[su_heading]US police have arrested a suspected hackerwho allegedly launched a DDoS attack against the US emergency hotline calling system.[/su_heading]
An 18-year-old hacker from Arizona was arrested last week on charges of launching a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack against the U.S. emergency services system. Taking advantage of security vulnerabilities in iPhones, the young man developed an iPhone app that made the devices repeatedly call 911.
Meetkumar Hiteshbhai Desai used his personal blog and YouTube channel to host and distribute the malicious application. Last week, he reportedly posted a large number of links on Twitter that directed users to install a Java Script exploit he developed, causing phones and tablets to continuously call 911.
According to the case file, more than 1,800 people clicked on the links, causing hundreds of calls to the US emergency hotline within a few minutes. Police were able to quickly take down the website hosting the exploit before the call system was permanently blocked.
The 18-year-old hacker says in his statement that he “accidentally posted the link to the version of the exploit that caused the 911 flood, and that his intention was in no way malicious.” He also told police that he “experimented with this particular bug to gain recognition in the online developer community.”.
The young hacker is charged with a total of three counts of computer hacking, while authorities seized computers and other equipment found in his home.
