Graham reveals potential phone hack involving someone impersonating Schumer

[Tom of Temecula]

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday that the FBI took possession of his phone after someone attempted to trick the South Carolina Republican into thinking he was communicating with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer.

Mr. Graham revealed the potential hack in remarks at the Hill & Valley Forum on Capitol Hill, which is a gathering of top tech and government officials meeting in Washington to discuss artificial intelligence security. Asked about spies targeting Silicon Valley and how AI labs should prepare themselves, Mr. Graham said people should be concerned and relayed his own brush with apparent hackers.

“My phone is in the hands of the FBI now,” Mr. Graham said at the forum. “So I get a message, I think, from Schumer, it ain’t from Schumer, and next thing you know, my phone’s, I don’t know what. Anything you can create apparently can be hacked.”

Mr. Graham did not identify who he suspected was responsible. Taylor Reidy, Mr. Graham‘s spokeswoman, said the Senate’s Sergeant at Arms was investigating. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/may/1/sen-lindsey-graham-reveals-potential-phone-hack-in/

[Irish_Dem]

1. So who did the hacking?

And why?

[Hugin]

5. I can't tell from the article if it was a text message or voice.

My suspicion is that it might have been a Trumpian testing “loyalty”. Which sure seems to be their word of the day.

[Irish_Dem]

6. Yes one of Trump's people up to no good.

That is what I think too.

[usonian]

2. Well, that's confusing.

spies targeting Silicon Valley and how AI labs should prepare themselves

AI is increasingly used to impersonate people's voices, faces, and fake them into movies.

What once was a fake email "from the boss" is now a very convincing phone call, from who knows?

The simple advice I've given out here is that when you get a call from anyone, especially a bank or business, simply say you'll call back to the well-known phone number of the supposed person or company or institution.

You could easily apply this to emails.

When "Amazon" or "Geek Squad" or any business supposedly emails you, email or go to the well-known address of said sender.

Same for text messages. Go to the (possibly impersonated) source that is well known.

[sir pball]

3. Calling back the "well known number" is a great way to get scammed.

The bad guys have evolved, they can now hold your line open so that when you "hang up" and "call back" 1-800-TDBANKUSA you're actually still on the line with them. Email spoofing is so trivial it's not even worth addressing.

The ONLY real security against phone scams is to say you'll head to a physical location to discuss it with a manager, if they can provide a reference number it would be much appreciated. Hint - they never can.

[usonian]

4. I hadn't heard of that.

Would be inconvenient for me, as most banks, etc. that I deal with a some 50 miles away.

I suppose one could reboot a cellphone.

Line from "Taxi":

"America's one tough town"

Contacting a website should work, if no MITM. (Man in the Middle) but websites are famous for obfuscation, chatting with bots, and referring you to FAQ's.

My eye doctor's IT system keeps nagging me to set up a portal account.
Like I need another attack vector.
When their servers are hacked, no fault of mine, away goes my data.