When’s the Last Time you Wiped your Phone?

Think of it like a spring / fall cleaning, when you de-clutter and start fresh, and give it more room to function by deleting years-old photos and apps.

Imagine opening iTunes and seeing this, so beautiful…

*30 minutes*

1 – Backup – photos / contacts / calendar / notes

2 – General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings

3 – Enter passcode and follow instructions

4 – For sure you’re backed up right

5 – Click Erase

6 – Re-install apps

7 – Use the opportunity to change all your passwords (or at least – bank / email / Facebook)

8 – Done.

***

When the phone is now behaving like new, you’ll be all, “why was I putting up with that lag all this time…”

Do it.

 

 

First Time I’ve Ever Used an Emoji

Best interpretation I received:

The most obvious message I got from that is that “It’s ok to talk to the hand, carrying flowers while walking with a donut to catch the bus.. you would like to have target practice with floppy disks while reading charts and graphs under lock and key for the Department of Defense.” – John Knox

The actual meaning is less colourful – I scrolled through all possibles, chose my favourites along the way, then hit post.

Know what though? And filing this under predictions:

Prediction: our method of communicating is coming full circle, and we’ll soon be back to hieroglyphics.

 

 

Analzying a Vishing Attack

There’s a CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) scam going around right now.  I received a call from “Roger” at the CRA this week, asking me verify my current address.

Let’s analyze at the attack.

The Attack

Flag #1

Roger’s number displayed on my phone – 905-XXX-XXXX. Nope.

The CRA agent’s number will never display, it will come up as “Private” or “Blocked” because imagine? People would lose their minds dialling directly to harass the agent.

Flag #2

Roger lists my last 3 home addresses, my company name, then asks for only one piece of information to verify my identity – my birthday. One piece of publicly available information to verify me?  No way.

From the CRA website, here’s the list of identification questions they’ll use.

Flag #3

Me: this number on my screen, if I call it back it’ll go to you?
Roger: yes, that will go directly to my desk.

Uh-huh. See Flag #1. Plus, if he’s at his desk, why don’t I hear office noises in the background?

Let’s keep talking.

Me: what’s the problem?
Roger: the address we have on file for your company is incorrect, because the mail we sent you was returned. We need to update your address.

Flag #4

Not only do I have my mail forwarded from my old downtown address, but my accountant and I are very on top of things, so there is no chance this is correct.

I tell him to switch it to my home address, which he has already listed, and he rushes off the phone.

I immediately email my accountant, who searches the CRA database and comes back with this confirmation – my correct address is on file.

Flag #5

I call the number back and it goes straight to voicemail.

Not only is it full and cannot accept new messages, but the name on the voicemail is not Roger.

Flag #6

I trace the phone number, and land up at a suburban house just outside of Toronto. Not posting a map of that, bet the poor guy has no idea his number has been hijacked.

Flag #7

Over to Google, and there’s news everywhere, including one from CBC a couple weeks ago warning Ontario residents. Read it here.

The Defence

– stay sharp and calm… the above played out over 60 seconds, as in, quickly. And if the call comes in while you are distracted or busy, that’s how you slip up and they win 

– when in doubt never ever give out personal information, especially your Social Insurance Number (SIN)

– call the CRA directly to confirm the validity. Say something like, “I’m very busy at the moment, but will call you back by end of the day.” That way you’ve initiated contact, and the problem should be listed on your file

– ask lots and lots of questions, they don’t like that

– the scammer will be skilled on the phone, they’ll sound smooth, almost too-smooth…

– CRA emails will never contain any links, nor will they contain personal information

– listen to your gut, it’s the best defence in these scenarios

See the CRA website for more details on scams.

As always in suspicious scenarios, be wary of clicking on links in an email, and if you must, expand the URL before clicking.

Test yourself here – Spot the phishing email

Blog tag = phishing

 

 

 

Got Sucked into the Traditional Media World

Which is still pretty different than the new media one… best way I can describe it: less time online and more IRL.

And cut-throat harsh big time. Yesterday 200 people got fired from my newspaper, you may have read about it in the news. That’s the 3rd round of mass-firings I’ve now made it through, helps that I’m a freelancer.

And also, turns out that being an auto journalist is all-consuming, more of a lifestyle than job, really. I’m full steam ahead into it, and last week it tipped over sorry; I caught it last tonight, that’s where this tweet came from.

Things from this week:


Latest OCD song is such a happy one – “Pay Day” by Classified.

Anything you read by me in the last 2 weeks, was probably written to this. It’s in my ears right now.

I’m writing blog posts, and next week’s column (about product planning). Last week’s column got 112 comments holy crap, highest ever.  There’s a lot of anger, haven’t yet decided how I’ll respond.

Last night I talked on the phone for FOUR hours. Four.

I probably talk on the phone more than most (here and here), but still, that’s a lot even for me.

Laughed for at least half of it, jacknifing neighbour-distrubing laughs, it’s like everyone I knew was mega-funny yesterday (for a visual, here’s an old video of me laughing really hard).

Jogging pants are addictive eh.

It’s PR company Chrismtas party week, have another one tonight, after the Canadian launch of the new Audi A3.

You into these EOS lip balms yet?  The application method is what makes them amazing.

kk I have to get back to deadlines, TTYL