(no subject)

[alwaysbeenasmiler]

So totally I got a call from someone. It was involving the fact that he wasn't getting a dial tone, except he was calling in for someone else. So he couldn't CPNI (authorize himself) and then I called the number that he gave me and it was some random person who answered it. So I was like, "Okay"

Then when I started asking him questions, he didn't answer them-- he just asked me questions in response; thereby making me feel like I was falling down the rabbit hole over and over.

Me: Mr. *so and so*, I am going to need to reprovision the phone modem from my end, and that will cause me to take down the modems for the business. Can you please get Mr. *owner of the business on the phone*
Him: Why are you asking me this question? Is this really necessary? Don't you know I'm an engineer?
Me: *inwardly saying "well this conversation suddenly doesn't surprise me"* Outwardly: I understand that you are an engineer however I am going to need to take down the modem to reboot it.
Him: Well I'm going to hang up now.
*he hangs up*

That was just the end of the phone call, it really just was a slippery slope that ended in that. But I did tell him that I couldn't make any changes to his account unless he was authorized.

Comments

[dorchadas]

Good for sticking to your guns--"Don't you know who I am?" is one of the main avenues of social engineering a hack.

(Not that I think this was happening here, but I get annoyed when other people get annoyed at identify verification. We know what happens if you just trust the other person because the boss needs access to their email now!)

[alwaysbeenasmiler]

When someone protests that they are the account owner and they should be able to get into their account-- I am like "Well, I understand you want accessibility but we are 100% guarenteed to protecting your account". You can do ALOT with the information that they can get if they are not verified as a user of the account-- like phone records, billing, you can cause someone a lot of damage.

It's seriously no joke and I wish people would realize that