An unusual incident
Recently, the Servei d’Ocupació de Catalunya (SOC) experienced a collapse in its telephone line that surprised everyone. Contrary to what one might expect, the sudden increase in calls was not due to an increase in unemployment, but rather a misunderstanding. According to reports from the newspaper Ara, the SOC customer service number, 900 800 046, received a large number of calls, much more than usual. The surprise came when it was discovered that the collapse was due to the fact that the number had been advertised as an erotic line.
Incident resolution
Fortunately, the incident has now been resolved and the SOC switchboard has returned to normal operation. For two days, telephone service was affected due to the collapse. The SOC reported the situation through a message on social media and provided alternative links to its website so that users could contact in other ways.
Complaint and actions taken
The SOC has reported this incident to the relevant authorities, including the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Agència de Ciberseguretat de Catalunya and the CTTI (Centre de Telecommunications and Information Technologies). Although it is believed to have been a prank, investigations are underway to determine responsibility and prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future. Some of the erroneous advertisements can still be found online, but most of them have been removed.
Ruling out a cyber attack
The SOC rules out the possibility of a cyber attack. Although the ads included SOC email, no significant increase in messages or spam has been observed. Once the ads were removed, the inappropriate calls stopped. Therefore, the situation is considered to have returned to normal and no user data has been exposed or system security compromised.
