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79 lines
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79 lines
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% P h r a c k X V I I %
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Phrack Seventeen
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07 April 1988
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File 9 of 12 : Data-Tapping Made Easy
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--FEATURE ARTICLES AND REVIEWS-
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TAPPING COMPUTER DATA IS EASY, AND CLEARER THAN PHONE CALLS !
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BY RIC BLACKMON, SYSOP OF A FED BBS
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Aquired by Elric of Imrryr & Lunatic Labs UnLtd
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Note from Elric: This file was written by the sysop of a board for computer
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security people (run on a CoCo), as far as I know the board no longer exists,
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it was being crashed by hackers too much... (hehe).
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---------------------
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FOR SEVERAL YEARS, I ACCEPTED CERTAIN BITS OF MISINFORMATION AS
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TECHNICALLY ACCURATE, AND DIDN'T PROPERLY PURSUE THE MATTER. SEVERAL FOOLS
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GAVE ME FOOLISH INFORMATION, SUCH AS: A TAP INTERRUPTS COMPUTER DATA
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TRANSMISSIONS; DATA COULD BE PICKED UP AS RF EMANATIONS BUT IT WAS A MASS OF
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UNINTELLIGIBLE SIGNAL CAUSED BY DATA MOVING BETWEEN REGISTERS; ONE HAD TO BE
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IN 'SYNC' WITH ANY SENDING COMPUTER; DATA COULDN'T BE READ UNLESS YOU HAD A
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DIRECT MATCH IN SPEED, PARITY & BIT PATTERN; AND ONLY A COMPUTER OF THE SAME
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MAKE AND MODEL COULD READ THE SENDING COMPUTER. THIS IS ALL PLAIN SWILL. IT
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IS IN FACT, AN EASIER CHORE TO TAP A COMPUTER THAN A TELEPHONE. THE TECHNIQUE
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AND THE EQUIPMENT IS ALMOST THE SAME, BUT THE COMPUTER LINE WILL BE MORE
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ACCURATE (THE TWO COMPUTERS INVOLVED, HAVE ERROR CORRECTING PROCEDURES) AND
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CLEARER (DIGITAL TRANSMISSIONS HAVE MORE DISTINCT SIGNALS THAN ANALOG
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TRANSMISSIONS).
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FIRST, RECOGNIZE THAT NEARLY ALL DATA TRANSMISSIONS ARE SENT IN CLEARTEXT
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ASCII SIGNALS. THE LINES CARRYING OTHER BIT-GROUPS OR ENCIPHERED TEXTS ARE
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RARE. SECOND, THE SIGNAL APPEARS ON GREEN AND RED (WIRES) OF THE PHONE LINE
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('TIP' AND 'RING'). THE DATA IS MOST LIKELY ASYNCHRONOUS SERIAL DATA MOVING
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AT 300 BAUD. NOW THAT 1200 BAUD IS BECOMING MORE CHIC, YOU CAN EXPECT TO FIND
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A GROWING USE OF THE FASTER TRANSMISSION RATE. FINALLY, YOU DON'T NEED TO
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WORRY ABOUT THE PROTOCOL OR EVEN THE BAUD RATE (SPEED) UNTIL AFTER A TAPED
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COPY OF A TRANSMISSION IS OBTAINED.
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IN A SIMPLE EXPERIMENT, A TAPED COPY OF A DATA TRANSMISSION WAS MADE
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WITH THE CHEAPEST OF TAPE RECORDERS, TAPPING THE GREEN AND RED LINES BEYOND
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THE MODEM. THE RECORDING WAS THEN PLAYED INTO A MODEM AS THOUGH IT WERE AN
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ORIGINAL TRANSMISSION. AT THAT POINT, HAD IT BEEN NECESSARY, THE PROTOCOL
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SETTINGS ON RECEIVING TERMINAL COULD HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO MATCH THE TAPE. NO
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ADJUSTMENTS WERE NECESSARY AND A NICE, CLEAR ERROR-FREE DOCUMENT WAS RECEIVED
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ON THE ILLICIT VIDEO SCREEN AND A NEAT HARD-COPY OF THE DOCUMENT CAME OFF THE
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PRINTER. THE MESSAGE WAS INDEED CAPTURED, BUT HAD IT BEEN AN INTERCEPTION
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INSTEAD OF A SIMPLE MONITORING, IT COULD HAVE BEEN ALTERED WITH A SIMPLE WORD
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PROCESSOR PROGRAM, TO SUIT ANY PURPOSE, AND PLACED BACK ON THE WIRE.
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WERE I TO HAVE AN INTEREST IN INFORMATION ORIGINATING FROM A
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PARTICULAR COMPANY, AGENCY, OR OFFICE, I THINK THAT I WOULD FIND IT FAR MORE
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PRODUCTIVE TO TAP A DATA TRANSMISSION THAN TO TAP A VOICE TRANSMISSION, AND
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EVEN MORE REWARDING THAN GETTING HARDCOPY DOCUMENTS.
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*SIGNIFICANT & IMPORTANT INFORMATION IS MORE CONCENTRATED IN A DATA
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TRANSMISSION.
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*SIGNIFICANT & IMPORTANT INFORMATION IS MORE EASILY LOCATED IN DATA
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TRANSMISSIONS THAN IN MASSES OF FILES OR PHONE CALLS.
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*TRANSMITTED DATA IS PRESUMED TRUE, AND WHEN ALTERATION IS DISCOVERED,
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IT'S READILY BLAMED ON THE EQUIPMENT.
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*THE LAWS CONCERNING TAPS ON UNCLASSIFIED AND NON-FINANCIAL COMPUTER
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DATA ARE EITHER QUITE LACKING OR ABJECTLY STUPID.
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THE POINT OF ALL THIS IS THAT THE PRUDENT MANAGER REALLY OUGHT TO ENCRYPT ALL
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DATA TRANSMISSIONS. ENCRYPTION PACKAGES ARE CHEAP (A 'DES' PROGRAM IS NOW
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PRICED AT $30) AND ARE EASY TO USE.
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-------------------------------
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