India Archives - The Silicon Underground

Microsoft sues the tech support scammers

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 11:00:59 +0000

I’m all torn up this morning. I’m torn up because Microsoft has sued a couple of tech support scam outfits for misrepresenting themselves and violating Microsoft trademarks. I’m torn up because it’s taken this long. I’m also torn up because

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That time I told a tech support scammer my name was Naim

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 11:00:38 +0000

The other night my phone rang. The caller ID said some state I don’t ever get calls from, so I knew what was going to happen when I picked up the phone. I didn’t have much time, but I answered anyway.

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A security professional fights back against tech support scammers

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 14:09:59 +0000

I guess Matt Weeks is as sick as I am of tech support scammers, because he developed a way to fight back, in the form of a Metasploit module that exploits a software defect in the AMMYY remote access tool that

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Some tips for trolling fake technical support calls

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 00:54:49 +0000

I did a little more digging after getting yet another fake technical support phone call last week, and I’ve done some thinking on my own. If you want to troll these criminals when they call you, here are some ideas.

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Mr. Genius Man from “Windows Technical Support” gets nasty

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 11:00:03 +0000

I got another “Windows Technical Support” call on Friday evening. My caller ID said Minneapolis, and since I have coworkers in Minneapolis, I answered. But the guy on the other end was a long way from Minneapolis and probably doesn’t

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How I accidentally found a way to mess with “Peggy”

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 21 May 2013 02:01:00 +0000

“Peggy” from “Computer Support Department” just won’t give up. He called me again at about 8 PM this evening. This time, I played along. I had a thrift-store junker PC for him to infect with his malware. The only problem

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“Computer Maintenance Department” called me again from India

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 09 May 2013 11:00:43 +0000

So, “Peggy” from “Computer Maintenance Department” called me again last night. This time I decided to mess with him a bit more. This is the second time. (No, “Peggy” wasn’t his real name, nor did he identify himself as “Peggy,”

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Lionel Fastrack review

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 02:45:06 +0000

How Lionel Fastrack compares to traditional tubular track and competing O gauge track is a common question. I own both, so I can probably make a comparison. Here is my Lionel Fastrack review. For the most part, it’s not bad.

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Overused (and underused) resume buzzwords

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 03:50:30 +0000

This week the list of 10 most overused resume buzzwords came out. John C. “Don’t call me John Dvorak” Dvorak offers his usual snarky analysis. Here’s mine. Extensive experience. Completely meaningless. Either you have experience with something or you don’t.

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Using child safety outlets to save energy

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 02:32:27 +0000

I got a new book recently about saving energy. I’ve read several of those, but this one had two tips I’ve never seen anywhere else: caulking baseboards and putting child safety covers on electrical outlets. It didn’t explain caulking the

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