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-
- ==Phrack Classic==
-
- Volume Three, Issue 32, File #10 of 12
-
-
- KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL
-
- K N I G H T L I N E
-
- Issue 001 / Part I
-
- 17th of November, 1990
-
- Written, compiled,
-
- and edited by Doc Holiday
-
- KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL
-
- ---
-
- Welcome to the 5th year of Phrack and the first edition of KnightLine!
-
- ---
- SunDevil II: The witch-hunt continues..
-
- I hate to start out on such a sour note, but: Inside sources have reported an
- enormous amount of Secret Service activity in major U.S. cities.
- Furthermore, sources claim that new investigations are underway for the
- prosecution of all Legion Of Doom members.
-
- The investigations have "turned up" new evidence that could bring about
- the sequel to SunDevil.
-
- This information comes from reliable sources and I suggest that all precautions
- should be taken to protect yourselves from a raid.
-
- Some good advice to follow:
-
- A> Refrain from using "codes", or other means to commit toll fraud.
-
- B> Further yourselves from those who are overwhelmed with desire to tell
- you their recent conquests of computer systems.
-
- C> Refrain from downloading or storing stolen Unix source code.
-
- D> Get rid of anything that might incriminate you or your peers.
-
- E> Stay cool, calm, and collected.
-
-
- The Conflict has submitted a file to KL about what to do IF YOU ARE raided.
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
- Simple Guidelines To Follow If You Encounter
- Law Enforcement Agents In An Unfriendly Situation
-
- The current state of the Computer Underground is an extreme turmoil.
- The recent threat of another series of witchhunt raids has put many
- people into a state of paranoia, and rightfully so. Noone needs to
- deal with all the bullshit associated with a bust. I am offering a
- few guidelines to follow if you encounter a precarious situation
- instigated by a law enforcement agent; of course, it is up to you to
- decide what you want to do. Of the people whom I have spoken with,
- these will be some of the best steps to follow if you receive an
- unexpected visit.
-
- Probably the first thing you would want to do if you receive an
- unfriendly visit from Joe Fed is to READ the damn warrant. Find
- out why you have been chosen, and what they are looking for. Also,
- remember that if they have only a search and seizure warrant, they
- are warranted only to confiscate items on your premises; however, if
- they are serving a subpoena, they may take what they need, on or off
- your premises. So, in essence, the clean-house preventive measure
- may or may not be useful to you.
-
- An important thing to do when Agent Foley (or one of his lesser
- evil counterparts) comes knocking on your door is to cooperate fully.
- Drop a lot of "Yes sir"/"No sir" answers; respond politely. You're
- in no position to be a smart ass, and being friendly surely can not
- hurt you.
-
- Another important thing to remember, although it is almost
- opposite of the aforementioned, has to do with what to say. In
- essence, do not say a fucking thing if you are questioned! Remember,
- anything you say or do can and WILL be used AGAINST you in a court of
- law. Simply reply, "I can not answer any questions without counsel",
- or "I first must contact my attorney." You need not answer a damn
- thing they ask of you without an attorney present, and it would most
- probably be very detrimental to do so.
-
- This hint parallels the previous one. No matter what you do,
- do not reply to any question with "I don't know anything", or any
- simple derivation of that phrase. If you do, and you are indicted,
- you will be reamed in court. The presence of that statement could
- greatly damage your defense, unless you are conditionally mental or
- something.
-
- In essence, those are all you should need. What I have outlined
- is very simple, but logical. You need to keep a level head at least
- while they are on site with you; get pissed off/psycho later, after
- they leave. If you are currently an active member of the Computer
- Underground, you may wish to lose anything that is important to you,
- at least temporarily. Why? Well, the analogy I was given follows
- that: if you were suspected of racketeering, the feds could execute
- a search and seizure on your property. If they can prove by 51% that
- ANY of the confiscated material COULD have been used in your suspected
- racketeering, it is forfeited (i.e. you lost it, for good). The
- forfeiture stands whether or not you are indicted or convicted! So,
- you would be entirely screwed.
-
- All of the aforementioned steps are important. Those are all I really
- have to offer. I suggest that you get clean before the sweep occurs,
- and that you stay clean until after the sweep clears. Exercise
- extreme caution. Keep your head high, and keep your back to the wall
- (otherwise, it would be quite possible to find a knife lodged in it).
- Stay safe, and good luck!
-
- The Conflict
- 11-13-1990
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- ***UPDATE.11/16/90: 3 Hackers are DOOMED to prison
-
- Frank Darden (Leftist), Adam Grant (Urvile), and Robert Riggs (Prophet)
- were sentenced Friday. Robert, who was currently on probation before the
- incident was sentenced to 21 months in a federal prison. Frank and Adam were
- received sentences of 14 months. All three were ordered to pay $233,000 in
- restitution.
-
- Kent Alexander, an assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case, was
- not available for comment.
-
- ---
- This is not good for the Underground at all. I'm sure the government will
- use the outcome of this to their advantage in speeding up the momentum of
- prosecuting hackers. In their eyes, everyone is in LOD.
-
- Dale Boll, a special agent of the Secret Service in Washington, said
- "Telephone companies are preparing for a retaliation from the hacking
- underworld and are beefing up security at all ends of the wire."
-
- I can't verify or validate these rumors of retaliation. But I can say if
- you are going to do some sort of retaliation, I would think twice-- It could
- make things worse. This is not a "game" we are playing. No, it's reality.
- And I'm sured Frank, Adam, and Rob are feeling it right now.
- ---
- A few words from Erik Bloodaxe on the sentences:
-
- "I'm not surprised in the least at the sentencing. However, I'm sure the three
- of them are. I wish I could ask them if all the singing was worth-while in the
- long-run. How can anyone hope to make a deal with federal officals, who with
- in the past year, resorted to such lies and deceit. Everyday I think all this
- will be over and I can get on with my life and possibly use my own computer to
- write a term paper without fear of it's confiscation due to who or what I know
- or have seen or done in the past. Perhaps this will end eventually, but until
- then Mr. Cook will play on the peoples inherient fear of technology and
- exploit everyone in his past on his personal crusade for his own twisted view
- of justus. Are you or have you ever been a member of the Legion of Doom? Tell
- me, do you believe in reincarnation Senator McCarthy?"
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
- "The weirdest part of my dream was... when I woke up."
-
- And now.... .. ANNOUNCING:
-
- The first annual,
-
- X M A S C O N '90
-
- Where: Houston, TX
- When: December 28th-30th 1990
- Who: All Hackers, Journalists, and Federal Agents
-
- Well, it's getting closer.. XmasCon is next month and we plan on having
- the biggest gathering of Hackers & Feds since SummerCon '88!
-
- This event was going to be private until word got out. A journalist
- (unnamed) found out about the private event and decided to make it public news
- in the magazine for which he writes. Well, after seeing the words: "XMASCON"
- in a magazine with less readers than Phrack, we decided to announce it
- ourselves. So, here it is-- Your OFFICIAL invitation to the gathering that
- should replace the painful memories of SummerCon'90 (SCon'90? What do you mean?
- there was a SummerCon this year? HA. It surprised me too).
-
- Hotel Information:
- La Quinta Inn
- 6 North Belt East
- (713) 447-6888
- (Located next to Intercontinental Airport)
-
- Fees: $44.00+TAX a night (single)
- $56.00+TAX a night (double)
-
- Government Discount (With ID)
- $49.00+TAX a night (single)
- $37.00+TAX a night (double)
-
- 1-800-531-5900
-
-
- Call for reservations in advance. Please tell the registar that you are with
- XmasCon'90. Everyone is welcome to attend, and I do mean EVERYONE.
-
-
- Take care & see you at HoHoCon!
-
- --DH
-
- _______________________________________________________________________________
-
- F R O M T H E W I R E
-
-
- HEADLINE Thirteen Arrested For Breaking Into University Computer
- Byline: PAT MILTON
- DATE 08/16/90
- SOURCE The Associated Press (ASP)
- Origin: FARMINGDALE, N.Y.
- (Copyright 1990. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
-
-
- * FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (AP) _ Thirteen computer hackers ranging in age from 14 to
- 32 were charged Thursday with breaking into the mainframe computer at a
- university in Washington state and causing costly damage to the files. One of
- the suspects is a 14-year-old high school student from New York City who is
- also a suspect in last November's break-in of an Air Force computer in the
- Pentagon, according to Senior Investigator Donald Delaney of the New York State
- Police. The student, who used the name "Zod" when he signed onto the computer,
- is charged with breaking into the computer at the City University of Bellevue
- in Washington in May by figuring out the toll-free telephone number that gave
- students and faculty legitimate access to the system.
-
- "Zod," who was not identified because he is a minor, maintained control over
- the system by setting up his own program where others could illegally enter the
- system by answering 11 questions he set up.
-
- More than 40 hackers across the country are believed to have gained illegal
- access to the system since May, Delaney said. As a result of the break-in,
- university files were altered and deleted, and consultants must be hired to
- reprogram the system, Delaney said. In addition to the arrests, search
- warrants were executed at 17 locations on Thursday where officers confiscated
- $50,000 worth of computers and related equipment. Three more arrests were
- expected. Two of the 13 arrested were from Long Island and the rest were from
- the New York boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx.
- Farmingdale is on Long Island. The 13 were charged with computer tampering,
- computer trespass, unauthorized use of a computer and theft of services. The
- juveniles will be charged with juvenile delinquency.
-
- The investigation began two months ago after a technician at the university
- noticed "error message" flashing on the computer screen, indicating someone had
- entered the system illegally. The suspects were traced through subpoenaed
- telephone records. * Many hackers break into private computer systems for the
- pure satisfaction of cracking the code, and also to obtain sometimes costly
- computer programs, Delaney said.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
-
-
- _______________________________________________________________________________
-
-
- HEADLINE US Sprint helps business customers battle PBX fraud
- DATE 09/25/90
- SOURCE BUSINESS WIRE (BWR)
-
-
- KANSAS CITY, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--US Sprint Wednesday announced its corporate
- security department will help the company's business customers battle PBX
- fraud. After producing significant results in fighting code abuse US Sprint is
- directing their efforts to help their business customers in identifying and
- preventing computer hackers from infiltrating their business customer's owned
- or leased telephone switching equipment. ``Unauthorized use of our
- long-distance service has been greatly reduced through increased detection,
- prevention, investigation and prosecution efforts,'' said Bob Fox, US Sprint
- vice president corporate security.
-
- ``Now rather than attacking a long-distance carrier's network in * an attempt
- to steal authorization codes, computer hackers are attacking private companies'
- and governmental agencies' Private Branch Exchanges (PBX's). Computer
- hackers break into private telephone switches in an attempt to reoriginate
- long-distance calls, which are then billed to the businesses. Fox says a
- business may not discover its telephone system has been ``hacked'' until their
- long-distance bill is received and then it may be too late. Help is on the way
- however. US Sprint has started a customer support program to help the
- company's business customers to combat the situation. Del Wnorowski, US Sprint
- senior vice president-general counsel said, ``The new program is customers
- about the potential for telecommunications fraud committed through their owned
- or leasesd switching equipment and to assist them in preventing this type of
- illegal activity.'' US Sprint is a unit of United Telecommunications Inc., a
- diversified telecommunications company headquartered in Kansas City.
-
- CONTACT:
- US Sprint, Kansas City.
- Phil Hermanson, 816/276-6268
- _______________________________________________________________________________
-
-
- HEADLINE Fax pirates find it easy to intercept documents
- DATE 09/10/90
- SOURCE Toronto Star (TOR)
- Edition: METRO
- Section: BUSINESS TODAY
- Page: B4
- (Copyright The Toronto Star)
-
-
- --- Fax pirates find it easy to intercept documents ---
-
- TOKYO (Special) - Considering that several years ago enthusiastic hackers began
- breaking into computer systems worldwide to steal valuable information, it
- could only have been a matter of time before the same problem surfaced for
- facsimile machines. Now, officials of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public
- Corp. report evidence that this has been happening, not only in their own
- country but around the globe. Apparently, anyone with just a little knowledge
- of electronics can tap fax messages being sent from one of these relatively
- unsophisticated machines to another, with the duplication printed out on the
- pirate's facsimile machine. Both the sender and the receiver of the faxed
- document remain completely unaware that they have been bugged. "I shudder to
- think of some of the business documents which only recently moved over my
- company's fax machines being examined by our competitors," one Tokyo executive
- nervously admits when informed that there has been a proliferation of tapping.
- "You don't think the tax people are doing it too?" he then asks in mock terror.
-
- It is certainly a frightening thought. The technique involves making a
- secret connection with the telephone line of the party whose fax messages are
- to be intercepted. That is all too easy to accomplish, according to officials
- of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone. Apart from a few special cases, very little
- has been done to guard against outside tapping. As a result, one of the most
- vulnerable areas - and one most businessmen and women now should begin to feel
- unsure of - is the privacy or security of the facsimile machine. Technical
- attention to this problem is in order.
-
- "The idea that somewhere out there is 'Conan the Hacker' who is reading my
- fax correspondence as readily as I do sends chills up my spine," says one
- American businesswoman here. "There could be a lot of trouble for me and up to
- now I didn't even realize it was possible." It is not only possible, but easy.
- Ordinary components available at any electronics store can be used. With these
- in hand, tappers can rig up a connection that sets off a warning signal,
- without the sender or receiver realizing it, whenever a fax message passes
- along the telephone line. Considering the growing volume of highly
- confidential material being sent and received via fax equipment, the resulting
- leaks can be considered highly dangerous to the security of corporate
- information.
-
- In Japan alone it is estimated that there are 3.7 million
- machines in operation. Given the nature of these tapping operations, it would
- appear to be extremely difficult for companies to determine whether they are
- suffering serious damage from this process. In addition, it is clear that a
- great many corporations have yet to realize the extent of the threat to their
- privacy. "If more business executives recognized what is going on," suggests
- one Japanese security specialist, "they would move now to halt the opportunity
- for leaks and thus protect their corporations from this type of violation." He
- went on to note that third parties mentioned in fax messages also can be badly
- hurt by these interceptions. Fortunately, manufacturers are producing machines
- capable of preventing hackers from tapping into the system. In some cases,
- newly developed fax machines use code systems to defend information
- transmitted. But these tap-proof facsimile machines are not yet in general
- use. Makers of the new "protected" facsimile machines predict that once the
- business communities around the globe become aware of the threat they will
- promptly place orders for replacements and junk their old equipment as a simple
- matter of damage control. The market could prove extremely large. Those few
- leak-proof fax machines now in operation depend upon scrambling messages, so
- that even if a pirate taps into the telephone line leading to the unit, the
- intercepted message is impossible to read.
-
- Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, for example, claims that it would require
- a hacker using a large computer more than 200,000 years to crack the codes used
- in its own pirate-proof fax. This ultimately may prove to be something of an
- exaggeration. Although in Japan and many other countries this kind of tapping
- clearly is illegal, it remains nearly impossible to track down electronic
- eavesdroppers. As far as is known, none of these snoopers have been identified
- and dragged into court. Security specialists in Japan claim that there may be
- thousands of fax hackers who get their kicks out of intercepting and reading
- other people's business mail, with few using the information for illegal
- purposes or actively conveying it to third parties.
- _______________________________________________________________________________
-
-
- HEADLINE Inmate behind scams
- Byline: JOHN SEMIEN
- DATE 09/11/90
- SOURCE THE BATON ROUGE SUNDAY ADVOCATE (BATR)
- Section: NEWS
- Page: 1-B
- (Copyright 1989 by Capitol City Press)
-
-
- There wasn't much inmate Lawrence "Danny" Faires couldn't buy, sell or
- steal with a telephone call from his jail cell in Miami when his million-dollar
- fraud ring ran afoul of the U.S. Secret Service in 1989. That was the year
- Faires used a portable computer with an automatic dialing program to "hack out"
- access codes to the long-distance lines of Telco Communications Inc., a Baton
- Rouge-based phone company. Telco officials were alarmed when they spotted
- 1,500 attempts at gaining unauthorized access to the company's long-distance
- service in a single 12-hour period in January 1989.
-
- Convinced that an organized fraud scheme was at work, Telco called
- Resident Agent Phil Robertson, who heads the service's Baton Rouge office.
-
- "They told me they felt they were being attacked by hackers who had discovered
- their long-distance access lines and who were hacking out personal
- identification numbers belonging to their customers," Robertson said Monday.
-
- "You are billed based on your pin (access) number. The computer hacker had
- located several of their 800 numbers and had entered digits hoping it would be
- a valid pin number." Using computer records, Robertson said agents were able to
- isolate 6,000 fraudulent Telco calls that were made during a three-week period
- of January. More than a third of those calls were traced to a cell block in
- the Dade County Interim Detention Center that has been home for Faires for the
- past four years. Faires is awaiting trial in Miami on first-degree murder
- charges. "As it turned out, all of the inmates in this cell block are awaiting
- trial," Robertson said. "One of the inmates, Danny Faires, had a computer in
- his cell attached to a modem, and he turned out to be the hacker."
-
- "All he had to do was plug his modem in, let it make the calls and check his
- printout for the numbers that came back good," the agent said. In checking out
- the other bogus Telco calls, agents uncovered a massive credit card scam. A
- federal grand jury in Milwaukee, Wis., linked both scams to Faires and alleged
- associates of the inmate across the country in a Feb. 27 indictment of six
- people on federal wire and access device fraud. Fairies, an unindicted
- co-conspirator in the case, last week said he has spent the past three years
- applying his previous experience as a computer systems analyst and programmer
- to a lap-top, portable computer provided by one of the prison guards. He
- describes the results as "doing business with America" at the expense of large
- credit card and telecommunications companies. Faires said he attacked Telco's
- system by chance after receiving one of the company's access numbers in a group
- of assorted access codes acquired by his associates. "It was just their
- misfortune that we became aware that they had a system there that was easily
- accessible," Faires said in a telephone interview.
-
- "I was given their access number, along with Sprint and MCI, I guess
- virtually every company in America we got." Faires said he used the stolen,
- long distance phone time and other stolen credit card numbers to access
- networks with credit information from major department stores and mail order
- businesses. "You come up to the door and the door is locked," he said. "You
- have to buy access. Well, I bought access with credit cards from another
- system. I had access codes that we had hacked. "I could pull your entire
- credit profile up and just pick the credit card numbers that you still had some
- credit in them and how many dollars you had left in your account and I would
- spend that," Faires said. "My justification was, I don't know the creditor and
- he had no knowledge of it so he won't have to pay it." However, Faires said he
- now thinks of the trouble the illegal use of the credit cards has caused his
- victims in their efforts to straighten out damaged credit records. "I remember
- I took a course once that was called computer morality about the moral ethics
- to which we're morally bound," he said. "It's like a locksmith. Even though
- he can open a lock, he's morally bound not to if it's not his lock. I violated
- that."
-
- The vulnerability of credit card companies to hackers is the subject of an
- unpublished book that Faires said he has written. Faires said his book
- includes tips on how businesses and others can safeguard access to their
- credit, but added that there may be no way to be completely safe from
- hackers. "It's untitled as yet," he said about the book. "We're leaving that
- open. I'm waiting to see if they electrocute me here, then I'm going to put
- something about "I could buy it all but couldn't pay the electric bill.' "
- [This guy is a real toon -DH]
-
- While Faires has not been formally charged in connection with the scheme,
- last week he said he was sure charges will be forthcoming because "there is no
- question about my involvement." The other six alleged conspirators are John
- Carl Berger and George A. Hart Jr. of Milwaukee, Wis.; Charles Robert McFall
- and Victor Reyes of San Antonio, Texas; Steven Michael Skender Jr. of West
- Allis, Wis.; and Angelo Bruno Bregantini of Marshville, N.C. All six men are
- charged with conspiracy to commit access device and wire fraud. Berger,
- Skender, Reyes and Bregantini also are charged separately with multiple counts
- of wire fraud.
-
- The indictments are the first criminal charges generated by Operation
- Mongoose, an ongoing Secret Service probe of credit card and long-distance
- telephone access fraud. The charges allege that Faires has had access to a
- telephone since his arrest and imprisonment in Miami in 1986, an allegation
- that has prompted a separate probe by Miami authorities. That phone was used
- to make frequent calls to a building on Brookfield Road in Brookfield, Wis.,
- where another alleged unindicted co-conspirator, Fred Bregantini, operates
- various businesses, according to the indictment. The indictment said Faires
- and Fred Bregantini were "at the hub" of the telephone and credit card scam.
- The two men are accused of collecting credit card numbers and telephone access
- codes from other defendants in the case and using the numbers to purchase
- merchandise, services and "other things of value." Robertson said agents
- believe the members of the ring copied many of these stolen numbers from credit
- card receipts retrieved from the trash cans of various businesses. He said the
- practice, commonly called "dumpster diving," is a widely used method in credit
- card fraud. [`dumpster diving' eh? -DH]
-
- While some of the defendants helped make purchases on the stolen cards,
- the indictment alleges that others provided addresses used for the shipment of
- the stolen goods. The goods included gold coins, plane tickets, computer
- equipment, tools and stereo equipment. Robertson said agents are still
- tallying the cost of the scam to Telco and other companies but that the damage
- has already climbed past $1 million. Herbert Howard, president of Telco, on
- Friday said the company lost from $35,000 to $40,000 in revenues from illegal
- calls and in additional expenses for researching Faires' use of access codes.
- "It was really a learning experience for us because this is the first time this
- has happened," Howard said about his 2-year-old company. "I think it's a fear
- of all long-distance companies. It's very fortunate that we caught it as
- quickly as we did."
- _______________________________________________________________________________
-
- HEADLINE No, I'm not paranoid, but who is No. 1?
- Byline: DENISE CARUSO
- Column: INSIDE SILICON VALLEY
- DATE 08/21/90
- SOURCE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER (SFEX)
- Edition: FIFTH
- Section: BUSINESS
- Page: D-16
- (Copyright 1989)
-
-
- THOUGH I didn't plan it that way, this week proved to be a perfect time to
- start renting old episodes of "The Prisoner" - that very dark, very paranoid
- British spy series from the early '60s which foresaw a bleak future in which
- "een-formation" was of paramount importance, no matter whose "side" you were
- on. Every well-paid company representative from every telephone service
- provider in North America earned his or her keep this week, fielding calls from
- blood-thirsty members of the press corps who also wanted "een-formation" about
- whether or not the huge long-distance snafu with AT&T was a "hack" (an illegal
- break-in) or some form of computerized germ warfare.
-
- I'm happy that the answer was "no," but of course the event opens a rather
- nasty can of worms: has AT&T's problem tipped off the hacker community that
- the phone network is vulnerable? "That's a very good question," said one
- network engineer I spoke with last week. But, he assured me, his network was
- totally secure and had all kinds of safeguards built in to prevent either
- outside penetration or the introduction of a software virus to the system. I
- hope he's right, but I must admit, I've heard that song before.
-
- Here, for example, is an excerpt from an anonymous piece of electronic
- mail I received last week, slightly edited to correct grammatical
- imperfections: "It may be of interest to you to know, if I wanted to have
- "fun," "evil" deeds could be done by remote control, up to and including
- shutting down every ESS (electronic switching station) office in North America.
-
- "Less evil and more fun might be to shut down the stock market for a day,
- scramble all transactions, or even send it down in a tail spin! Banks aren't
- immune either. This may sound very darkside, but people must have what is
- needed to fight back if things go bad!" Not disturbing enough? Try this one on
- for size: Back in July of '89, I wrote of a story in the premier issue of the
- magazine Mondo 2000 that detailed how one might set about hacking automatic
- teller machines (ATMs). That story contained everything but the blueprints for
- the device, which the magazine's editors didn't print because they thought it
- would be irresponsible to do so. But now, a student-owned Cornell University
- publication called "Visions Magazine" - for which Carl Sagan is creative
- adviser - has asked the article's author, Morgan Russell, for rights to reprint
- the article in its entirety, including device blueprints.
-
- These kinds of stories are disturbing, yet somehow I've always expected
- they would happen, a reaction that's similar to the way I feel when I watch
- "The Prisoner." No. 6, as he's called, cries out at the beginning of every
- episode, "I am not a number! I am a free man!" His will to resist is
- sufficient to fend off the authorities who believe their need for the
- "een-formation" in No. 6's head gives them the right to try to control his
- movements and thoughts, using - of course - only the most impressive
- technology.
-
- Of course, the science-fiction fantasy of impressive technology in the
- '60s, when "The Prisoner" was created, was as authoritarian and centralized as
- the governments using it. Not many faceless authorities back then were
- predicting a near-future where all classes of people had access to, could
- afford and knew how to use powerful technology. (I'm sure it would have ruined
- their supper if they had.) Neither did they envision today's growing class of
- technological sophisticates - whether self-taught PC hackers or trained
- computer scientists - who, by virtue of their knowledge, could cripple,
- disable, or otherwise confound the system which spawned them. Have any opinion
- you'd like about the right or wrong of it. Fact is, whether it's the phone
- network or a bank teller machine, the more we rely on technology, the less we
- can rely on technology.
-
- Though this fact can make life unpleasant for those of us who are
- victimized by either the machines we trust or the people who know how to fidget
- with them, there is something strangely comforting about knowing that, after
- all, a computer is still only as trustworthy as the humans who run it. Write
-
- CONTACT:
- Denise Caruso, Spectra, San Francisco Examiner
- P.O Box 7260
- San Francisco, CA 94120. (Denise
-
- MCI Mail (Denise Caruso) - CompuServe (73037,52) - CONNECT (Caruso)
- _______________________________________________________________________________
-
- HEADLINE US Sprint to Supply Soviet Venture With Switches
- DATE 09/17/90
- SOURCE WALL STREET JOURNAL (WJ)
-
-
- WASHINGTON -- US Sprint Communications Corp. said it obtained U.S. government
- approval to supply a Soviet joint venture with packet switches that can greatly
- improve telecommunications services between the Soviet Union and other
- countries. The imminent shipment of these switches was announced by William
- Esrey, chairman and chief executive officer of United Telecommunications Inc.,
- shortly after completing a visit to the Soviet Union with Commerce Secretary
- Robert Mosbacher and the chief executives of other U.S. companies. United
- Telecommunications is the parent of US Sprint.
-
- The export license that US Sprint expects to obtain as early as this week
- will be the first license for telecommunications equipment granted by the U.S.
- under the new, relaxed regulations for shipping technology to the Soviet Union,
- Esrey said. * The Soviet venture, Telenet USSR, will be owned by a US Sprint
- subsidiary, Sprint International, and the Soviet Ministry of Post and
- Telecommunications and the Larvian Academy of Sciences, a Soviet research
- group. The Commerce Department doesn't discuss details of individual license
- applications, but Mosbacher has publicly supported technology tie-ups between
- the U.S. companies represented in his traveling group and potential Soviet
- partners. US Sprint appears to be leading the race among American
- telecommunications companies to establish solid ties in the Soviet Union. An
- earlier proposal by U S West Inc. to lay down part of an international
- fiber-optic line across the Soviet Union was rejected by U.S. authorities
- because of the advanced nature of the technology.
-
- US Sprint's packet switches, however, appear to be within the new
- standards for permissible exports to the Soviet Union. The switches are used
- to route telephone calls and control traffic in voice, facsimile and
- digitalized data transmission. These eight-bit switches are one or two
- generations behind the comparable systems in use in Western countries, but are
- still good enough to sharply improve the ability of Sprint's Soviet customers
- to communicate with other countries, Esrey's aides said. The company declined
- to discuss the value of its investment or to disclose how many switches will be
- sold. US Sprint said its venture will operate through new, dedicated satellite
- lines that will augment the often-congested 32 international lines that
- currently exist for Moscow-based businesses. Esrey said he expects the venture
- to be in operation before the end of this year.
- _______________________________________________________________________________
-
- HEADLINE BT Tymnet Introduces Additional XLINK Services
- DATE 09/09/90
- SOURCE DOW JONES NEWS WIRE
-
- SAN JOSE, Calif. -DJ- BT Tymnet Inc. said XLINK Express, a family of new,
- bundled, port-based, synchronous X.25 (XLINKs) services, is available. The
- XLINK service offers customers lower cost X.25 host access to its TYMNET
- network, the company said in a news release. XLINKs are leased-line private
- access port services for X.25 interfaces at speeds up to 19.2 bits per second
- and supporting up to 64 virtual circuits.
-
- XLINK Express includes port access, leased line, modems, software, and free
- data transmission. Prior to XLINK Express, customers requiring a
- 9.6-bit-per-second leased line for standard X.25 host connectivity would
- typically pay about $1,500 monthly for their leased line, modems and interface.
- With XLINK, customers can now be charged a monthly rate of $900, the company
- said.
-
- BT Tymnet Inc. is a unit of British Telecom plc.
- _______________________________________________________________________________
-
- HEADLINE Hacker may be taunting the FBI; Whiz suspected of invading U.S. army
- computer
- Credit: PENINSULA TIMES TRIBUNE
- DATE 04/10/90
- SOURCE Montreal Gazette (GAZ)
- Edition: FINAL
- Section: NEWS
- Page: F16
- Origin: PALO ALTO, Calif.
- (Copyright The Gazette)
-
- --- Hacker may be taunting the FBI; Whiz suspected of invading
- U.S. army computer ---
-
- PALO ALTO, Calif. - The computer prodigy wanted on suspicion of invading a
- U.S. army computer may be taunting FBI agents by defiantly talking to his
- hacker buddies on electronic bulletin boards while he eludes a manhunt,
- authorities said. The mysterious Kevin Poulsen, a former Menlo Park, Calif.,
- resident described by many as a computer genius, is outsmarting the FBI and
- apparently has the savvy to make this game of hide-and-seek a long contest.
-
- No, investigators are not getting frustrated, FBI official Duke Diedrich
- said. "It's just a matter of time. We've got our traps and hopefully one day
- we'll be able to get the mouse." Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for
- the former SRI International computer expert. He has been at large since at
- least Jan. 18, when federal officials revealed allegations of a sensational
- computer conspiracy. The FBI says Poulsen, 24, is the mastermind of a complex
- computer and telephone-system invasion that included breaking into an
- unclassified army computer network, snooping on the FBI and eavesdropping on
- the calls of a former girlfriend. FBI agents believe he may be in southern
- California, but because he is apparently still hooked up to a national network
- of hackers, he could be using his friends to hide just about anywhere, Diedrich
- said. Poulsen is adept at manufacturing false identification and knows how to
- use the phone system to cover traces of his calls.
-
- Agents believe his hacker talk on electronic bulletin boards is perhaps "a
- way of taunting law enforcement officials," Diedrich said. Poulsen may be back
- to his old tricks, but "he's not hiding with the usual bunch of hackers," said
- John Maxfield, a computer security consultant and former FBI informant.
-
- Maxfield, known nationally as a "narc" among young hackers, said he had
- underground sources who said Poulsen was rumored to be living alone in a
- southern California apartment. Poulsen's computer chatter could lead to his
- downfall, Maxfield said. Many hackers are electronic anarchists who would be
- happy to turn in a high-ranking hacker, thereby pushing themselves up the
- status ladder, he said. But Poulsen probably has access to a steady flow of
- cash, so he doesn't have to get a job that might lead to his arrest, Maxfield
- said.
-
- With his expertise, Poulsen could easily crack the bank computers that
- validate cash transactions and then credit his own accounts, Maxfield said.
- The FBI isn't desperate, but agents have contacted America's Most Wanted, a
- television show that asks viewers to help authorities find fugitives.
-
- Poulsen's mother, Bernadine, said her son called home just after police
- announced there was a warrant for his arrest, but he had not called since.
- During the brief call, "He just apologized for all the stress he was causing
- us." The fugitive's motivation baffles Maxfield.
-
- The self-described "hacker tracker" has conducted investigations that have
- led to dozens of arrests, but the Poulsen-contrived conspiracy as alleged by
- the FBI is strange, he said. Most teen-age hackers are thrill seekers, he
- explained. The more dangerous the scam, the bigger the high. But Poulsen is
- 24. "Why is he still doing it?" Maxfield asked.
-
- Poulsen, alias "Dark Dante" and "Master of Impact," was a member of an
- elite hacker gang called Legion of Doom. [Poulsen was never a member of the
- group -DH]
-
- The 25 or so mischievous members are now being arrested one by one, Maxfield
- said. They consider themselves misfits, but smart misfits who are superior to
- the masses of average people who have so labelled them, he said. [Baha,
- Maxfield really cracks me up -DH]
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
- Kevin recently had a 15 minute television debut on NBC's "Unsolved
- Mystries". The program showed renactments of Kevin breaking into CO's and
- walking around his apartment filled with computers and other 'listening'
- devices (as the show called them).
-
- I personally got a kick out of the photographs he took of himself holding
- switching equipment after a break-in at a CO.
- _______________________________________________________________________________
-
- HEADLINE Amtrak Gets Aboard SDN
- Byline: BETH SCHULTZ
- DATE 10/25/90
- SOURCE COMMUNICATIONS WEEK
- Issue: 267
- Section: PN
- Page: 58
- (Copyright 1989 CMP Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.)
-
- WASHINGTON - Amtrak, always looking for ways to reduce the amount of government
- funding it takes to keep it on track, has switched its long distance traffic
- onto a virtual private network-taking advantage of an AT&T promotion that saved
- the railroad $250,000. Though Amtrak realized the cost-savings potential of
- AT&T's Software Defined Network (SDN) as early as May 1987, it took until last
- spring for the company to move full-speed ahead with implementation of that
- virtual private network service. "We had led the horse to water, but we
- couldn't make it drink," said Jim West, an AT&T national systems consultant.
-
- But in April of this year, AT&T removed the last obstacle in the
- railroad's way, said Amtrak's chief network engineer Matt Brunk. At that time,
- AT&T began running a special promotion that waived the installation fee for
- connecting sites to the SDN. Until then, Amtrak, based here, could only afford
- adding locations piecemeal.
-
- Plagued by network abuse, Amtrak began tracking the potential of SDN as a
- means of solving that problem as soon as AT&T announced its SDN rates in
- December 1986. Describing the severity of its toll-fraud problem, Brunk told
- of a seven-day stint in 1985 during which hackers tallied $185,000 in
- unauthorized charges. By the end of that year, toll fraud on Amtrak's network
- reached in excess of $1 million.
-
- Before the days of the virtual private network, the only way to clean up
- this abuse was through a toll-free "800" service configuration and PBX remote
- access, which Amtrak implemented at the end of 1985. "We changed the policy
- and procedures for all users, limiting the capabilities of remotaccess," Brunk
- said.
-
- But Amtrak needed to further patrol its network, and after studying AT&T's
- SDN, as well as competitive offerings, the railroad ordered in May 1987 the
- first portion of what would this year become a 300-site SDN. The initial order
- included AT&T Accunet T1.5 circuits for just two stations, one in Chicago and
- one here. Used to replace the 800 service, these 1.544-megabit-per-second
- direct connections were used to "provide secure remote access to on-net numbers
- for numerous users," Brunk said.
-
- Equally important, Amtrak also signed up for the Network Remote Access
- Fraud Control feature, which gives it a single point of control over the
- network. "What Amtrak ordered then was not really a network, because it was
- feature-specific," said AT&T national account manager Sharon Juergens.
-
- The company has not billed back or dropped any toll fraud since it began
- using the SDN remote access feature, Brunk said. "Anyone with PBX
- remote-access capability and :heavy! volume not using SDN as a vehicle is
- doing their company a disservice."
-
- Originally a beta-test site for the SDN's security-report feature, Amtrak
- has since come to rely heavily on that option, too. With the exception of some
- group codes, a warning is sent if spending on any user code exceeds $60 per
- month. "We begin investigating immediately," Brunk said. "We are now
- proactive, instead of reactive."
-
- Today, 40 Amtrak locations have switched-access connections to the SDN;
- 260 sites are linked through dedicated means, whether through voice-grade
- analog circuits or high-speed T1s. "The users' traffic is discounted, on a
- single billing statement, and in effect, :the SDN! links them to the company.
- This is our corporate communications glue," Brunk said. "But this is only the
- beginning. Not only have we provided a service, but also we have provided a
- bright future. We have set ourselves up for competitive gain." Spending
- Stabilized And the company has stabilized telecommunications expenditures. In
- 1985, Amtrak spent $26 million on telecom equipment and services. Four years
- later, Brunk estimated the railroad will spend just $1 million more. He said
- contributing factors to this will be the SDN, upgrading from outdated analog
- PBXs to digital PBXs and replacing some PBX installations with local
- Bell-provided centrex service. Network savings resulting from reduced
- call-setup time alone, Brunk added, will reach $74,000 this year.
-
- "In a nutshell, we have improved transmission quality, network management
- and maintenance, and reduced costs," Brunk said. "The users have gained a
- single authorization code accessing multiple applications, improved quality and
- support."
-
- Cost savings aside, Amtrak also took into consideration applications
- available off the SDN. "At the time, of what was available, we really liked
- everything about SDN," Brunk said.
-
- The Amtrak network is supported by the dedicated access trunk testing
- system. This system lets Amtrak test access lines, thus aiding the company in
- activating and deactivating authorization codes. And Amtrak is testing the
- AT&T Alliance dedicated teleconferencing service.
-
- With the teleconferencing service, Amtrak can reduce internal travel
- expenditures: Users can access the system remotely via an 800 number, or on
- demand. Amtrak operators can connect teleconferencing calls at any time. "The
- quality is fantastic, but the cost is even better because it's all connected to
- the SDN," said Brunk.
-
- _______________________________________________________________________________
-