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Man Hacks 911 System, Sends SWAT on Bogus Raid

An anonymous reader writes "The Orange County Register reports that a 19 year old from Washington state broke into the Orange County California 911 emergency system. He randomly selected the name and address of a Lake Forest, California couple and electronically transferred false information into the 911 system. The Orange County California Sheriff's Department's Special Weapons and Tactics Team was immediately sent to the home of a couple with two sleeping toddlers. The SWAT team handcuffed the husband and wife before deciding it was a prank. Says the article, 'Other law enforcement agencies have seen similar breaches into their 911 systems as part of a trend picked up by computer hackers in the nation called "SWATting"'"

13 of 754 comments (clear)

  1. ...with two sleeping toddlers by siyavash · · Score: 4, Funny

    Don't these hackers THINK OF THE CHILDREN? ^^ ...I know, I know. :p

  2. Jerk.... by pablo_max · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can not begin to tell you what a pain in the ass this was. You can not imagine how hard it is to tell your boss you are late for work because you are currently under siege from your the swat team. Totally messed up my morning.

  3. Re:Stupid & dangerous by theguru · · Score: 4, Funny

    But.. but.. that would be illegal.

  4. Re:Stupid & dangerous by megaditto · · Score: 5, Funny

    It was a typo. I mean, Q and N are right next to each-other.

    --
    Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
  5. Re:Drugs by Grey_14 · · Score: 5, Funny

    The problem here is the illegality and absurdity of the drug war.

    Yeah, That's the problem with people hacking the 911 system to dispatch SWAT teams, good call.

  6. Re:Good grief by iminplaya · · Score: 5, Funny

    Posting from work?

    --
    What?
  7. New hacker category by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    For people who do this kind of stuff.

    Whitehat Grayhat Blackhat Asshat

    It may be the police's / politician's own fault for having the unprotected system and bla bla bla... But when they catch the guy who did it, 5+ years in the slammer I say. That's the kind of situation when you can take the Hacker Manifesto and wipe your ass with it.

  8. Re:Good grief by Teufelsmuhle · · Score: 5, Funny

    I always thought it was, "Fool me once, shame on -- shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again."

  9. Re:Good grief by encoderer · · Score: 4, Funny

    The problem is that more of our crimes today are committed by criminals.

  10. I'm slow, but I get it right every time now! by weston · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's usually not all that difficult to tell the difference between a police raid and a home invasion.

    Yeah! Well, it took me a while, but I've gotten to the point where I don't even have to wake up to tell the difference!

    Just last week I woke up to find my already splintered and duct-taped door kicked in yet again, and I'd slept right through it! I'm pretty it was the police based on what they took and what they didn't take.

    See, I've gotten to the point where I keep two packages handy whenever I go to bed: one with ID, a personal statement, some donuts, coffee, milk, etc., and the other with a few valuables and convincing amount of cash I round up before I go to bed. I give the appropriate one to whoever breaks in that night. I used to mess up *all* the time -- and while, sure, the thugs appreciated the donuts, they'd always want the valuables, too, even though they'd get nicer about it if the donuts were good. And you could see the police really had their feelings hurt when they thought I was trying to buy them off, and nobody wants that.

    But I've gotten it right the last 15 times -- even last week, when I woke up in the morning to find out I'd slept through it all. The donuts were gone and the valuables were still there! I'm looking forward to the time when this will all be sorted out and I can just buy myself another door and stop spending all this money on donuts, duct tape, and miscellaneous valuables, but in the meanwhile, I'm glad I've adapted and learned to cope before doing anything really stupid like overreacting when someone breaks in.

  11. Re:Good grief by srhill · · Score: 5, Funny

    possibly with a fake return address An anonymous letter with your real return address wouldn't help much now would it?
  12. Re:Good grief by kalirion · · Score: 4, Funny

    Send an anonymous letter, possibly with a fake return address.

    Isn't the point to NOT have SWAT teams show up at random addresses?

  13. Re:Stupid & dangerous by hawk · · Score: 4, Funny

    >Every time an officer sees someone, 'Police' will be the first word out of his mouth.

    This may have something to do with the divorce rate for cops:

    [sultry] "Hey, honey, look what I put on for you."

    "Police, wow."

    [confused] "Huh?"

    "Police, I like it."

    [hurt] "Knock that off!" {*sniff*}

    "Police, I can't."

    [angry] "Goodbye." :)

    hawk