Swatter Sentenced to Two Years
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 07/18/2016 08:52 AM
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Mir Islam, a 22-year-old New York man, was sentenced to two years in jail for one bomb threat and for swatting and doxing at least 50 public figures and celebrities.
Those that were the target of his hacking included members of Congress, a federal prosecutor, National Rifle Association President Wayne LaPierre, First Lady Michelle Obama, then-FBI director Robert Mueller, then Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan, and security journalist Brian Krebs.
Islam was arrested in June 2012 after a lengthy FBI sting operation. He was one of 12 that were part of the operation. The FBI was following a group of credit card traffickers. Islam argeed to assist the FBI in their sting. However, while he was "co-operating", he also was harassing, intimidating and swatting victims.
Swatting is derived from the term Special Weapons and Tactics which means the hacker was making false reports that resulted in the dispatching of SWAT teams to victims addresses.
The FBI is very interested in tracking down swatters. Paul Abbate, assistant director of the FBI's Washington bureau, had this to say about swatting
"The FBI takes ‘swatting’ and ‘doxing’ attacks very seriously because such illegal conduct jeopardizes public safety and places innocent people in harm’s way by exposing private and personal information. Working closely with our law enforcement partners, the FBI continues to refine technological capabilities and investigative techniques to prevent these types of crimes, and to track down criminals who commit them."
Source: Sophos
Those that were the target of his hacking included members of Congress, a federal prosecutor, National Rifle Association President Wayne LaPierre, First Lady Michelle Obama, then-FBI director Robert Mueller, then Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan, and security journalist Brian Krebs.Islam was arrested in June 2012 after a lengthy FBI sting operation. He was one of 12 that were part of the operation. The FBI was following a group of credit card traffickers. Islam argeed to assist the FBI in their sting. However, while he was "co-operating", he also was harassing, intimidating and swatting victims.
Swatting is derived from the term Special Weapons and Tactics which means the hacker was making false reports that resulted in the dispatching of SWAT teams to victims addresses.
The FBI is very interested in tracking down swatters. Paul Abbate, assistant director of the FBI's Washington bureau, had this to say about swatting
"The FBI takes ‘swatting’ and ‘doxing’ attacks very seriously because such illegal conduct jeopardizes public safety and places innocent people in harm’s way by exposing private and personal information. Working closely with our law enforcement partners, the FBI continues to refine technological capabilities and investigative techniques to prevent these types of crimes, and to track down criminals who commit them."
Source: Sophos
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