Can A VPN Prevent Swatting?

   

Can A Vpn Prevent Swatting? Yes. To some extent. Anything that can help maintain or boost your privacy and anonymity online can help to prevent you from being the victim of a swatting incident. Using a VPN on its own is not enough to stop you from getting SWATTED. It should be part of a plan to enhance your online privacy and security so that you are better protected against SWATTING.

To some, it may be a silly prank that you’ve probably laughed at but swatting is not a joke. It is a very serious crime that can be deadly. Recently there was a case of a man in Kansas for whom it turned into a fatal encounter. What makes it even worse is that the victims are innocent in most cases. In the case of the man in Kansas, he had the misfortune to live near the home of the intended target of the swatting prank. The example of this unfortunate fatal case highlights the need to protect ourselves from such a thing happening to us.

So What Exactly is SWATTING?

This is a prank where someone makes a false call to law enforcement reporting the intended target of some heinous crime all with the intention of provoking an armed raid or response from law enforcement. They also provide law enforcement with the targets’ location and wait for law enforcement to act. This often leads to deadly confrontations that sometimes turn fatal.

    attribution: US Army Materiel Command

Almost all SWATTING incidences begin with an online altercation. It is usually prevalent in the gaming community but it can also happen on social media or other forums where people meet online.  Usually, it stems from an argument but other times it can just happen randomly with no explanation. 

For someone to execute a SWATTING attack on you, they first need your address. There are a number of ways that this information can be gathered. If you are a streamer they could use data from the camera that you use. Some cameras actually record and send out your geolocation data without your knowledge. 

Another concern is if you have an online presence with different profiles that are easily accessible to anyone online. They can simply use those to find out or guess your location and crosscheck this with a phonebook to find your actual address. 

Your IP address can also be another way to find your location. Every device out there has an IP address that can be used to find a rough location.

There are an innumerable number of ways that someone who is determined can get your IP address. Every time you visit a website, app, or game, your IP address is exposed.

Location Obtained

Once the prankster has your address, they now have everything needed to go ahead with their SWATTING prank. A call will be placed to the police and the false report submitted. To cover their tracks, they will use untraceable VoIP and employ methods to hide their IP address and identity. In the Kansas incident, the prankster got the address wrong and this led to the unfortunate fatal shooting of an innocent man who had nothing to do with the prankster, IP addresses do not give exact locations but general rough approximations of the actual location. The prankster must have used an IP address in the Kansas incident.

Once the police arrive at the scene, they are on high alert and expect a violent confrontation.

SWATTING is usually committed by the underaged who don't really think about the consequences of what they are doing.

        
                

   North Penn Tactical Response Team of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, practicing Cellular Team Tactics

How To Protect Yourself From Swatting

The first and most obvious step is to ensure you don't put any information online that could give away your location or address. Past victims of SWATTING have in the past had their address on one of their profiles (for example steam). Any photos you post online could be geotagged and can be used against you. Make sure you use a proxy to hide your IP address.

The best type of proxy that comes highly recommended is a VPN. It is simpler to use and configure compared to your typical proxy, is very user-friendly, and you can rely on it. That’s not all, a VPN also encrypts your traffic and routes it through the VPN server thereby masking your IP address.

This gives you a very good layer of protection against SWATTING. The prankster will not see your real location but that of the VPN server.

It is however true that one of the downsides of a VPN is that it can slow down your internet connection but the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. Plus, a VPN is very affordable with some of them starting at about $3 dollars a month.

Law enforcement also needs to be more aware of SWATTING. They need to be able to identify these pranks before they get out of hand. Perhaps if they undergo training specifically about SWATTING they could be better prepared.

Legal Implications of SWATTING in the US

SWATTING breaks both state and federal laws in the United States. Laws such as:

• Conspiracy to retaliate against a witness, victim, or informant
• Conspiracy to commit access device fraud and unauthorized access to a protected computer
• Threatening interstate communications
• Conspiring to obstruct justice

The states of California and New Jersey both have laws that deal specifically with SWATTING.

Congress has had two bills introduced that directly address SWATTING.

There is a bill introduced in 2015 with the intention of making SWATTING a federal crime.

An additional bill was brought to congress in 2018 and its aim was to increase the penalties for those who engage in SWATTING. The bill also made the person who commits SWATTING to be liable for all expenses.

       

How Can We Prevent SWATTING?

We should all take care of our online privacy at all times. Those who are particularly at risk are online gamers. Gamers should take all precautions to ensure they don't become victims of SWATTING. They should not give away any information regarding their location or identity anyway online. They should also not use usernames that can make it easy to identify them.

The most critical piece of information that someone needs is your address. If they have that, they can easily use that to commit a SWATTING prank on you. It is therefore vital to protect your real address, contact information, and anything personal about yourself. Even information that you think would be harmless to share can be used to build a profile that can reveal your identity or location.

The only full-proof way to avoid getting SWATTED is to be completely anonymous online. It’s almost impossible to be completely anonymous online in today’s world which is why SWATTING is so bad.

So make sure you use a VPN and also take additional measures to ensure you are safe from SWATTING. You should also be careful with who you interact with online.

How To Protect Against Swatting

So some simple steps we can all take to ensure we don’t become victims of SWATTING are:

1. Protect your information when online. Never share anything personal.
2. Conceal your IP address and location data by using a VPN.
3. Register yourself on anti-swatting registries especially if you are at risk of getting SWATTED.