337 lines
18 KiB
Plaintext
337 lines
18 KiB
Plaintext
It's Baaaaa-ack!
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*------------------------*
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| The Phreaking Articles |
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| Vol. 2 |
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| by |
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| * Black Death * |
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*------------------------*
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An Official ZoNE Product
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Well, Here it is. The Not-so-Long awaited sequel to The Phreaking
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Artciles Vol 1. What I'm trying to do here is keep the pirate/phreak/hack
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world informed on what's going on to it's members, and what good ol' Mrs.
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Bell is up to to try and stop us. Just keeping you informed on the War..
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So I get a bunch of articles on the subject, type them up and send 'em to
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you. So Hopefully you'll get something out of this and learn. Have phun!
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`TELEPHONE HACKING: WIDESPREAD, GROWING'
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By Alex Barnum - Mercury News Staff Writer
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The alleged case against Kevin L. Poulsen is an extreme example of a
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widespread and growing telephone crime problem that usualy gets scant
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attention except from it's major victims: the phone companies.
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Law enforcement efforts against telephone and computer crime have few
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tangible results, experts say. Although some cases have been widely public-
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ized, less than 10 percent of known security breaches have been prosecuted.
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The longest prison term for a computer hack has been 1 year.
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At the same time, state legislatures, including California's, have passed
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computer crime laws that give law enforcement officials broader authority
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that federal statutes to pursue computer hackers and so-called phone phreaks.
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In the most recent case, Poulsen, 24, was chaged Wednsday with illeagaly
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obtaining and using Pacific Bell Co. equipment and access codes, obtaining
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sensitive military documents and stealing a computer printout relating to
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an FBI investigation of former Philippene President Ferdinand Marcos.
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The indictment charges Poulsen with telephone crimes, such as evesdropping
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and recording conversations, that are far more sophisticated and rare than
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the activities of the typical phreak who makes free long-distance phone calls
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using illeagaly obtained telephone credit card numbers.
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Phreaks, who began 20 years ago with blue boxes that could trick the
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phone network into allowing free access to long-distance calling, now
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typically obtain these credit card numbers on computer bulliten board systems
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(BBSs). The numbers usually belong to large buisnesses, which monitor the use
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of their numbers less frequently than individuals.
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As a whole, phone phreaking is a widespread problem and the fastest growing
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segment of computer crime. the National Center for Computer Crime Data in
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Santa Cruz estimates that it has grown from about 10% of all computer crime
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in 1986 to 34%.
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Moreover, as with all computer crime, the vast majority of it goes
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undetected or unreported. In a 1988 survey, the center found that only 6% of
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the serious break-ins known to computer security professionals were ever
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prosecuted.
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The abuse of phone access codes is "obviously epidemic" said Ken
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Rosenblatt, assitant district attorney in Santa Clara County. `The phone
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companies are losing lots of money.'
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Public prosecutors say law enforcement efforts to stop telephone crime
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are lagging even in Santa Clara County, which has two full-time district
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attorneys assignd to its High Technology Crime Unit, the largest such group
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in the country.
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`We just don't have the bodies (we need) if we want to stop phone hacking,'
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Rosenblatt said, adding that his unit is focussing mostly on computer chip
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theft and industrial espionage, which are financially more significant.
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Several weeks ago, the California legislature passed a new "for-feiture"
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law, in which convicted hackers would forfeit their telephone or computer
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equipment as part of the punishment. Unless stolen, the equipment would go
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to the vitims or the prosecutors.
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Although that may seem like a minor inconvinience to a convicted hacker,
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Jerry Coleman, assistant district attorney in San Fransisco, said it's a
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punishment with psychological effects that better fit the crime than does
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a period of probation.
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PSYCHOLOGICAL PUNISHMENT
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`Hackers suddenly feel that loss they've been perpetrating on their vic-
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tims,' Coleman said. `It's a psychological punishment for a psychological
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crime.'
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Despite new legal weapons for prosecutors, the leaders in the war against
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phreaks are also their biggest victims: the phone companies. And law
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enforcement officials say the phone companies are winning. ( BAHAHAHAAHA!!!
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yeah right! -BD)
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`They are trying to stay one step ahead' of the phone phreaks, Coleman
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said. `And I think they are successfull.'
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ENHANCING AWARENESS
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John Hancock, vice president for systems technology at Pacific Bell, noted
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that many security breeches occur when hackers trick employees into giving
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them access codes. As a result, Hancock said, the company recently began a
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`Security awareness program' for it's employees and cutomers.
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Pacific Bell has developed a sophisticated identification system for
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it's technicians in the field. Hancock notes that repairmen used to have to
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call a central switchboard and identify themselves over the line to get
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access to one of the company's switching lines.
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Now, technicians are given `smart cards'. The card flashes an eight-
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digit number that changes randomly every 30 seconds. Technicians must punch
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in that number on a phone keyboard, in addition to giving their individual
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password. A central <*COMPUTER*> verifies the number, giving the technician
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access.
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Among other measures, Hancock said Pacific Bell recently installed a
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more secure version of the Unix operating system, sophisticated computer
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software that runs the phone network. And through their joint research
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facility, the Bell operating companies have drafted a plan that immidiately
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alerts other phone companies to a case of infiltration into any one.
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San Jose Mercury News - Morning Edition - 1/20/90
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PHONE CRACKING
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High Tech Thugs Prey on Voice Mail
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By Alex Barnum (Mercury News Staff Writer)
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A new generation of computerized telephone answering machines has spawned
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a new breed of technological terrorists: the voice-mail hacker
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Like their counterparts among computer hackers, voice-mail hackers are
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typically nerdy teen-agers whose interests in computers and phones borders
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on obsession, law enforcement officials say. They range from high-school
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students who crack voice-mail codes for the sheer thrill to gangs of high
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tech ruffians who prowl the nation's phone lines for profit. Altogether,
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their nefarious trade (I just love this guys vocab) is contributing to
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a telecommunications fraud problem that officials estimate is costing
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corporations and phone companies nationwide more than $500 million a year.
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Consider the case of Certified Grocers of California, one of the voice-
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mail hackers better known exploits. Several years ago, the Los Angeles-based
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grocery wholesaler installed a new voice-mail system, hooked up to its toll-
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free 800 lines. the system greeted cutomers in a friendly feminine voice
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("Welcme to Cer-Gro"), routed their calls ("Please enter the four digit
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extension you wish to reach"), even told of delivery schedules ("For inbound
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scheduling and outbound load information, press 2").
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The system was considered a convinience to both the company and its
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cutomers until Cer-Gro managers noticed that the company's toll-free
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phone bills began to soar. After a little digging, they found a gang of
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teen-agers had cracked the passcodes on the voice-mail system and transferred
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control of some 200 of it's 300 "voice-mail boxes" to a drug and prostitution
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ring. Instead of delivery schedules, the voice-mail system was being used
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to dispense up-to-the-minute New York cocaine prices and information about
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prostitution services.
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This new generation of office answering machine may be transforming
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corporate America, replacing the office secretary, receptionist, and even
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the inter-office memo. but it has also provided the teen-age bandits who
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pirate the computer and phone networks with a new target. "We've had a lot
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of cases," says Gail Thackeray, Arizona assistant attorney general and a
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specialist in voice-mail hacking. "Everybody from local mom-and-pop
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buisnesses to giant corporations have been affected."
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Although voice-mail hacking reached a plateau last year, the problem is
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likely to get worse as voice-mail gains a greater following, voice-mail
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specialists say. Once used primarily by large corporations, voice mail
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is growing in popularity among smaller buisnesses. What's more, with regional
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phone companies experimenting with residentia service, voice-mail may soon
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be widely availiable to homes across the country. Many specialists fear that
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residential use will bring a new wave of hacking.
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Developed a decade ago, voice-mail systems are specialized computers
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that can answer a company's phones, direct callers through a maze of options
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and record their messages. A system typically gives every employee a personal
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voice-mail box to leave an retrieve messages, which they gain access to
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using secret passcodes that range from two to 14 digits. With a versatility
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far greater than normal answering machines, the system also allows employees
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to send voice messages to co-workers and even whole departments or groups
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of employees.
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The passcode is the key to voice-mail security. But armed with a Touch-
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Tone phone, a little knowledge of voice-mail, and a lot of patience, a hacker
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can easily infiltrate the mailbox of someone who has been lax about security.
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Here's how a hacker might do it: Dialing in over toll-free lines, the hacker
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is greeted by the company's "automated attendant," which attempts to direct
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the call. At that point, the hacker simply starts trying passcodes. The
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easiest codes to break are short, obvious combinations of numbers, such as
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1-2-3, or codes that are identical to an employees phone extension.
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Once inside a mailbox a user is directed by a recorded voice through a
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series of options. Using these options, a hacker can request a new passcode
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and take control of the mailbox. (Hackers are no dummies, and frequently
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request 14 digit passcodes.) The hacker can read an employees messages and
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send messages to others. If the hacker breaks in to an active but unassigned
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mailbox, as happened at Certified Grocers, or if he breaks into the mailbox
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of an employee on vacation, the hacker could remain undetected long enough
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to use it for his own purposes.
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In some cases, hackers have cracked the mailbox code of the system operator,
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the employee in charge of administering the voice-mail system. That allows
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the hacker to roam freely through the voice-mail system. Several years ago,
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a disgruntled ex-employee of a San Jose office supply store gained "system
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operator" status on the company's voice mail system and changed it's
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greeting to outsiders. Customers who dialed the store were told that it had
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gone out of buisness.
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Voice-mail hacking even has triggered concern among corporate executives
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about industrial espionage, says Donn Parker, a computer security specialist
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at SRI Inernational in Menlo Park. Voice-mail equipment manufacturers agree
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that sensitive information, such as the detail of an impending merger, is
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best not left on voice mail messages. But that didn't deter an executive at
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one company who left sensitive end-of-the-quarter financial information
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on a message, only to have it recorded and broadcast to competetors around the
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country.
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Voice-mail hacking has also attracted more serious criminals, says Thackeray.
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She and other law-enforcement officials worry particularly about the national
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gangs that trade stolen long-distance access codes and credit card numbers
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over "code lines", voice-mail boxes that hackers use as audio bulliten
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boards.
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Code lines work like this: A hacker obtains stolen access codes and
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credit card numbers through computer bulliten boards, from voided retail store
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receipts, by overhearing them at public pay phones and other nefarious means.
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he posts the ill-gotten codes to 10 voice-mail boxes around the country. In
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turn, each of his cohorts checks the code lines several times a day, records
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the numbers and posts them to 10 more code lines. Wihin hours, the number
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of hacker with access to the code mushrooms.
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"The loses go right through the roof," Thackeray says. "The loses are so
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high because hundreds of people have access to the numbers immidiately."
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The costs to buisnesses can be staggering. Thackeray says hackers can easily
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rack up a $10,000 phone bill on one number within days. And buisnesses don't
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find out about the abuse unitl they get the monthly bill. In a case pending
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in Tuscon, the cost of stolen long distance codes to US Sprint was conser-
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vatively estimated at $500,000, she says. The Communications Fraud
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Control Association in McLean, Va.,says it's all part of a telecommunications
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fraud problem that is costing the phone companies more than $500 million a year.
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In a case uncovered last year, a nationwide teen-age hacking ring allegdly
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infiltrated the voice-mail systems of 20 buisnesses and organizations, set up
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code lines and racked more than $200,000 in unauthorized calls, the Secret
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Service charges. The alleged mastermind of the ring, Leslie Lynn Doucette,
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a Chicago woman who had been convicted of telecommunications fraud in Canada,
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reportedly supported herself and her two children through her hacking
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activities.
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The 35-year-old Doucette allegedly ran the ring of electronic pickpockets
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like something out of a computer age "Oliver Twist," Using the code name,
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"Kyrie." Doucette held telephone confrences with her hackers across the country,
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teaching them to get access codes from AT&T credit card holders. In one scheme,
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the hackers allegedly used stolen credit card numbers to wire Doucette more
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than $1,000 worth of Western Union money orders.
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Voice-mail hackers are particularly hard to catch, law enforcement officials
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say. Hackers, who prowl through the phone lines using code names, direct their
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calls along cuitous routes and across state lines, making them difficult
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to track. "They're like schools of fish," Thackeray says. "They move quickly
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from one system to another." Officials say phone companies, which are often
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their only hope of tracking hackers, are of little help because they fear
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invasion-of-privacy lawsuits.
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Long distance carriers have beefed up security, implementing 14-digit access
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codes and features that enable buisnesses to monitor the source of toll-free
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calls. By closing the door on corporate 800 lines, the carriers have cut out
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some of the hacking. But hackers have lighted on other vulnerable branches
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of public phone network and are busy trying to crack the shorter acces codes
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of smaller carriers and the regional Bell operating companies, officials say.
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More important, voice-mail equipment manufacturers have launched an assault
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on voice-mail hacking. Many systems now have features that lock a voice-mail box
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after several attempts at entry and provide "audit trails" that monitor use.
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Voice-mail makers have given users tools to ensure security, says David Ladd,
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executive vice president at VMX Inc., a San Jose voice-mail company. As a
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result, he says, voice-mail security now depends on company efforts ti train
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cutomers and the vigilance of the user.
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"A voice-mail system is only as secure as the people who take care of it,"
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adds Elizabeth Johnson, an industry consultant. "The only thing that keeps
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a hacker out of your voice mail is your password."
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San Jose Mercury News - Morning Edition - 2/19/90
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The Phreaking Articles are written by Black Death for ZoNE, at
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The Unholy Temple BBS.
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All Real names have been used, and no editing has been done to protect
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the innocent/guilty.
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Call these GREAT ZoNE boards.
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[305] 386-6219 - FerrarI BBS - ZoNE HQ. 38.4 HST -
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[408] 249-5405 - The Unholy Temple - ZoNE Site #1 - 12/24oo - P/hack filez
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[514] 358-1987 - The Order of the Kamikaze - ZoNE site #2 - 12/24oo - Elite
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Greetings to Lord Sharp, The Zenabyte, The Prisoner, Sam Brown,
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Shadow Lord, The Mentor, Barimoor, and Mr. FerrarI.
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|------------------- |-------------| |--\ |--| |--|--------
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|_____________ / | | | \ | | | |
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/ / | | | \ | | | |-------|
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/ / | |---| | | | \ | | | ]
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/ / | | | | | |\ \ | | | |-------|
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/ / | |---| | | | \ \ | | | |-------|
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/ /___________ | | | | \ \| | | ]
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| | | | | | \ | | --------|
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|------------------| |-------------| |__| \___| |__--------|
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Another file downloaded from:
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-$- & the Temple of the Screaming Electron
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! * Walnut Creek, CA
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+ /^ |
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! | |//^ _^_ 2400/1200/300 baud (415) 935-5845
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/^ / @ | /_-_ Jeff Hunter, Sysop
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|@ _| @ @|- - -|
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| | | /^ | _ | - - - - - - - - - *
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|___/____|_|_|_(_)_| Aaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! /
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Specializing in conversations, E-Mail, obscure information,
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entertainment, the arts, politics, futurism, thoughtful discussion,
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insane speculation, and wild rumours. An ALL-TEXT BBS.
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"Raw data for raw minds."
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