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555 lines
31 KiB
Text
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PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN
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PWN PWN
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PWN Phrack World News PWN
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PWN PWN
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PWN Issue XXXVII / Part Four of Four PWN
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PWN PWN
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PWN Compiled by Dispater & Spirit Walker PWN
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PWN PWN
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PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN
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Computer Espionage: Can We Be Compromised By The Internet? December 1991
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Extracted from Security Awareness Bulletin
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The advent of computer networks linking scientists and their research
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institutions vastly complicates any effort to identify Soviet scientific
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espionage. For example, foreign travel may become less important, as computers
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become more directly interconnected, allowing scientists anywhere in the world
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to talk to each other -- and, in some cases to access information in data bases
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at Western academic and defense-related institutions.
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This capability has been available for some time, but in 1989 the USSR took an
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important step toward increasing the breadth and availability of access, by
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applying (with Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria) to be connected
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to the European Academic Research Network (EARN). Approval of the application
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in April 1990 provided Soviet and East European users access far beyond simply
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a link to computers throughout Western Europe. Through EARN, the Soviets would
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be connected to Internet, a US network serving defense, research, and academic
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organizations worldwide.
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A number of threats are inherent in the trend toward computer linkage. The
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most obvious is the increased ease with which a Soviet can discuss professional
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matters with Westerners working on similar projects. A user also can put out a
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blanket request for information on any subject, and it may not always be
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obvious that the requestor is working for the USSR. In addition, the Soviet
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Academy of Sciences can use a computer network to issue general invitations to
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conferences -- in hopes that the responses will identify untapped research
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institutions or individual scientists that later can be targeted for specific
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information.
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Access to data in the computers connected to a network normally is controlled,
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so that specific files can be read only by authorized users. However, the
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Soviets have demonstrated that an innovative "hacker" connected to computers
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containing sensitive information can evade the access controls in order to read
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that information. In the "Hannover Hacker" case, for example, the Soviet
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intelligence services used West German computer experts to access US restricted
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data bases, obtaining both software and defense-related information.
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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Waging War Against War Dialing November 27, 1991
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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By Edmund L. Andrews (New York Times)
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Special Thanks: Dark Overlord
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WASHINGTON -- Riding a wave of popular annoyance over telephone sales calls,
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Congress approved and sent to President Bush a bill that would ban the use of
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automated dialing devices that deliver pre-recorded messages to the home. The
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measure would also allow consumers to block calls from human sales-people by
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placing their names on a "do not call" list.
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The bill, which passed on voice votes in both the House and Senate, was
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supported by both Democrats and Republicans, some of whom have recounted their
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own aggravations with unsolicited sales calls.
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Although the White House has expressed concerns about what it views as
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unnecessary regulation, the President has not threatened to veto the bill.
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The measure, which combines provisions from several separate measures passed
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previously by both chambers of Congress, bans the use of autodialers for
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calling most individual homes. The few exceptions would be when a person has
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explicitly agreed to receive such a call or when the autodialer is being used
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to notify people of an emergency.
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When autodialers are used to call businesses, they would be prohibited from
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reaching more than two numbers at a single business.
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Many states have already passed laws that restrict autodialers, including about
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a dozen states that ban them altogether and about two dozen others that
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restrict their use in various ways.
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The state laws, however, do not stop a company from using an autodialer in an
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unregulated state to call homes in state with regulations.
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In an attempt to curb telemarketing by human sales representatives, the measure
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would instruct the Federal Communications Commission to either oversee the
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creation of a nationwide "do not call" list or issue rules ordering companies
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to maintain their own lists.
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The bill would allow people who placed their names on such a list to file suits
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is small claims courts against companies that persisted in calling. The suits
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could seek up to $500 for each unwanted call, up to a maximum of three calls
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>from a single company.
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Finally, the bill would ban unsolicited "junk fax" messages, which are
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advertisements transmitted to facsimile machines.
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"This is a victory for beleaguered consumers, who in this piece of legislation
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have their declaration of independence from junk faxes and junk calls," said
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Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., the measure's principal sponsor in the House.
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Companies that make or use autodialers glumly predicted that the measure would
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put them out of business and would hurt small advertisers the most.
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"I think it will put us out of business," said Mark Anderson, owner of the
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Leshoppe Corp., a New Orleans concern that uses about 160 machines for clients
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who sell everything from tanning products to health insurance. "What people
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don't understand is that a lot of mom-and-pop operations use electronic
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marketing, and use it successfully."
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Ray Kolker, president of Kolker Systems, the largest maker of autodialers,
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echoed those views. "Passage of this bill demonstrates that Congress just
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isn't as concerned about the economy as they think they are," he said. "This
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will destroy a multibillion-dollar business."
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Telemarketing has surged in recent years, as the cost of long-distance
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telephone service has plunged and as consumers have become deluged by floods of
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catalogues they do not read and envelopes they do not open.
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According to congressional estimates, the volume of goods and services sold
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through all forms of telephone marketing has increased from about $72 billion
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in 1982 to $435 billion in 1990. Over all, an estimated 300,000 people are
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employed in some facet of telephone marketing.
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Autodialers, which can each make about 1,500 calls a day, have become one of
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the most efficient but disliked forms of telemarketing. By one estimate,
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20,000 autodialers are in operation at one time, with the capacity of making
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more than 20 million calls in a single day.
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During hearings on the issue earlier this year, Sen. Daniel K. Inouye,
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D-Hawaii, noted irritably that he had been summoned to the telephone only to
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hear a recorded sales message about winning a trip to Hawaii.
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The legislation was not opposed by all companies involved in telephone sales.
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Many marketing experts have long deplored the use of autodialers as a sales
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tool, arguing that they are counter-productive because they generate more
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irritation than sales interest.
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The Direct Marketing Association, a trade group, has expressed cautious support
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for the legislation and already maintains its own, voluntary "do not call"
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list.
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Beyond simply annoying people at home, the autodialers have been known to tie
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up telephone paging networks and the switchboards of hospitals and
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universities, and to call people on their cellular telephones.
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But it remains unclear how effective the "do not call" lists would be in
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practice, because the two options available to the FCC differ greatly.
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A national list maintained by the government would effectively protect
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consumers from all unwanted sales calls. But a requirement that each company
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maintain its own list would be much more limited, because people might have to
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call each company to be placed on its individual list.
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Congressional aides noted that the measure passed Wednesday strongly implied
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that the FCC should set up its own list, because it provides two pages of
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detail on just how such a list should be created.
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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Foreign Guests Learn America Is Land Of The Free December 2, 1991
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Excerpted from the Orlando Sentinel
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"Merry Christmas From BellSouth!"
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A telephone computer glitch gave dozens of foreign travelers at downtown
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Orlando hotel early Christmas presents Saturday and Sunday.
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The giving began when a guest at the Plantation Manor, an international youth
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hotel across from Lake Eola, discovered that pay phones were allowing free
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long-distance calls to virtually anywhere in the world.
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As the news spread, the four public phones, which are normally deserted at the
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hotel, were busy non-stop until Sunday afternoon,when Southern Bell discovered
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the problem and dispatched technicians to shut off long-distance service.
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Roger Swain, a clerk at Plantation Manor, said the discovery was made by
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accident.
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"One of our guests said he tried to call Houston, Texas, from the second
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floor," Swain said. The operator told him he didn't need to use coins because
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the phone was not listed as a public phone. He was on the phone for 40
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minutes, and they didn't charge him.'
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A spokesman for AT&T, which handles long distance for some of Southern Bell's
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phones, said the problem seemed to be with a Southern Bell computer.
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"Our equipment is working fine," said Randy Berridge, AT&T spokesman. "If it's
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a Southern Bell problem, they would bear the costs.'
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It's possible Southern Bell recouped some money: It still cost 25 cents for a
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local call.
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"This is a drop in the ocean to them," one English traveler said of the phone
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company, which had just covered the cost of his call home at the Sunday rate of
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$21.74 for each half hour."
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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8th Chaos Computer Congress December 27-29, 1991
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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by Klaus Brunnstein
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Special Thanks: Terra of CCC
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On occasion of the 10th anniversary of its foundation, Chaos Computer Club
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(CCC) organized its 8th Congress in Hamburg. To more than 400 participants
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(largest participation ever, with growing number of students rather than
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teen-age scholars), a rich diversity of PC and network related themes was
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offered, with significantly less sessions than before devoted to critical
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themes, such as phreaking, hacking or malware construction. Changes in the
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European hacker scene became evident as only few people from Netherlands
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(e.g. Hack-Tic) and Italy had come to this former hackers' Mecca.
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Consequently, Congress news are only documented in German. As CCC's founding
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members develop in age and experience, reflection of CCC's role and growing
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diversity of opinions indicates that teen-age CCC may produce less spectacular
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events than ever before.
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This year's dominating theme covered presentations of communication techniques
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for PCs, Ataris, Amigas and Unix, the development of a local net as well as
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description of regional and international networks, including a survey. In
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comparison, CCC '90 documents are more detailed on architectures while sessions
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and demonstrations in CCC '91 (in "Hacker Center" and other rooms) were more
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concerned with practical navigation in such nets.
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Phreaking was covered by the Dutch group HACK-TIC which updated its CCC '90
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presentation of how to "minimize expenditures for telephone conversations" by
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using blue boxes and red boxes, and describing available software and recent
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events. Detailed information on phreaking methods in specific countries and
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bugs in some telecom systems were discussed. More information (in Dutch) was
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available, including charts of electronic circuits, in several volumes of Dutch
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"HACKTIC: Tidschrift voor Techno-Anarchisten" (news for techno-anarchists).
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Remark #1: Recent events (e.g. "Gulf hacks") and material presented on Chaos
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Congress '91 indicate that the Netherlands emerges as a new
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European center of malicious attacks on systems and networks.
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Among other potentially harmful information, HACKTIC #14/15
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publishes code of computer viruses (a BAT-virus which does not work
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properly.
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Remark #2: While few Netherland universities devote research and teaching to
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security, Delft university at least offers introductory courses
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into data protection.
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Different from recent years, a seminar on Computer viruses (presented by Morton
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Swimmer of Virus Test Center, University of Hamburg) as deliberately devoted to
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disseminate non-destructive information (avoiding any presentation of virus
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programming). A survey of legal aspects of inadequate software quality
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(including viruses and program errors) was presented by lawyer Freiherr von
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Gravenreuth.
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Some public attention was drawn to the fact that the "city-call" telephone
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system radio-transmits information essentially as ASCII. A demonstration
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proved that such transmitted texts may easily be intercepted, analyzed and
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even manipulated on a PC. CCC publicly warned that "profiles" of such texts
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(and those addressed) may easily be collected, and asked Telecom to inform
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users about this insecurity; German Telecom did not follow this advice.
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Besides discussions of emerging voice mailboxes, an interesting session
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presented a C64-based chipcard analysis systems. Two students have built a
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simple mechanism to analyze (from systematic IO analysis) the protocol of a
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German telephone card communicating with the public telephone box; they
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described, in some detail (including an electronmicroscopic photo) the
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architecture and the system behavior, including 100 bytes of communication
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data stored in a central German Telecom computer. Asked for legal implications
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of their work, they argued that they just wanted to understand this technology,
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and they were not aware of any legal constraint. They have not analyzed
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possibilities to reload the telephone account (which is generally possible,
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due to the architecture), and they did not analyze architectures or procedures
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of other chipcards (bank cards etc).
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Following CCC's (10-year old charter), essential discussions were devoted to
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social themes. The "Feminine computer handling" workshop deliberately
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excluded men (about 25 women participating), to avoid last year's experience
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of male dominance in related discussions. A session (mainly attended by
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informatics students) was devoted to "Informatics and Ethics", introducing the
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international state-of-discussion, and discussing the value of professional
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standards in the German case.
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A discussion about "techno-terrorism" became somewhat symptomatic for CCC's
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actual state. While external participants (von Gravenreuth, Brunnstein)
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were invited to this theme, CCC-internal controversies presented the panel
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discussion under the technical title "definition questions". While one
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fraction wanted to discuss possibilities, examples and dangers of techno-
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terrorism openly, others (CCC "ol'man" Wau Holland) wanted to generally define
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"terrorism" somehow academically, and some undertook to describe "government
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repression" as some sort of terrorism. In the controversial debate, a few
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examples of technoterrorism (WANK worm, development of virus techniques for
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economic competition and warfare) were given.
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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Another AT&T 800-Number Outage December 16, 1991
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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By Dana Blankenhorn (Newsbytes)
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BASKING RIDGE, NEW JERSEY -- AT&T suffered another embarrassing outage on its
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toll-free "800" number lines over the weekend, right in the middle of the
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Christmas catalog shopping season.
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Andrew Myers, an AT&T spokesman, said the problem hit at 7:20 PM on December 13
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as technicians loaded new software into computers in Alabama, Georgia, and New
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York. The software identifies and transfers 800 calls, he said. A total of
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1.8 million calls originating in parts of the eastern U.S. were impacted, the
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company said.
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Service was restored after about one hour when technicians "backed off" the
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patch and went back to using the old software. Programmers are now working on
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the software, trying to stamp out the bugs before it's reloaded. "Obviously we
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don't like it when a single call doesn't get through, but I wouldn't consider
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this a serious problem," Myers said. The problem was reported to the Federal
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Communications Commission over the weekend, and to the press the next day.
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The latest problem continues a disturbing trend of AT&T service outages in the
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Northeast. Worse, all the problems have had different causes -- power
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problems, switch software problems, and cable cuts caused previous outages.
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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US Congress Sets Up BBS For Whistle Blowers December 16, 1991
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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By Dana Blankenhorn (Newsbytes)
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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Congressman Bob Wise and his House Government
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Operations subcommittee on government information, justice and agriculture have
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opened a bulletin board service for government whistle-blowers.
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Wise himself is the system operator, or sysop, of the new board. Newsbytes
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contacted the board and found it accepts parameters of 8 bit words, no parity,
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and 1 stop bit, known as 8-N-1 in the trade, and will take calls from a
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standard 2400 bit/second Hayes- compatible modem.
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Whistle-blowers are employees who tell investigators about wrong- doing at
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their companies or agencies, or "blow the whistle" on wrong-doing. Wise said
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that pseudonyms will be accepted on the BBS -- most private systems demand
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real names so as to avoid infiltration by computer crackers or other abusive
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users. Passwords will keep other users from reading return messages from the
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subcommittee, Wise added. The committee will check the board daily and get
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back to callers about their charges. The board is using RBBS software, a
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"freeware" package available without license fee.
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The executive branch of the U.S. government uses a system of inspectors
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general to police its offices, most of whom have telephone hotlines for
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whistle-blowers and accept mail as well. But the inspectors expect whistle-
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blowers to collect evidence at work, which could get them in trouble. And
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efforts to contact the whistle-blower by an inspector general representative
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can identify them to wrongdoers. Theoretically, calls from Congressional
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staffers will be seen by the bad guys as typical annoying oversight calls.
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Press Contact: Rep. Bob Wise
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202-224-3121
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202-225-5527 BBS
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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NIST Extends Review Deadline for Digital Signature December 16, 1991
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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By John McCormick (Newsbytes)
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WASHINGTON, DC -- NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology
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(formerly the Bureau of Standards) has taken the unusual step of extending the
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review period for the controversial digital signature standard which the agency
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proposed at the end of August.
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The normal 90-day comment period would already have ended, but the NIST has
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extended that deadline until the end of February - some say because the agency
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wishes to tighten the standard.
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NIST spokespersons deny that there was any need to modify the proposed standard
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to increase its level of security, but James Bidzos, whose RSA Data Security
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markets a rival standard, says that the NIST's ElGamal algorithm is too weak
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and is being promoted by the government because the National Security Agency
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feels that it can easily break the code when necessary.
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The new standard is not a way of encrypting messages themselves; that is
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covered by the existing DES or Data Encryption Standard. Rather, the DSS or
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Digital Signature Standard is the method used to verify the "signature" of the
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person sending the message, i.e., to make certain that the message, which
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might be an order to transfer money or some other important item, is really
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>from the person who is authorized to send such instructions.
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As Newsbytes reported back in July, the NSA and NIS had been charged with
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developing a security system nearly four years ago. The recently announced
|
||
|
ElGamal algorithm was previously due to be released last fall, and in the
|
||
|
meantime the RSA encryption scheme has become quite popular.
|
||
|
|
||
|
At that time, NIST's deputy director, Raymond G. Kammer, told the Technology
|
||
|
and Competitiveness Subcommittee of the House (U.S. House of Representatives)
|
||
|
Science, Space and Technology Committee that the ElGamal encryption scheme,
|
||
|
patented by the federal government, was chosen because it would save federal
|
||
|
agencies money over the private RSA encryption and signature verification
|
||
|
scheme.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Interestingly enough, the only company that currently markets an ElGamal DS
|
||
|
system is Information Security Corp., 1141 Lake Cook Rd., Ste. D, Deerfield,
|
||
|
IL 60015, a company that fought and won a bitter court battle with RSA over
|
||
|
the right to market RSA-based encryption software to the federal government.
|
||
|
That was possible because RSA was developed at MIT by mathematicians working
|
||
|
under federal grants.
|
||
|
|
||
|
ISC's $249.95 Secret Agent, which uses the ElGamal algorithm, was released at
|
||
|
last year's Federal Office Systems Expo in Washington. ElGamal is a public key
|
||
|
system that can be used just like the RSA system but differs from it in
|
||
|
significant theoretical ways.
|
||
|
|
||
|
ISC's CEO and president, Thomas J. Venn, has told Newsbytes that the ElGamal
|
||
|
system is highly secure, but the ElGamal algorithm is quite different from
|
||
|
that of the RSA system, deriving its security from the difficulty of computing
|
||
|
discrete logarithms, in finite field, instead of using RSA's very different
|
||
|
method of factoring the products of two prime numbers.
|
||
|
|
||
|
RSA has fought back by posting a prize for anyone who can crack the RSA scheme.
|
||
|
To take a stab at it, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to RSA Data
|
||
|
Security, Inc., 10 Twin Dolphin Dr., Redwood City, CA 94065, for the RSA list
|
||
|
and the rules. Those with access to Internet e-mail can send a request to
|
||
|
challenge-info@rsa.com.
|
||
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
|
||
|
PWN Quicknotes
|
||
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
||
|
1. Computer bulletin boards aren't just for dweeby cyberpunks anymore -- at
|
||
|
least not in San Francisco. Entrepreneur Wayne Gregori has created SF Net,
|
||
|
a decidedly socialble computer network that links up patrons of the city's
|
||
|
dangerously hip cafe's. From the Lower Haight to south of Market Street,
|
||
|
high-tech trendies are interfacing over cappuccino. All you have to do is
|
||
|
buy a ticket from the cafe>, enter a number into an on-site computer and
|
||
|
begin your techno-chat at $1 per 15 minutes. The next Gregori test site is
|
||
|
Seattle, Washington. (Newsweek, December 2, 1991)
|
||
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. The (November 29, 1991 issue of) San Jose Mercury News reported that the
|
||
|
San Mateo, California 911 system was brought to it's knees because of a
|
||
|
prank <but not by any computer hacker or phone phreak>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
It seems that a disc jockey at KSOL decided to play a recent MC Hammer
|
||
|
record over and over and over... as a prank. Listeners were concerned that
|
||
|
something had happened to the personnel at the station, so they called 911
|
||
|
(and the police department business line). It seems that a few hundred
|
||
|
calls in forty five minutes or an hour was enough to jam up the system.
|
||
|
There was no report in the newspaper of any deaths or injuries to the
|
||
|
overloaded system.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The DJ didn't want to stop playing the record (claiming First Amendment
|
||
|
rights), but did insert an announcement to not call the police.
|
||
|
_____________________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
|
||
|
3. Jean Paul Barrett, a convict serving 33 years for forgery and fraud in the
|
||
|
Pima County jail in Tuscon, Arizona, was released on December 13, 1991
|
||
|
after receipt of a forged fax ordering his release. It appears that a copy
|
||
|
of a legitimate release order was altered to bear HIS name. Apparently no
|
||
|
one noticed that the faxed document lacked an originating phone number or
|
||
|
that there was no "formal" cover sheet. The "error" was discovered when
|
||
|
Barrett failed to show up for a court hearing.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The jail releases about 60 people each day, and faxes have become standard
|
||
|
procedure. Sheriff's Sergeant Rick Kastigar said "procedures are being
|
||
|
changed so the error will not occur again." (San Francisco Chronicle,
|
||
|
December 18, 1991, Page A3)
|
||
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
|
||
|
4. AT&T will boosted it's rates on direct-dial, out-of-state calls on January
|
||
|
2, 1992. The increase, to affect weekday and evening calls, would add
|
||
|
about 8 cents to the average monthly long-distance bill of $17 and about
|
||
|
$60 million to AT&T'd annual revenue. (USA Today, December 23, 1991, Page
|
||
|
B1)
|
||
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
|
||
|
5. The following was in the AT&T shareholders quarterly, and is submitted not
|
||
|
as a commercial solicitation but because somebody might be interested.
|
||
|
|
||
|
A colorful 22-by-28-inch poster that traces the development of the
|
||
|
telephone from Bell's first model to the latest high-technology feature
|
||
|
phone can be purchased for $12. To order, send a check to Poster, AT&T
|
||
|
Archives, WV A102, 5 Reinman Road, Warren, NJ 07059-0647.
|
||
|
(Telephone 908-756-1590.)"
|
||
|
|
||
|
(Special Thanks: The Tone Surfer)
|
||
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
|
||
|
6. Word has it that the normal toll-free number blue-box is now DEAD in
|
||
|
Norway. According to some information received by Phrack, the toll-free
|
||
|
numbers got switched onto the regular phone network in the United States,
|
||
|
which you can't phreak the same way. (Special Thanks: Nosferatu)
|
||
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
|
||
|
7. In case you've been trying to call Blitzkreig BBS and been unable to
|
||
|
connect with it, Predat0r is moving his board into the basement. He
|
||
|
said the board would be back up as of February 1st. He also said that
|
||
|
master copy of TAP #106 is finished, but he is a year behind on updating
|
||
|
his mailing list. Predat0r said that making the copies was no problem but
|
||
|
that with the influx of subscribers he was going to have to enlist local
|
||
|
help to get the database updated. He also said that if someone paid for
|
||
|
ten issues they will get ten issues. (Special Thanks: Roy the Tarantula)
|
||
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
|
||
|
8. There is a new science fiction book about called "Fallen Angels" by Larry
|
||
|
Niven. The basis for the book is this: The United States government has
|
||
|
been taken over by religious fanatics and militant environmentalists.
|
||
|
Soon the United States is an Anti-Technological police state. Two
|
||
|
astronauts are shot down over the United States and are on the run. They
|
||
|
are on the run from various government agencies such as the (Secret
|
||
|
Service like) Environmental Protection Agency. Nivin's wild imagination
|
||
|
provides for a great deal of humor as well as some things that are not
|
||
|
funny at all, due to the fact that they hit just a little to close to home.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The story also mentions the Legion of Doom and The Steve Jackson Games
|
||
|
raids. In the "acknowledgments" section at the rear of the book the author
|
||
|
has this to say, "As to the society portrayed here, of course much of it is
|
||
|
satirical. Alas, many of the incidents --- such as the Steve Jackson case
|
||
|
in which a business was searched by Secret Service Agents displaying an
|
||
|
unsigned search warrant --- are quite real. So are many of the anti-
|
||
|
technological arguments given in the book. There really is an anti-
|
||
|
intellectual on-campus movement to denounce 'materialistic science' in
|
||
|
favor of something considerably more 'cold and unforgiving.' So watch it."
|
||
|
(Special Thanks: The Mad Alchemist)
|
||
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
|
||
|
9. Bell Atlantic Shoots Themselves in the Foot (February 5, 1992) -- Newsbytes
|
||
|
reports that Bell Atlantic admits having funded an advocacy group "Small
|
||
|
Businesses for Advertising Choice" to oppose HR 3515, a bill regulating
|
||
|
the RBOCs' entry into info services. Tennessee Democrat Jim Cooper, the
|
||
|
sponsor, called it a "clumsy Astroturf campaign," meaning fake grass roots.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Republican co-sponsor Dan Schaeffer was a target of a similar campaign by US
|
||
|
West, in which telephone company employees were encouraged to call their
|
||
|
representatives on company time to oppose the measure.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The bill is HR 3515. To get a copy, call the House Documents Room at
|
||
|
(202)225 3456 and ask for a copy. It's free (more accurately, you have
|
||
|
already paid for it).
|
||
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
|
||
|
10. Computer Hackers Get Into Private Credit Records (Columbus Dispatch,
|
||
|
February 24, 1992) -- DAYTON - Computer hackers obtained confidential
|
||
|
credit reports of Midwest consumers from a credit reporting firm in
|
||
|
Atlanta. Atlanta-based Equifax said a ring of 30 hackers in Dayton [Ohio]
|
||
|
stole credit card numbers and bill-paying histories of the consumers by
|
||
|
using an Equifax customer's password.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Ronald J. Horst, security consultant for the company said the break-in
|
||
|
apparently began in January. Police don't know if the password was stolen
|
||
|
or if an employee of the client company cooperated with the hackers. Horst
|
||
|
said the hackers were apparently doing it just for fun. No charges have
|
||
|
been filed. Equifax will notify customers whose credit reports were taken.
|
||
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
|
||
|
11. Fingerprints And Connected Databases (Summary of an article by Stephen
|
||
|
Schwartz, San Francisco Chronicle, February 22, 1992, Page A16) -- A
|
||
|
fingerprint found in an unsolved 1984 murder of an 84-year-old woman was
|
||
|
kept in the San Francisco police database all these years. Recently the
|
||
|
San Francisco fingerprint database was linked with the Alameda County
|
||
|
fingerprint database. The old print matched a new one taken in connection
|
||
|
with a petty theft case, and so eight years later the police were able to
|
||
|
solve the old case (burglary, arson, homicide). The two girls implicated
|
||
|
were 12 and 15 at the time. (Special Thanks: Peter G. Neumann of RISKS)
|