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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News Network
March 3,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 3: Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu has said that a medical team is monitoring the health condition of all those people who had stayed with the coronavirus-hit techie who is admitted to a hospital in Hyderabad.

The first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Telangana was reported from Hyderabad on Monday where a man from Bengaluru, who recently returned from Dubai, tested positive for the virus.

"It has come to our knowledge that the coronavirus-hit person in Hyderabad had gone from Bengaluru. Therefore, all the members in the house where he had stayed here have been identified and are under watch," Mr Sriramulu tweeted on late Monday night.

The minister said he has convened a meeting with the additional chief secretary, commissioner and other senior officials of the health department today.

"Our government has initiated all the measures to prevent the spread of this virus," the minister said.

It is learnt that the 24-year-old techie had not contracted it when he was in Bengaluru but all precautionary measures have been taken.

The software engineer, who works in Bengaluru, had worked with people from Hong Kong in Dubai last month where he is suspected to have contracted the virus, Telangana health minister E Rajender told reporters in Hyderabad.

The man reached Bengaluru on February 19/20 and later went to Hyderabad in a bus.

He took treatment for fever after coming to Hyderabad and was admitted to a private super speciality hospital in the city. As it did not subside, he came to the state-run Gandhi hospital on Sunday evening, Mr Rajender said.

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News Network
July 5,2020

Mangaluru, Jul 5: A COVID-19 patient escaped from a hospital in Mangaluru on Sunday, Mangaluru Commissioner of Police Vikas Kumar.

A total of 1,925 cases of COVID-19 and 37 deaths recorded in Karnataka in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 23,474.

The health department informed that the death toll rose to 372 while active cases stood at 13,251 in the state.

According to the Union Health Ministry, India has recorded 6,73,165 numbers of COVID-19 cases and 19,268 deaths. 

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News Network
May 15,2020

Ramanagara, May 15: Flouting all social distancing norms, people gathered in large numbers for a village temple fair in Karnataka's Ramanagara district.

On Thursday, people in large numbers came out on a road to participate in the fair. Attendees took permission for gathering from Panchayat Development Officer NC Kalmatt.

According to a Tehsildar official, Kalmatt was suspended by Ramanagara Deputy Commissioner for granting permission for the gathering.

People have been advised to wear mask in public space and maintain social distancing to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Meanwhile, 45 more COVID-19 cases have been reported from Karnataka, taking the total number of coronavirus cases in the state to 1,032 on Friday, according to the state Health Department.

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