A small mistake by a “Bug Bounty” hunter who had perhaps no intention of committing a crime has landed him in a serious problem with the law enforcement in USA.
Mr Meetkumar Hiteshbhai Desai, obviously of Indian origin from a place called “Maricopa” in USA, (Arizona) is reported to have developed an exploit for showing a vulnerability in the ios system which could have earned him a reward under the bug bounty program.
Unfortunately, when he wanted to share a benign version of the exploit with his friends which was meant to display a pop up in their phones, he actually shared a version which automatically dialled 911 number and hang up. This resulted in a DDOS attack on the 911 system which is the public service for emergencies (like 100).
Mr Desai has now been charged of an offence which is equivalent to a “Cyber Terrorism” though he can plead “No Malicious intention”. But his negligence and the problem he might have caused will probably result in some punishment which should be a lesson to many persons who dream to be “Ethical hackers” .
I sincerely hope that the US police would understand the situation and limit the punishment to some public service. Hopefully he will be careful from now on and not indulge in such irresponsible activities in future.
Naavi
