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===============================@============================================ THE SYNDICATE REPORT Information Transmittal No. 18 (Part 1 of 2) Released November 30, 1988 Featuring: Cracking Government Security Codes LD Computing & International PSTN PacTel Proposes Definition For Bell Information Services Of Unix, Worms, and Viruses - Science Fiction Becomes Real Syndicate Report Brief Notes by The Sensei ===============================@============================================ Exposition: TSR Once again, TSReport now excepts outside sources. Anyone can write/provide information to The Syndicate Report. Articles/Information may be provided through RADIO WAVES Bulletin Board System 612-471-0060. Any info such as Busts, Phreaking, Hacking, Data / TeleCommunications, and new developments on any the previous mentioned specialities will be: accepted, labeled, and given full actual credit by the article/info provider(s), or writer(s). -- ** All articles have been presented by me unless shown at the end of the article as the information provider(s), or writer(s). ============================================================================ Author's Note: TSR Happy Holidays! Syndicate Report is back for another Telecommunications Transmittal. It's been about 1 year or so since the Report was last published (Dec. 30 '87). I stopped writing it for a few reasons: The Interstate Police , Minneapolis Cops, and CIA kept interupting my computer activities. Info. about the visits are in previous TS Reports. Not a lot went on over the past year. I stopped dialing BBSs for a while to get out of sights of any authorities. And after 2 months or so, I lost interest in BBSing all together. Well, right now I'm in college, and I'm just taking General Ed. courses. It's just as easy as High School so I have a little extra time. I don't call LD very much, but I am active on a few good local systems; one of which I CoSysop is Radio Waves BBS. System Operator is MetalHead, or Station Manager (on his system.) He ran a very huge system in Arizona called ASU Underground, with 2 lines and other nice features. The numbers include: 602-967-0498 and 602-968-5284. Metalhead handed the system over to a local friend, and then moved to the Minnesota 612 area. Dial in on both systems... but you most likely will only see me on Radio Waves / Rockin' Alliance 612. *Update on Radio Waves* The sysop Metal Head is going into the Marines Dec. 5th, '88...so his brother Unknown Soldier will take the System on that time. -Enjoy the latest edition of La Sundikos Reportare, and please leave your personal feedback about The Report. All comments are accepted; good or bad. ============================================================================ HACKING GOVERNMENT SECURITY CODES: TSR (s&t 11\02) Governments transfer secret messages and banks transfer funds electronically by encoding the information in large-digit numbers that require the receiver to know its prime factors in order to decipher the information. Governments and banks, use large-digit numbers in security systems on the a they provide a code too difficult to break. The number, which begins 9,412,343,607 ... and stretches on for 90 more digits, defies all previous efforts to find its prime factors. The factors of a number are two numbers that, when multiplied, yield a larger number. A prime number is one that is evenly divisible only by 1 or itself. The prime factors of 21, for example, are 3 and 7. By comparison, the prime numbers that solved the 100-digit number are, respectively, 41 digits and 60 digits long. Finding the prime factors of such large numbers was to be so difficult, in fact, that many security systems assume such computa- tions to be beyond the range of even the most powerful computers being applied for long periods of time. Ten years ago, everybody suggested that 80 digits were safe. Nowadays, that's trivial. In this day and age, I think 150 would be reasonable...but as technology doubles and triples, the number should go beyond 200 digits. Computer Scientists have theorized that a single computer doing a million calculations per second would have needed 25 years to solve the problem. Even a state-of-the-art supercomputer such as the Cray would need about 10 months of constant computing - that as a cost of thousands of dollars per hour. HOWEVER, the number has been factored by scientists in Chicago in 26 days. They began their attack by breaking the problem into smaller tasks, then framed them out to about 400 computers in the United States, Europe and Australia through an existing Email network. All computers used in the project worked on the factoring problem only when they were not being used for anything else. Each time a problem was solved, it was relayed by Email to a Lab in Chicago. The last sequence of number required to solve the entire problem flashed across a computer screen in 26 days. Evertime the number goes up by three digits, the time needed to compute the prime factors doubles. (Government attempts to establish standard encryption algorithms have always been stymied by technology - which invents code-breaking devices fater than algorithms can be invented - and apathy among users to whom computer security us as much fun as recharging fire extinguishers.) If you break and bank, and make a million...remember TSR." :::::::::::::::::::::Information Provided by The Sensei::::::::::::::::::::: ============================================================================ LD COMPUTING & INTERNATIONAL PSTN: TSR (i.w 10\23) PSTN: Public Switched Telephone Network. PSTN, the international network is the unseen entity that makes reliable voice communications possible. In the United States, the FCC licenses private companies to provide PSTN services. The PSTN also is in the backbone for most wide-area computer networking. A subset of the PSTN is packet-switched data networks (PSDN), which excel at transferring information in short messages or packets over long distances. U.S. customers are most familiar with Tymnet, GEISCO, and Telenet. Public PSDN link thousands of PCs with services like CompuServe and the Source. They also provide the link to electronic mail systems like MCI Mail. Most PSDNs have entry points in major US Cities. Links to these points are at low speed: 300, 1200, 2400 bps. A few PSDNs are experimenting with 9600 bps general access. PSDNs require the conversion of computer data into packets for transmission. Each packet contains a header to provide routing information. Packet Assembly takes place before data can go through the network. Packets disassemble when they leave the PSDN, an proceed to the destination computer. How much does it cost to use a PSDN? In addition to the local connection, PSDNs charge a fee based on serveral factors, including time of day, duration of call, and volume of data. For example, Telenet's Network User Identification (NUI) accounts cost 20$ per month, 4$ for a password, plus hourly connection fees. Connnection fees range between 8$ to 12$ an hour for international calls; US calls are less. Telenet also participates in an international system to link data calls to hosts in North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, The Far East, and the Pacific Basin. Suppose you work with a company in Japan that requires periodic sessions with its host. The Japanese host would first need to set up a direct access facility link with Venus-P, the local PSDN. To log onto this host from the United States, you would dial the local Telenet access number, enter the Japanese host's ID, and your NUI and Telenet password. Finally, you would complete the Japanese host's normal log-on process. Telenet offeres a free directory of international services and rates. Call 1-800-336-0437 for your local access number. Set up your communication program. At the @ prompt, type C MAIL. Enter INTL/ASSOCIATES at the User Name prompt, and INTL for the password. ============================================================================ PACTEL PROPOSES DEFINITION FOR BELL INFORMATION SERVICES: TSR (cis 10\23) Pacific Telesis Group has proposed a definition that would allow Bell holding companies to provide certain types of information services that do not substantially change the content of information sent and received by other parties. The California telecommunications company filed the definition change, which was ordered by the courts on September 10, to lift certain restrictions on information services imposed on the regional holding companies under consent decree that broke up AT&T in '84. At that time the court indicated that the Bell holding companies may provide "transmission-type" information services, but not "content-related" services. The Pacific Telesis proposal considers that transmission-type information services include "transforming, processing, guiding, storing or retrieving information in connection with the transmission of information, provided such activities do not substantially alter the content of the information as sent & received." According to Pacific Telesis, these services may also provide introductory information content services, billing and collection services for information service providers and providing for the electronic delivery of directory services which might include a list of general product and business categories, service or product providers under these categories and their names, telephone numbers and addresses. This definition, noted Pacific Telesis, allows for changes in the form of transmitted messages, but in keeping with the court's intent, doesn't allow for substantial changes to the content of messages. "By design, the scope of the proposed definition is quite broad. We feel it must be framed in these terms to accommodate rapid changes in industry technology and the marketplace and, above all, to allow for easy and efficient communication between information services providers & consumers," said Arthur C. Latno Jr., Pacific Telesis' executive vice president. "Our definition would allow the RHCs to offer consumers access to audiotex and videotex services & a variety of information databases." The proposed changes submitted to the court will be considered along with other comments from interested parties. It's not known when the court will issue a decision. ::::::::::::::: Information Provided by Clockwork Orange 718 ::::::::::::::: ============================================================================ OF UNIX, WORMS, AND VIRUSES - SCIENCE FICTION BECOMES REAL: TSR (i.w 11\27) Many years ago a British author by the name of John Brunner wrote a science fiction novel called 'The Shockwave Rider'. The main character, was an indiv. who maintained his freedom by creating various personae in the ubiquitous computer networks by which society defined itself. The odd thing is what Brunner had right - that computer networks of the (then) future would be susceptible to contamination by all manner of tapeworms, viruses, and other forms of illegal code. The virus that made the national news recently did about what Brunner's 'Shockwave Rider' TaPeWoRmS did - crawled in through a hole in the Unix operating system on computer running on Apranet and the unclassified portions of Milnet and took over main memory. It reminds me of the time years ago when a bunch of kids from the Dalton School, in New York, raided the electronic systems of Pepsico over Telenet and got cases of soda delivered to the school free. When the FBI nabbed the so-called Dalton gang, everyone was chargrined at how young the perpetrators were and how easily their trickery had been conducted. Helplessly, there's little that can be done to prevent didicated computer indruders. Back the '60s...when Honeywell was developing the Multics operating system for the government as the most secure of timesharing operating systems, two Air Force colonels from Hanscom cracked into a supposedly secure system in less than an afternoon. They were using a teletype connected to a phone line, which had been set up in one of their kitchens. The odd thing is that about once a decade we get into a dither about computer security. In the '60s is came about in the guise of worrying about consumer privacy as great manual databases went onto disk. In the '70s it related to some highly publicized electronic funds bank heists and material thefts by groups like the Dalton gang. The perpetrators were often hired later as consultants. And now, in the '80s, we've got the viruses to worry about. :::::::::::::::::::::::Information by The Sensei / TSR:::::::::::::::::::::: ============================================================================ ::SYNDICATE REPORT BRIEF NOTES:: 25 Prime Telecommuting Occupations (for the modem junky): This list of 25 prime telecom. occupations identified by Electronic Services Unlimited illustrates the wide variety of jobs that can be done on a location - independent basis. Travel Agents Writers Salespersons (or Catalog Orders) Real Estate Agents (This ones mine) BookKeepers Computer Programmers* Lawyers Purchasing Agents Accounting Clerks Secretaries Clerical Support Computer Opertors* Bank Officers (Finance, Credit*) Architects Word Processors Data Entry Clerks Insurance Agents Securities Brokers (Agents/Sales) Computer Systems Analysts Accountants Engineers* (starting pay 30k) Counselors (Vocational or Educ.) Personal/Labor Relations (Job Analyst) Marketing Managers ...and #25 - Miscellaneous Managers (Selling LD Codes, Bank hacking for foriegn states, Email drug rings, Cracking Consultants...you know.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dial-A-Symphony: A new recording technique that can quadruple the amount of digital music signals stored on a compact disc has been developed by Elec. Engineers at Queen's Univ. in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This compression of digital information opens the possibility of transmitting high-quality music over the telephone (2600 hz in stereo!). Householders with a suitable phone terminal will have access to their choice of favorite music, with no deterioratioin in quality, from a central store. The music would then be transmitted through amps/speakers into the home. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- UDS Adapters and ISDN: Universal Data Systems Inc. enter into the budding Intergrated Systems Ditial Network (ISDN) marketplace with a stand-alone terminal adaptor for basic-rate interface service. The UDS TA100 adapter provides two B channels operatoring at 64k bps and one D channel running at 16k bps. It permits PCs and terminals to transmit between 300 and 19,200 bps asynchronously and 2400 to 64k bps using syndronous transmission. The TA100 is designed to link with ISDN service that uses the Northern TeleCom DMS 100 DIGITAL CENTRAL OFFICE switch. Both devices use the standard LAPD protocol in the D signaling. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MISC BELL INFO: //Southern Bell// Sountern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co. is installing fiber-optic cable to serve a residential area on Governor's Island near Charlotte, N.C., reports Network World magazine. FIBER OPTIC CABLE is coming to 2 residential areas near Orlando, Fla. Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Co. is installing it to deliver data, video and basic phone service, says Network World. //Computer Security HOT Topic// Since the computer virus struck last week, computer security has become the hottest topic in business. Companies such as Electronic Data Systems Corp. say they've tried hard to protect truly vital computer information - financial data, for example - encircling it with complex webs of passwords and codes. A company can lock high-level computers like electronic safes, giving few the combination. //Industry Said to be Lagging// William Ferguson, vice-chairman of Nynex Corp., says the U.S. telecommunications industry, paralyzed by battles among users, carriers, information services providers and regulators, is falling behind other countries, according to Network World. TSR (tsr 11\27) ================================\=========================================== TSR will accept additional sponsor/support Systems. If you have a certain interest in the Report, and wish to provide support to TSR -- Leave your BBS number - and any other information on Radio Waves / Rockin' Alliance Systems ================================\=========================================== Official Syndicate Report Sponsor System * Radio Waves / System 1 :::: 612-471-0060 ============================================================================ This concludes this Transmittal No. 18 (Part 1 of 2) by The Sensei of The Syndicate Report Released November 30th, 1988 ============================================================================ 
