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>> "The 815 Bust Revisted" <<
by -> Neko
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"Rub a dub dub, three men in a tub, leave 'em in there too long and
they'll get AIDS," said the cop as I washed my hands of the fingerprinting
solution. I had been fingerprinted because I had been arrested. Arrested
because I committed some crimes. Some crimes which had something to do with
computers.
It pretty much started and finished in the summer I was 15. I had
learned how to place free phone calls, to "phreak", and was becoming
increasingly interested in computer hacking. I found friends with a similar
interest in telephone and computer systems and we banded together.
When I say pretty much, I mean most of the "work" we did. The actual
start of our escapades was in the spring of 1995. Rockford's first public
Internet Service Provider, the Sinnisippi Valley Freenet Association
(SinnFree), began offering free Internet access. My friends Draugr, Entity,
and Gnarf were immediately drawn to their system because they allowed us to
be beta testers - to find flaws in their system. To hack their system.
Hack their system is exactly what we did. The people who setup
SinnFree were not computer gurus in the slightest regard. Novices who had
stumbled into grant money, SinnFree had not set their system up very
securely. Entity and Draugr pulled off the first hack during spring break
and scored the entire password file. Soon after, we were using other
people's accounts to access more of the system.
Normal users of the system were allowed to email and visit web sites
that SinnFree had placed on their menu. Using other users' accounts, users
with more privileges, we were able to transfer files, visit any web site we
wanted to, and chat on the Internet. Moreover, we were able to give
ourselves these same privileges.
The one thing that we were supposed to do was report our findings to
SinnFree. Initially our group called after every find. Soon, after not
receiving responses to phone messages and emails, we decided to install more
holes every time we would find a hole. This way we could report a hole or
two and have future accessibility assured to us.
We found numerous ways to hack SinnFree and added another member to
our little group, Cstone. Cstone and I were in constant connection with the
outside world of hackers. Trading tips, information and exploits, we even
ended up in a Philadelphia-based hackers group called Computer Abuse For
Better Living (CAFBL).
Eventually we got bored with hacking SinnFree and started branching
out. Other local targets included Rock Valley College, Midwest Information
SuperHighway Associates, "R" World BBS, and, of course, the Rockford
Register Star's BBS.
During the summer of 1995, I ran a bulletin board system (BBS) and
invited the users of the Register Star's BBS to call. A few did. One who did
was the system administrator. Reviewing my logs, I noticed that she had
logged in and immediately changed her password. I chuckled, thinking that
she wasn't stupid enough to use the same password on my BBS as she did on
her BBS.
Turns out, she was stupid enough. I logged on to the Register Star's
BBS about 10 PM early in August and changed the logon message to say 'You've
been hacked!', made a fake account and gave it administrator privileges,
and, finally, uploaded copies of CAFBL's magazine.
I was hoping that this hack would gain notoriety. After all, the hack
was perpetrated on the newspaper. You'd think they'd report on it. Well,
they didn't. Not at this time anyway.
Afterwards, I went on vacation for a week and a half. Soon after I
returned home, on August 24th, school started. During my third hour class,
one of the assistant principals came and asked to talk to me. He told me to
get my backpack and come with him. In his office resided two men wearing
suits, and I was told they were detectives with the Rockford Police
Department.
We left school and drove downtown to the police station. They asked
me repeatedly if I knew why they were talking to me. I told them no. I told
them that I had been with my friends at a city park the day before and some
of them had smoked pot. They laughed and told me that had nothing to do with
this. Computers never even crossed my mind.
When we arrived at the Public Safety Building, as we were walking
inside I saw one of the detectives had a computer hard drive. This was the
first time I'd panicked - I thought they had raided my house and taken my
computer apart. They didn't tell me anything and just ushered me into a
small room, gave me a Coke, and told me to wait. I waited and hoped that my
dad didn't find out about this. The next thing I heard was my dad's voice
outside.
After what seemed like an eternity one of the detectives came into
the little room and told me that my dad and a lawyer were here and that
things could go easily and I could talk to the police alone, or we could be
here for hours and I could talk with my lawyer. I chose the latter option. I
was questioned and answered most of their questions. It seemed like the
already knew most of what they were asking, anyway. (I later found out that
Entity had apparently told them everything when he was questioned).
Questions I avoided answering were those I knew to be federal crimes
(interstate phone fraud) and anything I simply didn't do.
Questioning finally ended and I went home. The detectives had told me
not to tell anyone. The first person I told was Cstone. Cstone told Gnarf. I
thought about it some more and decided that we all _had_ to know so that we
could work together. I talked to Draugr and he told me that he and Entity
had already been questioned. Gnarf and Cstone soon followed, as did the
questioning of many of our acquaintances not involved in illegal activities.
Nothing happened for more than three months. Gnarf, Draugr and I hung
out together a lot, and even wanted to see movie Hackers together, almost
hoping to be arrested at the screening. Just when I thought everything had
ended, we got a phone call. On December 4th, 1995 I was told to come
downtown so I could be arrested.
Again, nothing happened, save for a week-long 'probe' article in the
Rockford Register Star. On January 19th, 1996, Gnarf and I were served with
subpoenas (Draugr, being 17 and charged as an adult, was given his court
date when arrested; Cstone and I had lost touch; Entity was not arrested).
We all went to court on the same day and plead not guilty.
Ironically, I guess, a few months later we plea bargained. The
interesting thing about this was that the court system had presumed us
guilty before we had even plead either way. We all had to go in for a court
social hearing, to determine our family situation and whatnot. On the
written part the asked me what I thought of the process. I told them I
thought it was long, drawn out, and silly to encourage schooling and then
pull students out of school for court appearances. When I talked to my
social worker, she asked me how I got involved with hacking. I grinned slyly
and prefaced my remarks with, "Assuming I _was_ involved with hacking."
Somehow this, coupled with my parents reluctance to disclose such things as
their income, added up to a hostile opinion of the court. It was pretty
funny to read my social history. It went on for pages and pages talking
about how I was a Boy Scout, in Key Club, Amnesty International, Student
Council, was an honor roll student, etc, and then to have the court
recommend, among other things, a week-long stay in the county juvenile
detention center.
The ordeal wasn't terribly exciting, although it was interesting how
excited people became when they found out that I _had_ been arrested. One
day I was into computers and no one cared, the next day I was the most
interesting guy in school. After pleading guilty, I was basically faced with
a year's probation and community service. Neither were terribly difficult to
complete.
Now everything is done. Do I regret doing what I have done? Not
really. Do I regret getting caught? You bet. If you're interested in
hacking, I wholeheartedly recommend that you explore it, but get the
permission of the computer's owners first.
For more information, visit http://www.dto.net/~neko/815bust/
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* (c) HoE publications. HoE #192 -- written by Neko -- 1/22/98 *