The Hacker Chronicles - A Tour of the Computer Underground

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==Phrack Inc.== Volume Three, Issue 30, 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 XXX/Part 1 PWN PWN PWN PWN Created, Written, and Edited PWN PWN by Knight Lightning PWN PWN PWN PWN Special Thanks to Dark OverLord PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN Happy Holidays and Welcome to Issue XXX of Phrack World News! This issue of Phrack World News contains stories and articles detailing events and other information concerning Acid Phreak, AT&T, Apple Computer Co., Bellcore, Bernie S., Klaus Brunnstein, Cap'n Crunch, Captain Crook, Chaos Communications Congress, Cheshire Catalyst, Clifford Stoll, CompuServe, Leonard Mitchell DiCicco, Emmanuel Goldstein, FCC, Katie Hafner, Harpers Magazine, Intellical, Michael Synergy, Kevin David Mitnick, Phiber Optik, Phonavision, Phrozen Ghost, Prime Suspect, Sir Francis Drake, Susan Thunder, Telenet, Terra, Tuc, Tymnet, The Well, and... Announcing the Fourth Annual... SummerCon '90 June 22-24, 1990 Saint Louis, Missouri This year's convention looks to be the more incredible than ever. Many of you will be hearing from us directly over the next few months about what will be taking place and where SummerCon '90 will be held specifically. The posted date is of course a tentative one (as we are still six months away), but any and all changes or new information will be in PWN and passed to our network friends. If you are thinking about attending SummerCon '90, please find a way to contact us as soon as possible. If you are not on the Internet or one of the public access Unix systems across the country, then post a message on bulletin boards that asks who is in contact with us. Chances are that there will be someone on there that can reach us. Knight Lightning / Forest Ranger / Taran King "A New Decade Is Upon Us... And The Future Never Looked Brighter!" _______________________________________________________________________________ Mitnick's Partner Gets Community Service November 29, 1989 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% By Kathy McDonald (New York Times) "Man Sentenced To Community Service For Helping Steal Computer Program" LOS ANGELES -- A federal judge has sentenced a 24-year-old suburban Calabasas man to community service at a homeless shelter for his role in helping computer hacker Kevin Mitnick steal a computer security program. In rejecting a sentencing report that suggested a prison term, U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer noted that Leonard Mitchell DiCicco had voluntarily notified authorities of the computer hacking. "I think you can do some good" in the community by using his computer skills productively, Pfaelzer told DiCicco. She sentenced DiCicco to five years of probation, during which he must complete 750 hours of community service through the Foundation for People, a Los Angeles group that matches probationers with community service projects. DiCicco was assigned to develop a computer system for the Anaheim Interfaith Shelter, said Frances Dohn, a foundation official. DiCicco also was ordered to pay $12,000 in restitution to Digital Equipment Corporation of Massachusetts, from which Mitnick stole a computer security program. Assistant U.S. Attorney James Asperger agreed with the community service sentence, saying DiCicco's cooperation had been crucial in the case against Mitnick. DiCicco reported Mitnick to DEC officers. Mitnick later admitted he stole the program and electronically brought it to California. DiCicco pleaded guilty in July to one count of aiding and abetting the interstate transportation of stolen property. He admitted that in 1987 he let Mitnick, age 25, of suburban Panorama City, use his office computer at Voluntary Plan Administrators in Calabasas to break into the DEC system. Mitnick pleaded guilty and was sentenced in July to one year in prison and six months in a community treatment program aimed at breaking his "addiction" to computer hacking. Under a plea bargain agreement with the government, DiCicco pleaded guilty in July in exchange for a promise that he would not be prosecuted for any of the other instances of computer hacking he and Mitnick carried out. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you are looking for other articles related to Leonard Mitchell DiCicco and the famous Kevin David Mitnick please refer to; "Pacific Bell Means Business" (10/06/88) PWN XXI....Part 1 "Dangerous Hacker Is Captured" (No Date ) PWN XXII...Part 1 "Ex-Computer Whiz Kid Held On New Fraud Counts" (12/16/88) PWN XXII...Part 1 "Dangerous Keyboard Artist" (12/20/88) PWN XXII...Part 1 "Armed With A Keyboard And Considered Dangerous" (12/28/88) PWN XXIII..Part 1 "Dark Side Hacker Seen As Electronic Terrorist" (01/08/89) PWN XXIII..Part 1 "Mitnick Plea Bargains" (03/16/89) PWN XXV....Part 1 "Mitnick Plea Bargain Rejected As Too Lenient" (04/25/89) PWN XXVII..Part 1 "Computer Hacker Working On Another Plea Bargain" (05/06/89) PWN XXVII..Part 1 "Mitnick Update" (05/10/89) PWN XXVII..Part 1 "Kenneth Siani Speaks Out About Kevin Mitnick" (05/23/89) PWN XXVII..Part 1 "Judge Suggests Computer Hacker Undergo Counseling"(07/17/89) PWN XXVIII.Part 1 "Authorities Backed Away From Original Allegations"(07/23/89) PWN XXVIII.Part 1 "Judge Proposes Comm. Service For Hacker's Accomp."(10/13/89) PWN XXX....Part 1 _______________________________________________________________________________ Chaos Communications Congress %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% by Terra of the Chaos Computer Club On December 27-29, 1989 is the Chaos Communication Congress at Eidelstaedter Buergerhaus, Hamburg, West Germany. The topics of this Congress include: - The new German PTT law - Discussion about Copyright and Freedom of Information act - Women and Computers - Mailbox and other Networks (Zerberus, InterEuNet, UUCP) - Workshops for East and West German people to build networks between the two countries. - Discussion between Professor Klaus Brunnstein and CCC members about the problems of viruses and worms. - Workshops about Unix and UUCP for beginners, advanced, and special people - Presswork in a special room - Workshop Cyberbrain or Cyberpunk - Workshop and Discussion about Secure Networks (Special: TeleTrust, coding mixed gateways) The prices to enter the Congress are 33 DM for Normal people 23 DM for CCC-members 53 DM for Press Regards, Terra _______________________________________________________________________________ Phonavision At The University of California October 15, 1989 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Taken From the New York Times CALIFORNIA -- Students at two campuses of the University of California, at Berkeley and Los Angeles, have become the test market for a new public video-telephone booth called Phonavision. Its developers claim that it is the world's first video telephone for the general public. Each of the campuses has one of the large, silver-color phone booths in its student union. Phonavision opened on October 9, for a week of free demonstrations. Starting October 16, video phone calls from one campus to the other will cost $10 for three minutes. "We view all this semester as a test," said Stephen Strickland, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles-based company, Communications Technologies, that developed the video phones. "We want to be sure that when we do go to market with this service, it's as good as it can be." "We feel we're probably six months to a year away from having a system that we can go out and market," Strickland said. "I see them in airport lobbies, hotel lobbies, shopping centers, indoor high-traffic locations." Video telephones are already widely used in business, he added. Phonavision callers speak to each other on standard telephone receivers. A snapshot-size image of their own face is projected on one half of a small screen, and the other half shows a picture of the person to whom they are talking. As a caller talks, the video screen shows small movements of the mouth or face. But sudden movements mean a distorted picture. With a tilt of a caller's head, for example, the image will move to the side in separate parts, starting with the top of the head and moving down in a wavelike motion. Annalee Andres, a sophomore from Santa Ana, California, who has not yet selected a major, was one of the first students to try out Berkeley's new video phone. She and her friends crowded around the phone booth in the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center, taking turns talking to a student from UCLA. "I think it has a long way to go yet, but it's really cool," she said. "I can really see where it's leading." Ms. Andres speculated on the effects that widespread use of video phones would have. "What if they catch you and you're just out of the shower?" she asked. "It'll change dating." Daniel Ciruli, a junior from Tucson, Arizona, majoring in computer science, was enthusiastic about his trial session, but he said the fee would keep him away in the future. "It's a new toy," he said. "But at $10 for three minutes, with only one other Phonavision, it's not going to be something that students are beating down the door to use." The video phone booth offers other services: Recording and dealing in videotapes and a place to send and receive fax messages. The booth accepts $1, $5, $10 and $20 bills, as well as Mastercard and Visa. Gary Li, a senior from Beijing, who is majoring in electrical engineering, started setting up Berkeley's phone booth in April. Since then he has spent about 20 hours a week repairing kinks in the system. Berkeley and UCLA were chosen as tryout spots for the new service because most students know somebody at the other campus, said Strickland, the company's chief executive. "That's a place where we can get novelty use," he said, adding that "Berkeley and UCLA have a reputation for being front-runner schools -- places that are innovative, that like new technology." Strickland said his company has spent almost three years developing Phonavision. He would not disclose total costs, but priced the video phone booths at $50,000 each. _______________________________________________________________________________ The Omnipresent Telephone October 10, 1989 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Taken from The New York Times Whatever the psychological implications, new technology has clearly made the phone more omnipresent. More calls are generated because of answering machines, now owned by 28 percent of the nation's households, according to the Electronic Industries Association. People who use them say they make and receive more calls because of them. "In olden days you would just miss the call," said Michael Beglin, a businessman in Nashville. Jill Goodman, an art dealer in New York, says she talks on the phone so often that "I'm tortured about it, teased and insulted." She uses the phone to socialize, shop and check in with people she wants to stay in touch with but does not want to take the time to see. "I have two lines in the country, two lines at home in the city and three lines in my office, if that gives you any idea of how much phone I can generate," she said. A month ago, after resisting initially, she decided to have a car phone installed. "I thought it might be nice to have a couple of hours without being reachable," she said. "But I didn't like not being able to reach when I wanted to." Increasingly, too, people are using the phone to get services, information and products. The 900 numbers, which require callers to pay the cost, and the 800 numbers, paid for by the calls' recipients, are growing quickly. Sprint Gateways started a new 900 service in May that already has 250 lines. Callers can get wrestling trivia, financial updates, real-estate information and a host of other data. They can even play a version of "Family Feud," which receives as many as 7,000 calls a day, said Adrian Toader, the director of sales and marketing. Telephone shopping through 800 numbers continues to grow, too. In 1986, L.L. Bean, the Freeport, Maine, retailer, received 60 percent of its orders by telephone and 40 percent by mail; by 1988, telephone orders had risen to 70 percent. Like an increasing number of retailers, L.L. Bean allows customers to call in their orders 24 hours a day. But callers to 800 numbers often want more than a new shirt or sweater. Susan Dilworth, who takes telephone orders for L.L. Bean, said, "A lot of people call and say: 'I'm coming to New England for the first time. How should I dress?'" Other callers order merchandise but then begin talking about their personal lives. "I think they're lonely," Mrs. Dilworth said. Indeed, these anonymous but personal contacts are so popular that some people are becoming hooked. Marilyn Ng-A-Qui, the acting executive director of the New York City Self-Help Clearinghouse, said one man called looking for help because he had run up a $5,000 bill calling 900 numbers. "It is emerging as a problem all over the country," she said. Despite the deluge of telephone conversation, there are holdouts. Lois Korey, a partner in a New York advertising agency, writes letters whenever she can, often suggesting lunch meetings. "I really like to see who I'm talking to," she said. But even her partner, Allen Kay, calls her from his office just four feet away. The only time he could not telephone, Mrs. Korey said, was when he was in his car. And now those days are over. "He got a car phone a month ago, and he calls all the time," she said. "When I sit in the front seat of his car, I try to step on it." _______________________________________________________________________________ Higher Phone Rates For Modem Users November 26, 1989 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% (Material gathered from an Apple digest on Usenet) A new regulation that the FCC is quietly working on will directly affect you as the user of a computer and modem. The FCC proposes that users of modems should pay extra charges for use of the public telephone network which carry their data. In addition, computer network services such as CompuServe, Tymnet, & Telenet would also be charged as much as $6.00 per hour per user for use of the public telephone network. These charges would very likely be passed on to the subscribers. The money is to be collected and given to the telephone company in an effort to raise funds lost to deregulation. Jim Eason of KGO newstalk radio (San Francisco, California) commented on the proposal during his afternoon radio program during which, he said he learned of the new legislation in an article in the New York Times. Jim took the time to gather the addresses which are given below. It is important that you act now. The bureaucrats already have it in there mind that modem users should subsidize the phone company and are now listening to public comment. Please stand up and make it clear that we will not stand for any government restriction on the free exchange of information. The people to write to about this situation are: Chairman of the FCC 1919 M Street N.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 Chairman, Senate Communication Subcommittee SH-227 Hart Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Chairman, House Telecommunication Subcommittee B-331 Rayburn Building Washington, D.C. 20515 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Here is a sample letter: Dear Sir, Please allow me to express my displeasure with the FCC proposal which would authorize a surcharge for the use of modems on the telephone network. This regulation is nothing less than an attempt to restrict the free exchange of information among the growing number of computer users. Calls placed using modems require no special telephone company equipment, and users of modems pay the phone company for use of the network in the form of a monthly bill. In short, a modem call is the same as a voice call and therefore should not be subject to any additional regulation. _______________________________________________________________________________ FCC Orders Refunds to Long-Distance Companies November 30, 1989 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Taken from Associated Press WASHINGTON -- Local telephone companies may have to refund as much as $75 million to long-distance companies and large private-line business customers, the Federal Communications Commission says. Pacific Northwest Bell in Idaho is one of the 15 companies named. The local phone companies accumulated overcharges between 1985 and 1988 under FCC guidelines that allowed prices of these high capacity private-line services to exceed the phone companies' costs of providing the services. The FCC ordered a refund as it considered challenges to the special pricing scheme, which the local phone companies provide for long-distance companies or large business customers. The commission voted 4-0 that the scheme was legal during the 1985-88 period, when the high prices were designed to keep too many customers from switching from the regular public network to private lines, but that market conditions no longer justify continuation of the special pricing. The commission said it expects the local phone companies to refrain from requesting such special prices in the future. While examining the challenges to the special pricing scheme, the commission said it found that local phone companies in some cases had charged more than allowed under the commission's guidelines. Therefore, the companies must refund those charges, which could amount to as much as $75 million, the commission said. The FCC said the amount of the refunds will not be known until the local phone companies file detailed reports with the commission. The companies have 40 days to make their filings. The companies found not to be in compliance with the commission's pricing guidelines from October 1, 1985 to December 31, 1986 were: - Diamond State - South Central Bell in Alabama - Southwestern Bell in Missouri and Oklahoma - Northwestern Bell in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and North Dakota - Pacific Northwest Bell in Idaho Pacific Northwest Bell is now called U.S. West Communications and is the phone company that serves most Seattle-area residents. Companies found not complying from January 1, 1987 to December 31, 1988 were: - Ohio Bell - Wisconsin Bell - Southern Bell in North Carolina and South Carolina - South Central Bell in Mississippi and Tennessee - Pacific Bell - Nevada Bell - Southwestern Bell - Mountain Bell - Northwestern Bell - Cincinnati Bell _______________________________________________________________________________ AT&T v. Intellicall: Another Lawsuit November 8, 1989 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Dallas -- AT&T filed a lawsuit charging that a Texas-based corporation equips its pay telephones to illegally obtain billing information owned by AT&T. The lawsuit asks for $2 million in punitive damages and an undetermined amount in actual damages from Intellicall Inc., headquartered in Carrollton, Texas. It also asks the U.S. District Court in Dallas to order Intellicall to stop its unauthorized use of AT&T billing information. At issue is how Intellicall pay phones determine the validity of calling card numbers for billing purposes. AT&T contends that Intellicall pay phones are designed and programmed by Intellicall to reach into and obtain the information directly from AT&T's card validation system. That system, called Billing Validation Application (BVA), is a part of AT&T's network facilities. Before AT&T completes a call that will be charged to an AT&T Card, its validation system verifies that the number provided by the customer is currently valid. Based on contractual arrangements made before the 1984 breakup of the Bell System, regional Bell telephone companies also use the validation system. AT&T does not permit competitors such as Intellicall to use the system because the system was built by AT&T and contains valuable competitive information. AT&T alleges that when callers use an AT&T Card or Bell company calling card at an Intellicall pay phone, the pay phone automatically places a separate call through AT&T or local Bell facilities to a pre-programmed telephone number so that AT&T's validation system will automatically check the card number. If the card number is valid, the Intellicall pay phone then puts through the original customer call. "As a result of these practices," the lawsuit says, "Intellicall surreptitiously and without authorization obtains validation data from AT&T, obtains fraud control for calls by its customers without having to invest in fraud control facilities or otherwise purchase fraud control services, imposes costs on AT&T, and... obtains an unfair advantage over its competitors providing pay telephone and/or long-distance service, including AT&T." Although AT&T does not authorize other companies to accept the AT&T Card and does not permit competitors to use its validation system, the lawsuit notes that Intellicall could purchase validation services for Bell company calling cards from other companies. AT&T said it notified Intellicall that it was violating AT&T's proprietary rights and gave Intellicall every reasonable opportunity to halt the fraudulent validation practice. Only after Intellicall persisted in its unfair practices did AT&T decide to take legal action. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - AT&T v. Intellicall: The Lawsuit Is Over November 13, 1989 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Dallas -- AT&T and Intellicall, Inc. today announced the settlement of a lawsuit filed by AT&T against Intellicall, seeking damages and an injunction. AT&T had accused Intellicall of unauthorized access to AT&T's calling card validation system. The settlement also covered potential counterclaims which Intellicall intended to file against AT&T. In the agreement, Intellicall acknowledged AT&T's proprietary rights in the Billing Validation Application system, and agreed to make modifications in its licensed pay telephone software to safeguard against unauthorized access and use of the AT&T system. The terms of the agreement include an undisclosed payment by Intellicall to AT&T to contribute to the establishment of a compliance program which will permit AT&T to monitor unauthorized access to its billing systems. "AT&T is pleased that a settlement recognizing AT&T's proprietary right to the validation system was reached so quickly," said Gerald Hines, director of AT&T Card Services. _______________________________________________________________________________ Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253 12yrs+