Swatting incidents are growing problem for education institutions as well as law enforcement.
And the Department of Education is encouraging institutions to be prepared to respond.
In a September 25 Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), the Department of Education stressed the importance of educational institutions, including institutions of higher education and state and local educational agencies, to be prepared to respond to swatting events.
Swatting is a form of harassment designed to send police or emergency service response teams to a location based on false reporting of a serious law enforcement emergency. This can include threats of an active shooter, bomb threat, or hostage situation. The goal is to prompt an overwhelming law enforcement response, which in turn creates chaos and can result in the use of force against innocent individuals.
Swatters use technology such as caller ID spoofing, social engineering, social media, and prank calls and emails to make it look like the alert is coming directly from the victim or institution.
According to the Department of Education, swatting incidents are on the rise and cause significant disruption and trauma to students, teachers, and staff, in addition to costing taxpayers millions of dollars in personnel, equipment, lost classroom time, and property damage.
The DCL reminds educational institutions to be prepared for and respond to swatting incidents in an appropriate manner, including reporting incidents to the necessary authorized and utilizing proper response protocols. Institutions should also have adequate controls in place to avoid falsely identifying a real threat as a swatting attempt.
Swatting is a criminal activity, and schools can refer to the School Swatting: Overview of Federal Criminal Law produced by the Congressional Research Service for more information. The DCL also includes several resources provided by the federal government to help institutions prepare for these incidents.
