[AusNOG] Hoax calls ?

[David Walker]

On 16/07/2011, David Walker <davidianwalker at gmail.com> wrote:
> It'll be the same as phishing ...
> Joe Public willl be told ad nauseum to hang up ...
> The day Microsoft or their ISP does call they'll have no other skills
> up their sleeve ...

I probably shouldn't let my peccadillos get in the way.

Let's say that there are owners who may have anywhere from entry level
Windows skills and who've noticed that even on a default Windows
installation there are Warnings and errors in the logs ...
It's my strong suspicion that the "helpdesk" staff have no idea of the
legitimacy of their employer (notwithstanding the Microsoft claims)
and they go home at the end of the day glad to have contributed ...

So what to tell your customers?

Quote this:
Don’t be fooled, Microsoft is not cold calling consumers in regards to
malfunctioning PCs, viruses or any other matter.
We strongly advise Australians to simply hang up if they receive a
call of this nature and not to respond to any communications from
these scammers.

Refer to this:
http://www.microsoft.com/australia/presspass/post/Microsoft-issues-warning-on-phone-scam

On 16/07/2011, Keith Anderson <KeithA at apcs.com.au> wrote:
> I did reroute the domain to a warning page on our server in Brisbane and
> Sydney POPS.
> Looks like we saved 3 of our down stream ISP's customers from becoming
> victim to this HOAX.
>
> Just don't know how legal this is, but I don't care its the right thing
> todo.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

I like unfettered access so I can report things to hosting providers,
government, whatnot ... but I'm from the planet Vulcan and I don't
roll with most people.
I'd rather that the endpoints get screwed down (Australian user
education and Indian telco/provider integrity) than you play traffic
cop ... but when you have a choice between sitting on your hands and
not sitting on your hands ... I'd rather see you in the fight.
The only quetion from there is where and how do you set up your choke point ...

As far as legality goes ... can I say schmegality here ...
:]

A random ISP ... for some definition of random ...
http://www.internode.on.net/pdf/legal/sfoa-acceptableusepolicy.pdf
Item 1.

If it's good for the goose it's good for the gander.
In this case that should trickle down from the top but if a random ISP
can include that in their SFOA for their customers and it's legal
(untested probably) then maybe you can too ... and apply it to
yourself.
Maybe your upstream has something similar.
I'd be looking at the incumbent mothership and seeing where they stand
or better/worse yet getting direction from .gov.au ...

http://telstrawholesale.com/products/docs/acceptable_use_policy.pdf

I'm far removed from that (I'm a Joe User) and have no idea if that's
a legitimate Telstra domain ...
... moreover that's a stale document ...
Still, in between commercial breaks on Gladiator you're on very solid
ground here. :]

As per usual IANAL.

Best wishes.