swatting
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Twitch's off-service conduct policy finally covers doxxing and swatting
Starting today, Twitch will start suspending and banning users who doxx and swat others outside of its own platform.
YouTube sues user who extorted others through fake takedown requests
A lawsuit filed by YouTube yesterday claims that a user abused its copyright infringement reporting system to extort fellow YouTubers and carry out a swatting attack. YouTube alleges that Christopher Brady, of Omaha, Nebraska, filed dozens of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices, which falsely claimed that materials posted by other users infringed his copyrights. Not only were the takedown notices bogus, they were allegedly part of Brady's plan to extort money from those users.
'Call of Duty' swatter to serve 20 years in prison
Tyler Barriss was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a US district court judge today for placing fake 911 calls, including a swatting incident in 2017 that resulted in the death of a man in Wichita, Kansas, according to the Associated Press. The fatal shooting was the fallout of an argument over a $1.50 bet in Call of Duty between Barriss and another gamer.
US charges 'Call of Duty' swatter's alleged co-conspirators
Now that Call of Duty swatter Tyler Bariss has pleaded guilty, law enforcement is pursuing the people allegedly linked to his crimes. Federal agents have charged Neal Patel, Logan Patten and Tyler Stewart for reportedly conspiring with Barriss in both swatting attacks (that is, trick police into sending a SWAT team) and false bomb threats in locations across the US, including Connecticut, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio and Texas. Patel and Patten also face respective charges for bank fraud and threatening to injure in interstate commerce.
Facebook's headquarters evacuated due to bomb threat (updated)
Tonight the police in Menlo Park, CA are on the scene near the 200 block of Jefferson Ave where the headquarters of Facebook and Instagram are located. According to local news stations KRON4 and NBC Bay Area, an anonymous tip came in to the NYPD, who forwarded it to local officers. In a tweet around 6 PM local time, Menlo Park PD said "The building has been evacuated and the bomb unit is on scene." The events bring to mind the shooting at YouTube earlier this year, and even if it's a hoax, we've also seen how quickly "swatting" pranks can end tragically. A company spokesperson confirmed via email that everyone is safe, a few buildings were evacuated and they are investigating. Update 12/11 11:55 PM ET: According to the latest update from police, they did not find any device or suspicious package. Facebook spokesperson Genevieve Grdina provided the following statement: Late this afternoon, we received a bomb threat and took swift action to evacuate several buildings at our Menlo Park campus. We take the safety and security of our people at Facebook extremely seriously and are glad that everyone is safe. We are working closely with local authorities to investigate this threat and further monitor the situation.
Swatter behind deadly 'Call of Duty' hoax pleads guilty to 51 charges
Tyler Barriss is poised to face a stiff punishment for the game-related swatting call that ultimately killed Wichita resident Andrew Finch, not to mention a host of other crimes. Barriss has pleaded guilty to 51 charges as part of a deal, including making a false report resulting in death as well as bomb threats to numerous US states and Canada. The agreement will see him face at least 20 years in prison if the judge approves the terms.
After Math: Life imitating art imitating life
Between the political theater and unreal earnings reports, this has been a surreal week for the ages. But while you were glued to the news feeds, an AI-generated art piece sold for silly money, NASA fixed the Hubble by jiggling its handle and a band of clever thieves perpetrated a multimillion-download ad scam that would put the Ocean's crew to shame.
Recommended Reading: Midterms have already been hacked
The midterms are already hacked. You just don't know it yet. Benjamin Wofford, Vox The concerns regarding voting processes in the US are nothing new, especially when it comes to vulnerabilities. Vox is the latest to take an in-depth look at the troubling issues surrounding voting systems ahead of the midterms on November 6th. And it's (still) not pretty, even after months of warnings from all sides.
Infamous swatter faces 46 more charges, including bomb threats
Tyler Barriss, an infamous swatter whose actions allegedly led to a man's death, faces 46 new charges. They include allegations he called in bomb threats at the schools of his Halo buddies so they could have a day off, as Wired reports.
Seattle PD registry opens for residents worried about 'swatting'
The practice of 'swatting' has increasingly become a part of online harassment, and now the Seattle Police Department formalized a proactive measure for residents who think they might be a target. It published a PSA for the project showing bodycam footage of officers responding to a call that turned out to be a swatting "prank" where a caller claimed he was holding five hostages and would kill them if he didn't get $5,000. When police rushed to the location, they found only a young woman and a cat. For people like live streamers who may be targets, the PD is using its arrangement with a company called Rave Facility. It already used their tech to create a "Smart 911" profile residents could fill out to give responders a heads up about being hearing impaired, having pets or a medical condition to be concerned about. This next step contains a flag for registering swatting concerns about a particular location.
Notorious Kansas swatter charged in net neutrality bomb threat
The FCC vote on December 14th, 2017 is best known as the day that net neutrality died, but you may recall that it didn't quite go as planned. During the session, Chairperson Ajit Pai announced that the room had to be evacuated because of a bomb threat. Now, the person who allegedly did that, Tyler Raj Barriss, has been indicted. If that name sounds familiar, it's the same person accused of swatting a gamer who was subsequently shot and killed by police in Wichita, Kansas.
LA man charged with involuntary manslaughter over 'CoD' swatting
The man who was arrested last month in conjunction with the Kansas swatting incident that resulted in a fatality has now been charged. Tyler Barriss was arraigned in a Kansas court today and hit with three charges -- giving a false alarm, interference with law enforcement and involuntary manslaughter -- the latter of which carries a maximum prison sentence of 36 months and a fine of up to $300,000.
LAPD arrested a 25-year-old suspect in Wichita 'swatting' case
Thursday night Wichita police killed Andrew Finch after responding to a call claiming a man at his address had shot someone and was holding others hostage. That call was a hoax, commonly referred to as "swatting," and in this case, it's apparently linked to a Call of Duty match, where one player passed a fake address to another before someone called the police to it. Now NBC News reports that police in Los Angeles have arrested 25-year-old Tyler Barriss, who is believed to have made the call inciting the incident. Barriss may be the "SWAutistic" who tweeted about making the call and later participated in a phone interview with the DramaAlert show on YouTube. An LAPD spokesperson confirmed to Engadget that Barriss is in custody, no bail has been set, and that they are working with Wichita police on the case. The LA Times reported in 2015 that he had been arrested for calling in a bomb threat to a TV studio, and in the YouTube video, SWAutistic claims to be responsible for bomb threats that interrupted an MLG Call of Duty event in Dallas earlier this month.
Alleged swatting hoax ends in the death of a father of two (updated)
Yesterday evening, a 28-year-old Kansas man was shot by police after the station received a call about a hostage situation taking place at the man's residence. "It was a shooting call involving hostages," Deputy Police Chief Troy Livingston said during a press conference last night. "The original call, we were told that someone had an argument with their mother and dad was accidentally shot. And that now that person was holding mother, brother and sister hostage. We learned through that call that a father was deceased, and had been shot in the head. That was the information we were working off of." But that information turned out to be wrong and shortly after the incident, reports began to surface online that the call was part of a "swatting" stunt -- a hoax wherein someone makes a false police report in order to fuel a large law enforcement response.
Senators introduce bill to criminalize revenge porn
Senators have introduced a bill today which, if passed, would establish federal criminal liability for those sharing revenge porn. The bill, Ending Nonconsensual Online User Graphic Harassment (ENOUGH) Act of 2017, will address what Congressperson Jackie Speier calls a "gaping hole in our legal system".
Proposed bill would make doxxing a federal crime
While many internet harassment tactics, such as doxxing and swatting, are considered illegal under state criminal laws, the coverage is often indirect. More often than not, law enforcement has difficulty identifying and prosecuting these types of crimes. But now, Representatives Katherine Clark (D-MA), Susan Brooks (R-IN) and Patrick Meehan (R-PA) want to criminalize these behaviors at the federal level with the Online Safety Modernization Act of 2017.
Politician rallying against SWATting falls victim herself
Writing about SWATting victims is as depressing as writing about data breaches, but this is the future we live in. In regards to the former, the politician who's come out strongest against the potentially deadly prank found herself on the receiving end of it recently. As her Boston local CBS station reports, Congresswoman Katherine Clark had a smattering of police officers with "long guns" on her front lawn Sunday night. What'd she do, broadcast some Counter-Strike? No, She's rallying behind the Interstate Swatting Hoax Act, a bill that'd make prank calling the SWAT team on someone a federal offense. Currently, the law states that faking a bomb threat or terrorist attack via telecommunications and across state lines is illegal; SWATting is not.
Twitch bans streamer who faked his own swatting
There are a couple things you probably shouldn't do to celebrate acquiring 800,000 followers on Twitch. Faking your own swatting at the end of a 24-hour live event, as streamer Trick2g recently did, is at the top of the list. Trick2g, who focused primarily on League of Legends during his broadcasts, can be seen casually chatting with viewers when two "police officers" bust in and haul him away.
Lizard Squad member pleads guilty to harassing women gamers
The co-called Lizard Squad have established that they're pretty terrible people, but one of the members has hit a sad new low. A 17-year old Canadian has pleaded guilty to 23 separate offenses against mostly young, female gamers, including extortion and criminal harassment, according to the Tri-City News. The teenager (who can't be named because of his age) outed victims' financial information online, placed false orders for services and repeatedly swatted victims, among other crimes. He reportedly targeted most of his victims on Twitter and while playing League of Legends.
GamerGate target starts online harassment prevention program
Despite Twitter making it easier to report cyber harassment, its measures still fall woefully short. To wit, game developers Zoe Quinn, one of GamerGate's biggest targets, and Alex Lifschitz have teamed up to form an online abuse help network. Crash Override says its goal is to provide a support network for victims of SWATting, doxxing and other maliciousness both preventatively and reactively. It accomplishes this by using "well-established, humane and transparent channels to disempower abuse and reduce the ability abusers have to perpetuate it." The outfit notes that in its trial runs it's effectively helped abuse targets head off SWATting attempts and lock down their personal information, too, all without resorting to more harassment. What's more, Crash Override counts whitehat hackers, infosec professionals and lawyers among its agents.
