Hacker Group Vows To Jam Police Radios

A fatal police-involved shooting in San Francisco by a transit district officer sparked public demonstrations last month, and has now brought threats by a computer hacker group to jam the district’s police radio system. The group Anonymous made the threats Sunday on its Twitter page, but did not say how they intended to jam the system. The Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) operates a conventional 800 MHz trunked radio network covering four counties, which is used by its police, track maintenance and operations departments. The EDACS system was originally installed by Ericsson GE (M/A-COMM, Harris Corp.) in April 2000. A BART police offer shot and killed a man officers say was armed with two knives on a station platform. A week later demonstrators mobbed an underground BART station downtown, and at one point tried to climb atop the trains stopped at the platform. When demonstrators threatened a return to the station last Thursday, BART police turned off the cellular telephone antennas at several stations to prevent demonstrators from coordinating their actions. BART operates the underground antenna system separate from those maintained by wireless carriers. Police explained that above-ground cellular service wasn’t affected, and that the shut-down did not create a safety hazard. Several groups have criticized the police cellular shut-down, saying it infringes on free speech rights and creates a safety hazard for passengers who might have an emergency.

The group Anonymous has hacked various computer systems previously, including releasing various corporate and individual information from computer files and putting up their own Web site designs on Web sites.

This entry appeared on the Twitter page of the hacker group Anonymous.