Thieves’ New Tool: Caller ID (1/2)
What was supposed to help can now hurt us
Caller ID isn’t what it used to be. Revered for years by persnickety consumers who like to screen their telephone calls, the premium service is now being appropriated by identity thieves. Such scams are made possible by technology that enables con artists to manipulate the phone number and even the name that shows up on the unsuspecting recipient’s caller ID, allowing them to masquerade as officials of churches, banks and courthouses.
Known as “spoofing,” the end game is to persuade consumers to reveal their Social Security numbers or other sensitive information. Spoofing is the phone industry’s version of phishing, in which criminals use fake e-mails to fool computer users into divulging personal information.
Spoofing isn’t very expensive, and there are a number of companies that specialize in it. With its motto of “Be who you want to be,” SpoofCard. com, for instance, sells calling cards for as little as $10 for 60 minutes of talk time.
Masking caller ID
This is how it works: SpoofCard has a dedicated toll-free number where a user enters a PIN, their desired caller ID and the number they’d like to call. SpoofCard users also have the ability to select a male or female voice. Although the caller speaks normally, the person on the other end hears the altered voice.
In particular, scams in which caller ID indicates the call is coming from a court official have been flourishing, said Sid Kirchheimer, author of Scam Proof Your Life. But it’s not just courthouses whose phone numbers and names are being purloined. In Fairlawn, Ohio, St. Thomas Orthodox Church received hundreds of calls from August 2005 until January 2006 from people saying it’s phone number was popping up on their caller ID. The caller would say he was owed money and would ask for a bank account number.
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Vocabulary Focus
persnickety (adj)--- giving too much attention to small, unimportant details in a way that annoys other people
appropriate (v)--- to take something for your own use, usually without permission
divulge (v)--- to make something secret known
purloin (v)--- to steal something
specialized Terms
phishing (n)--- 网络钓鱼 a type of identity theft using e-mails that appear to come from trustworthy websites in an attempt to gather personal and financial information from the recipient
PIN (n)--- 个人识别码 abbreviation for “personal identification number”: a secret number which a person uses together with a special card to obtain money from their bank account through a machine outside the bank
骗子的新工具：来电显示（1）
本应是助手，现在成帮凶
吴茵茵 译
来电显示跟以前不一样了。这项优质服务多年来备受喜爱筛选来电的挑剔消费者推崇，现在却被身份窃贼盗用。能够设下如此骗局，乃是科技的作用，骗子现在能够窜改受话者来电显示上的电话号码甚至名称，让骗子假冒教会、银行和法院的职员，而使受话者深信不疑。
此诈骗手法称为“窜改来电显示”，骗局的最后一步就是劝诱消费者透露自己的社会保险号码或其他敏感资料。窜改来电显示是网络钓鱼的电信业版本，而网络钓鱼是指歹徒伪造电子邮件，让电脑用户泄露个人资料。窜改来电显示的费用不高，而且有一些公司专售此类服务。以“各色人士任你做”为主题的SpoofCard.com公司是一个例子，他们出售通话时间60分钟却只要10美元的电话卡。
伪装来电者身份
窜改来电显示的操作方式如下：SpoofCard有一支免费专线电话，用户拨打后输入个人识别码、他们想要显示的来电者身份以及对方的电话号码。SpoofCard的用户也能够选择男声或女声。尽管拨话者跟平常一样说话，受话者听到的却是变了性别的声音。
“防骗妙招”(暂译)作者席德•克奇摩说：显示来电者身份为法庭官员的骗局尤其猖獗。然而，不只是法院的电话号码和官员姓名被窃用。美国俄亥俄州费朗市的圣汤玛斯东正教会从2005年3月至2006年1月之间接到数百个回拨查询的电话。说教会的电话号码出现在他们的来电显示上。骗子们会说对方欠他们钱，请他们告知〔方便提钱的)银行账号。
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March 24, 2007 Saturday
Thieves’ New Tool: Caller ID (2/2)
What was supposed to help can now hurt us
Legitimate uses of spoofing?
A SpoofCard representative said its markets include legitimate users such as privte investigators, law enforcement, insurance agencies and lawyers. And Jack Vonder Heide, of Technology Briefing Centers, said, “There are very legitimate uses for caller ID modification.” If someone is making a call from their cell phone, for example, and doesn’t want the recipient to have the cell phone number, the caller could use spoofing technology to display their office number instead, he said.
Furthermore, if a law enforcement officer is trying to find a suspect and has reason to believe that person is at a particular residence, the investigator probably wouldn’t want to place a call with telltale police department information showing up on the caller ID. A SpoofCard representative who would only give his name as “George” said that if SpoofCard is “used illegally, we work with law enforcement to help them prosecute” the perpetrator.
Reining in offenders
SpoofCard also is “in the process of compling a list of every financial institution and law enforcement phone number to block these numbers from being called through the service,” George said. That way, SpoofCard users won’t be able to call a bank and order a credit card as an impostor.
One technology security research firm believes that harmless or legitimate uses of caller ID spoofing are the exception rather than the rule. Lance James, chief technology officer for San Diego-based Secure Science Corp., testified in May that more than 75 percent of spoofed calls have a malicious intent.
It is doubtful potential new laws will derail companies like SpoofCard, Vonder Heide said. They “may see [a] little dip in revenues, but my guess is the publicity” that any new law generated would just raise the consciousness of people who didn’t even know that spoofing was possible and might like to try it.
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Vocabulary Focus
telltale (adj)--- allowing a secret to become known
perpetrator (n)--- someone who has committed a crime or other harmful act
rein in (v phr)--- to control an emotion, activity or situation to prevent it from becoming too powerful
骗子的新工具：来电显示（2）
本应是助手，现在成帮凶
吴茵茵 译
窜改来电显示的合法用途?
SpoofCard公司的一位代表说其市场包括私家侦探、执法机关、保险公司和律师等合法用户。“科技简报中心”的杰克•冯得•海德说：“更改来电显示有非常合法的用途。”他又说，例如某人用手机打电话，可是不希望受话者有他的手机号码，他就可以利用更改来电显示的技术而显示他公司的电话号码。
此外，如果执法人员正在通缉某个嫌疑犯，而且有理由相信嫌疑犯就待在某个住所，警务人员打电话确认时，可能不会希望警察局的资料出现在来电显示上。一位只愿透露其名字为“乔治”的SpoofCard公司代表说，如果SpoofCard“遭到非法使用，我们会与执法单位合作，帮助他们追查“歹徒。
遏止违法者SpoofCard也“正在汇编所有金融机构和执法单位的电话号码清单，以防歹徒通过窜改来电显示的服务拨打这些号码。”乔治说。声如此一来，SpoofCard用户就无法假冒他人身份用电话向银行申请信用卡。
一家科技安全研究公司认为无害或合法更改来电显示属于例外而不是常规。总部设在圣地亚哥的“安全科学公司”的技术长兰司•詹妈斯于5月*证实，75%以上窜改来电显示的拨话者都图谋不轨。
玛得•海德表示，如果制定新法律，也不见得会遏止SpoofCard这样的公司。他们的“营业额可能会稍微下滑，但我猜测”任何“被大肆宣传的”新法律只会让根本不知道能够窜改来屯显示的人得知此技术而跃跃欲试。
译注：本文写于2006年。
posted on 2007-03-30 11:07 豆豆妈妈 阅读(211) 评论(0) 编辑 收藏 所属分类: 彭蒙惠英语  网摘收藏
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