Hacker hacks FEMA phones, makes $12K in calls

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

Biggs is the editor of TechCrunch Gadgets. Biggs has written for the New York Times, InSync, USA Weekend, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Money and a number of other outlets on technology and wristwatches. He is the former editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.com and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You can Tweet him here and G+ him here. Email him directly at john@techcrunch.com. → Learn More

Those poor little LAMBs over at FEMA! A hacker broke into a Homeland Security telephone system and called the Middle East and Asia, racking up $12,000 in phone calls. By cracking a voicemail system, the hacker was able jump onto the FEMA phone network and make free calls last weekend.

“In this case it’s sort of embarrassing that it happened to FEMA themselves — FEMA being a child of DHS, with calls going to the Middle East,” Johnson said.

The DHS responded by putting the name Ma Bell on the no-fly list.

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