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= F.U.C.K. - Fucked Up College Kids - Born Jan. 24th, 1993 - F.U.C.K. =
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Defcon ][
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Note: This is a story/narration about my trip to Defcon II.
In case you didn't know, Defcon II(I won't include the 'II' from here
on out, but this is about the second, not the first) is a convention
held for shady characters in the computer underground. For this convention,
a few more people heard about it, and more than just hackers/phreakers
showed up. Speakers talk about H/P/A/V/C stuff, surveillance, the law
relating to those subjects, etc. Anyway, this is my story, told from
a weird point because part was written during the trip, part was
written after etc. It may be a little jumpy from here to there, but
I think it will be well worth reading. This file will also probably
end up being longer than most, but once again, well worth the time
to read. I should include some great information, neat quotes, interesting
facts, and other stuff. This file will also have a lot more humor,
and not quite as serious a theme as usual, but that should help to show
other kinds of people out there, and the culture they are in. W3rd.
Since nothing exciting happened on the way to the airport, we
will begin this from Stapleton airport in Denver Co. The cast: Me (Dam)
and Morpheus. Destination: Las Vegas, Nevada. Why: Defcon II. (note:
I had never been to Vegas, but Morpheus had). This takes place over
Friday the 22nd, to Monday the 25th of July 1994. For historical type
purposes.
Day 1
-----
We arrived almost an hour before the flight so we decided to hit
the arcade and kill some time. Lethal Enforcers was our game of choice,
and upon playing found out we couldn't shoot the side of the screen. If
you haven't played this game, read on but know that you can't get far
unless you can shoot the bad guys that appear on the side of the screen.
So we try to get our money back and the guy walks to the machine and keys
in a credit for him. (Note: This guy had a barcode tatoo on his leg for
some bizarre reason). He then points out that by standing the farthest
from the screen, you can indeed shoot the sides. I asked him to shoot
out a glass window on the very side of the screen and he tries once,
realizes he couldn't do it, then shoots a bad guy and keeps going. He then
pronounces the game fine, and leaves without giving a few credits. He
tried to social engineer us. Lamer.
The first leg of the trip was from Denver to Salt Lake City, Utah.
As we took our seats, we figured we would be fortunate enough to have all
three seats to ourselves. Right before the final call for passengers, a
lady came up and asked if the other seat was taken. I should have said
'yes' but didn't think to since she seemed a normal person. Bitch. She
put her little daughter beside me and moved a few seats back. The girl's
father sat a few seats up, both rid of the brat. For over an hour and
a half I put up with this girl screaming, kicking me in the leg, and tossing
her doll around by the hair. I must say that during this whole thing
Morpheus was a complete dick as he buried himself in earphones and cranked
the volume, oblivious to the brat and me being tortured. Maybe he was right
about me bringing my own earphones. Bastard.
Utah was dull. A three hour layover promised to bore us out of our
minds but we were a little more creative. First things first. We called
everyone we knew back in Denver to remind them we were going to Defcon
and they weren't(thpptt). Distortion wasn't home for some reason(or asleep
probably) so no picking on him....yet. Rage picked up on the 17th ring
with a weak 'hello?'. Yes! We had waken him just to tell him where we were
and where he wasn't!
As is custom with me, I decided to wonder the airport and check
things out. Three minutes later we had toured a majority of the place so
we hit a small food kiosk. Morpheus decided to get a artsy coffee or
something while I insulted him. "Capacino drinking muther fucker" and
"artsy fartsy trendy faggot" were two of my better ones while he answered
"yes, whip cream. yes, the gnu artsy kinda beans."
Back to the gate we went, intent upon serving the rest of our
three hour sentence in hell. Well? What would you call three hours
surrounded by mormons staring at you. From here we hit a bank of phones
beside the gate liberating them of their 'US West' signs and calling
people in Denver, again. Cyanide had returned to work so we chatted with
her for a bit, and made sure she remembered that we were not in Denver,
and that she was working the whole time. (Morpheus is gonna get it).
J-man the Shaman didn't get a call from us since his number was unlisted,
but we tried. Good part is, he made it to the con after all.
Time passed as I reread _Snowcrash_ and Morpheus listened to
some music. As we boarded the plane, I couldn't help but notice as people
pushed past me holding boarding passes numbered '117' and '138'. If you
didn't know, Morris air uses numbered boarding passes like that, then
calls 'Boarding numbers 1-30' etc. I was holding 8 and Morpheus 7.
I also couldn't help but notice they didn't speak english as they bumped
by. One other note about Morris Air. Their symbol is the same symbol
for Chaos. Seriously. And they also have really rad safety messages at
the beginning of their flights.
The next plane flight was a little different for us. We sat with
our backs toward the front of the plane and faced three other passengers.
During the flight, we talked to Sheila who worked for the University of
Utah and had a slight background in computers. We talked about 'puters,
music, mormons, and other fun stuff. Come to find this 55-60 year old lady
professor likes Ministry and has an internet email address. We said 'elite'.
Landing in Vegas was another first. I imagine that is the only place
where you walk off the plane and trip over slot machines. The ride to the
Mirage(our spiff hotel) was enjoyable and as we pulled up, I realized how
rich some bastards must be if they could build a hotel like this. Anyway,
on to the con!
We walked about three miles to the con(yes, we were at the other
end of the strip) but saw all sorts of neat stuff. Arriving at the hotel we
wound our way through the casino, up the escalator, and in the dark depths
of the convention center. A small gathering of shady characters were gathered
around. We registered, and started chatting with others. From 4-10 range, we
actually bored as hell and didn't have any choice but to watch the wierd
flicks they were playing. That included 'Computer Warriors' cartoon, some
fucked up JapAp cartoon rated NC-17 that had these chicks getting raped
by 30 foot penises and all powerful demons.
After the movie we found out that '20 Ways to Trash a PC in ASM'
had been cancelled because the speaker was either jetlagged or drunk.
No one knew for sure, so we decided to leave and hope the next day would
be much better. Walking back toward the casino we hooked up with the
TNO guys and started talking to more and more people showing up late.
We chilled in the con room talking to everyone filtering in and finding
out who was who. Then it happened. I spotted a fed. I quickly got Remj,
Morpheus, and a few others and we quickly cornered him. "What agency
are you with" was the first question out. That kinda established why
we had begun conversation. Here are some things about him we found out:
- He registered as Sid Wilson, and registered differently at
the hotel we were in.
- He would not give us his name, company he worked for etc.
- He claimed he worked in the private/corporate security field.
- He had a BA from the air force, Masters from ASU, had been
in the military, and had at one time worked with a gov agency.
- He said it wasn't FBI, CIA, SS, or NSA, but smaller and
just as private as the NSA.
- He claimed he could walk into the NSA, and have full access to
all of their computing power, because the NSA had certain interests
in the companies he worked for.
- He said he had full access to FBI, CIA, and Secret Service records.
- He said he makes between 100 and 250k a year. (elite)
- He said he doesn't currently work for the feds, but occasionally
they used him for resources(information primarily).
Every question we shot at him designed to trip him up he met with a good
answer and was cool under fire. Once or twice he slipped up on wording and
resulted in him sounding like he worked for the DOD or NSA(specifically
those two agencies because we were talking about them). Either way,
everyone agreed he was a fed. I received my 'I spotted the fed' t-shirt
and he received his 'I am a fed' t-shirt. Either way, he was extremely
nice, and even if he wasn't legit, really interesting to talk to. Just for
reference, he went into great detail about everything from surveillance to
lockpicking.
During the whole talk with him(anywhere up to 20 people were
listening at a time) we noticed a few others acting funny. Following
up on the registry, asking questions, etc, we determined they were feds
to. That put the ratio pretty high on us/fedz. One of them later was
counted as a legit fed spot(by me but I didn't get a second shirt -
your welcome Natex!). The night wound down and we headed back to our
hotel(walked three miles at 2:00 am) and paid a dollar for a coke each
before crashing.
Day 2
-----
10:00 sharp, and we walked through the door ready for the next
day armed with little sleep, a lot of caffeine, and a bag full of goodies.
I quickly spotted the TNO booth and we went over and talked to DeadKat.
It took less than 20 minutes to pass out 40 of the 50 disks I brought,
each containing F.U.C.K. files 1-89 and a special word to Defcon people
only found on those disks(collector's file!). Of course, yelling out
that they contained everything from current 950 codes, Mastercard numbers,
fred info, etc made them go much quicker(good idea DK!). The first three
disks were handed to confirmed feds. H0h0h0. Wait 'til they read those!
Some people of interest: Grayarea/Netta Gilboa was there. She
is the founder/editor of Grayarea magazine. I must say I was disapointed
as I watched her give out free mags to other people of importance, but
none to me, especially after I gave her my mag. :(
Phil Zimmerman gave a speech about PGP(duh), and told about
his past a little. All stuff we had heard with TNO when he talked to
us months before.
Gayle Thackery was next, giving a speech that somehow tied in
PGP to kidnapping. I am still trying to figure that one out. She was
also the butt of several jokes later, but all in jest. :)
(This next part written while at the con listening to a speaker)
As I sit here at the TNO booth, things are kinda mellow, people
taking flyers, asking questions, meeting people etc. A lot of big names in
the computer underground pass by, many in the 'PD' or 'Law Enforcement'
scene as well. Of all the groups that were represented, legal or not, only
one stood out in any way. TNO. At the table we have an old computer that
will be given out later as a doorprize. People are messing with it while
talking about how old it is, and whether they remember a computer that
weighed about 45-50 pounds(and it did). We are also handing out flyers
with Deadkat's and Agent 866's board advertisement. Telnet to
'Corrupted.Sekurity.Com' and logon as BBS. Rad place to be sez me. Next
we were passing out a flyer showing the prime trashing areas in the
Denver Tech center. We commented that they would make a great shirt, and
at the next con could probably hope to see those same maps for other towns.
Beside the flyers were business cards for Phil Dubois(Zimmerman's lawyer)
and his private investigator. At the table is a scanner monitoring hotel
security so we get the drop on them(snicker). This is one social gathering
from hell in most of TNO's eyes therefore their laid back attitude.
Remj was wearing a shirt that is worth mentioning. Front said 'TNO' in
big letters, and the back said 'Fuck the Fedz' with 'No R3sp3ct!' under it.
Quite funny and great for walking through the casino.
(end part written at TNO booth during con)
Ate lunch after that with a number of people from the con. After
eating the crappy buffet at the Sahara(where the con was) we talked
about several issues concerning copyrighting, encryption, and how to hack
the credit card keys they used for the hotel rooms. Natex by the first day
had deciphered the numerical code on the cardkey to his room, and figured
out how to re-write it so it could serve as a master key. Muhahaha.
Dead Addict, Juobs, Laughing Gas, DJ Ren, Root, Ezra, Bob, Natex, and myself
were present for this lunch. Hey all.
We meandered back to the con and mixed with others, kind of getting
the feel for who was there etc. We had almost one more hour before the next
scheduled speaker. Morpheus found me and pointed out John Dvorak who had
just walked in. I thought it was kind of wild that he would show and headed
over to talk with him. First impression was that he was really laid back,
mellow, and just a good guy. Of course, I had to ask him some questions about
his book(_Dvorak Predicts_ by you know who). Since I was wearing a 'PRESS'
pass as well as my normal name badge, I decided to ask a few other questions
and told him I would relay the answers in this file to be. I asked him
two main questions. "In your opinion what is the biggest problem with Apple,
and with IBM?" He thought Apple had a lack of applications on the market
while IBM held onto a dead end architecture. True.
Throughout the first part of the day we all noticed the decided
lack of codes at that type of convention. Dead Addict noticed the decided
lack of drugs. To each their own. :) The night before I had traded
a disk full of FUCK for a printed 'zine called 'The Barfing Yak'.
Pappy is the editor and I spoke with him for a little about each of our
zines and later that night read the rest of the zine. So I caught up with
him and complemented him on the Zine. It is well written, neato little
drawings, and good ideas. Call him at 800.221.3218 ext 269 for more info
on how to get it. Within a month or so they are planning on releasing
the zine in written and text format. As the mag says 'Yak on'.
The next speakers talked about Surveillance and Anti-surveillance.
The presentation was quite interesting and here are a few things from it
I figured would be cool to relay on. Phones can't be secure no matter
what you do. You can not GUARANTEE your phone line is safe to talk on.
"Radio Shack is your spy store", And they showed it. The gave details
on monitoring people, finding bugs etc. The cool part is, most of the
devices they showed could be replicated with cheaper parts from Rat Shack.
Following the spy stuff, someone spoke on wire taps and other
legal aspects but told of interesting twists. I can't remember who
spoke, and for some reason didn't write it down, but two facts that were
told are definitely worth interesting. Both are based on fact which we
quoted sources for. 90% of all Law Enforcement wire taps are illegal.
They are illegally obtained, tampered with in some way, or something
else happens to destroy their integrity. Check into it. Next was a
great statistic, and I think I got the numbers right, either way they are
close. There is a 22% conviction rate based off evidence from wire taps.
They cost around 65,000 dollars per tap and over 60,000 wiretaps were
used in 1992. You figure out how much they cost the taxpayers and tell
me if it is worth 22% convictions.
It wasn't long before dinner rolled around(yes, that means not
a whole helluva lot happened) and a different group of us sat down and
ate. 'Repospaz' led the way to the Sahara buffet(sigh) and we grabbed
a quick bite. Microsoft, CD Rom, OS/2, and security were the topics
of this meal. Since I was eating with one former employee of Microsoft,
one corporate security type person, and one other person that had a good
general knowledge of computers, it was quite interesting. The halibut was
pretty good also.
The wait after dinner was probably the most single interesting
hour of the whole con. Someone else(Frosty I believe) popped in a self
mixed tape from hell. It started out with some porn action. Then flipped
to the animations of the wall. Back to porn, then to Lawn Mower Man,
back to porn, to Minds Eye, back to porn, etc. To top that off, each
porn scene was edited as well. Keep in mind, when I say back to, it went
one frame of one topic to split second to the next, no static, no noise,
instant jump. Anyway, the porn jumped from different people to different
scene just as well, so that you couldn't follow anything at all in that
video. I was told later that it had everything from a guy with a 2 foot
penis to a hermaphrodite(remember that word this time Morpheus).
After dinner I discovered the best part of the whole building.
For only one dollar, you could get a bottle of Heinekin. Great price
for good beer(in my opinion at least). So Morpheus and I drank quite a few
that night, yet he didn't get quite as toasted as I did. While drinking,
we listened to Winn Schwartau give an impromptu speach on monitor surveillance
and how to build a cheap but effective device that could monitor video
output of lower screen resolutions. He mentioned a place called the
Spy Supply in Denver(just moved here apparently) and a number to reach
for more information about all of that. 617.327.7272 So give it a call if
you are interested in more info on surveillance of any kind.
Next, 'Mark' gave an impressive lecture on hacking the Oki 900
phone, how he started, what you could do with it, etc. Needless to say,
it is probably the best phone to get if you are interested in hacking
cells. For more info he told anyone to mail info@nw.com and indeed,
they will send you a three/four page letter explaining where to get more
info on the subject. By this time I was quite drunk and headed back to
a friend's room so he could grab his notebook. I ended up getting three
Long Island Iced Teas. :) While I was gone, I was told that someone else
(Drunkfux I think) gave a little info about hacking Motorola cells.
After we got back to the convention, listened to some more stuff
from various people and things kind of broke up. Party in 1790 is where
things went. In the first half hour there were over 30 people in the room
piling on tables, beds, and wherever else they could sit/stand. The window
opened all the way so fresh air came through(and that is a big deal since it
is against the law to have windows open more than X amount of inches -
because of suicide attempts). The party was great, Long Island Iced Teas
were mixed by a hacker who also worked as a bartender(yeah!). For a while
'Repospaz' was missing, and when he showed up, he told us he walked
down to the casino, put three quarters in, and then showed us his back of
60 quarters. Must be nice.
Other memorable things from 1790 that night. Didn't like the
rest of the drink? Just throw it out the window. We did. I remember
hearing this one: "I was like, three quarters of a way through the class,
and then I did some 'shrooms" referring to a college class. "..there were
dolphins in the mall..." and surprisingly, this had nothing to do with
taking drugs. Hearing all these great things I told everyone I was planning
on writing this file, and asked if anyone had any good quotes for the mag.
Here it is:
"Don't spit out the high rise at the MGM" - ???
"Dvorak stole my Barfing Yak!" - Artimage
"The only thing more fucked up than the Brotherhood of
Railroad Signalmen, is defcon." - Novacaine
"And followed them was a pale horse, and upon that horse
rode death, and hell followed with him." - Jarik
"Exile is too elite." - Darkman
"I have [a quote] on my computer, I'll give it to you
tomorow."
Hope those mean as much to you as they do to me. :)