FTC's “Zapping Rachel” competition pits hackers against robocallers

[IDemo]

Here’s How the Feds Are Teaming Up With Hackers to Save Us All from Robocalls

The Federal Trade Commission is at one of the world’s biggest hacker conferences this weekend, where hackers are competing to help save us all from robocalls.

No one has ever seen her, but she may have the most infamous voice in America. “Rachel” is the most prolific robocall bot in the United States, and the FTC has turned to some of the best hackers in the world to try to stop her. At Defcon—one of (if not the) biggest hacker conferences on earth—the agency is hosting a three-phase competition to build a “honeypot” to lure and catch robocallers in the act. The “Zapping Rachel” competition is handing out $17,000 in cash prizes to winners of three competitions: one to build a honeypot, one to attack a honeypot to find its vulnerabilities, and one to analyze data a honeypot collects on robocalls.

“A honeypot is essentially an information system that can collect information about robocalls,” said Patti Hsue, a staff attorney representing the FTC at Defcon. “How it’s designed, how it operates is completely up to the designer.”

As with many happenings at a conference of hackers, the technical details can get complex fast. But the basic idea is familiar to any fan of spy fiction—in espionage a honeypot is a trap in which a mark, like a secret agent, is lured into a trap by sexual seduction (think of about half the vixens who show up in James Bond flicks). In this case, hackers are building and testing the honeypot. Rachel and her ilk are the mark.

http://time.com/3094404/defcon-hackers-robocalls-honeypot/

Funny, I haven't heard from Rachel in a long time. I hope nothing has happened to her.

[GeorgeGist]

1. She's doing fine.

Heard from her last week.

[Archae]

2. Rachel called me 3 times this past week.

Same phone number, if I see it I let my machine take it.

[SwankyXomb]

3. I don't get the Rachel calls anymore

Mostly I get solar energy scammers

[LiberalEsto]

4. Rachel's real name is Dana M. Miano

She and her husband Christopher Lee Miano and their companies A+ Financial Services and Accelerated Accounting Services, settled with the FTC in 2012 or 2013 on a case against them for their robocalls. They were supposed to pay fines and stop making these calls.

However they have not stopped. I got a call from "Rachel" a couple of days ago, using my own phone number on caller ID. This use of other phone numbers is called spoofing.

When I tried to file an online complaint with the FTC do not call registry, they rejected it because the only phone number I had for the caller was the number they used - my own number. So I wrote out a complaint to the main FTC contact email address and asked them to change the requirements for making complaints on the do not call registry.

Christopher Miano was arrested a couple of years ago on charges of DUI (3rd violation) and driving with license restrictions. It's the same guy, owner of A+ Financial Services. Link: http://florida.arrests.org/Arrests/Christopher_Miano_5589489/

I wish I had their home phone number. I'd love to call and tell them how much I've enjoyed their fucking phone calls.