The director of the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity infrastructure protection agency confirms she was the victim of a dangerous “swatting” attempt late last month. As first reported on January 22 by cybersecurity news outlet, The Record, local police in Arlington County, VA, arrived at Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly’s residence around 9pm on December 30 after receiving a 911 call that falsely claimed a shooting had occurred in or near her home.
What is ‘swatting’?
“Swatting” refers to when malicious actors intentionally report nonexistent, often violent crimes at a target’s residence, with the intention of causing an aggressive, potentially harmful police response. The term originates in reference to the SWAT teams most often dispatched to handle the kinds of crimes reported by hoaxers. Although its origins reside in events such as simply calling in false bomb threats, swatting itself has grown in popularity over the years, initially through the online video gaming community. The FBI first referenced the “new phenomenon” as far back as 2008, but tactics have evolved since then to include more sophisticated methods such as hacking Ring cameras and employing “spoofing” technology to appear as though a 911 call is actually coming from a targeted residence. The technical complexity involved in Easterly’s incident is currently unclear.
[Related: Two men used Ring cameras to ‘swat’ homeowners.]
Although law enforcement officers departed Easterly’s home last month after confirming the 911 call to be a hoax, this unfortunately is not always the case. In 2017, Wichita police accidentally killed a 28-year-old after responding to false reports of a shooting and hostage situation. In that instance, the tragedy stemmed from a dispute from two online gamers with no connection to the victim after one of the players provided the other their old…
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