Unlisted number
Yesterday, I was met with an authentication error when attempting to access InstantlyForgettableNameCorp's time-management system. The login system is run on Microsoft Azure…you can see where this going, can't you? In order to reset my account, I had to enter a code sent to my mobile number, xx-xxxxx93. Except, I don't have a mobile with a number ending with 93. (confused)
The error message included a link to change my authentication method; https://aka.ms/mfasetup. But that link took me straight back to the same authentication page. Around in circles, going nowhere; how typically Microsoft. (rolleyes)
It was only then that I noticed that my automatically-generated corporate email signature includes a mobile number ending with 93. I've no idea whose phone that is, but it's very good of them to field my calls.
I raised a ticket with IT. They asked for my actual mobile number so they can reset it. I don't have a corporate mobile phone, and I'm not about to give those tossers my personal number; the company does not pay for it, and has no right to its use.
I have, however, created a new email signature, without someone else's contact number. I wonder how long it will take for it to be reset to the template version…(thinking)
Hmmm, curiouser and curiouser. I've just noticed that the landline number of my Basel pied-à-terre ends with 93. It's also the number that was added to my email signature as a corporate mobile number.
I didn't recognise it at the time because I hardly use it. And it doesn't accept SMS messages anyway, so it's completely useless for the purpose of authentication. But that's beside the point.
Presumably the morons in IT or HR took it from my HR profile, where I'd given it as an emergency contact number. Clearly, they cannot be trusted with personal information. So I'll have to go in to the system and falsify anything sensitive.
At this point, I'm not even angry. It's just further evidence, if it were really needed, of the almost tragic level of incompetence within InstantlyForgettableNameCorp's HR and IT departments. (SMH)