EncryptoTel weekly digest(03.02.19)
Scam robots, a new Facebook investigation and weird predictions from Apple CEO
A surge in fraudulent robotic calls in the US due to the government shutdown
In the US, about 5 billion calls are made by robots every month, and during the government shutdown their number has increased dramatically — mainly due to fraudulent dialing. This was told by YouMail experts, which created a special application that blocks such calls.
“I have important information regarding your tax debt. The government’s termination has led to a change in your tax regime, and although some tax service operations are not performed, billing is being actively pursued. Call back on this number to get detailed information, ”- robotic calls with similar information were recorded more than 1 million times in the US in just one month.
Between 3% and 5% of those who receive such a message call back and often become victims of fraudsters who convince them to pay non-existent fines and taxes. At the same time, the most vigilant citizens could not add the number of fraudsters to the special register of the US Federal Trade Commission, because its website did not work — all the same because of the suspension of government work.
Facebook is again caught collecting personal data.
The Facebook Research VPN service, social network’s paid service that cost $ 20 a month, allows to track user behavior and record consumer habits, revealed by a recent investigation by TechCrunch. The application is available since 2016, and users between 13 to 35 years can use the bonus program.
The Security Specialist of Guardian Mobile Firewall, Will Fine, at the request of the publication, studied the Facebook Research code and concluded that the application provides Facebook employees with almost unlimited access to the user’s device. We are talking about the search history in the browser, personal messages in social networks (not only on Facebook) and location information.
Facebook confirmed the use of personal data of users, but noted that it offers to participate in the study on a voluntary basis. However, as far as users of the VPN service realize that they have become participants in a large-scale experiment, they do not specify in the social network.
Recall that last year a scandal erupted around Facebook after it became clear that data from millions of social network users, mainly from the United States and the United Kingdom, were transferred to consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, which was associated with Donald Trump’s US presidential campaign in 2016 and which used the personal data of users to promote the candidate.
Apple CEO predicted the imminent death of cable television
According to Tim Cook, people are increasingly abandoning cable television, and it will disappear completely in the future.
“And I think this is likely to happen much faster this year,” Cook said during a telephone conference on Apple’s financial results for the first quarter of 2019.
But most experts in this industry did not agree with this forecast. For example, the telecommunications research company MoffettNathanson predicts that the number of households that use traditional multi-channel television (cable or satellite) will decline by only 3.8%, or from 91 million to 87.5 million in 2018, and by the end 2019 — up to 84.3 million people. According to analysts, there can be no complete disappearance.
Apple plans to launch a streaming video service based on its Apple TV application for the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV consoles. According to rumors, this will happen in April 2019. It will include content from Apple, as well as allow you to subscribe to third-party streaming services.
The ban on the use of Huawei products changed plans to launch a new mobile operator in Australia
The Australian telecommunications company TPG Telecom announced it had abandoned plans to launch their mobile network due to the ban on the use of telecom equipment from the Chinese manufacturer Huawei. He received a “red” card from the Australian government in August 2018 due to suspicions of spyware being introduced into his office to deploy 5G networks. Huawei denies all the allegations, but the number of countries that refuse or recommend their companies to carefully inspect Huawei equipment continues to grow.
In addition to Huawei, another Chinese manufacturer, ZTE Corp., was also banned.
Last week, the US Department of Justice also made public criminal charges against Huawei, its two subsidiaries, and the top manager, who are accused of misleading banking organizations about the company’s activities and violating US sanctions. In addition, US law enforcement agencies accuse Huawei of stealing trade secrets from the American company T-Mobile.
EncryptoTel completed the development of IVR module
Our team successfully tested the interactive voice menu (IVR) module. Now our customers have even more opportunities on our platform.
There are many options for implementing an interactive voice menu, and we at EncryptoTel tried to make it so that our customers could customize for their needs easily. Our solution allows to create more extensive and diverse voice messages.
The main advantage of the IVR-module is that it reduces the load on the company’s employees, who answer customer calls, and gives the ability to stay in touch with customers even during off-hours.
