Teenage Hacker Is Blind, Brash and in the Crosshairs of the FBI

News Type: Event — Seeded on Fri Feb 29, 2008 12:23 PM EST

Article Source: Wired News

technology, phones, verizon, hacking, swat, teenager, swatting

A federal Joint Terrorism Task Force would later conclude that Gasper had been the victim of a new type of nasty hoax, called "swatting," that was spreading across the United States. Pranksters were phoning police with fake murders and hostage crises, spoofing their caller IDs so the calls appear to be coming from inside the target's home. The result: police SWAT teams rolling to the scene, sometimes bursting into homes, guns drawn.
Now the FBI thinks it has identified the culprit in the Colorado swatting as a 17-year-old East Boston phone phreak known as "Li'l Hacker." Because he's underage, Wired.com is not reporting Li'l Hacker's last name. His first name is Matthew, and he poses a unique challenge to the federal justice system, because he is blind from birth.

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Kyle Baxter's Column, All of Newsvine
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{"commentId":1522936,"authorDomain":"kyleb"}

Kyle Baxter

Interviews by Wired.com with Matt and his associates, and a review of court documents, FBI reports and audio recordings, paints a picture of a young man with an uncanny talent for quick telephone con jobs. Able to commit vast amounts of information to memory instantly, Matt has mastered the intricacies of telephone switching systems, while developing an innate understanding of human psychology and organization culture -- knowledge that he uses to manipulate his patsies and torment his foes.

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#1 - Fri Feb 29, 2008 12:25 PM EST

{"commentId":1525647,"authorDomain":"belarius"}

Belarius

Very interesting stuff. We often forget, in the age of the Internet, that social hacks are usually the most effective, and that "hacking" isn't limited to the digital sphere.

{"commentId":1525647,"threadId":"227137","contentId":"1334677","authorDomain":"belarius"}

2 votes

#2 - Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:13 PM EST

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Kyle Baxter

Yeah. Reading the article, it sounded like something out of a movie. Pretty weird.

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1 vote

#2.1 - Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:51 PM EST

{"commentId":1526656,"authorDomain":"belarius"}

Belarius

I, myself, was reminded of "Dogfight," a 1985 short story I read in the anthology Future On Fire (which has some very good stories in it). Li'l Hacker is lot like the antagonist.

{"commentId":1526656,"threadId":"227137","contentId":"1334677","authorDomain":"belarius"}

#2.2 - Sat Mar 1, 2008 5:12 AM EST

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KYLE BAXTER

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Teenage Hacker Is Blind, Brash and in the Crosshairs of the FBI

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