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Harvard Bomb Hoax Perpetrator Caught Despite Tor Use

Meshach writes "The FBI has caught the student who called in a bomb threat at Harvard University on December 16. The student used a temporary anonymous email account routed through Tor, but the FBI was able to trace it (PDF) because it originated from the Harvard wireless network. He could face as long as five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine if convicted. He made the threat to get out of an exam."

20 of 547 comments (clear)

  1. Heckler veto by smittyoneeach · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We can either live in a future where little jackwagons can effect a denial-of-service attack on society, or
    we can spank the crap out of the idiots so that this kind of noise is minimized. Same goes for rape/hate crime hoaxes.

    --
    Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
    1. Re:Heckler veto by Jherek+Carnelian · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We can either live in a future where little jackwagons can effect a denial-of-service attack on society, or we can spank the crap out of the idiots so that this kind of noise is minimized.

      OR we can stop over-reacting and instead apply a rational evaluation of the facts. This knee-jerk "all threats must be taken seriously" where "seriously" really means "total freakout" is the vulnerability here.

  2. Re: "because it originated from the wireless netwo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    also, don't make false bomb threats. They're stupid

    Don't make real ones either. They're even stupider.

  3. So he was clever enough ... by Ihlosi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... to use TOR, but then gave a full confession during an "interview", throwing his right to remain silent (and to have a lawyer present during questioning) out the window?

    1. Re:So he was clever enough ... by SB9876 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      He called in a bomb threat to delay taking a final. This is a dude that has already shown that he has poor decision making skills.

    2. Re:So he was clever enough ... by Ihlosi · · Score: 4, Insightful
      I'm not sure that it's really that surprising that he confessed - most people who are convicted of crimes plead guilty.

      You plead guilty right before the trial would start, if anything.

      pleading guilty can get you a pretty hefty discount on your sentence

      And you waive that discount by confessing to a law enforcement officer during an "interview". Because in that case, the court has sufficient evidence to convict you regardless of your plea.

  4. Harvard by Thanshin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I expected more from a Harvard student.

    A couple of hours of online research should have taught him to, at least, connect through a cracked wifi far from his neighborhood. Or, if he was computer illiterate, to convince someone from another country to send the mails for him.

    Also, once he decided to avoid the exam in a way that could land him in prison, why use a method he didn't understand, instead of burning down the building or paying someone to send the teacher to the hospital?

    However, the first question I would ask him would be if he had considered that simply approaching the teacher and explaining him that he and all his family would be killed unless the exam was postponed, carried a shorter jail time than a terrorist threat.

    In conclusion, clearly in Harvard they are not teaching how to deal with real world problems pragmatically.

    1. Re:Harvard by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The best Harvard students learn that you have no need to conceal your crimes if you can commit them from a position of enough influence to simply make them legal. That's where kiddo slipped up.

  5. Re:"because it originated from the wireless networ by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The wonderful thing about shows like CSI is that it convinces criminals to implement absurd technical defences when their crimes will almost certainly be dealt with by old-fashioned police work.

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
  6. Re:Of course, he'll have affluenza by isorox · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You should look at the statistics for people who attend Harvard. 30% of their students have a family that pulls in 150k or more.

    I'm amazed it's that low.

  7. Re:"because it originated from the wireless networ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Precisely this. Harvard keeps flow type logs, they found someone using tor. Pigs barfed on him, he cracked and confessed. The kid's a fucking retard, mostly for cranking people.

    Please, don't use Tor to harass and be an asshole.
    Real freedom fighters need Tor, not you and your lulz.

    See who else really needs Tor: https://www.torproject.org/

    And quit being assholes.

  8. Kids these days... by jcr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If he'd just called it in from a pay phone, they'd never have found him.

    -jcr

    --
    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  9. Remember when this was no big deal? by goodmanj · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Remember the days when this story wouldn't even have made the local paper? Seriously, 25 years ago your average school saw one of these every few years. It headlined the school paper, the local cops investigated, but the FBI? National news? Heck no.

    Who needs terrorists when we now pay large corporations and government agencies to spread panic? Quit terrorizing the nation to protect your job security and let me know when something actually blows up.

  10. Protip by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just study, it's easier.

  11. Re: In the kitchen by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Committing a felony already loses him the right to vote or own a firearm, and will make employment prospects difficult.

    Sure is a lot to give up to keep from having to take an exam.

    --
    while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
  12. Re: "because it originated from the wireless netwo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is that more or less work than actually studying for the exam?

  13. No it isn't by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No normal person calls in a bomb threat to get out of a final that will at most just end being delayed.

    That YOU were (and are) an idiot doesn't mean everyone is. If your moronic logic was true, then the phone at your average school would never stop ringing. This guy (and since you clearly identify with him, you) is an asshole who thought nothing of creating a major nuisance for teachers and students because he wanted to get out of an exam. Ten to one you and him are the type who then later grow up... grow older and at the slightest provocation threaten to sue anyone and everyone for any delay or inconvenience.

    It is the eternal excuse of the asshole: Everyone does it.

    Nope.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  14. Re: In the kitchen by larry+bagina · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Bad example -- in Mass., felons don't lose their right to vote. They do lose their rights to own guns but the gun laws are so draconian that they never really had that right in the first place. Most people who own a gun are breaking the law in doing so.

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  15. Re:So he didn't get caught from the e-mail... by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Let's be honest, someone who makes a bomb threat to get out of an exam isn't exactly tipping the scales on the brightness side.........

    He could make a great banker, though.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  16. Re:So he didn't get caught from the e-mail... by LWATCDR · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "His mistake was admitting it."
    And this is what is wrong with the world. His mistake was calling in a bomb threat to get out of taking an exam.
     

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.