Student caused several iPhones to crash, turn off in cyber hack at Arlington high school: police
ARLINGTON COUNTY, Va. - Police in Arlington County continue to investigate a cybersecurity incident that caused cell phones to turn off at a high school.
The incident happened on Nov. 29, when police said a student at Washington Liberty High School used an electronic device between 10:45 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. that caused nearby iPhones to turn off.
"Police identified the involved student and the manner of intrusion that impacted the iPhones. Based on the preliminary investigation, there is no ongoing threat to the community related to this incident," a press release from Arlington County police Tuesday states. "The Arlington County Police Department has investigated cybersecurity incidents in the past and is not currently investigating any similar incidents."
It’s unclear how many phones were impacted, but a spokesperson for Arlington County police told FOX 5 Tuesday the incident is believed to have only impacted phones at the school. Police have identified victims and efforts to identify additional potential victims are ongoing.
Darren Mott, a retired FBI special agent who specialized in cybersecurity for 20 years, said it’s likely the student used a Flipper Zero device. The device, which Mott said came out a few months ago, is typically used to test radio frequency signals and can control TVs.
"Like with any technology, people have figured out ways to add stuff to it. So, a third party created a little program that allowed users of this little tool to connect to Bluetooth-open devices. In this case, iPhones," Mott said.
FILE - Apple iPhone screen. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"So what this kid does, ran this program and it sent pop-ups to all of the local iPhones and the number of pop-ups it created caused it to crash. iPhone has corrected this capability in 17.2, so if you updated to 17.2, it won’t happen, but we know people don’t update their phones unless someone tells them or goes in and does it for them," he continued.
Gary Duncan is the father of a sophomore at Washington Liberty High School. Parents were alerted of the incident, Duncan said.
"My personal thought is, kids have too much freedom as it is, as you can see, when it comes to distractions in school. So my personal belief is electronic devices are optional, not mandatory," Duncan said.
Arlington Public Schools and the Arlington County Police are asking anyone from the Washington Liberty community whose cell phone turned off while at the school on Nov. 29 to file an online police report or contact the tip line at 703-228-4180 or ACPDTipline@arlingtonva.us.
Mott said this should serve as a cautionary tale to make sure all electronic devices are up-to-date with the latest software updates.
"Bad guys are looking for these vulnerabilities to do bad things. In this case, the kid was more of a nuisance. Didn’t really damage anything, didn’t break the iPhones," he said. "It was just a pain in the butt but you’re going to have other devices that bad guys will look for vulnerabilities and know exist and if you don’t update the devices, they’re going to have ways to get into your home networks."
The investigation remains active as of Tuesday and no charges have been sought at this time, according to Arlington County police.