Today's reminder about information security comes courtesy of recent political hot-topics and the good ol' fashioned telephone scam. I recently received a call from a number I didn't recognize. Being a bit foolish, and also expecting some follow-up calls regarding business conducted earlier in the day, I answered it.

An artificial male voice began explaining to me that "according to [their] records" I had no health insurance, but I might qualify for free insurance from the "federal government" and that the process of determining my qualification would take "two minutes." At that point I hung up. There was a distinct lack of proper nouns (such as the calling party's name or organization, not to mention the subtle avoidance of stating which federal government), and my health insurance is well in hand. But did I mention this phone call arrived on a Saturday?

Yeah. The day after Donald Trump was inaugurated as president of the United States. The very political party which has set its sights on dismantling the health insurance options provided by the Affordable Care Act. These scumbag scammers wasted no time, did they? With political feelings running high and allegations of falsehood from every quarter, it's easy to see someone falling victim to a phone call like this.

So, remain vigilant as ever. And if you live in the United States, I urge you to report any such scam attempts to the FCC via their website. The complaint form takes just a few minutes to fill out, and is rather comprehensive. Forget politics for a minute, let's tear down some robo-call scammers!