Ross: Is everything hackable in the digital age?
Feb 14, 2020, 7:10 AM
The US has never been more vulnerable to cyberattacks. (Pexels)
(Pexels)
It just happened again: The phone rang and the name and number on the caller ID was my name and my phone number! It was as if I was calling myself on my own phone.
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This is how scammers try to get you to answer – because you’re thinking – wait a minute, how is this possible? I’d better find out who it really is.
Fortunately, I wasn’t fooled, because I knew I wasn’t calling me. I knew that if I really needed to get my own attention, I wouldn’t call.
I would text.
But it still left me with a creepy feeling: The idea that caller ID is hackable. Is there anything that isn’t hackable?
We get constant warnings at work about phony emails. I just got a note from our local hospital, warning that “somebody got the names and birth dates of patients, so we urge you to be vigilant!” I even got a note from the IRS with a special code to prevent identity theft.
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On top of all that, every website is asking if I want to accept cookies, or begging me to unblock ads, while my smart phone and smart speaker are waiting for their wake-up words.
My TV is remembering everything I watched so it can pick movies for me, and then if I sit too still, it turns itself off, because it’s watching me to see whether I’m watching it!
On second thought, maybe I do need to call me, so I can tell me to calm down.
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