Over the past month or so I've received multiple requests from other journalists to talk on background about what can be done about the swatting problem.
My replies could fill several pages of toots here, but one area that I think is important to focus on involves getting some mandatory, uniform reporting federally when these violent crimes occur at the state and local level (which they almost always do).
The Uniform Crime Reporting Program is voluntary for most agencies, but it is mandatory for federal law enforcement entities. It has categories for violent crimes like murder, rape, and assault. But is there a category for swatting? Would that be helpful in getting a better gauge on the size of this problem? I think so.
Anyway, I got a response from the DOJ. Short answer, there is no category for it. Also, a newish FBI entity created specifically to track these incidents has seen over 550 swatting incidents reported since May 1, 2023. Here's their official statement:
"In response to the national call on swatting, the FBI initiated the Virtual Command Center (VCC) known as the National Common Operation Picture (NCOP). The NCOP-VCC is a collaborative effort between the FBI and law enforcement partners to track and create a real-time picture of swatting incidents. Established in May 2023, this initiative is open to any law enforcement agencies and fusion centers who wish to participate in tracking and sharing swatting information in respective jurisdictions. Since its inception, there have been over 550 swatting incidents reported to the FBI’s NCOP-VCC since May 1, 2023."
@briankrebs Brian, is one problem that there are not enough, or strong enough, laws at the state level to address swatting? What lessons/guidance should lawmakers take from this?
@briankrebs I haven't dug deeply, but it seems to me that most swatting calls are to 911, which I think gets location data at a protocol level. Is there enough focus on if data and provenance (does it come from a phone or a tower) are available at higher levels of "the stack" (to the 911 operator, to the police?
@adamshostack That would be nice if it were true. In my experience, a vast number of these swatting calls come in on non-emergency numbers, like to city hall or some place that has to be open 24/7. And eventually, the call gets routed to the emergency responders.
The thing is, most of the time the perpetrator is not in the same state (let alone same country) as the target, so they can't just pick up the phone and dial 911 to reach the target's emergency responders. This is a massive red flag and it's ignored too often.
@briankrebs "This is a massive red flag and it's ignored too often." I think that's a very under-known fact, and enhances the importance of statistics because maybe the right answer is "You need to hang up and call 911, sir" and we need to make people ok saying that when it's a police emergency. That training exists in the medical world --- even a doctors office will tell you to call 911 in an emergency.
@briankrebs@adamshostack You can get a SIP phone account for a couple of dollars a month and put anything you like in the caller ID field. As the old copper lines are phased out more and more people are doing this. There is zero anti-spoofing security there.
@tokensane@adamshostack Yeah. A friend got swatted and the police actually investigated the source and found it was a hacked VOIP installation at a car dealership not far from his home.
@briankrebs IMO the prevalence of SWATting, the fact that it is so easy to do, is an argument to defund the police.
Because you’d think that a public safety agency would be concerned that it could easily be abused as a mayhem and potentially murder machine like this. There are plenty of things they could do to make it more difficult!
But they don’t do these things because they don’t care. And our tax dollars pay for this?
@MisuseCase@briankrebs Trouble with "replace the police with something better" is, "better how?"
Its going to be primarily a law enforcer org. We can't wait while a bunch of complete newbies figure it out, so we have to recruit people with experience. Guess who they are.
What's really needed is a total culture change. But that's the hard bit.
Splitting up the work to put welfare & mental health emergencies in a separate org would help.
Maybe if you said #reformThePolice instead of #defundThePolice it might go down better. Our police (UK) are bad enough, but AIUI yours make them look like angels.
Of course, our police are generally armed with tasers and batons, not guns. Because over here guns are outlawed, and outlaws don't generally have (or want) guns.
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