The Hacker Chronicles - A…the Computer Underground/The Hacker Chronicles - A Tour of the Computer Underground (P-80 Systems).iso/cud2/cud203b.txt

Text File | 1992-09-26 | 23KB | 405 lines

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                  >C O M P U T E R   U N D E R G R O U N D<
                                >D I G E S T<
              ***  Volume 2, Issue #2.03 (Sepember 14, 1990)   **
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Date: Tue, 11 Sep 90 01:34:49 -0400
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Len Rose's experience with the Secret Service

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***  CuD #2.03: File 2 of 4: Len Rose's Experience with the S.S. ***
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 [Jim Thomas suggested I write something for the digest and I have been
  casting around for ideas.. All I really can think about nowadays is my
  own situation. I have become quite a bore to my friends I am sure.]

 Please excuse any vestiges of self-pity you may detect.

 The Day It Happened:

 I left my home around eleven am to drive down to Washington DC to meet
 with a potential client. After several hours with them , I started the
 drive back through the rush hour traffic. It was just a few minutes
 after five pm that I pulled into my driveway in Middletown Md. I remember
 getting out of the car and noticing that someone was in the back yard.

 He was wearing a blue wind breaker and was neatly dressed. We had been
 trying to sell a Jeep , and I assumed he was interested in buying the
 car. "What can I do for you" I asked.. I remember being slightly pissed
 that this person had just been hanging around the back of my home. He
 flipped his jacket aside and I saw a badge on his belt and a gun
 in a shoulder holster. "Please go into the house" he replied. I was
 pretty shaken and asked "What have I done wrong?" .. without answering
 the question, he took my arm and sort of marched me into the front door
 of my home. Upon entering, two agents pulled me up from the foyer, and
 put me against the wall while searching me. Then I remember being shown
 the front of a search warrant and then taken into my master bedroom.
 The door was shut and I didn't leave the room for more than five hours.

 They introduced themselves, and I asked them what this was about. Foley
 replied "We will ask the questions" .. "Do you know any of these hackers?"
 I was asked about 10 or 15 names, and out of them I said I recognized
 one or two from seeing articles here and there but hadn't had any contact
 with them. I remember Foley getting angry. "You had better cooperate,
 let's try again". I reiterated that I knew none of them. He said "You
 are not telling us the truth" ... I told him I had little contact with
 hackers and had been away from that scene for quite some time. He then
 scoffed and said "You have a hacker handle don't you... What is It?"
 I paused, and then replied "Terminus, but I haven't used it or gone by
 that in a very long time"  He said "Right, like last month..." I thought
 about that and then I started to feel sick inside.. I knew that I had
 sent Craig Neidorf a copy of login.c which had been modified to perform
 certain functions that basically made it a trojan horse. I used that
 handle since I didn't want the world to know that Len Rose was sending
 someone proprietary source code through mail.. He shoved a photocopy of a
 printout under my nose and asked me if I recognized it.. I looked at it
 and said, "Yes.. " .. He asked me If I had made the modifications and
 placed certain comments within the source. "Yes" again. "But I never used
 it" I blurted out.

 "We are only interested in the 911 software and Rich Andrews" they said.
 [I never had anything to do with 911 software and after an extensive search
 of my systems that night by a certain AT&T employee they seemed to agree.]

 "Did Rich Andrews send you a copy of the 911 software?" Foley asked me.
 I told them no, no one had sent me anything of the sort. I told them
 that Rich had found some portion of 911 software on his system and
 sent it to Charley Boykin at killer to see if it was serious. Rich had
 told me before, and I sort of approved of the idea. I remember Rich
 saying that he'd had no response whatsoever..

 [I wish he had told me the truth, but that is for him to explain why]

 "We want dirt on Rich Andrews.." Special Agent Timothy Foley said.
 "We feel he has been less then cooperative.." and "Do you know he is
 a convicted felon" I replied "Yes" but he is a good friend and I
 know he hasn't done anything wrong. He is not involved with hackers.
 Foley asked me about any dealings I had with Rich. I realized then
 that lying wouldn't do me any good, so I told them everything I could
 remember. What I had to say must not have been good enough, as Foley
 kept saying I wasn't going to get anywhere unless I told them all the
 truth. It took me a long time to convince them that was all I knew.

 During the interrogation, my legal problems in Virginia were brought up,
 and I mentioned that I might be acquitted. Jack Lewis said "If you get
 off in Virginia, I'll make sure we burn you for this" .. I felt then
 that I was completely shut off from reality.

 Foley then asked me to tell them anything illegal I had done.
 Jack Lewis said "It would be better if you tell us now, because if we
 discover anything else later it will be very serious". By this time, I
 was scared and I remember telling them that I had copies of AT&T System V
 v3.1, System V v3.2 and various other pieces of software which had been
 given to me by certain employees of AT&T (without the benefit of a license
 agreement). "Where is it" they asked.. I told them that I had a couple
 9 track tapes with prominent labels on a tape rack.

 I remember asking several times to see my wife, and to go to the bathroom.
 Each time I was told I couldn't. If I hadn't been so scared I would have
 asked for an attorney, but my mind had shutdown completely. About 6 hours
 later I was finally led out of my bedroom and told to sit at the kitchen
 table and not to move. Foley and Lewis sat with me and put a sheet of
 paper in front of me and told me to write a statement. "What do you want
 me to write about" I asked. Foley said "Everything you told us about
 Rich Andrews and also everything about the Trojan horse login program."
 "Make sure you mention the System V source code"..

 So, as they were finishing loading up the moving truck, I sat there and
 wrote about two pages of information.

 It was about midnight, when they left, but not before handing me a
 subpoena to appear before the Grand Jury.

 They told me to tell Rich Andrews my main Unix system had crashed, and
 not to let him know that the SS had been there. I felt pretty bad about
 this because I kept thinking they were going to get him. He must have
 called siz or seven times the day after the "raid". I couldn't tell him
 anything, since I assumed my line was tapped.

 I remember going outside as they were starting to leave and looking into
 the back of the moving truck. The way some of the equipment was packed, I
 knew it wouldn't survive the trip into Baltimore. I asked for permission
 to re-pack several items (CPUs,Hard Disks, and a 9 track drive) and received
 it. As I watched my belongings pull away , I remember feeling so helpless,
 and confused. It was only then did it sink in that every material possession
 that really mattered to me (other than my home), was gone. All I had to
 show for it was a sketchy 20 page inventory..

 Later, my wife told me what had gone on until I came home. The SS
 arrived around 3 pm, and had knocked on the door. She opened the door,
 and 5 or 6 agents pushed her back into the foyer. They took her by the
 arms and moved her over to a sofa in the living room. They had a female
 agent with them, and this person was detailed to stay with her. She was
 not allowed to make phone calls, or answer them (until much later in the
 evening.) My children were also placed there. My son, who was 4 at the
 time refused to submit to their authority (guns didn't scare him) would
 get up often and follow agents around. From what my wife recalls, they
 were amused at first , then later became less enthusiastic about that.

 She wasn't allowed to feed the kids until after I had been released
 from the interrogation session. She remembers getting up several times,
 to go to the bathroom or to retrieve diapers,etc. and being told to get
 back onto the sofa. The female agent even followed her into the bathroom.
 The massive search of every nook and cranny of our home encompassed much
 more than computer equipment. To this day, I feel there is a direct
 link between my previous legal problem in Virginia, and the extent of the
 search that day. In fact, the SS had obtained items seized from me by
 Virginia and had them in their posession before the raid ever took place.


 I remember going down to the SS office a couple days later to
 voluntarily answer the subpoena. I set up my equipment for them. Although
 they had labled most cables and connectors, there was some confusion.
 I remember showing them how to use my systems, and in particular how to
 do a recursive directory listing of every file contained within. After a
 while, once they made sure they had backups , I was allowed to type a few
 commands at a terminal in order to retrieve an ascii text file (a resume).

 Later, while being escorted back out to the front of their offices,
 I saw a large room filled with stacks of boxes and equipment cases which
 had constituted the entire sum of my office and all equipment,software,and
 documentation. I was feeling pretty numb, and remember asking the agents
 there to please take care of everything, since I hoped to get it back.
 In reflection, it seems pretty pitiful.

 It was this day that they told me I would be prosecuted, and I remember
 driving back from Baltimore feeling betrayed. Even though I had completely
 cooperated with them, and had been told I would not be prosecuted. When I
 got home, I was crying .. I couldn't handle this anymore. My sister was
 there and I remember she gave me three vallium.. I calmed down and in
 fact got pretty high from it.

 [The following is something the SS allege I did]

 Allegedly from a phone booth that night I called Rich Andrews and warned
 him to get rid of any source code or software he shouldn't have.. At this
 time I was also alleged to have told Rich that I was leaving the country,
 and would go to Korea with my wife and kids. [If I did do this, I never
 said anything about leaving] .. They apparently had either tapped his line,
 or he told them about my call. [I would have been stupid to say this, since
 Korea has extradition treaties with the US]

 My Arrest:

 Several days later, I received a sudden call from Special Agent John Lewis
 and he told me to come down and pick up my fax machine. (I had been
 pestering them about it so I could fax my resume out to headhunters so I
 could find a job)..

  [ Ironically, I had been hired a week before by Global Computer Systems,
  in New Jersey to work as a contractor at AT&T's 3B2 Hotline in South
  Plainfield New Jersey .. I knew that after this AT&T wouldn't have anything
  to do with me and in fact was informed so the night of the raid ]

 Upon entering the SS office (Feb. 6) around 5 pm, I waited outside in
 the waiting room.. I had been doing some house painting and wasn't dressed
 very well. Jack Lewis came out and brought me back to one of their offices
 He held out his hand (as if to shake it) and instead put hand cuffs on my
 hand. He then locked the other to an eyebolt on the desk. He sat down
 across from me and told me to empty my pockets.. I complied, and then he
 started writing an inventory of my posessions.

 Jack Lewis looked up from his writing and said "You fucked us,Len!"

 "What do you mean?" I said. "You called Rich Andrews, and warned him to
 get rid of anything he shouldn't have,you fucked us!" .. I didn't reply.
 He then told me to pull my shoestrings out of my sneakers, and I did..
 He called another agent in to witness the contents of his inventory,sealed
 the envelope and then told me I was going to jail.. About 15 minutes later
 he released the handcuffs from the desk, and put my arms behind my back and
 handcuffed them.

 I was led into the hallway, while he finished some last minute details..
 He was nice enough to let me make a phone call, when I asked him..I promptly
 called a friend in Philadelphia. I knew he would know what to do.. Because
 my wife didn't speak English well, and would also have been hysterical
 I couldn't count on her to be much help.

 They drove me over to the Baltimore City Jail,told the bored looking turnkey
 at the desk to hold me for the night.

 I was pretty hungry but I had missed the evening meal , and despite
 repeated pleas to make my "phone call" the jailers ignored me.
 The people in the cells next to mine were an interesting lot.
 One was in for killing someone, and the other was in for a crack bust..
 Someone in the cell block was drugged out, and kept screaming most of
 the night.. I didn't sleep much that night, and the with the cold steel
 slab they call a bed it wouldn't have been possible anyway. Sometime
 around 9 am a jailer appeared and let me out.

 I was then turned back over to the SS and they drove me back to the
 Federal Building... They put me in another holding cell and I was there
 for about 2 hours. A Federal Marshal came and took me to a court room,
 where I was charged with a criminal complaint of transporting stolen
 property over interstate lines with a value of $5000 or more.

 The conditions for my release were fairly simple..

 Sign a signature bond placing my home as collateral, and surrender
 my passport. Fortunately my wife had come down earlier and Agent Lewis
 had told her to get my passport or I wouldn't be released .. She drove
 the 120 mile round trip and found it.. She returned, I was brought down
 to the courtroom and the magistrate released me.

 We retained an attorney that day, and several weeks later they agreed to
 drop all charges. I am told this was to give both sides some time to work
 out a deal. Against the better judgement of my (then) attorney I offered to
 meet with the Assistant U.S. attorney if they would bring someone down from
 Bell Labs. My thinking was that surely a Unix hacker would understand the
 ramifications of my changes to the login.c source and corroborate my
 explanations for the public domain password scanner. They also wanted me
 to explain other "sinister" activities , such as why I had an alias for
 the Phrack editors, and I knew a Unix person from the labs would know what
 I meant when I said it made it easier for people to get to .BITNET sites.


 I was a complete fool,and the person from Bell Labs got me in even worse
 trouble when he told them I had other "trojan" software on the systems.
 He was referring to a public domain implementation of su.c which David Ihnat
 (chinet) had written to allow people to share su access without actually
 knowing the root password. "But it is public domain software," I cried.
 The Bell Labs person turned and told David King (Asst. US Attorney) that
 I was lying. He went on to say that there was a considerable amount of
 R&D source code on my machines. Things that no one should possess outside of
 AT&T, like Korn shell and AwkCC.

 My attorney (Mr. Carlos Recio of Deso, and Greenberg - Washington DC) was
 furious with me. All he could say was that "I told you so.." and I realized
 I had been stupid. I had hoped if I could explain the situation to the govt.
 and have someone from AT&T verify what I said was true, then they would
 realize I was just a typical Unix freak, who hadn't been involved in anything
 more sinister than possibly having things I shouldn't have.

 After a few months the best deal Mr. King offered was for me to plead
 guilty to 2 felony counts (Computer Fraud) and I would receive a sentence
 of 17 months in prison. I refused to take the deal, [ Perhaps I may live
 to regret that decision when my trial begins in 91.. ]

 In May I was formally charged with 5 felony counts.. The rest is history..

 Present Day:

 In better times I never lacked for work, and lived in a world where I
 spent more on phone bills per month (uucp traffic), than I have earned
 in the last four months.

 I am sitting here (rather lying, since I cannot get up) by the laptop
 computer (on loan to me from a friend) . Lately, I have grown to feel
 that without this little laptop and it's modem linking me to the network
 I would have been driven mad a long time ago.Reading Usenet news has been
 my only solace lately. During the day I spend hours calling around to all
 the head hunters asking for work.Since I still have a fax machine,
 I am able to fax my resume around. So far, I haven't had much luck in
 finding anything at all. Since all this happened , it seems that I have
 been blacklisted. A few companies expressed interest, but later called
 back and asked me if I was the "LoD hacker" and I told them yes.. They
 weren't interested anymore (I cannot blame them).

 I guess the Unix Today articles have cost me more than any of the others..
 I lost a great contract ($500 a day) with a major bank in Manhattan when
 they saw the first article.. In various articles from various newspapers,
 I have been called the "Mastermind of the Legion of Doom" and other bizarre
 things.

 The lies told by the US Attorney in Baltimore in their press release
 were printed verbatim by many papers.. The usual propaganda about the
 Legion's activities in credit card fraud, breakins and the threat to the
 911 system were all discussed in that press release and cast a bad light
 on me.

 I have had the good fortune to have a friend in Philadelphia who has
 loaned me office space in his firm's building. Such an arrangement lends
 an air of credibility to Netsys Inc. Too bad I have no clients or contracts.

 Since I broke my leg pretty badly (The doctor says I will be in a cast for
 six months and maybe some surgery) ,I haven't been able to visit the
 "office" but I have an answering machine there and I check my calls daily.

 We (my wife and two children) moved to the Philadelphia suburbs in order
 to put as much distance as possible from the SS Agent John "Jack" Lewis
 who is based in Baltimore.

 I realize that the SS have offices in every city, and agents to spare
 but it made me feel better knowing that he is in Baltimore and I am here.

 Anyway, at this point I am trying to find a few system admin jobs, and
 would take any salary they offered me. I am scared about the next few
 months since I cannot even get a job as a laborer or a 7-11 clerk since
 my leg is screwed.. My wife (who has a liberal arts degree) is looking
 for a job in this area.. We hope she can get a job working minimum wage
 in some department store or as a waitress.

 We have enough money to last another month I guess. Then I am not sure
 what we will do, since we haven't any relatives who will take us in.
 I have never been un-employed since leaving high school, and It's a
 pretty bad feeling. One day , If I survive this, I will never forget
 what has happened. I can't help feeling that there is a thin veneer
 of freedom and democracy in this country, and agencies like the Secret
 Service are really far more powerful than anyone had realized.

 I know that my friends within AT&T (E. Krell for one) feel I have
 "stolen" from their company. I can only laugh at this attitude since
 I have probably done more for AT&T than he has. Those of you who knew
 me before can attest to this. While it was "wrong" to possess source code
 without a license,I never tried to make money from it. I wrote a Trojan
 Horse program, which in all honesty was done to help defend my own systems
 from attack (it is currently installed as /bin/login on my equipment).
 Any allegations that I installed it on other systems are completely false.

 [ in fact, most of the source code was given to me by AT&T employees ]

 As far as the public domain password scanner program, well.. I realize
 that most of you know this, but items far more powerful can be obtained
 from any site that archives comp.sources.unix,and comp.sources.misc ..
 I used it as a legitimate security tool when doing security audits on
 my own systems and clients. It wasn't very good really, and considering it
 was obsolete (System V 3.2 /etc/shadow) anyway, it's usefulness was limited.

 Since the SS will be reading this article with interest, I want to
 point out that I will fight you to the end. Someday I hope you will
 realize you made an honest mistake and will rectify it. Perhaps there
 was some justification I am not aware of, but I doubt it. If I have to
 go to prison for this, perhaps it will benefit society. Who knows what
 what Len Rose would have done if left to continue his criminal pursuits.

 I hope to get my equipment, and software back and then re-start my life.
 There have been repeated motions to get my equipment back , but the judge
 has summarily denied them saying I will commit crimes If I get it back.
 I have offered to assist the SS in saving evidence,and to sign any agreement
 they choose regarding validity of that evidence.

 I may take up begging soon , and ask for help from someone who is rich.
 It's going to be winter soon and I don't look forward to being on the
 street.

 Len


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