this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2025
174 points (97.3% liked)
cybersecurity
5120 readers
49 users here now
An umbrella community for all things cybersecurity / infosec. News, research, questions, are all welcome!
Community Rules
- Be kind
- Limit promotional activities
- Non-cybersecurity posts should be redirected to other communities within infosec.pub.
Enjoy!
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
My toxic trait is believing that not answering the phone from unknown numbers is protecting myself from outside attackers
It might be rudimentary, but I wouldn't say you're wrong.
Alternatively, pick up but answer the phone only with the word "Yes?", "Speak" or "You may proceed" (preceded by 'this line is now secure').
Then, when they ask "who is this?" answer that "if you don't know, you have the wrong number" and that "this call is currently being traced, pending review of a 'military tribunal'."
Do this with the flattest intonation you can manage.
That tends to get to them.
Nah, there's AI that can clone your voice from a single word, not answering is the safest.
Point. Silence is good too.
My SIM provider has the option to not even route unknown callers to my device. Not that I get any, but just in case, even if it is not that common in Germany.
What some family of mine had to go through was social engineering harassment calls with some BS reasoning to get them to say "Yes"/"I agree" or something like that
Recently there were recruiters on LinkedIn freaking out that when they called someone, they would answer with "Hello?" and the recruiter thinks they're too good to be greeted with that.