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DailyDirt: Swatting Is Not A Harmless Prank
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
What do people like to do with their free time? Most people probably enjoy doing normal things like reading, surfing the web, watching TV, playing sports, or playing video games. And then there are some who apparently like "swatting" -- a potentially deadly prank where phone hackers make emergency calls reporting violent crimes, life-threatening hostage situations, etc., while spoofing their caller IDs to make it seem like the calls are coming from their target's phone number. Unfortunately, for the targeted victims, this means heavily armed police SWAT teams descending on their homes, sometimes breaking down doors and bursting into their homes. Here are a few eye-opening stories about swatting.
- One of the best phone hackers out there might be a guy named "Li'l Hacker," who happens to be blind and started "phone phreaking" when he was just 14. What started as an "innocent" hobby turned bad when he started associating with a gang of phone hackers led by an ex-con. [url]
- Security reporter Brian Krebs may have been one of the first journalists to have been the target of a swatting. Having reported about hacking crimes for over a decade, Krebs was used to being the target of attacks. His website is frequently disrupted by DDoS attacks. But this time, at least a dozen police officers showed up at his door with pistols, shotguns, and assault rifles pointed at him. [url]
- Even celebrities can't escape swatting. Victims have included Tom Cruise, Clint Eastwood, Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, Selena Gomez, Justin Timberlake, Russell Brand, Rihanna, and Chris Brown, just to name a few. [url]
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Man...
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It's only funny...
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Re: It's only funny...
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Re: Re: It's only funny...
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Re: It's only funny...
when it happens to somebody else. Then it's hilarious! LOL!
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Re. Brian Krebs's swatting..
He walked out to the SWAT team, showed them his ID, and said, "You may recall that I was over at your precinct a few weeks ago, and explained that I am a Internet Security Reporter and Researcher, and it's possible that at some time in the future, you may get a phone call reporting some incident that requires a SWAT team at my home..."
The SWAT team managed to find the office that Brian had spoken to, his story checked out, they went away...
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Re: Re. Brian Krebs's swatting..
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This might be the reason why most criminals having a showdown in Serbia prefer to use bombs planted under cars and kidnapping and then shooting in the back of the head somewhere in the wilderness on their opponents.
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My condolences go out to the victims, and the poor dogs who are undoubtedly getting shot dead as standard procedure.
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