Brian Krebs may be first journalist to suffer vicious hack known as swatting.
by Dan Goodin - Mar 15 2013, 9:00am EDT73http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/SWAT_team-640x406.jpg
WikimediaBrian Krebs has always been a trailblazer among security reporters. His exposés completely shut down a California hosting service that coddled spammers and child pornographers and severely disrupted an organized crime syndicate known as Russian Business Network. More recently, his investigative journalism has followed the money to the people who sell malware exploit kits, illicitly procured credit reports, and denial-of-service services in underground forums.
Now, Krebs has achieved a decidedly more grim distinction. On Thursday, he became one of the first journalists to be on the receiving end of a vicious hoax that prompted a raid on his Northern Virginia home by a swarm of heavily armed police officers. The tactic, known as "swatting," has long been a favorite of depraved hackers. They use computers or special phone equipment to make emergency calls that appear to come from their target's phone number. When a 911 operator answers, they report a life-threatening, sometimes horrific crime in progress. Police, often armed with assault rifles, descend on the target's home, sometimes breaking down doors in the mistaken belief that their lives are on the line by gun-toting criminals carrying out home invasion robberies or drugged-out maniacs committing multiple homicides.
It was around 5pm. Krebs, 40, had just finished preparing his home for a small dinner party he had planned for later that evening. While vacuuming his home, his phone rang a few times, but he decided not to answer since he didn't want to get held up. When he finished, he realized there was still some tape at the entrance of his house where Christmas lights had been. He thought it made sense to remove it before his guests arrived.
"As soon as I open the front door, I hear this guy yelling at me, behind a squad car, pointing a pistol at me saying: 'Don't move. Put your hands up,'" Krebs, who is a long-time friend and colleague, told me. "The first thing I said was: 'You've got to be kidding me.'"
In all, there were at least a dozen officers with pistols, shotguns, and assault rifles pointed at him. They had police dogs circling his house and cruisers had sealed off a nearby street. Krebs, who was dressed in just gym shorts and a T-shirt, complied. Wisely.
"Two different guys were barking orders at me," he continued. "I finally said: 'Which way should I go?'" One officer told Krebs to lie on the ground, but before he could comply the other cop ordered Krebs to walk backwards. Eventually, "they put the cuffs on me and took me up the street. I was freezing the whole time."
Krebs said an officer of the department told him that police received a 911 call that appeared to come from Krebs' phone. The caller posed as Krebs and said he was hiding in a closet after Russian thieves had broken into his home and shot his wife. They were now stealing jewelry, the caller reported. Fairfax County Police officials didn't respond to calls seeking comment for this article.
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