Voice over IP providers in the US have implemented mandatory 911 service to help ensure the safety of families using the service. However the ability to alter your location in these tools is being used to get SWAT teams out of bed at all hours.

Internet-based phone providers have gained popularity in recent years by offering a low cost alternative to traditional land lines. At first these services had no 911 service, leaving subscribers vulnerable in an emergency.

In 2005, the FCC moved to require VoIP providers to offer 911 service to all of their customers. The challenge came when providers had to provide a location for subscribers that could sign up from anywhere imaginable on the Internet.

These phone providers decided to have customers enter their physical location to be relayed to authorities when dialing 911. Since the location is entered by the customer, it is susceptible to tampering.

By entering a fake address and making frantic calls to a 911 center, attackers can report fictitious crimes from states away. If the call is frantic enough, the attackers can even have SWAT teams deployed to their fake address.

The police members deployed to a fake incident aren’t any more excited about these attacks, known as swatting, than the unsuspecting homeowners pulled out of bed. Often the homeowners are picked at random by attackers that think these crimes are harmless pranks.

While it’s possible for 911 centers to determine the network address of callers from VoIP services, most are not equipped to do so. This gap leaves these Public Safety Answering Points vulnerable to swatting attacks.

Since these attacks often cross state lines, it’s difficult to ensure that the criminals are stopped, let alone prosecuted. Until providers can provide better accounting or the 911 centers get an expensive upgrade, the system will remain vulnerable to this new kind of attack.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 10:54 am under Crime, Hacking, Security, Technology.

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