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Message Digest Volume 28 : Issue 36 : "text" Format Messages in this Issue: 911 service not prepared for new generation of pranksters Re: 911 service not prepared for new generation of pranksters ====== 27 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ====== Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer, and other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 00:36:38 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: 911 service not prepared for new generation of pranksters Message-ID: <p06240812c5aed82f8042@[10.0.1.6]> 911 service not prepared for new generation of pranksters Prank callers are using VoIP and caller ID spoofing services to pull expensive wool over the eyes of 911 call centers. Solutions are available to bring these centers into the 21st century, but even the cheapest ones are priced outside the realm of the aging service. By David Chartier | Last updated February 2, 2009 7:30 The Internet and the hooligans who exploit it have evolved over the past few years, but sadly, America's 911 service hasn't kept up. Pranksters are wreaking havoc on the service and on call center budgets by placing fake calls through a flaw in the way the aging emergency phone system handles VoIP networks. After paying a small fee to one of the readily available caller ID spoofing services available on the Web, a prank caller with a grudge or a serious psychological problem can call 911 and tell the operator just about any story he or she wants. Since the 911 system wasn't built with VoIP in mind, these calls appear to originate from anywhere, and said hooligans take full advantage of the opportunity. The practice has been dubbed "swatting," typically because the spoofed emergency stories that these troubled individuals make up are horrible enough to send police and even SWAT teams to unsuspecting victims on the other side of town or the continent. The AP reports one recent incident that occurred in 2007, when 18-year-old Randal Ellis in Mukilteo, WA falsified his location and called a 911 support center in Orange County, CA. For 27 minutes, Ellis spun a story about drugs and murder that sent the Orange County Sherriff's department SWAT team to the house of Doug and Stacey Bates. Ellis told the operator that he was high and had just shot his sister, and after police stormed the house, Doug and Stacey were handcuffed. This was just one of the 185 calls Ellis made to 911 call centers around the US, according to Yahoo Tech, and the Bates family was picked at random. After being caught, the teen pleaded to five felony felony counts that include computer access and fraud, as well as false imprisonment by violence, and was sentenced to serve three years in prison. Another major case involved eight people who arranged over 300 swatting calls, while another in 2006 involved a teen in Dallas, TX who made up a story about killing family members and threatening hostages with an AK-47. ... http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2009/02/911-service-not-prepared-for-new-generation-of-pranksters.ars ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 10:44:36 -0800 (PST) From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: 911 service not prepared for new generation of pranksters Message-ID: <c10ba2c5-d4db-4339-88c0-18be3b53d006@r27g2000vbp.googlegroups.com> On Feb 4, 11:39 am, Monty Solomon <mo...@roscom.com> wrote: > 911 service not prepared for new generation of pranksters > > Prank callers are using VoIP and caller ID spoofing services to pull > expensive wool over the eyes of 911 call centers. Solutions are > available to bring these centers into the 21st century, but even the > cheapest ones are priced outside the realm of the aging service. First, I don't believe 911 (or inward 800) use 'caller id', but rather a more secure ANI to get the calling number. Second, if any VOIP system is unable to provide a proper ANI and meet all other existing standards, it should be forbidden to connect to the POTS network. It's up to VOIP to modify itself to be compatible with the existing network. It's utterly not fair to expect users of the existing network to pay extra to modify it to accomodate newcomer VOIP. Third, I believe almost all 911 centers record all calls and have done so for years. Thus, pranksters leave some identification behind. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom- munications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to Usenet, where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. The Telecom Digest is currently being moderated by Bill Horne while Pat Townson recovers from a stroke. Contact information: Bill Horne Telecom Digest 43 Deerfield Road Sharon MA 02067-2301 781-784-7287 bill at horne dot net Subscribe: telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=subscribe telecom Unsubscribe: mailto:telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=unsubscribe telecom This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. 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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of The Telecom digest (2 messages) ******************************