..Target customers hacked.:


http://lifehacker.com/target-hacked-credit-cards-and-private-data-for-40-mil-1486402421



Seems to me, the more complicated electrical systems become; the easier it is to hack millions.

 

Seems to me, the more complicated electrical systems become; the easier it is to hack millions.

I think, the more millions it is worth, the more time people are willing to spend to hack into it.

 

Assuming this was the work of the usual suspects, it likely had more to do with irony, sending a message, and proving that megamachines aren't invincible, than money. They attacked a TARGET (Target) on black Friday, an event that they probably despise for it's consumerist nature. Tese think they're guy fawkes.

 

It's all about the money. I get five calls a week from the fakers who claim to work for Microsoft who say my computer is sending out error messages and only they can clean the infection.... for $200.

As the Obamacare website proved... and those of us who work with computers know..... all software is buggy, it can never be fully tested or protected, and it's just a question of when somebody hacks in. Even the DOD knows this which is why they hire the best hackers to work for them.

 

Bountyhunter - Totally agree. Recently unemployed with too much time on my hands, I spent close to an hour harassing one of these guys, leading him on and on... It was a lot of fun.

 

Bountyhunter - Totally agree. Recently unemployed with too much time on my hands, I spent close to an hour harassing one of these guys, leading him on and on... It was a lot of fun.

Me too, just be careful to NEVER log on to the external site they try to get you to go to: it allows them to take control of your computer. here's what happened when somebody let them and they trashed his computer.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-04/11/malwarebytes

 

Every time I get the call from Microsoft technical center informing me my computer is sending out error messages I wait for them to ask me am I at my computer. I answer no, let me turn it on."

Then I set my phone down and go about my other business.

 

Whenever I get the now familiar "I am from Microsoft support" phone call I normally just put the receiver back down, but occasionally, just for fun, I respond....

"I have just received an email form Microsoft, telling me they NEVER use the telephone to call offering support, and anyone who does is either an idiot or a liar... which are you?"...

Phone usually goes dead immediately... sometimes there's an expletive beforehand!..

 

I've never gotten one of these Microsoft calls -- but the first could come any day. When I have the time (a rare event these days) I love leading them on. When I was in college I would get up to twenty calls a day from telemarketers (this was before the Colorado No Call went into effect and well before the National No Call). For a while my game was to see how long I could lead them on before they terminated the call. My record is 43 minutes.

The latest one I got was from some outfit, claiming that they weren't making a marketing call, that wanted to give me a free sample of ink cartridges in order to earn my business. Yep, no marketing here! I told them I wasn't interested, so he just flipped to that page of his script and said something like, "Surely you want to save money on your ink and toner supplies?" and I said, "Nope." That seemed to throw him off his stride a bit, since he obviously didn't have a page marked for that response. But apparently he finally decided to just proceed as if I had said, "Sure." This guy was determined. I finally said, "I've said 'Not interested' three times. Obviously any sentence involving four syllable words is grammatically too complicated. So let me simplify it a bit: NO!" And, to my surprise, he just kept reading on! So I said, "Tell you what, I will consider taking you up on your offer if you can convincingly explain to me which syllable in the word 'NO' you are incapable of comprehending." Hell, as a telemarketer I might even be willing to take a shot at that one, but he just hung up. My guess is that there wasn't a script page that even remotely dealt with that situation and so he was completely lost.

 

The only similar call I received was a person demanding that I pay for a Microsoft business use license for my computer(s). That was somewhere around 1999. Problem was, all I had for a computer was a used W95 that I hadn't finished repairing. I suspect he was going through a list of licensed contractors because that's the only thing in public that would connect my name to a probability of running a business.

I told him that I, like Microsoft, never sell my name, address, or phone number, so he should be paying me for a license to use my phone number. He didn't seem at all embarrassed at being caught trying to scam me. I suppose he was making enough money scamming less sophisticated contractors that missing this one didn't bother him.

 

Every time I get the call from Microsoft technical center informing me my computer is sending out error messages I wait for them to ask me am I at my computer. I answer no, let me turn it on."

Then I set my phone down and go about my other business.

I just went through that.

The guy said my computer had been sending error messages.... so he tells me to turn on my computer. So I asked him:

"Wait a minute..... it's already on. I thought you said you were monitoring my computer. Why didn't you know it was already on?"

It's fun to waste their time.

You should have heard the guy's voice when I told him I was retired as a programmer from Microsoft (I'm not really).

My favorite was when the guy kept trying to tell me how to log on and what keys to hit..... and I convinced him that my keyboard didn't have those keys. I told him it was a special keyboard for handicapped users and it didn't have the same keys as a regular keyboard.

 

Whenever I get the now familiar "I am from Microsoft support" phone call I normally just put the receiver back down, but occasionally, just for fun, I respond....

"I have just received an email form Microsoft, telling me they NEVER use the telephone to call offering support, and anyone who does is either an idiot or a liar... which are you?"...

Phone usually goes dead immediately... sometimes there's an expletive beforehand!..

I have the web site bookmarked that has the warnings about the scam. Sometimes I bring it up and start reading it to the guy and see how long he will stay on the line.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-04/11/malwarebytes

 

I've gotten several of those calls. I tell them I know this is a scam and hang up. Imagine how fun getting several hundred of those responses might be after a while.

 

Don't know if it's still the same, but at one time (about 5yrs ago) the callers got paid ONLY if they could keep you talking for a certain amount of time. Got paid more for completing a sale, but nothing if you didn't stay connected for "x" number of minutes.

 

Dare I suggest what should be done with malicious hackers when caught ?

How about a 10 Ga. shotshell, loaded with Sodium Hydroxide pellets... with just enough range for a good pattern spread...

 

Naw, just banned from using the internet for life. Think about it, that would be a real punishment.

 

Banned ? Sounds like a good deal... I can't seem to get ahold of how that would be enforced...

 

It is done in federal prison. It's a start at least.

 

On the news today.......the number is up to 110 Million customers.