Are Spam and Robocalls A Sign of A Future Hack?

Many people have complained about a rise in spam or robocalls. Media have acted dismissive of these facts, but could these robo and spam calls be an indicator of a future attack. We discussed with a consultant at FinTek Development about this topic about the ominous nature of these calls and what this could mean in the future. Since the interview was created exclusively for a private audience, we posted one question from the interview.

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Do Robocalls or Spam Calls Mean A Hacker Is Targeting Me?

I would avoid using phrases like "target" and "hacker" because phone complexity allows any actor to do a number of things. For instance, prank calls in the past weren't hackers and they may have been engaging in pranks randomly, or they may have had targets. This isn't to say these are pranks, but we should be careful about using language that indicates there is intent when there may be some that is and some that isn't.

Also, media have done a poor job helping attackers adapt to their environment, so this question should be addressed cautiously. We don't want attackers to know that we're onto them or else they'll find new techniques to attack users. A defeated technique is better if the attackers don't know because we can catch them.

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By contrast, if media tell everyone "here's what's happening" and attackers adapt, we may never catch them. Mean reversion is not well understood by most people, but it's important since we all adapt to our environment. We have to be cautious about alerting people who must be caught. For users, they need to understand how to protect themselves rather than what the latest hack is and with systems increasing complexity, the question is do users understand this complexity.

The reality is that there are major costs to quick adoption of technology, especially if the quick adoption is not well understood. Simply put: if you don't know, either learn or avoid systems that are more complex than you understand. It's almost ironic to say that technology requires humility more than knowledge: you have to be honest with yourself about realities that you don't know. If you don't know, learn and grow. Also, any public information on security may be alerting attackers to adapt - I would be extreme cautious about listening to any public "here's how to be safe" information, as the barrier to entry is low and this helps attackers.

This post is featured a snippet from a private interview from a consultant at FinTek Development, a company that specializes in data and security. Do you know data as well as we do? If you can catch the predictive metadata from this post, we may be looking to hire you as a data consultant.
We don't respond to incorrect answers. Image from Pixabay.