Monday, September 09, 2024
How? How do people not know their own email addresses?
I'm still receiving emails from strangers who for some reason or another, think their email address is “seanconner@gmail.com” (no, really, I get so many emails). This time, it's from someone who's TikTok account was accessed on a new device:
- From
- TikTok <noreply@account.tiktok.com>
- To
- seanconner@gmail.com
- Subject
- New device login detected
- Date
- Tue, 03 Sep 2024 04:56:22 +0000 (UTC)
Hi xs,
We’re writing to inform you that we detected a login to your account from a new device.
When: 09/03 00:56 EDT
Device: iPhone 11
Near: LouisianaIf this was you, you can ignore this message.
If this wasn’t you, open the TikTok app and go to “Settings and privacy” > “Security and login” > “Security alerts” and review unauthorized logins. If you’re unable to access your account, contact TikTok support.
You can also set up 2-step verification to secure your account by going to “Security and login” > “2-step verification”.
Learn more about 2-step verificationThis is an automatically generated email.
Replies to this email address aren’t monitored.This email was generated for xs
Privacy Policy
TikTok 5800 Bristol Pkwy, Culver City, CA 90230
It's not a phishing email as the raw message doesn't contain a link to “login” to TikTok, and the links that are in the email all point to the TikTok domain. So I'm at a loss. “xs” created a TikTok account, using my email address …
Why?
I don't know why this should surprise me any more, but it still does. I just … why? How? What's the angle here?
I can't even contact anyone, because TikTok send email from an address that isn't checked. I don't know who “xs” is, nor do I have any way to contact “xs” to inform them of their error.
Sigh.
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
This could maybe explain some of the emails I received, but not all of them
I received some responses to yesterday's post. The first was from Lionel Dricot who reported that he, too, has received emails for other Lionel Dricot's that lived near him. He also stated that it may be a bug in Gmail where one person can register “seanconner@gmail.com”; someone else could register “sean.conner@gmail.com” but when receiving emails, Gmail condenses the two addresses into one. That's possible, but I would suspect that would have been an issue caught early on. I've had my Gmail account for twenty years now [Has it been that long? —Sean] [Yes, it has. —Editor] [Shut up! —Sean]. and it's only been in the past few years that this has been an issue.
He also stated that people could just really be that bad with email addresses.
The second response has an explanation that is rather dire:
- From
- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- To
- seanconner@gmail.com
- Subject
- People non knowing their email
- Date
- Tue, 10 Sep 2024 08:24:51 +0200
Hi, considering you've been shared on Hacker News, I'm afraid sooner or later some script kiddie will start abusing your address just to annoy you. I hope this will never happen ;) Thanks for sharing your blog, ave [sic] a nice day, White_Rabbit
That could explain maybe some of the email I get, which to me, I consider spam that Gmail hasn't filtered yet. But it doesn't explain emails sent to “sean.conner@gmail.com” that are obviously not a “Sean Conner,” and yet definitely contains private information. It also seems excessive to register a TikTok account or even an Instagram account.
And speaking of Tiktok, I finally have an account name associated with the TikTok account, so I have to wonder why “mommakmiller” decided to use my Gmail account? Perhaps they don't have an email account and need one to sign up for TikTok? Perhaps they didn't want to use their real email account? Perhaps they don't realize the danger in that?
Sunday, September 29, 2024
“It's 250 miles inland! What do you mean it was hit by a hurricane?”
I've always thought of Brevard as a place safe from natural disasters, nestled as it is in the Appalachian Mountains. It's not along a fault line so no earthquakes … oh wait a second … there is a fault line nearby. But still, it's too far inland for anything horrible like a hurricane to worry about … oh … wait a second … Hurricane Helene is causing issues in the area.
Perhaps it's not as safe from natural disasters as I once thought it was.
Sigh.
Monday, September 30, 2024
Ch-ch-ch-changes
Last week I got a letter in the mail from my ISP. In it, they said:
In a recent communication, we informed you that we are discontinuing the use of static IP adresses with our home internet service. We need to move your service to a dynamic IP address to avoid service ineterruption.
…
Please call before 9/30/2024 to avoid any interruption of your internet service. If you do not call, you internet service will be distrupted after this date.
I recall that previous communication. A few months ago I received a letter from my ISP trying to upsell me on a new plan, one that did not support static IP addresses. I called, and when I said that wasn't an option because of work (a slight embellishment on my part) they replied “how unfortunate” since they had no plans to offer one with the new plan. So I did nothing. I was happy with the plan I had (well, kind of still have).
And then last week, the letter above.
Now, I thought, given the wording the in letter, that I had until October 1st, you know, a date after their cut-off date of September 30th. And even then, I probably had several months, given my ISP is a large Enterprise that Does Not Move Fast™. Nope. Their definition of “after this date” was … today!
I only noticed when I couldn't log into my public server. The connection was still up, it's just that I no longer had the same IP address that I've had for the past … um … fourteen? years. I guess they can move fast when they want to.
I also found amusing this line in the letter: “We will switch your service to a dynamic IP address at no additional cost.” Wow! How nice of them. It's almost as if I wasn't already paying more for a static IP address!
Boy, how the Internet has changed over the years. Going from 32 publically addressible IP addresses aacross a dedicated ISDN link (years before DSL was a thing) to now, a dynamic IP address. Yes, I know, First World Problem™. It still doesn't make it less annoying from being a real peer on the Internet to just a cog in the client-server nature of the modern Internet.
And then, just three hours after the change, the company I host my public server with called—they're changing where the physical servers reside and that the public IP address I have for my public server will probably change, along with the DNS servers.
Boy, when it rains, it pours.
