On Thursday, AlertsUSA subscribers were notified of a large wave of hoax 911 calls reporting active shooters in schools across multiple states, including CA, ND, SD, LA, MN, OH, VA, SC and FL.
According to multiple reports, the calls are consistent, coordinated, grouped state-by-state and district-by-district, and they're ongoing. More than 130 such calls have been received in the last month alone. Wired magazine has compiled a list of 92 false reports of school shooting incidents in 16 states that took place in the last two weeks in September.
The hoax calls are referred to as "swatting." The term denotes calls that falsely report an act of violence in progress or about to occur. The resulting tactical law enforcement response has sometimes ended tragically, though not in a school setting.
Perhaps most curious are reports from local authorities in several states who say many of the calls are originating from overseas using voice over IP technology. And the country of origin? Ethiopia..., located in the Horn of Africa directly adjacent to Somalia.
It is believed that the recent wave is being coordinated by a group of people including foreign actors and "swat-for-hire cybercriminals" who carry out hoax emergency calls for money.
In 2015, New Jersey state cybersecurity officials issued a bulletin on the then rise in swatting calls. The bulletin cautions that while certain incident types and tactics have received more media coverage than others, swatting scenarios have included bomb threats, active shooter reports, threats of an imminent shooting rampage, hostage scenarios, and threats involving chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or explosives (CBRNE) agents.
What remains the big unknown is the motive with the current multi-state wave of calls. Is the goal simply to spread fear in our communities? Is this payback for disrespecting another school's sports team? Or perhaps an effort to gauge response times and tactics?
While the recent wave of school shooting calls have been hoaxes, AlertsUSA urges continued caution, vigilance, and diligence on the part of teachers, administrators and other school employees.
AlertsUSA continues to monitor the domestic and international threat environment around the clock and will immediately notify service subscribers, via SMS messages to their mobile devices, of new alerts, warnings and advisories or any developments which signal a change the overall threat picture for American citizens as events warrant. |
