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1995-01-03
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Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 23:33:18 CDT
From: John F. McMullen <mcmullen@well.sf.ca.us>
Subject: File 6--Legion Of Doom Connection With 911 Attacks Denied
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1992 OCT 16(NB) -- Members of the
well publicized group of computer hackers, The Legion of Doom, have
denied any connection with the recent alleged tampering with US and
Canadian 911 emergency systems. They have also told Newsbytes that the
Legion OT Doom (LOD) group has been defunct for a number of years.
The recent publicized quote by an arrested 23 year old New Jersey
man, identified only as Maverick, that he was a member of the Legion
of Doom and that the group's intent was "to attempt to penetrate the
911 computer systems and inflect them with viruses to cause havoc" has
infuriated many of the original group.
"Lex Luthor", one of the founders of LOD, told Newsbytes "As far as I
am concerned the LOD has been dead for a couple of years never to be
revived. Maverick was never in LOD. There have been 2 lists of
members (one in phrack and another in the lod tj) and those lists are
the final word on membership. There has been no revival of lod by me
nor other ex- members. We obviously cannot prevent copy-cats from
saying they are in lod. When there was an LOD, our goals were to
explore and leave systems as we found them. The goals were to expose
security flaws so they could be fixed before REAL criminals and
vandals such as this Maverick character could do damage. If this
Maverick character did indeed disrupt E911 service he should be not
only be charged with computer trespassing but also attempted murder.
911 is serious business."
Lex continued "I am obviously not affiliated with any type of illegal
activities whatever especially those concerning computer systems.
However, I do try to keep up with what's going on and have 2 articles
on computer security being prepared to be published. I won't say where
or what name I am using because if the editors know an ex-hacker is
trying to help society and help secure computer systems they probably
would not accept the article."
Captain James Bourque of the Chesterfield County, Virginia police and
the person who had quoted Maverick to the press, told Newsbytes that
Lex's comments were probably correct. He said "I don't think that
there is a connection with the original group. I think that this group
sort of took on the Legion of Doom Name and the causes that they think
the Legion of Doom might have been involved in."
Bourque also said "This group tried to publicize their activities by
calling the local ABC station here as well as ABC in New York. It was
not unusual for four or five of these individuals to set up a
telephone conference and then to try to bring down our local 911
system here by monopolizing the system -- it never worked but they
continued to try."
Bourgue told Newsbytes that the continuing investigation is being
carried out by local law enforcement agencies and that an investigator
from his organization was in Newark reviewing the evidence against
Maverick. He said "It's possible that the Secret Service will become
involved after the presidential election is over. They are very busy
now."
Mike Godwin , in-house counsel of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
(EFF), an organization that has been involved in a number of cases
involving admitted LOD members, commented to Newsbytes "I don't
believe for a minute that this has anything to do with the real Legion
of Doom."
Phiber Optic, another ex-LOD member, told Newsbytes that he was
disturbed that the media accepted the designation of Maverick as LOD,
saying "If he said that he was a Martian, would they have put in the
paper that he was a Martian?"
Phiber had previously posted a comment on the Whole Earth 'Lectronic
Link (WELL) on the LOD announcement and it is reprinted with his
permission:
1) Kids prank 911.
2) Kids get caught for being jackasses.
3) One kid just happens to have a computer.
4) Now it's suddenly a 'hacker crime'.
5) Kid foolishly decides he's in the 'Legion of Doom' when he's
questioned,because he probably always wanted to be (his heroes!).
6) Media pukes on itself. ("This is a HEADLINE!!!")
There. Can we all grow up and move along now?
Emmanuel Goldstein, publisher of 2600 Magazine: The Hacker Quarterly,
also took issued with the designation of those arrested in New Jersey
and Canada as "hackers", telling Newsbytes "No where have I seen any
indication that these people were inside of a telephone company
computer. They were allegedly making vocal calls to the 911 services
and trying to disrupt them. You certainly don't have to be a genius to
do that. Let's not demean hackers by associating them with the kind of
behavior that is alleged."
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