Many years ago (39 to be exact) I worked for a telecommunications firm that, among others, contracted communication projects from the DoD. Just to satisfy some silly protocol I was issued a Confidential security clearance to have access to records and engineering project prints in conjunction with my surveying for the company.
I had the opportunity to travel with some military and civil service employees a couple of times to some very remote places for a brief amount of time. At that time I was required to obtain a civilian level Secret security clearance that involved everything, including interviewing my 3rd. grade teacher. I never used it after that and was told the company I worked for was required to report employee status reports for those that held security clearances. It was also my understanding that leaving the employment of the firm basically cancelled all current clearances. I never heard anything more after about 1980.
I maintain an email address from the early nineties and don't check it very often at all. Recently I received an email from a "dss.mil" to that obscure email address notifying me my clearance required updating. I might have thought it to be some sort of phishing, but there was a few bits of info included that makes me think it was the real thing.
The only thing I can think is my name came up on some sort of database that was being updated or something. The email address was created probably 10 or more years after I had worked there. There was an indication in the email that the sender was not 100% sure of my identity and was requesting verification.
I'm leaving it alone. What would you do?
"delete"
Well it's the Government and if it was really important they would call you on the phone or knock on your door. Since you don't need it, I would leave it alone. It's possible it could be a someone trying to steal your Identity.
What is the real return email address? Since it concerns a security clearance, report it to the police. Your old company may have been hacked.
[MEDIA=youtube]gvY3kRWuyIM[/MEDIA]
That's OK, my 18 year old daughter got a call from the IRS letting her know they were going to file a lawsuit due to fraudulent tax returns she filed.
I'm sure they were more than willing to agree to some terms in order to settle the matter and avoid litigation. I called the number back and got an answering machine.
A Harris, post: 424122, member: 81 wrote: "delete"
Delete what??? 😉
It's done. Although I did print a copy just to have it.
I never click on any boxes or follow any links that come with suspicious email once it is opened.
A suspicious email to me is one that is from any unknown person, company and does not contain their name, address and contact information in the initial readable information.
There is a proper way to contact people and mostly one identifies themselves and states their purpose.
When they fail that test, they get deleted immediately.
Anyone that is really wanting to contact me will send something proper.
0.02
A Harris, post: 424187, member: 81 wrote: Anyone that is really wanting to contact me will send something proper.
Be careful there, too. If you get something that looks out of place, from someone you know, give them a call or send an email, not replied to the one you got and see if they really did send you something.
I've gotten emails from people who were hacked...
My yahoo account has been hacked and sent everyone on my list some strange email.
I've received dozens of the same from many others out there, some I told and others I did not.
They can hack caller ID too, same way as fake email addys, called numbers back that did not exist according to the phone company.
IMVHO, no online activity is safe from being intercepted by some means, they may be watching me on my smart TV 24/7, I would not deny that happening now.
Many places are fighting against traffic cams because they are being used to map our travels.
Like I say, if someone I know or not wants to find me, it is not very difficult.
Paden, Delete phishing message then also delete from deleted items as any response likely to trigger a viral attack on your computer.
RADU, post: 424200, member: 222 wrote: Paden, Delete phishing message then also delete from deleted items as any response likely to trigger a viral attack on your computer.
Oh it's gone and my Plutonium Anti-Everything Software has finished a two and a half hour scrub of my system. Now I have to remember every frigging password I've ever typed in...
The unnerving part of the whole thing was two company names and a contracting officer's name I dealt with back then that was within the text of the email. There is probably nowhere but the DoD files where my name, those two company names and that contracting officer would show up. And the email address it was sent to didn't exist until ten years after all this transpired. If it is indeed a phishing disguise they are in possession of some fairly obscure info from the government.
The last "official" resume I used was when I went to work for the Department of Transportation in the early nineties. On that resume I would have probably listed one of those companies, but definitely not the contracting officer's name. And at that time I did have the email address (an old AOL account) that this email came to, but there was never a digital copy of that resume and as far as I know that email address was never used on anything other than a personal device.
The only place that all of those names would have ever been collected together would have been with a USAF contracting office and whomever was in charge of issuing DoD security clearances. Maybe WikiLeaks got ahold of some really old archives and is selling it to Croatian hackers attempting to obtain personal info...who knows??!
paden cash, post: 424121, member: 20 wrote: I had the opportunity to travel with some military and civil service employees a couple of times to some very remote places for a brief amount of time
Was this one of those latex glove type of moments?
edit: you don't have to answer
R.J. Schneider, post: 424215, member: 409 wrote: Was this one of those latex glove type of moments?
edit: you don't have to answer
We had to parachute into one of those remote places and I had never jumped out of an airplane before. When I got back I was telling a friend about the lifer Jumpmaster that came up behind me as I hesitated at the back bay of the C-130.
I told my friend he placed his chin on my shoulder and whispered in my ear, "Puke, if you don't jump I'm gonna ram my manhood up your backside.."
My friend asked, "DId you jump?"
I replied, "Yeah, a little bit at first...." 😉
paden cash, post: 424251, member: 20 wrote: My friend asked, "DId you jump?"
Yeeesh! The things you gotta' do for a government contract..
it could be pishing, probably is.
I got a similar email a few months ago. I phoned around, but not using any of the contacts provided in the email...
It turns out that it was a valid request.
it is all cleared up and updated now