Canada Wardialer

From: Greg Rudman (Greg.Rudman_at_TELUS.COM)
Date: 09/09/03

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    Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 11:33:38 -0700
To: incidents@lists.securityfocus.com

    fyi - for list members who were interested in the closure.

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Jeroen Wesbeek

    Hi Greg,

    Thank you very much for your answer, I think it sounds quite logical and you're probably right it might have been telemarketeers. However the strange thing is that Lawrence Hibbs (that other Dutch guy that received a call from the same number whom's e-mail I forwarded to you) got a 'nonsense' call
    and had a guy on the other end of the line asking for someone he had never heard of. They never tried to sell anything so that doesn't quite fit the telemarketing description...

    But I'm glad your security department is looking into it, it could be nothing but it might as well have been something ;) - Anyway, thank you for your help :)

    Cheers,
    Jeroen Wesbeek

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Greg Rudman

    Hi Jeroen,
    I have initiated an investigation with our security department to ensure there is no hacking. I believe that you may simply have been receiving calls from a tele-marketing company. These services are not illegal although their methods for soliciting your phone number may appear suspicious. TELUS
    Communications Inc supplies telecommunications infrastructure services that could be used for tele-marketing.

    In my experience, the lag after you answer and before the sales person's voice is heard, usually indicates routing to the next available tele-sales person. The dialing is usually done automatically by an auto-dialer, then on connection it is routed to an available tele-sales person.

    The correct action is to wait for the sales person to speak, then immediately request that they delete your number from their phone lists and terminate the call. There are laws in North America which force these companies to honour your wish to be removed from their list. If they continue to call
    you, they become liable for prosecution.

    Obviously if someone has misdialed a telephone number then you may receive calls from people you don't know. Also, often the telephone exchanges in various countries are not completely data compatible, so instead of seeing the exact telephone number of the caller-id, you may only see the major
    switching telephone exchange.

    Please be aware that the TELUS Security department may not actually follow up with you unless they have received an official complaint. My request for investigation will probably be held internally and no reports will be sent to either of us.

    Further information about TELUS services is available on the Corporate Website at www.telus.com - I hope this information will be of assistance to you and I thank you for your attention.
    Best regards

    Greg Rudman Esq.
    TELUS IT Infrastructure
    Team Support Manager

    The opinions expressed in this message do not represent those of TELUS Communications Inc. or any of its affiliated companies.

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Jeroen Wesbeek

    Hi Greg,
    Thank you for your reply and looking into the matter. After my posting to the bugtraq mailinglist I received an e-mail (see below) from another guy living in Holland receiving calls from the same number; he was also curious and found my posting in some archive. I'll forward it to you because it
    might be of some help.
    Greetings, Jeroen Wesbeek

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