Indian teen arrested in US for cyber attack choking 911 lines

November 1, 2016

San Francisco, Nov 1: An Indian-origin teenager has been arrested in the US for carrying out a cyberattack that swamped Arizona's emergency services with several bogus calls, an incident he claimed was a non-harmful joke gone wrong.meetkumar

Meetkumar Hiteshbhai Desai was taken into custody after the Surprise Police Department, Arizona, notified the Sheriff's Office of more than 100 hang-up 911 calls.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office arrested the 18-year-old, accusing him of carrying out a cyberattack on the 911 system, according to a Sheriff's Office statement.

Desai was booked into a Maricopa County jail on suspicion of three counts of computer tampering.

Interference with critical infrastructure could have disrupted the 911 system in the Phoenix area and potentially other states, The Arizona Republic reported.

Investigators traced the calls and discovered they originated from a link posted to Twitter, according to the statement.

The link was to a site named "Meet Desai" and its domain was hosted out of San Francisco. When the link was clicked, it continually called 911 and would not let the caller hang up.

Peoria police and the MCSO also received a large number of calls, and the volume had the potential to shut down 911 service across Maricopa County, the Sheriff's Office said.

MCSO detectives identified 'Meet' and took him in for questioning last Wednesday.

"Meet claims that his intention was to make a non-harmful, but annoying bug that he believed was 'funny'," the Sheriff's Office statement said.

Desai told investigators that he was approached by an online friend with a bug. Desai then tweaked the bug so it would add pop-ups, prompts to open e-mail applications and activation of automatic telephone dialing on iOS devices, all via coding that Desai wrote himself.

Desai told sheriff's detectives that he was interested in programmes, bugs and viruses that he could manipulate and change. Desai said Apple Inc., the hardware and software company, would pay and credit him for discovering such bugs and viruses.

The MCSO cybercrimes unit executed a search warrant and seized multiple items at Desai's residence that will be forensically examined, the Sheriff's Office said.

Comments

naren kotian
 - 
Tuesday, 1 Nov 2016

hahaha madrasa products galige idakku death sentence kodbekanthe ...as per sharia bere anthe ... yaan panpe avu sari ath hahaha ... shariat panda sari ath ... hahaha... pudaar de unduge ,...

first of all he is a computer freek and geek , it is quiet common and he has served apple inc before ... 100% he is brainy ... it is not a terrorist act and more over he doesnot belong to blood thirsty jihadist community ... only immatured madrasa products can demand life long imprisonment ... Inshallah he will be released soon .

Satyameva jayate
 - 
Tuesday, 1 Nov 2016

Why not call him Hidutvas terrorist

hANNI
 - 
Tuesday, 1 Nov 2016

REALY RSS IS TERORIST,IF BJP IS NOT POWER RSS WILL BAN,F THE NOT KILL HEMANTH RSS WILL NOW ALL READY BANED,

suresh
 - 
Tuesday, 1 Nov 2016

If the person from minority communivty then the headline will be cyber attack by terrorists. Now they will give statement as he is psyco patient. This is the double standard.

Mohammed SS
 - 
Tuesday, 1 Nov 2016

well done USA cops these culprits should be behind bars throughout their life

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coastaldigest.com web desk
January 14,2020

Mangaluru, Jan 14: Mangaluru city police commissionerate his notified traffic diversions on NH 73 in view of massive protest at Adyra Kannur in the city against CAA, NPR and NRC on January 15. It also has issued guidelines for the public, protesters and organisers of the protest.

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 8,2020

Dubai, Jul 8: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has revoked landing permits issued to UAE-based private jets flying Indian expats who are willing to fly back to UAE. With this the operation of private jets from India to the UAE has stopped.

The development comes days after DGCA stopped UAE airlines from chartering repatriation flights to India. 

The DGCA’s decision has come as a huge disappointment for desperate expats who are trying every means possible to return to the UAE, and were shelling out up to Dh15,000 per ticket.
 
All charter flights were operating with the appropriate permissions and clearances for the specific mission, route and destination, said the charterers.

DC Aviation Al-Futtaim, the only integrated VIP handling and hangar facility in DWC, said in an official statement: "As a result of the DGCA suspension of flights into India, our Challenger 604 aircraft which was scheduled to land in Dubai today has been affected."

Afi Ahmed, managing director of Smart Travels, said he has received news from official sources that all approvals for operation of private jets have been barred until July 10.

"Even the flights that had been given approvals stand cancelled. Some flights organised on July 9 have also been grounded," said Ahmed, who was also stranded in Kochi, Kerala, till July 4 but returned home in the UAE on-board Global 6,000, the largest business jet, organised by a Dubai-based aviation company.

Ganesh Rayapudi, a UAE-based businessman who has been trying to organise flights from India to UAE, said: "The government has kept on hold all charters. At least 52 passengers were desperately waiting to come back from Hyderabad on these flights and were willing to collectively cough up Dh400,000."

He added: "I agree that it is unfair to those who cannot afford these prices. However, UAE residents have commitments here; they were tired of waiting and willing to go any lengths, including taking the expensive route."

On July 3, India's DGCA announced via an official circular that scheduled international flights will remain suspended till month-end and only those on a case-to-case basis will be allowed to operate. These flights were suspended on March 22 due to the ongoing pandemic.

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News Network
April 20,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 20: The Kerala government announced the relaxation of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in two zones, allowing among other private vehicles movement in an odd-even basis and dine-in services at hotels from Monday.

State police chief Loknath Behera said the relaxations of restrictions imposed would come into effect in the Green and Orange-B zones in the state from Monday,an official release said.

Earlier, the Left government had colour-coded 14 districts of the state into four zones-- Red, Green, Orange-A and Orange-B, for containing the Covid-19 pandemic. Red zone comprises Kasaragod, Kannur, Kozhikode and Malappuram districts. In this zone, a complete lockdown will be in place until May 3 while two entry and exit points are allowed for carrying essential commodities to coronavirus hotspots. Orange-A zone comprises Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam and Kollam while orange-B zone comprises Alappuzha, Thiruvananthapuram, Palakkad, Thrissur and Wayanad.

The lockdown will be in effect until April 24 in this zone and then partial relaxation will be allowed. Kottayam and Idukki come under the Green zone, in which lockdown will be in effect until April 20 and then regulations will be eased. However, large gatherings, the functioning of educational institutions, religious functions, celebrations and travel outside the district will not be allowed in this zone.

Not more than 20 people are allowed to take part in weddings and funerals, according to government instructions. On the functioning of courts, the release said, "Courts in the Green and Orange-B zones will re-open on April 21 while that in Orange-A zone will start functioning from April 25. The courts will function with 33 per cent of staff. The cases will be heard via video conferencing."

Meanwhile, the Bankers' Council has announced that banks will function as per the usual timings from Monday in the state except four districts falling under the Red zone. The Transport Ministry has clarifiedthat public transport won't be allowed to ply in the state during the lockdown period. "Inter-district travel will not be allowed despite relaxations in the state, but essential services such as medical services, food supplies will not be stopped. However, in case of emergency, inter-district travel will be allowed with an affidavit prepared by the traveller," Behra said in a release.

On the implementation of the odd-even scheme for private vehicles, the police said, "Vehicles with odd numbers will be permitted on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Those with even numbers will be allowed on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays." Woman drivers travelling solo or with dependants are also exempted from it, police said. On Sundays, only those working for essential services are allowed to use their vehicles.

All education institutions, cinema halls, shopping malls, public parks, bars, places of worship will remain closed in all zones of the state. The health department and local administration, which carry out sanitation work before the monsoon, are allowed to operate. Four-wheelers are permitted to carry two passengers besides the driver and in case of a two-wheeler, only the driver will be allowed while the pillion rider is allowed in case the person is a family member.

On Dine-in services, a government order said it is allowed at hotels and restaurants until 7 PM in Green and Orange-B zone from Monday and in Orange-A zone from April 24. However, take-away counters can function until 8 PM, it said. Kerala on Sunday reported two positive cases of Covid-19 in the state taking the total number of affected to 401 while the health department announced that 13 people were cured.

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