[Blink]

GG, he must've spent a lot of time on that..

Not really, if you look at it, it's a pretty simple hack. He probably had to spend a while waiting to capture signals though.

[Skullmeat]

GG, he must've spent a lot of time on that..

Not really, if you look at it, it's a pretty simple hack. He probably had to spend a while waiting to capture signals though.

Not if they tell you the time at which they test... and if my memory serves, they do.

[zenTHEgreat]

This is quite of interesting hack. Clearly the hacker has some knowledge with radio frequencies and how the sirens will react to them. I believe the hacker was some kid he knew about and wanted to see the damage he can do. I'm almost 100% sure that's the case. There's no other reason to flood the 911 pipelines of that area unless he wanted/had some people to do a heist, while this was happening. That would just involve too much time and planning and seems impossible too if he wanted to get away without proof of them even doing the heist. so my conclusion is that , it's some kid with some knowledge of radio signals and how these sirens respond to them, he's definitely not getting caught any time soon, maybe if he tries again but i doubt it,

[Skullmeat]

This is quite of interesting hack. Clearly the hacker has some knowledge with radio frequencies and how the sirens will react to them. I believe the hacker was some kid he knew about and wanted to see the damage he can do. I'm almost 100% sure that's the case. There's no other reason to flood the 911 pipelines of that area unless he wanted/had some people to do a heist, while this was happening. That would just involve too much time and planning and seems impossible too if he wanted to get away without proof of them even doing the heist. so my conclusion is that , it's some kid with some knowledge of radio signals and how these sirens respond to them, he's definitely not getting caught any time soon, maybe if he tries again but i doubt it,

That would be my guess. Chances are the culprit was also unlicensed as well. Licensed operators have spent far too much time to get their equipment and FCC licenses, to abuse the system and loose them.

[BurritoBeans]

Alright, so this post is probably stupid but it's just my guess on what happened - I do HAM radio, built a few SDRs and have my Amateur Extra liscense from the ARRL anyways.

For a transmitter, really you could get away with a something low power and hit the whole city. The area of Dallas is what, 385 miles squared? On one watt with my HAM Radio running at the 2-meter band (144-148MHz) I can get a signal out with a radius of about 100 miles for standard telecommunications no issue - this is how we communicate with local usergroups. If it's a lower frequency, I can tune my radio down to say the 160 meter band and go to 1.885MHz - pretty much, a nice radio, be it an SDR like I operate or something more analog could do this. AM follows a similar suit, but shorter range - while I can put my radio into DX mode and moonbounce a signal to the other side of the planet in 2.5 seconds while AM will be more in the same country and won't hit the moon.

Now, knowing sirens, these things generally run on DTMF or Radio - clearly this was Radio. Being that it's the city and they have to post this stuff somewhere (or someone found it out), I'd imagine that through the citywide paging system (callsign KUY417 - you can find this crap with google and a bit of scanning) or through a pager related to the fire stations, they sent the signal that set it all off.

My best guess is this was probably someone more local but this could be done by some jackass three states away as long as they had the proper signal which a paging system like KUY417 is looking for. They didn't need a ton of power - mainly off the shelf radio components, and all they'd need to do to get the signal is monitor the proper channels and then throw anything you get back at it to see what happens. Anyone with any knowledge of this stuff could pull the stunt off, but there's really no purpose unless you've got nothing better to do - I'm pretty sure just about every operator would rather not have the FCC up their ass as there's major fines outlined for clogging up emergency bands and restricted stuff.

*edit - related to being hidden... well if the the FCC doesn't have your callsign and you're in a mobile operating station, be it a radio in your car or just taking a setup with you, you really have no good way of being tracked... they may have been able to find where the dude was transmitting from, but it's not a cellphone with a voice that's recorded, it's just a one-off. If they pulled it again it would probably be easier to figure out, but if you're on the move then they'll have a fun time getting you.

[Blink]

I just realized something...


Those assholes did it AT NIGHT!

PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP

[Skullmeat]

Alright, so this post is probably stupid but it's just my guess on what happened - I do HAM radio, built a few SDRs and have my Amateur Extra liscense from the ARRL anyways.

For a transmitter, really you could get away with a something low power and hit the whole city. The area of Dallas is what, 385 miles squared? On one watt with my HAM Radio running at the 2-meter band (144-148MHz) I can get a signal out with a radius of about 100 miles for standard telecommunications no issue - this is how we communicate with local usergroups. If it's a lower frequency, I can tune my radio down to say the 160 meter band and go to 1.885MHz - pretty much, a nice radio, be it an SDR like I operate or something more analog could do this. AM follows a similar suit, but shorter range - while I can put my radio into DX mode and moonbounce a signal to the other side of the planet in 2.5 seconds while AM will be more in the same country and won't hit the moon.

Now, knowing sirens, these things generally run on DTMF or Radio - clearly this was Radio. Being that it's the city and they have to post this stuff somewhere (or someone found it out), I'd imagine that through the citywide paging system (callsign KUY417 - you can find this crap with google and a bit of scanning) or through a pager related to the fire stations, they sent the signal that set it all off.

My best guess is this was probably someone more local but this could be done by some jackass three states away as long as they had the proper signal which a paging system like KUY417 is looking for. They didn't need a ton of power - mainly off the shelf radio components, and all they'd need to do to get the signal is monitor the proper channels and then throw anything you get back at it to see what happens. Anyone with any knowledge of this stuff could pull the stunt off, but there's really no purpose unless you've got nothing better to do - I'm pretty sure just about every operator would rather not have the FCC up their ass as there's major fines outlined for clogging up emergency bands and restricted stuff.

*edit - related to being hidden... well if the the FCC doesn't have your callsign and you're in a mobile operating station, be it a radio in your car or just taking a setup with you, you really have no good way of being tracked... they may have been able to find where the dude was transmitting from, but it's not a cellphone with a voice that's recorded, it's just a one-off. If they pulled it again it would probably be easier to figure out, but if you're on the move then they'll have a fun time getting you.

Like I said, most likely an illegal transmitter, maybe not even mobile. The FCC has a hard time getting any violators who aren't licensed.

[Yaiba]

This seems like the hacker had a great time. This wasn't a thing he should have done for the fact that some of those people actually had an emergency for calling 911. I can't even imagine how much my ears would hurt after hearing that siren for hours.

[iGreenify]

this news really freak them out

[Tripartite]

The hacker responsible is an ass for doing that but also a savage.