Software View

It is 10.15 pm here in Colombo and the land phone rang. I picked it up and in two seconds I was connected to the Mobitel (a local mobile phone carrier) customer care service. And the usual song started, computer lady asked me to wait until an agent is free. Here’s the one for me:

Agent: Good evening sir, how can I help you?
Kamal: Well, I am just wondering why I was called by you.
Agent: Hmmm… Is your name Mr. XXX?
Kamal: Nope. I am one Kamal Wickramanayake.
Agent: It seems someone has called both of us and put into a conference. The fellow may be listening to us as well.
Kamal: I thought it was an advertising campaign by Mobitel.
Agent: No sir, Mobitel doesn’t advertise through phones yet.
Kamal: OK then. Have a nice time. Bye.
Agent: Good night.
 
This is serious. This can be exploited to reveal serious information!
One will not be able to identify the situation just by experiencing those initial 2 seconds. And if the middle man is clever enough, one might not even see that connection delay and the little sound change that happens there.
 
My land line does not have caller line identification. I just forgot to ask the customer care agent whether he was seeing the culprit’s number.
 
Corporates, here’s another way to get your information out of you.
 
Joe, you might be talking to Jane but make sure you ask her to tell you why she rang you. Do this before you proceed with the conversation. If she didn’t, someone is tapping your voice. It is best to terminate the call immediately. In any case, take care in passing valuable/confidential information to her.
 
Lovers, test the line before you pass the kiss!