Bizarre High-Tech Kidnapping

[maxomai]

If you all don't read Bruce Schneier's blog, you should.

Originally posted by bruce_schneier at Bizarre High-Tech Kidnapping

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2015/07/bizarre_high-te.html

This is a story of a very high-tech kidnapping:

FBI court filings unsealed last week showed how Denise Huskins' kidnappers used anonymous remailers, image sharing sites, Tor, and other people's Wi-Fi to communicate with the police and the media, scrupulously scrubbing meta data from photos before sending. They tried to use computer spyware and a DropCam to monitor the aftermath of the abduction and had a Parrot radio-controlled drone standing by to pick up the ransom by remote control.

The story also demonstrates just how effective the FBI is tracing cell phone usage these days. They had a blocked call from the kidnappers to the victim's cell phone. First they used an search warrant to AT&T to get the actual calling number. After learning that it was an AT&T prepaid Trakfone, they called AT&T to find out where the burner was bought, what the serial numbers were, and the location where the calls were made from.

The FBI reached out to Tracfone, which was able to tell the agents that the phone was purchased from a Target store in Pleasant Hill on March 2 at 5:39 pm. Target provided the bureau with a surveillance-cam photo of the buyer: a white male with dark hair and medium build. AT&T turned over records showing the phone had been used within 650 feet of a cell site in South Lake Tahoe.

Here's the criminal complaint. It borders on surreal. Were it an episode of CSI:Cyber, you would never believe it.

Comments

Old School

[arkham4269.livejournal.com]

Which is why I laugh when people say they have their guns to fight off the guv'mint.

The "guv'mint" will know where you are, who you are talking to and probably has read all your plans...or at least will after they start looking.

It would be interesting to see how quickly skills like reading a map, communicating without a phone or computer or using regular codes almost completely disappear giving any technological group the complete edge.

...that of course won't stop a general uprising but then again when the Elite piss off enough people to enable the "Peasants Revolt" there usually isn't anything they can do unless they have some gene-tailored disease they have the cure for.