The Yik Yak application has been used to post harmful threats to universities across the country.- Susan Broadbridge

The second Yik Yak anonymous threat was posted Thursday, Sept. 25 and the culprit is still unknown.  Campus police said they are investigating the case and are close to a resolution. 

“We are waiting for a subpoena and warrant of information coming from these social media sites (such as Yik Yak),” said Bob Hopkins, UPD chief of police. He said in this case, they needed more information from Yik Yak to move forward. 

Hopkins said it is more difficult to trace the individual in this case because his or her mobile device was connected to the university’s wireless network where no one is assigned an individual IP address. More than 2,000 people can use the same IP address at one time. An IP address is used to identify an individual network on one’s mobile device.

“It is a suitcase of IP addresses that lets people use their device, but (they) are not tapped into the university’s (main system),” Hopkins said. 

According to Hopkins, the University of Georgia student who posted an anonymous threat on Yik Yak was connected to his individual IP address and the information found by police pointed directly to him. This was a similar situation for Brandon Hardin, the 20-year-old student who posted the first anonymous Yik Yak threat to USM campus Sept. 22.