).  So I said "So, you work for the company that built my mothers computer and you claim to be calling her to help her fix a problem with Windows that you supposedly received information remotely from?"  He, of course, said yes and if I'd just hit a certain combination of buttons, etc, etc, etc.

Obviously this was a scam.  He didn't know who built her computer, they weren't affiliated with Microsoft, he was calling a phone number that is unlisted and on the Do Not Call registry and I told him I wasn't about to do anything to my computer at the request of someone that called me in general let alone someone as fishy as him.  They had to have been calling randomly with their story... I mean, really, how long before you get someone with a Windows based computer that has a slow connection?  You gotta love their audacity tho.

[yammahoper]

Here is something EYE-OPENING.

Just went looking over the logs on my Linux-SGI workstation machine which I proxy through and found this.

4,386,809
5,127,164
3,518,726
4,325,981
4,671,258
4,682,145

Since I use (from what I am told) an Enterprise version of Symantec's protection software (I just let the IT guys install and update it over the Internet), the above is a listing of "Identity Threat Assessments Protected" on a per month basis.  My log file only keeps the last six months per my orders.  (I just did look at this logfile when one of the IT guys told me about it.)

However, is it not astonishing, flabbergasting, stupifying? on how many ID threats there are to little old me?  Per month?  Where in 7734 did I warrant that much attention from hackers?

Damnit!  I don't make enough money to warrant this.  In my Southern Dialect, "And me credit ain't that damned good!"  Not when working for the State of New Mexico.  One of the poorest, if not poorest, states in our great nation.

Then again, with almost 7e9 people on the planet, the above only represents about 0.06% (0.0006 decimal) of the population of the entire world.

Just thought y'all liked to know.

rmfr

Funny.

Arakish, you are a wondereful geek!.  I like you.

Google Deadmilkmen, song Steward, to hear an official I LIKE YOU.

[markc]

I just had an interesting conversation with someone who claimed to be trying to help me with my computer the other day.

Supposedly he was with a support group that was calling to help my mother correct a problem with her computer.  I was there and she thought it sounded odd so she asked me to talk to them.  He claimed there was a problem with her windows program on her computer and that they were calling us to fix it.  I asked if he worked for Mircosoft and he said no.  I asked why he was calling to fix a Windows problem then and he said they had received information from her computer that there was a problem with Windows.  I asked how they would received this kind of information if they didn't work for Microsoft.  He said he worked for the company that manufactured her computer (I didn't bother asking who that supposedly was at that point).  So I said "So, you work for the company that built my mothers computer and you claim to be calling her to help her fix a problem with Windows that you supposedly received information remotely from?"  He, of course, said yes and if I'd just hit a certain combination of buttons, etc, etc, etc.

Obviously this was a scam.  He didn't know who built her computer, they weren't affiliated with Microsoft, he was calling a phone number that is unlisted and on the Do Not Call registry and I told him I wasn't about to do anything to my computer at the request of someone that called me in general let alone someone as fishy as him.  They had to have been calling randomly with their story... I mean, really, how long before you get someone with a Windows based computer that has a slow connection?  You gotta love their audacity tho.

 This was a big problem in OR and WA a few weeks ago and they did a story on the news and in the paper.
MDC

[markc]

Here is something EYE-OPENING.

Just went looking over the logs on my Linux-SGI workstation machine which I proxy through and found this.

4,386,809
5,127,164
3,518,726
4,325,981
4,671,258
4,682,145

Since I use (from what I am told) an Enterprise version of Symantec's protection software (I just let the IT guys install and update it over the Internet), the above is a listing of "Identity Threat Assessments Protected" on a per month basis.  My log file only keeps the last six months per my orders.  (I just did look at this logfile when one of the IT guys told me about it.)

However, is it not astonishing, flabbergasting, stupifying? on how many ID threats there are to little old me?  Per month?  Where in 7734 did I warrant that much attention from hackers?

Damnit!  I don't make enough money to warrant this.  In my Southern Dialect, "And me credit ain't that damned good!"  Not when working for the State of New Mexico.  One of the poorest, if not poorest, states in our great nation.

Then again, with almost 7e9 people on the planet, the above only represents about 0.06% (0.0006 decimal) of the population of the entire world.

Just thought y'all liked to know.

rmfr

 IMHO you provided a key phrase ....... working for the state of New Mexico as well as they type of computer you work with.  Hackers are trying to get into any computer but especially more powerful comps and government comps.
Even then it is eye opening all the crazy stuff that have to be protected against.
MDC

[Usdrothek]

I've had the same sort of brazen over-the-phone-scammers call me here in Australia, looking to con me to (unknowingly) give over access to my computer.

After I said "How big an idiot to you think I am", they hung up. A real company would have at least tried to deny it.

[Witchking20k]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Dead Milkmen.  Where have the years gone?  I miss those lazy summers.....

[arakish]

Actually, I have further investigated the log files and asked the techies.  Since my Linux/SGI workstation is hooked into the state's network, the software they use sees everything as an Indentity Threat: upgrades, syncs, logins, etc.  My Linux/SGI workstation is so synced with the state's network that is actually just another node.  Thus, everything that is going on at the state's network is also logged by my computer.  Also, since the state's network is also tied to US federal network...

Thus, my computer is not being hit that many times.  It is just logging everything that is going on out there.

The techies said not to worry about it.

rmfr

[friendlyfungus]

Here in Canada I also got the phone call about fixing my computer. On the off chance it was legitimate I just repeatedly politely told him I wasn't interested...and then I hung up because he just wouldn't quit. Jerks.

[Steel Rabbit]

I don't answer my phone at all unless I know the number. I figure if they really need to talk to me, they'll leave a message. I haven't been scammed via the phone since I implemented this policy.

[RandalThor]

I don't answer my phone at all unless I know the number. I figure if they really need to talk to me, they'll leave a message. I haven't been scammed via the phone since I implemented this policy.

I have the same policy - though it was more because I was ducking creditors, in the past, and now to deal with the phone scam people.

Also, remember, many of those "threats" are automated and go after huge groups of computers on a network - i.e. the internet.  So, they may not be attacking you personally.

[Ynglaur]

I should setup a honeypot website full of nastyware so that when those scammers call, I can politely request they connect to my computer by going to such-and-such a site, and just logging in by...

[markc]

 If you get called a lot you might want to ask the FBI if you can set up a sting computer. So that the called gets stung instead of you.
MDC