Indian-Origin Teenager Arrested in the US for Cyber Attack Choking 911 Service Lines
After notifying the Sheriff’s Office of more than 100 hang-up 911 calls, the Surprise Police Department of Arizona has arrested this teenager by name Meet Kumar Hiteshbhai Desai. According to a statement given by the Sheriff’s Office, the 18-year-old teenager was arrested by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office after accusing him of carrying out a cyber attack on the 911 system.
According to the statements given by the Arizona Republic, investigators have traced the calls and discovered that they originated from a link posted on Twitter that finally resulted in the Indian Teen Arrested in the US. It is said that the interference with the critical infrastructure could have disrupted the 911 system in the Phoenix area and potentially other states.
Last Wednesday, the MCSO detectives have identified Meet and took him for further questioning. The Sheriff’s Office statement said, “Meet claims that his intention was to make a non-harmful, but annoying bug that he believed was ‘funny’”. Meet said that he was approached by an online friend with a bug.
The Twitter link was to a site by the name “Meet Desai” and when it is clicked, it continually called 911 and would not let the caller hang up. The link domain was hosted out of San Fransisco. The Sheriff’s Office said that a large number of calls have been received by the Peoria police and the MCSO and the volume had the potential to shut down 911 service across Maricopa County.
He then tweaked the bug so that it would add pop-ups, prompts to open e-mail applications and activation of automatic telephone dialing on iOS devices, by using the coding that Desai wrote himself. He said that he was interested in the bugs, viruses, and programs and added that the Apple Inc., the hardware and software company, would pay and credit him for discovering such bugs and viruses.
The Sheriff’s Office said that the MCSO cyber attacks unit executed a search warrant and seized multiple items at Meet’s residence that will be further examined, forensically.
