The Hacker's Encyclopedia 1998

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ The Hacker's Encyclopedia 1998 / hackers_encyclopedia.iso / zines / phrack2 / phrack43.027 < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 2003-06-11 | 23.0 KB | 509 lines

==Phrack Magazine== Volume Four, Issue Forty-Three, File 27 of 27 PWN PWN PNW PNW PNW PNW PNW PNW PNW PNW PNW PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN Phrack World News PWN PWN PWN PWN Compiled by Datastream Cowboy PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN New Yorker Admits Cracking July 3, 1993 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (From AP Newswire Sources) Twenty-one-year-old Mark Abene of New York, known as "Phiber Optik" in the underground computing community, has pleaded guilty to charges he participated in a group that broke into computers used by phone companies and credit reporting services. The Reuter News Service says Abene was the last of the five young men indicted in the huge 1991 computer break-in scheme to admit committing the crimes. The group called itself "MOD," an acronym used for "Masters of Disaster" and "Masters of Deception." Abene pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of unlawful access to computers. He faces a possible maximum prison term of 10 years and fine of $500,000. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- China Executes Computer Intruder April 26, 1993 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (From AP Newswire Sources) A man accused of invading a computer and embezzling some $192,000 has been executed in China. Shi Biao, an accountant at the Agricultural Bank of China's Jilin branch, was accused of forging deposit slips from Aug. 1 to Nov. 18, 1991. The crime was the first case of bank embezzlement via computer in China. Authorities became aware of the plot when Shi and his alleged accomplice, Yu Lixin, tried to wire part of the money to Shenzhen in southern China. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Teen Takes the A Train --- Literally May 13, 1993 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (From AP Newswire sources) A 16 year old 10th grader successfully conveyed passengers on a NYC 10 car subway train for 2.5 hours until he went around a curve too quickly and could not reset the emergency brakes. Keron Thomas dressed as a NY subway train engineer impersonated Regoberto Sabio, a REAL subway motorman, while he was on vacation and even obtained Sabio's "pass number". Thomas was a Subway enthusiast who hung around train stations and areas where subway motormen and other subway workers hang out. A NYC subway spokesman was quoted as saying "Buffs like to watch...pretty soon they figure out how" [to run the train]. "This guy really knew what he was doing". Thomas was charged with criminal trespassing, criminal impersonation, and reckless endangerment. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Banks React To Scheme That Used Phony ATM May 13, 1993 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (From AP Newswire Sources) At least three people are believed to be involved in an ATM scam that is thought to have netted roughly $ 60,000. The fraud was perpetrated by obtaining a real ATM machine (theorized to have been stolen from a warehouse) and placing it in a Connecticut shopping mall. When people attempted to use the machine, they received a message that the machine wasn't working correctly and gave back the card. Little did they know that their bank account number and PIN code was recorded. The fake machine was in place for about 2 weeks. It was removed and the thieves began making withdrawals. The Secret Service thinks the scammers recorded anywhere from 2000 to 3000 account numbers/pin codes but did not get a chance to counterfeit and withdraw money except from a few hundred accounts before it became too dangerous to continue ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hacker Gets Jail Time June 5, 1993 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (Newsday) (Page 13) A Brooklyn College film student, who was part of a group that allegedly broke into computer systems operated by major telephone companies, was sentenced yesterday to 1 year and 1 day in prison. John Lee, 21, of Bedford Stuyvesant, also was sentenced to 200 hours of community service, which Manhattan Federal District Court Judge Richard Owen recommended he spend teaching others to use computers. Lee had pled guilty December 3, 1992, to a conspiracy charge involving computer tampering, fraud and illegal wiretapping. _______________________________________________________________________________ Hacker Gets Prison Term For Phone Computer Tampering June 4, 1993 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by Gail Appleson (The Reuter Business Report) NEW YORK -- A computer hacker known as "Corrupt" who was part of a group that broke into computer systems operated by major telephone companies was sentenced Friday to one year and one day in prison. The defendant, John Lee, 21, of New York had pleaded guilty December 3, 1992 to a conspiracy charge involving computer tampering, fraud and illegal wiretapping. The indictment alleges the defendants broke into computer switching systems operated by Southwestern Bell, New York Telephone, Pacific Bell, U.S. West and Martin Marietta Electronics Information and Missile Group. Southwestern Bell allegedly lost $370,000 because of the crimes. The defendants also allegedly tampered with systems owned by the nation's largest credit reporting companies including TRW, Trans Union and Information America. They allegedly obtained 176 TRW credit reports on various individuals. The indictment alleged the group broke into the computers "to enhance their image and prestige among other computer hackers and to harass and intimidate rival hackers and other people they did not like." _______________________________________________________________________________ Professional Computer Hackers First To Land In Jail Under New Law June 4, 1993 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by Nicholas Hills (The Vancouver Sunds)(Page A11) LONDON -- In Brussels, they were celebrated as the two young men who broke the gaudy secrets of EC president Jacques Delors' expense accounts. In Sweden, they were known as the Eight-Legged Groove Machine, bringing down part of the country's telephone network, forcing a highly publicized apology from a government minister who said the chaos was all due to a 'technical fault'. They also broke into various European defense ministry networks, academic systems at Hull University and the financial records of the leading London bankers, S.G. Warburg. No, these weren't two happy-go-lucky burglars; but rather, professional computer hackers, aged 24 and 22, who made legal as well as technological history by being the first offenders of this new trade to be jailed for their crimes under new British law. Neil Woods and Karl Strickland have gone to prison for six months each for penetrating computer systems in 15 different countries. The ease with which they conducted this exercise, and their attitude that they were simply engaging in "intellectual joyriding," has confirmed the worst fears of legal and technological experts that computer hacking in Europe, at least, has become a virtually uncontrollable virus. The case became a cause celebre because of what had happened months before in another courtroom where a teenage computer addict who had hacked into the White House system, the EC, and even the Tokyo Zoo -- using a $400 birthday present from his mother -- had walked free because a jury accepted, basically, that a computer had taken over his mind. The case of 19-year-old Paul Bedworth, who began hacking at the age of 14, and is now studying "artificial intelligence" at Edinburgh University, provides an insight into why hackers have turned the new computer world into an equivalent state of delirium tremens. Bedworth and two young friends caused thousands of dollars worth of damage to computer systems in Britain and abroad. They were charged with criminal conspiracy under the Computer Misuse Act of 1990. Bedworth never did deny computer hacking at his trial, and did not give evidence in his defense. He simply said through his lawyer that there could not have been any criminal intent because of his "pathological obsession" with computers. A jury of eight men and three women unanimously acquitted him. Until the passage of the Computer Misuse Act in 1990, hacking was legal in Britain. Bedworth may have been found not guilty, but his activities were so widespread that the authorities' investigation involved eight different British police forces, and others from as far afield as Finland and Singapore. It produced so much evidence - mostly on disk - that if it had been printed out on ordinary laser printer paper, it is estimated that the material would have reached a height of 42 meters. The police were devastated by the verdict, but are now feeling somewhat better after the conviction of Woods and Strickland. The pair, using the nicknames of Pad and Gandalf, would spend up to six hours a day at their computers, boasting about "smashing" databases. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Computers Turned My Boy Into A Robot March 18, 1993 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By Martin Phillips (Daily Mirror)(Page 1) Connie Bedworth said she was powerless to control the "monster" as he glued himself to the screen nearly 24 hours as day. "He didn't want to eat or sleep--he just couldn't bear to be away from it, " she said. A jury decided Paul Bedworth, now 19, was so "hooked" he could not stop himself hacking in to companies' systems -- allegedly costing them thousands of dollars. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hot For The Fingertips: An Internet Meeting Of Minds May 23, 1993 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by Frank Bajak (Associated Press) NEW YORK -- Somewhere in the ether and silicon that unite two workstations 11 floors above lower Broadway, denizens of the cyberpunk milieu are feverishly debating whether anyone in government can be trusted. This is the 12-by-20-foot bare-walled home of MindVox, today's recreation hall for the new lost generation's telecomputing crowd. You can enter by phone line or directly off Internet. Patrick Kroupa and Bruce Fancher are the proprietors, self-described former Legion of Doom telephone hackers who cut the cord with computing for a time after mid-1980s teen-age shenanigans. Kroupa is a towering 25-year-old high school dropout in a black leather jacket, with long hair gathered under a gray bandanna, three earrings and a hearty laugh. Fancher is 22 and more businesslike, but equally in love with this dream he left Tufts University for. They've invested more than $80,000 into Mindvox, which went fully operational in November and has more than 2,000 users, who pay $15 to $20 a month plus telephone charges. MindVox aspires to be a younger, harder-edged alternative to the WELL, a fertile 8-year-old watering hole for the mind in Sausalito, California, with more than 7,000 users, including scores of computer age luminaries. One popular feature is a round-table discussion on computer theft and security hosted by a U.S. Treasury agent. The latest hot topic is the ease of breaking into a new flavor of local access network. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Girlz, See You In Cyberspace May 1993 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by Margie (Sassy Magazine) (Page 79) [Margie hits the net via Mindvox. Along the way she discovers flame wars, sexism, and a noted lack of females online. This is her story. :) ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hacker Accused of Rigging Radio Contests April 22, 1993 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By Don Clark (San Francisco Chronicle) A notorious hacker was charged yesterday with using computers to rig promotional contest at three Los Angeles radio stations, in a scheme that allegedly netted two Porsches, $20,000 in cash and at least two trips to Hawaii. Kevin Lee Poulsen, now awaiting trial on earlier federal charges, is accused of conspiring with two other hackers to seize control of incoming phone lines at the radio stations. By making sure that only their calls got through, the conspirators were assured of winning the contests, federal prosecutors said. A new 19-count federal indictment filed in Los Angeles charges that Poulsen also set up his own wire taps and hacked into computers owned by California Department of Motor Vehicles and Pacific Bell. Through the latter, he obtained information about the undercover businesses and wiretaps run by the FBI, the indictment states. Poulsen, 27, is accused of committing the crimes during 17 months on the lam from earlier charges of telecommunications and computers fraud filed in San Jose. He was arrested in April 1991 and is now in the federal Correctional Institution in Dublin. In December, prosecutors added an espionage charge against him for his alleged theft of a classified military document. The indictment announced yesterday adds additional charges of computer and mail fraud, money laundering, interception of wire communications and obstruction of justice. Ronald Mark Austin and Justin Tanner Peterson have pleaded guilty to conspiracy and violating computer crime laws and have agreed to help against Poulsen. Both are Los Angeles residents. Poulsen and Austin have made headlines together before. As teenagers in Los Angeles, the two computer prodigies allegedly broke into a Pentagon-organized computer network that links researchers and defense contractors around the country. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPA Tracks Software Pirates on Internet March 22, 1993 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By Shawn Willett (InfoWorld)(Page 12) The Software Publishers Association has begun investigating reports of widespread piracy on the Internet, a loose amalgam of thousands of computer networks. The Internet, which began as a Unix-oriented, university-based communi- cations network, now reaches into corporate and government sites in 110 countries and is growing at a rapid pace. The software theft, according to Andrew Patrizio, an editor at the _Software Industry Bulletin_, has been found on certain channels, particularly the warez channel. "People are openly talking about pirating software; there seems to be no one there to monitor it", Patrizio said. A major problem with the Internet is that the "sites" from where the software is being illegally downloaded can physically be located in countries that do not have strong antipiracy laws, such as Italy or the former Soviet Union. The Internet also has no central administrator or system operator. "Policing the entire Internet would be a job", said Peter Beruk, litigation manager for the SPA, in Washington. "My feeling would be to target specific sections that are offering a lot of commercial software free for the download", he said. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Socialite's Son Will Have To Pay $15,000 To Get His Impounded 1991 BMW Back March 23, 1993 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By John Makeig (Houston Chronicle)(Page 14A) Kenyon Shulman, son of Houston socialite Carolyn Farb will have to pay 15 thousand dollars to get back his 1991 BMW 325i after being impounded when Houston police found 400 doses of the drug ecstasy in its trunk. This is just the latest brush with authorities for Shulman who in 1988 was raided by Harris County authorities for using his personal computer to crack AT&T codes to make free long distance calls. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Austin Man Gets 10 Years For Computer Theft, Sales May 6, 1993 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By Jim Phillips (Austin American Statesman)(Page B3) Jason Copson, who was arrested in July under his alias Scott Edward Berry, has been sentenced to 10 years on each of four charges of burglary and one count of assault. The charges will run concurrently. Copson still faces charges in Maryland and Virginia where he served a prison term and was serving probation for dealing in stolen goods. Police arrested Copson and Christopher Lamprecht on July 9 during a sting in which the men tried to sell computer chips stolen from Advanced Micro Devices. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Treasury Told Computer Virus Secrets June 19, 1993 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By: Joel Garreau (Washington Post) (Page A01) For more than a year, computer virus programs that can wreak havoc with computer systems throughout the world were made available by a U.S. government agency to anyone with a home computer and a modem, officials acknowledged this week. At least 1,000 computer users called a Treasury Department telephone number, spokesmen said, and had access to the virus codes by tapping into the department's Automated Information System bulletin board before it was muzzled last month. The bulletin board, run by a security branch of the Bureau of Public Debt in Parkersburg, W.Va., is aimed at professionals whose job it is to combat such malicious destroyers of computer files as "The Internet Worm," "Satan's Little Helper" and "Dark Avenger's Mutation Engine." But nothing blocked anyone else from gaining access to the information. Before the practice was challenged by anonymous whistleblowers, the bulletin board offered "recompilable disassembled virus source code"-that is, programs manipulated to reveal their inner workings. The board also made available hundreds of "hackers' tools"-the cybernetic equivalent of safecracking aids. They included "password cracker" software-various programs that generate huge volumes of letters and numbers until they find the combination that a computer is programmed to recognize as authorizing access to its contents-and "war dialers," which call a vast array of telephone numbers and record those hooked to a computer. The information was intended to educate computer security personnel, according to Treasury spokesmen. "Until you understand how penetration is done, you can't secure your system," said Kim Clancy, the bulletin board's operator. The explosion of computer bulletin boards-dial-up systems that allow users to trade any product that can be expressed in machine-readable zeros and ones-has also added to the ease of virus transmission, computer analysts say. "I am Bulgarian and my country is known as the home of many productive virus writers, but at least our government has never officially distributed viruses," wrote Vesselin Vladimirov Bontchev of the Virus Test Center of the University of Hamburg, Germany. At first, the AIS bulletin board contained only routine security alert postings. But then operator Clancy "began to get underground hacker files and post them on her board," said Bruce Sterling, author of "The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier." "She amassed a truly impressive collection of underground stuff. If you don't read it, you don't know what's going to hit you." Clancy, 30, who is a former Air Force bomb-squad member, is highly regarded in the computer security world. Sterling, one of the nation's foremost writers about the computer underground, called her "probably the best there is in the federal government who's not military or NSA (National Security Agency). Probably better than most CIA." Clancy, meanwhile, is staying in touch with the underground. In fact, this week, she said, she was "testing a product for some hackers." Before it goes into production, she will review it to find potential bugs. It is a new war dialer called "Tone-Loc." "It's an extremely good tool. Saves me a lot of trouble. It enables me to run a hack against my own phone system faster" to determine points of vulnerability. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- [AGENT STEAL -- WORKING WITH THE FEDS] IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS DALLAS DIVISION ----------------------------------- THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA * * V. * CRIMINAL NO. 3-91-194-T * (FILED UNDER SEAL) JUSTIN TANNER PETERSEN (1) * JOINT MOTION TO SEAL COMES NOW the United States of America, by its United States Attorney, at the request of the defendant, and hereby requests that this Honorable Court seal the record in this case. In support thereof, the United States states the following: 1. The case is currently being transferred to the Middle District of California for plea and disposition pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 20; 2. The defendant is released on bond by the United States District Court for the Middle District of California; 3. The defendant, acting in an undercover capacity, currently is cooperating with the United States in the investigation of other persons in California; and 4. The United States believes that the disclosure of the file in this case could jeopardize the aforesaid investigation and possibly the life of the defendant. Consequently, the United States requests that this Honorable Court seal the record in this case. Respectfully submitted, MARVIN COLLINS United States Attorney LEONARD A. SENEROTE Assistant United States Attorney Texas State Bar No. 18024700 1100 Commerce Street, Room 16G28 Dallas, Texas 75242-1699 (214) 767-0951 CERTIFICATE OF CONFERENCE The defendant joins in this motion. LEONARD A. SENEROTE Assistant United States Attorney [The entire file of information gathered from the courts regarding Agent Steal is available from Phrack for $5.00 + $2 postage] -------------------------------------------------------------------------