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==Phrack Magazine==
Volume Four, Issue Forty-Three, File 27 of 27
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PWN Phrack World News PWN
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PWN Compiled by Datastream Cowboy PWN
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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.
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China Executes Computer Intruder April 26, 1993
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(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.
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Teen Takes the A Train --- Literally May 13, 1993
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(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.
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Banks React To Scheme That Used Phony ATM May 13, 1993
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(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
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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.
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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."
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Professional Computer Hackers First To Land In Jail Under New Law June 4, 1993
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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. :) ]
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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[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]
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