hoax baffles SWAT
The hoax highlights a security shortcoming with voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) phone services enabling people to hide their true location, according to Chester Wisniewski, Sophos senior security adviser.
Since VOIP services rely on street addresses provided by customers, Wisniewski explains that anyone can sign up for a VOIP service using the address of a victim they want to target with their hoax.
They could then use that service to place a 911 call and draw a full-scale emergency response to the unsuspecting victim's home.
In light of this problem, TMCnet reveals scores of caller ID spoofing services have sprung up, offering to disguise callers' origins for a fee.
It is speculated that software upgrades to emergency dispatch systems displaying IP addresses and the Internet service provider could help solve the problem.
According to The Gobe and Mail, Jody Robertson, a spokeswoman for E-Comm, which answers 911 calls for South Western British Columbia, says at present, there is no way for 911 centres to distinguish between these kinds of calls and a real 911 call.
Tim Richardson, an expert in online security at the University of Toronto, says a solution to counter swatting might be giving 911 services a greater reliance on existing public surveillance cameras to verify emergencies.
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