Security Expert Writes Story, Generates SWATing Call

An Internet security expert was visited by several Fairfax County (Virg.) police officers last week, called to his home by a disgruntled Web site owner who made a SWATing 911 call and reported a shooting. Brian Krebs had warned the police department last year that he might be the subject of malicious 911 calls, and so police quickly took off the handcuffs when they learned who he was. Nevertheless, the encounter was unsettling, Krebs wrote in a story for his Web site. He said the police visit was accompanied by a “distributed denial-of-service” attack (DDoS) against his Web site from a set of Web servers that can be hired by anyone for a fee. His blog’s Web host company also received a phony letter from the FBI, demanding the host take down Krebs’ Web site. Krebs frequently writes about rogue and otherwise malicious Web sites around the world on his security-related blog. In this case, he believes one of his story subjects initiated the cyber attack against him and made the 911 call. Police said the 911 call’s ALIthat showed Krebs’ cellular telephone number, and the caller claimed to be Krebs. The caller reported that “Russians” had entered his home and shot Krebs’ wife. An officer recognized Krebs’ name and address from his earlier warning, and tried to call the house to verify the incident. However, Krebs was in the basement and couldn’t get to the phone. Krebs notes that local police departments are “ill-equipped” to stop SWATing attacks, and urges agencies to take a task force approach to handling such incidents. Read more about SWATing here.