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Man indicted for cyberattack on 911 services, thought he’d get bug bounty

A Phoenix man was indicted after launching a cyber attack which forced users to make nearly 300 hang-up calls to four law enforcement agencies last month.

Meetkumar Hiteshbhai Desai,18, is being charged with four counts of computer tampering after activating a malware through a link he posted on twitter which forced those who clicked it to make calls to the emergency services, according to The Arizona Republic.

He allegedly told authorities that he only wanted to prank the police and that he believed he would be able to retrieve some sort of bug bounty from Apple for his deeds since his malware modified the coding to add pop-ups, prompts to open email applications, and activate automatic telephone dialing on iOS devices.

Desai was arrested on Oct. 27, a day after the three-day string of fake calls that had the potential to take out 911 services.

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