[security.pimp]

To anyone that has had to deal with this issue, I feel you.  I can recall less than 2 years ago how an SSH brute force attempt, our preventive/corrective actions, and their response (a weak DoS attempt) triggered a change in our internal process regarding SSH access to the outside world.

There was a fairly detailed write up on Security Focus earlier this week that describes someone else attacking the same issue we faced.  While there are various ways to address the situation one thing is clear.  We are never alone in this fight and as long as we can freely share our experiences and knowledge we can only grow in our understanding and ability to fight off these types of attacks (or conduct them depending on where you stand).

So over the past 4-5 months I have been getting very strange calls. I have gotten these calls on all of my mobile or landlines.

They usually all start the same way.
“This is an Automated message informing you that your auto warranty is about to expire. Please stay on the line to renew”

The first few times I disregarded this message as maybe some type of mixup. I mean all of the vehicles I own are older than 20yrs so I would not expect any type of Auto Warranty at this point. But the calls continued. Finally after about the 4-5th call I realized this was a scam. Not only are they contacting me on my personal numbers but they are reaching me on my business mobile, of which only select people have the number?
It does seem I am not alone in getting hit with this scam. But unlike other people have mentioned I am getting these calls from legit numbers which appear to be within the USA (Denver, Los Angeles, Georgia). I am not sure if the Boilerrooms these calls are coming from are US based or just being routed thru some VoIP server from another country.

Another interesting occurrence recently was a call my Wife received. It was someone claiming to be from one of our credit card companies. Being my wife and living thru the security lectures that are my passion she asked for a company name, address, and call back number before providing any more info. The caller quickly hung up.

With the current state of the World economy and the ease of use of VoIP tools. I think the rise in phone based phishing scams is just the tip of the iceberg.

If you feel you are being harassed by these scammers there are a few things to look for and even some things you can do to report this and even fight back.

Personally I want them to call back and this time I want to talk to a live personl..
I have my airhorn sitting on my desk ready to rips some eardrums!
Will that stop the calls? Probably not but at least when their ears are ringing they will remember me 😉