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On Jan. 12, officials evacuated two local university libraries over bomb threats. Three other universities across the country saw similar threats simultaneously. All of them were determined to be false, and each library opened up a few hours later. KETV Investigates uncovered how local researchers say artificial intelligence is now being used in swatting attacks. Researchers said the use of artificial intelligence can make a false threat seem more credible. One of those false threats that is often seen is bomb threats.”Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency at DHS, so this is an agency, they have said that about 98% of bomb threats are false threats,” Harms said. Mackenzie Harms, a senior researcher at NCITE — the national counterterrorism center in Omaha, said it is not uncommon for online groups of Nihilistic Violent Extremists to simultaneously send out these threats to multiple places. “They’re organized online. They’re a network. And part of it is this group mentality of doing these attacks,” Harms said. “They all have different roles that they play in this. Like, I said, they like to have a live stream where they will have themselves multiple people doing different calls, doing different threats, getting input on the responses as the media starts reporting on it, social media starts talking about the impact. And that’s gratifying for these threat actors.” Even if the threat is clearly false, Harms said safety protocols still need to be followed. “We had to evacuate the UNO library; within two hours, everything was back. Everybody was clear that nothing was wrong. Everything’s okay. But it’s not only the evacuation, it’s not just that building, right? It’s the whole campus that got impacted,” Harms said. That impact can be costly. “They can cost universities easily $1 million for just one single false threat,” Harms said. That may seem like a steep price, but Harms said everything that is impacted needs to be taken into account.”They still have to evacuate,” Harms said. “You have to account for lost instructional time. You account for absenteeism following it because people are scared, and then you account for the fact that we got responses from emergency services.”For rural communities, Harms said there can be an even larger effect. “They don’t have a lot of backup emergency services there,” Harms said. “So the impact is really much greater than what sometimes people will say was it’s a prank. It’s a hoax.”Harms said the impacts can reach beyond the dollar amount. “It’s honestly the public fear and that constant heightened anxiety that this could happen in my day-to-day life, that I am in a location where somebody might call in this,” Harms said. “And so while this one wasn’t real, that anxiety that people have, it’s not healthy for society.”Harms said having specific penalties for swatting could help curb the cost. “Nebraska’s introduced legislation that they hope to pass to allow for charges specifically for this that go beyond the kind of traditional misdemeanor charges that they use,” Harms said. NAVIGATE: Home | Weather | Local News | National | Sports | Newscasts on demand |
On Jan. 12, officials evacuated two local university libraries over bomb threats. Three other universities across the country saw similar threats simultaneously. All of them were determined to be false, and each library opened up a few hours later.
KETV Investigates uncovered how local researchers say artificial intelligence is now being used in swatting attacks. Researchers said the use of artificial intelligence can make a false threat seem more credible. One of those false threats that is often seen is bomb threats.
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“Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency at DHS, so this is an agency, they have said that about 98% of bomb threats are false threats,” Harms said.
Mackenzie Harms, a senior researcher at NCITE — the national counterterrorism center in Omaha, said it is not uncommon for online groups of Nihilistic Violent Extremists to simultaneously send out these threats to multiple places.
“They’re organized online. They’re a network. And part of it is this group mentality of doing these attacks,” Harms said. “They all have different roles that they play in this. Like, I said, they like to have a live stream where they will have themselves multiple people doing different calls, doing different threats, getting input on the responses as the media starts reporting on it, social media starts talking about the impact. And that’s gratifying for these threat actors.”
Even if the threat is clearly false, Harms said safety protocols still need to be followed.
“We had to evacuate the UNO library; within two hours, everything was back. Everybody was clear that nothing was wrong. Everything’s okay. But it’s not only the evacuation, it’s not just that building, right? It’s the whole campus that got impacted,” Harms said.
That impact can be costly.
“They can cost universities easily $1 million for just one single false threat,” Harms said.
That may seem like a steep price, but Harms said everything that is impacted needs to be taken into account.
“They still have to evacuate,” Harms said. “You have to account for lost instructional time. You account for absenteeism following it because people are scared, and then you account for the fact that we got responses from emergency services.”
For rural communities, Harms said there can be an even larger effect.
“They don’t have a lot of backup emergency services there,” Harms said. “So the impact is really much greater than what sometimes people will say was it’s a prank. It’s a hoax.”
Harms said the impacts can reach beyond the dollar amount.
“It’s honestly the public fear and that constant heightened anxiety that this could happen in my day-to-day life, that I am in a location where somebody might call in this,” Harms said. “And so while this one wasn’t real, that anxiety that people have, it’s not healthy for society.”
Harms said having specific penalties for swatting could help curb the cost.
“Nebraska’s introduced legislation that they hope to pass to allow for charges specifically for this that go beyond the kind of traditional misdemeanor charges that they use,” Harms said.
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