A cyber expert says it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack to find the person or persons who posted threatening tweets against several airlines in the last three days.
The most recent threat posted to Twitter Monday night read, “Guys, flight 321 and 334 have explosives on board and you don’t care? It’s going to be funny watching them fall out of the sky.”
Several flights over the weekend were either diverted or forced to land for similar threats that bombs were on board.
In Atlanta, two flights were escorted to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport after bomb threats were posted on social media, along with another flight headed to Orlando from Los Angeles.
Cyber expert Jamie Halscott believes the problem will get worse before it gets better.
He said these dangerous pranks are not likely to end any time soon because it’s extremely difficult to trace some of these social media posts, particularly since these accounts don’t need to be verified.
Anyone can create a Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus account for free.
The cyber security expert said not only can the accounts be created by anyone, they can be created anywhere and do not tie the user to any particular location on the planet.
Halscott said laws and enforcement have a long way to go. The biggest challenge that we are coming across is the Internet, for the most part, is anonymous. Yes there is tracking of IP addresses or some things that uniquely tie back to certain locations, but that is not necessarily full proof, Halscott said.