SPAM RISK

Many more phone calls have been appearing on my phone labeled “Spam Risk” over the last few weeks. I haven’t done anything differently with my phone, but they are now up to 5+ calls a day. I have received several data breach notices from cyber security companies within the past couple of months. What is a data breach? Data breaches are security incidents where information is accessed, stolen, and used by a cybercriminal without authorization. Data breaches impact individuals and organizations every day.

Sometimes spam calls are just nuisance calls by someone wanting to sell a product or services, while others may gather information for surveys. And oh boy, the political calls to convince us to vote a certain way. The last is the unscrupulous call that seeks information to perpetrate fraud and relieve you of your hard-earned assets. The question then becomes whether greed or covetousness is the response to any temptation presented to you. The source and response is what I am discussing in this blog post. In fact, I am going to pull a double—a public and a spiritual service announcement.

What is Spam Risk?

Spam Risk is a term used by mobile carriers to flag potential spam phone calls, usually because they come from unknown or suspicious sources. Carriers may also flag certain numbers as spam if the caller makes a lot of short calls or if the number is frequently reported.

A call is probably spam if the caller ID name says “Spam Risk,” “Spam Likely,” “Suspected Spam,” or something similar. If you see one of these warning messages pop up, ignore the call and block the number.¹

Why do you keep getting Spam Risk calls?

A data breach can be the result of a spam call but you can also be singled out because of your associations, public information sharing or robocalls. In similar fashion, Satan uses his vast network of demons to gather and share information since he can only be in one place at one time. They have one mission in life, to keep the “natural man,” the psuchikos anthrо̄pos of 1 Cor. 2:14, fully engaged and rejecting the work of the Spirit. Your demon has been following you all of your life and knows your strengths and weaknesses. They communicate with each other as you encounter other people during your daily life just looking for opportunities to take us down.

I liken this spirit-world communication to robocalls, random automated dialing of a list of number reaching into your life. Only heaven knows whether the influence is a temptation or a test.

If you’re getting a ton of spam calls, your phone number may have been exposed in a data breach or data leak, resulting in it winding up on a spammer's list. However, it’s also possible that:

• Data brokers are collecting your contact information from public sources and selling it to businesses.

• People search websites are publishing personal information like your phone number for the public to see.

• Somebody may have tagged you in a post or shared your information on social media.

• You’re getting robocalls, which randomly run through a list of numbers.

The active elements that affect us directly are engaged by social engineering (SE). SE works by building false trust, exploiting human error, and using persuasion to gain access to sensitive or confidential information. THE DEVIL IS A ROARING LION (1 Peter 5:8) and is always scheming. Instead of just personal contact, there are countless methods that unscrupulous denizens use to create opportunities to influence you.

As with most cyber threats, social engineering schemes can come in many forms, but they all generally work the same way. Grooming, as defined in youth protection training, mirror the following steps in a similar fashion.

There are four basic steps to a successful social engineering attack:

1. Preparation - The social engineer gathers information about their victims, including where to contact them, such as on social media, email, text messaging platforms, etc.
2. Infiltration - The social engineer contacts their victims, often by impersonating a trustworthy source and using the information gathered about their victims to gain trust.
3. Exploitation - The social engineer uses persuasion to request information from their victims, such as contact information or even login details that they can use for fraudulent purposes.
4. Disengagement - After carrying out their attack, the social engineer abruptly breaks off communication with their victims.

Satan is the father of lies, (John 8:44b) and there is no truth in him. Looking at the four steps above, this system works for the believer and unbeliever alike. The old sin nature of man has an untold myriad of avenues to enter a person’s life. The natural man in society has no defense for satanic attack other than standing on biblical principles in common grace while he still has breath. Distractions, lies, false religious systems, altruism, greed, and arrogance are among the devices that would hinder the Message from reaching an individual or the masses who reside in the cosmic administration.

From the day we took our first breath, our Adam-inspired sin nature (passed down to every person) kicked in. The clock has been running from that moment until we take our last breath. The person who has placed his faith and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross has his sins forgiven and is declared righteous by the Father, thereby removing him from the penalty of sin and the rejection of Christ (which leads to eternity in the Lake of Fire). We have been equipped with the tools necessary to elicit a positive result if we are willing to pick up God’s call and engage Him.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

1. https://us.norton.com/blog/emerging-threats/spam-risk. All the spam information is derived from this article.