Beware calls from phony "Microsoft" tech support

[MNeagle]

Brenda Scott of Minneapolis got a call earlier this month from “Kevin from Microsoft.” He said a virus had taken over her computer, but Microsoft could rescue her if she logged on and ran a program.

Scott didn’t believe him. When she did some research, Scott learned that cold-call scammers posing as Microsoft employees have installed viruses on computers, stolen personal data or persuaded computer users to buy anti-virus software that they don’t need.

“If you receive an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft Tech Support, hang up,” Microsoft says on its website. “We do not make these kinds of calls.”

Last year, the Guardian newspaper in the U.K. reported that it traced the “Microsoft” scam to call centers in India.

http://www.startribune.com/local/blogs/116598183.html

[k-os]

Even Nigerian scammers outsourced their jobs to India!

[TheNocturnalEgyptian]

Everybody should be aware of social engineering. Of all hacks in existance, social engineering is by far the most successful. They're not hacking your computer - they're hacking YOU.

In the 1990's it was pretty common for a hacker to dress up in a complete repair uniform, plagiarize a company badge, walk in the front door of a company, walk past security, walk right up to somebody's desk, and say, "Hi, I'm kevin from tech support. We were fixing your email and we messed up. We need your password or you're going to lose all of it."



Statistically, this is the hack that works the largest percentage of the time. People assume that nobody would be crazy enough to dress up like a computer repairman and sneak past security, so by virtue of being inside the building, you must be legit.