Brian Krebs Gets SWATted 240
RedLeg writes "ArsTechnica reports that Brian Krebs, of KrebsOnSecurity.com, formerly of the Washington Post, recently got SWATted. For those not familiar with the term, SWATting is the practice of spoofing a call to emergency responders (911 in the U.S.) to induce an overwhelming and potentially devastating response from law enforcement and/or other first responders to the home or residence of the victim. Brian's first-person account of the incident and what he believes to be related events are chronicled here.
Krebs has been prominent in the takedown of several cyber-criminal groups in the past, and has been subject to retaliation. I guess this time he poked the wrong bear."
Re:Danger. (Score:5, Interesting)
That and Brian is white, so that helps...
Re:Danger. (Score:5, Interesting)
I was mainly suggesting a way around the "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality. If cops are not allowed to use guns in their day-to-day activity, the force likely does not attract gun-nuts and the like. 99.99% of the time, there's no need for the police to be carrying guns around. Again, this may not work in countries like the US, but in most of the western world I believe it would.
Re:Danger. (Score:5, Interesting)
To say that this country is "inundated in gun violence" is like saying Europe is inundated with Germans.
Yes... there are seemingly random occurrences distributed widelythroughout the region... but also massive concentrations in very specific areas are alas, very common... Chicago being one of those such places.
It is interesting when you look at the actual data of gun violence, the majority comes from a handful of areas and tend to involve pretty common aspects of those involved.
Re:Danger. (Score:3, Interesting)
Which was one of the most curios parts of the story, because I would expect said warning to be blown off as paranoia and forgotten when it came time to respond. This whole thing could have ended very badly. Even with the most level-headed and respectable cops.
I once called the police, because I had moved into a new home and woke up in the middle of the night to what sounded like someone coming in through a window. I didn't realize the weather had changed and it was windy and noisy up-stairs. While the cops were on their way, I grabbed a bat and went to checkout the whole house. When the cops arrived, they were pretty insistent that I drop that bat immediately (for obvious reasons - I could have been the intruder and be coming back with a bloody bat from bashing the owner's head in, for all they knew).
Of course, I am white, also. So they afforded me the time to react before taking any measures we'd both regret. Or . . . mostly I would regret. :D
Re:Danger. (Score:5, Interesting)
It's illegal to own firearms in Chicago, so it should be a peaceful utopia (right)?
If you can drive 5 minutes out of town, a ban is essentially symbolic. That being said, those states with more gun control laws generally have fewer deaths. Hawaii for instance has very little gun violence and has some of the most strict gun laws. Hawaii is an interesting case since import/export laws are actually relatively easy to enforce seeing as it has no landlocked neighbors.
Re:Danger. (Score:4, Interesting)
Very true. The UK and Norway have the right idea, firearms should only be present only when the situation specifically calls for it. In Norway the firearms stay locked in the car and approval from a superior officer for them to be used, this seems like a good approach to me, at least in countries not inundated in gun violence.
Ya, it sucks, I live in the United States and the only guns I have ever seen pulled on someone was by cops. We do need to do something about the gun violence here, these cops are out of control!!!
Seriously, in the 40+ years I've been alive, I have only seen cops pull guns on people (people without guns, I might add), never the other way around.
We do have a problem, but it's not what people think.