The Hacker's Encyclopedia 1998

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______________________________________________________________________ ==Phrack Inc.== Volume Three, Issue 28, File #11 of 12 PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN P h r a c k W o r l d N e w s PWN PWN ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ PWN PWN Issue XXVIII/Part 3 PWN PWN PWN PWN October 7, 1989 PWN PWN PWN PWN Created, Written, and Edited PWN PWN by Knight Lightning PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN FCC Orders Radio Station To Stop Phone Pranks August 30, 1989 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Federal Communications Commission has slapped Chicago radio station WLUP-AM (1000) and WLUP-FM (97.9) with a $5000 fine and threatened to pull their license for illegally broadcasting phone calls to "unsuspecting individuals." The FCC specifically cited "willful behavior and repeated violations of its policy that recipients of phone calls from radio stations must be informed in advance -- and on the air at the start of the call -- that they are being broadcast." In particular, the FCC noted that morning host Jonathon Brandmeier and mid-day host Kevin Matthews were in frequent violation of this rule. Scott G. Ginsberg, president and chief executive officer of Evergreen Media Corporation, parent company and license holder for WLUP confirmed that his company had paid the $5000 fine without protest for illegally broadcasting phone calls. He compared this punishment to receiving a traffic ticket. Both Brandmeier and Matthews enjoy harassing people on the phone, and broadcasting the reaction of their victims over the air. One of the calls placed by Matthews involved him posing as a police officer. He called a funeral home and spoke to the widow of a man who died the day before. He told her that her niece and nephew, who were scheduled to come to the funeral home later that day to help with burial arrangements had been arrested. The widow was not amused. She filed suit against WLUP and Matthews. Brandmeier likes to harass celebrities by managing to find their unlisted home phone numbers and call them at 6:30 or 7:00 AM when his show goes on the air. He also pulls phone scams including sending unwanted food orders; calling employers to provide excuses for employees who won't be at work that day, and similar. Always broadcasting the calls on the air, of course. But it was the call to the grieving widow at the funeral home which got the FCC livid. The Commission contacted the station that day, and an Enforcement Officer threatened to put the station off the air that day -- in a matter of minutes when he could get the order signed. After some discussion, WLUP was permitted to continue broadcasting, but a memo was circulated to all employees warning that effective immediately, any violation of the phone rules would lead to immediate termination. But despite this, less than three months later, Brandmeier pulled another of his obnoxious phone pranks. This time, the FCC gave him personally a $5000 fine, and told WLUP "either keep those two under control on the air or you'll get your license yanked." Now WLUP faces more sanctions, and the probable non-renewal of its license when it expires December 1, 1989. Afternoon disk jockey Steve Dahl routinely broadcasts indecent material on his show. Daily topics of conversation include sadism and masochism, child molestation, sexual behavior of all sorts, and frequent slurs of the most vicious kind against gay people. He uses "street language" to express himself, of course, and has used the famous "seven words you never say on the radio" more times than anyone remembers. The victims of the phone pranks have consulted with their own attorney as a group, and he in turn is pressing the FCC to shut down WLUP completely. Ginsberg says he does not understand why the FCC is picking on them. He says it must be competing radio stations that would like to see them off the air, since they are rated number three in the Chicago area, which certainly says a lot about Chicagoan's taste in radio entertainment. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Long time Phrack World News readers may have noticed a familiar name in this article: Steve Dahl. Depending on how long you have been with us, you may wish to refer to Phrack World News Issue Five/Part One (in Phrack Inc. Volume One, Issue Six). There is an article entitled "Mark Tabas and Karl Marx Busted" and it is dated May 2, 1986. Along with this article is a short note that explains how an informant (possibly the son of an agent of the Secret Service or Federal Bureau of Investigation) was believed to be using the handle of Jack or Will Bell and had helped the authorities get Tabas and Marx. It was widely known that he was from the 312 NPA -- Chicago, Illinois. In the following issue of Phrack Inc. we have PWN Issue VI/Part 1 and an article entitled, "Marx and Tabas: The Full Story." This article further explains how Steve Dahl was busted (for unknown crimes) in Miami, Florida by the U.S. Secret Service and then made a deal to help them get Karl Marx and Mark Tabas. So is the Steve Dahl of WLUP in Chicago the same Steve Dahl from Chicago that helped the U.S. Secret Service nail Mark Tabas and Karl Marx? _______________________________________________________________________________ Reach Out And Tap Someone Revisited July 30, 1989 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In Phrack World News Issue XXVI/Part 2 there was an article about two former employees of Cincinnati Bell (Leonard Gates and Robert Draise) who claimed they had had engaged in numerous illegal taps over a 12 year period at the request of their supervisors at Cincinnati Bell and the Cincinnati Police Department. Cincinnati Bell filed suit against the two men, Leonard Gates and Robert Draise, claiming both were liars out to get even with the company after they had been fired for other reasons. "'Taint necessarily so," said a judge who agreed the charges may have some merit, and permitted the class action suit against Cincinnati Bell to continue this past week. The class action suit claims that Cincinnati Bell routinely invaded the privacy of thousands of people in the area by secretly tapping their phones at the request of police or FBI officials over a twelve year period from 1972 - 1984. The taps were mainly applied against political dissidents during the Vietnam era, and in more recent years, against persons under investigation by the United States Attorney in southern Ohio, without the permission of a court. Now says the court, depending on the outcome of the class action suit, the criminal trials of everyone in the past decade in southern Ohio may have to be re-examined in light of illegal evidence gained by the United States Attorney, via the FBI, as a result of the complicity of Cincinnati Bell with that agency, courtesy of Robert Draise and Leonard Gates. The testimony this past week got *very messy* at times. Gates and Draise seem determined to tell every dirty thing they know about Cincinnati Bell's security department from the dozen years they worked there. More details as the trial continues. _______________________________________________________________________________ The Grim Phreaker Cleared In Phone Scam June 30, 1989 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by Suzanne Getman (Syracuse Herald Journal) "We disposed of this on the basis of his cooperation." A college student who talked his way into being arrested in April (by speaking with a chat operator) was cleared of charges against him this week. Kevin C. Ashford aka The Grim Phreaker, age 22, was arrested by sheriff's deputies on April 21 a mere five minutes after using a payphone to speak with an operator on the Onadaga Community College campus and charged with theft of services, a misdemeanor. Ashford admitted placing about 30 calls to a party lines known as bridges by using phony credit card numbers and extenders. "We disposed of this on the basis of his cooperation, our problem with proof, and his completion of 30 hours of community service," Assistant District Attorney Timothy Keough said. Ashford had cooperated by assisting and providing information to the Sheriff's Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Secret Service for more than three weeks. There was no problem with proof however because Ashford admitted he was guilty of all of the crimes. Ashford was arrested in Onadaga Community College campus' Gordon Student Center on April 21, minutes after he placed a call to a nationwide party line called Systems 800 International (who offered to drop charges if they could receive copies of Phrack Inc. Newsletter from him and if he would work for them trapping others). Company officials said there is no way to establish the cost of the fraudulent calls. "Without a dollar amount, we didn't have proof. Without proof, we couldn't prosecute," Keough said. Article Submitted by DarkMage _______________________________________________________________________________ Phony IRS Refunds By Computer August 17, 1989 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By John King (Boston Globe) "Computer Filer Got $325,000 In Phony Refunds, IRS claims." Clever tax preparers are one thing, but a clever bookkeeper who allegedly pried 325,000 dollars from the Internal Revenue Service found himself on the wrong side of the law yesterday, August 16. In what may be the nation's first charge of electronic tax fraud, IRS special agents yesterday arrested Alan N. Scott of West Roxbury [a suburb of Boston], saying he claimed 45 fraudulent income tax refunds for amounts ranging from 3,000 dollars to 23,000 dollars. The IRS charges that Scott, age 37, used the service's new electronic filing system -- open only to tax preparers -- to submit phony claims with assumed names and Social Security numbers. In some cases, the names used were of people in prison, according to Chief Kenneth Claunch, IRS Criminal Investigation Division. "The computer age has spawned a new breed of criminal," Claunch said in a statement. New in tools, perhaps. As for the basic idea -- filing a false return in order to snare an unwarranted refund -- that's old hat, admitted IRS spokeswoman Marti Melecio. "I can't say that it's a new trick. We've had fraud cases with paper returns," Melecio said. "The time frame is different, though. With electronic filings, the returns come back in two or three weeks." According to the IRS, Scott received electronic filing status on January 31. He did this by using a false Social Security number, and making false statements on his application. However, the IRS also says Scott electronically filed 10 returns where he used his own name as a preparer, and these returns appear to be legitimate. The scheme was uncovered by a "questionable refund detection team," at the IRS service center in Andover, Massachusetts. Also, the IRS credited a tip from an unnamed Boston bank "which reported a suspicious electronic transfer of funds to an individual," presumably Scott. If convicted, Scott faces a possible prison sentence and up to 250,000 dollars in fines on each of the counts of fraud. _______________________________________________________________________________ Paris Computer Takes Law Into Its Own Hands September 6, 1989 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >From The Guardian A crusading computer has taken the law into its own hands and caught 41,000 Parisians on charges of murder, extortion, prostitution, drug trafficking and other serious crimes. But the big round-up ended in embarrassment after an admission by the City Hall yesterday that the electronic "Batman" could not tell the difference between a parking offense and gang warfare. "The accused persons will be receiving letters of apology," an official at the City Hall Treasury department said. "Instead of receiving summons on criminal charges, they should have been sent reminders of unpaid motoring fines in April. Somehow the standard codes we use for automatically issued reminders got mixed up." The first hint of the avenging computer's self-appointed mission to clean up the capital came at the weekend. Hundreds of Parisians received printed letters accusing them of big crimes, but demanding only petty fines for the major crimes of between $50 and $150 (pounds - UK equivalent). "About 41,000 people are involved and some of the charges are quite weird," the official admitted. "One man has complained of being accused of dealing in illegal veterinary products. Unfortunately, other accusations went much further, like man-slaughter through the administration of dangerous drugs." "There were a lot of cases of living off immoral earnings, racketeering and murder." The official said an inquiry had been started to see if the caped computer had a human accomplice. So far, no one has asked the Joker if he was in Paris last week. _______________________________________________________________________________ Chalisti Magazine by the Chaos Computer Club August 20, 1989 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the future, there will be an electronic magazine, published by, and concerning the Chaos Computer Club. It is called Chalisti and the name is derived from "Kalisti," the Goddess of Chaos and will, hopefully, stand for creative Chaos and not for chaotic, but, as always only time will tell. The idea is like this... Over the different data networks, masses of information flow. On the Usenet it is about 100 MB/Month, on the CREN (Bitnet + CSNet) the flow is about the same size. On top of these flows, there is the information from national networks like Zerberus, BTX and Geonet. Mostly, a person only gets information from one network and that is why interesting information on data protection, data security, alternative uses of computers, environment, university etc. are being broadcast over only one network. Information from the networks for the networks, but that is not all. There should emerge a list of editors, that is spread over a large area, and works over the nets. Information and and opinions should be exchanged, but also further contacts will emerge. The first edition of Chalisti will presumably be published mid-September. Because of this, the list of editors is relatively small, one will publish stuff from the newest "Datenschleuder", the MIK-magazine and the most interesting messages from the nets that appear in the following weeks. But as soon as the 2nd edition will appear, the content will be different from the "Datenschleuder." In Chalisti, copy and messages from the nets and other media (MIK, and others) will be published as well. Articles meant especially for the Chalisti magazine are requested and these articles will be published with the highest priority. The magazine will be no bigger than 100 KB/Month. In case of doubt, articles will be kept for the forthcoming edition or for the fall in copy in the Summer. But it is also possible, that too few articles are being sent in, in which case the content will be spiced with information from DS, the nets and the MIK-magazine. In this way, a regular emerging of editions is being secured. The first edition is due 15th of September. The second at the end of October. At that date, the holiday will be ended, and a editorial and informal infrastructure will be built. From then on, there should be an edition every month. The editorial part will presumably be done on EARN or CREN. That bears the advantage that quick reactions on recent messages will be possible, as well as the possibility to talk it over at Relay's or Galaxy Meetings, and in this way, an international medium is available. Writers of articles or editors from other nets can be contacted, and there shouldn't be no technical problems in getting the job done. Especially on UUCP and Zerberus, facilities will be created. As ways of contacting the Editors, the following Networks are available: EARN/CREN - Distribution will be done over CHAMAS (107633@DOLUNI1). There will be a board for Chalisti, as well as a CUG for the board of Editors. Contact there will be 151133@DOLUNI1. Presumably, from the beginning of October, the userid CHAMAINT@DOLUNI1 will be available. UUCP/Subnet - Contacting will be possible through chalist@olis, ccc@mcshh and through ..!tmpmbx!DOLUNI1.bitnet!151133. UUCP/Dnet - Contacting will be possible through simon@uniol. Distribution will proceed through this id in dnet.general. Zerberus - At this moment: terra@mafia and terra@chaos-hh. From mid-September on, presumably through chalist@subetha. BTXNet - Unknown yet. GeoNet - mbk1:chaos-team. Time will show, whether distribution of the magazine will be done on GeoNet. Contacting or distribution through FidoNet and MagicNet has been planned for, but has to be built first. Interested people are being asked to use these addresses. For the absolute uncontactable, there is a Snailmail address as well: Frank Simon 12 Kennedy Street 2900 Oldenburg, FRG (West Germany) 04411/592607 (Telephone) Greets Terra _______________________________________________________________________________ Computer-Based Airline Ticket Scam August 14, 1989 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Taken from the Los Angeles Times Phoenix police arrested four people as they continued to unravel a bogus airline ticket ring that allegedly sold millions of dollars of stolen tickets by advertising discounted fares in national publications. Investigators said the individuals put together a major conspiracy by knowing how to access airline computers to put travel itineraries in the computer system. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - In the interests of equal access to information for all, I have decided to include some of the supposed deep secrets of how to access airline computers and inset travel itineraries. This can be done from virtually any telephone nationwide (including a rotary dial telephone). This can of course also be done from a public payphone if you should decide to make sure your identity is anonymous. It is necessary to determine the phone number for an airline's computer. All you have to do is call 1-800 directory assistance (1-800-555-1212). Ask for Ozark Airlines reservations (a no longer existent company that was purchased by Trans World Airways [TWA] used here only as an example). The operators on duty will read you a number, 800-PRE-SUFF. Call this number and you will be connected with the Ozark Airlines reservation office. Here they will have a database which stores all of Ozark's itineraries. Simply state the date, flight number, departure and destination cities, and passenger name. It's that easy! You can later dial the same access number and cancel or modify your itineraries. The system even includes search functions if you don't know the flight number, and an extensive help system (just say "How do I make a reservation?"). _______________________________________________________________________________ Fighting Back Against Junk Calls September 4, 1989 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "We are not Pavlov's dogs and should not have to jump everytime a bell rings." And if we do hop to the phone on demand, we ought to be paid for it, says Bulmash, president of Private Citizen, Inc., a Warrenville, IL organization designed to prevent what Bulmash describes as "junk calls" from telemarketers. We deserve at least a C-note -- $100, he says. Twice a year, Bulmash, age 43, a paralegal by trade, mails a directory of people who don't wish to have telephone solicitors call them to 600 telemarketing firms. Along with the directories, he sends a contract which states that the people listed will listen to the solicitors only in exchange for $100. If the solicitors call, the contract says, the telemarketing company owes the listener $100. It's for "use of private property -- the phone, your ear, your time," says Bulmash. Subscribers, now numbering about 1000, pay $15 per year to be listed in the Private Citizen directory. While Bulmash doesn't guarantee you won't be called, he does offer some success stories. He says subscribers have collected anywhere from $5 - $92 from telemarketing companies. He offers a money-back deal for those subscribers not completely satisfied. He says only one person has taken him up on it. "You can tell those companies 500 times over the phone not to call and they won't listen," Bulmash says. "But when you threaten them with charging them for your time, that gets their attention." Bulmash, who began Private Citizen in May, 1988, says telemarketers have the attitude of "we're big business, so you just hang up the phone if you don't like us. I say we have a right to be left alone in the first place, at least in our homes." Typically, a telemarketing call to a home has less than a 3 percent success rate, he said, with the other 97 percent of us -- and we know who we are -- being unnecessarily inconvenienced. Bulmash says he has testified before Illinois and California state legislative committees and has lobbied state and federal lawmakers for relief from telemarketers. He teaches the members of his organization how to bill for their time, and in many cases, make the charges stick and get payment for "the use of their time, ear and phone." For more information on Private Citizen, contact Bulmash at 312-393-1555. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Banned in Boston -- Telemarketer Gets Sued! September 14, 1989 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alan Schlesinger's stock in trade is suing people. But you might say his stock is too hot to handle at Merrill Lynch these days. A Boston lawyer who hates telephone solicitors, Schlesinger sued Merrill Lynch after the brokerage firm ignored "repeated requests" to quit calling him with investment proposals. To Merrill Lynch's surprise, he won an injunction. Indeed, he sued them twice and won both times. The second time was after an unwitting broker called him in violation of the court order prohibiting it. "This is something that bothers a lot of people, but they don't have the sense they can do something about it," said Schlesinger, whose best retort is a tort, it would seem. In the second suit, the court awarded him $300, for the costs of his prosecution of the matter and for his time spent on the phone with the brokerage house's phone room. "He is using an atom bomb to deal with a gnat," said William Fitzpatrick, chief lawyer for the Securities Industry Association, faulting Schlesinger for doing what comes naturally for an attorney: "Being a lawyer myself, I can only guess he doesn't have enough brains to just hang up the phone." ______________________________________________________________________