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Fucked Up College Kids File 171
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= F.U.C.K. - Fucked Up College Kids - Born Jan. 24th, 1993 - F.U.C.K. =
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Major51
-------
Several months ago, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal ran
articles detailing a Secret Service operation that resulted in the
arrest of several "hackers".
While the articles were well written, and generally factual, there are
several points of contention, mostly attributable to direct quotes made
by government officials. Also, while the information contained in the
articles is mostly correct, many points are simply not covered.
So, for those who may be vaguely familiar with this case, I would like to
offer some clarifications. And for those who may not have heard about it
at all, here it is.
Following, I will quote excerpts from the aforementioned articles, along
with my own comments (my comments will appear in [] ). The two articles
have been "cut and pasted", and will appear as one article except where
noted.
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NEW YORK - It was a classic sting operation, the kind of undercover gambit that
has nabbed bad guys for decades: federal agents disguised as big-time thieves
set up shop and put the word out on the street that they were eager for
business. Soon shifty characters were stopping by, officials said, peddling
stolen goods that were worth millions of dollars.
[This is highly misleading. What the federal agents did was establish a
BBS, named "Celco 51" which, as they advertised, catered primarily to those
with a technical interest in telephony, especially cellular telephony.
I doubt that any of the users there could really be described as shifty,
with the possible exception of the sysop, and one of the users who was,
in fact, a Secret Service agent.]
``People all over the country responded,'' said Peter A. Cavicchia 2nd, the
special agent in charge of the Newark office of the Secret Service, which ran
the investigation. ``They felt they could do this with impunity.''
[I find this quote to be incredibly objectionable. Celco 51 purported to
be a BBS where people could discuss the technology of the day, exchange
thoughts and ideas, and even socialize with other like-minded individuals.
Of course people felt they could do that with impunity. Why? Because
they can. There is nothing wrong, legally or morally, with doing that.]
It is relatively easy to put together a private computer bulletin board,
requiring only a computer, a modem, phone lines and communications software.
Special Agent Bauerschmidt was assisted by an informer with experience as a
computer hacker, officials said. The equipment and phone line for the scheme
were located in a Bergen County, N.J., apartment building.
[In this case: at least one computer, four modems and phone lines, and an
800 number were paid for by the taxpayers.]
The sting began operating in January, and numerous hackers posted messages,
including some saying they wanted to fence cell-phone "cloning" equipment
[I believe the word "fence" is inappropriate here, since they are referring
to equipment that is quite legal to own. While debating the difference
between "legal to own" - versus - "legal to use" may appear to be an
argument of semantics, the fact is, there is a difference. Furthermore,
there are legitimate uses for that equipment.]
and stolen cell-phone numbers. An undercover agent, using the computer alias
of "Carder One," then posed as an interested buyer and negotiated to purchase
the illegal gear, having it send to a New Jersey address in return for sending
cash to the suspects.
[I offer no defense to those engaged in the buying or selling of ESN/NAM
pairs (which is what the article refers to as "cell-phone numbers"), but
again I stress that the "programming gear" is not illegal. Also, their
chronology is a bit off..."Carder One" did not wait for others to offer
anything for sale, she was actively soliciting the purchase of a variety
of items long before anyone even had an opportunity to offer them to her.]
the startling growth in computer-assisted crime. Cellular-phone fraud
alone cost companies $482 million last year, the cellular-phone industry
estimates. [from the New York Times article]
[I've always looked at the losses reported by the telecommunications
industry with a bit of skepticism, and this is no exception...]
The industry loses as much as $1 billion annually to cell-phone fraud,
estimates suggest. [from the Wall Street Journal article]
[...especially in light of how rapidly the number seems to grow!]
The ``computer service,'' which led to the arrests of at least six suspected
hackers and the possibility of more, is the latest indication that law
enforcement agencies are being forced to try novel strategies to keep up with
the startling growth in computer-assisted crime.
Last January, a Secret Service special agent, Stacey Bauerschmidt, using the
computer nickname Carder One, established a computer bulletin board that she
called Celco 51.
``We consider this to be one of the most significant of the wireless fraud
busts that have come down so far,'' said Michael T. Houghton, a spokesman for
the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, a trade group. ``These
guys took it another degree.''
[After being in operation for nearly a year, and having attracted some of
the brightest minds in the hacker community (there were around two-hundred
users on Celco 51), they found six people who (allegedly, I might add)
stepped over the line of legality. Bear in mind, that this was on a
"private" BBS which was considered to be "secure" and "hacker-friendly".
In other words, an environment where those inclined to partake in illicit
activities would be likely to do so. I too consider these figures to be
"most significant".]
The disclosure of the investigation came a few days before the release of the
film ``Hackers,'' a coincidence that was noted by Ms. Krappa, the assistant
U.S. attorney.
``The movie industry will tend to glamorize these individuals, but they really
do cause a lot of loss,'' she said. ``People look at them as errant children,
that this is a joke, but it actually costs a lot, and that filters down to
consumers.''
[The movie industry has no need to glamorize "these individuals". The fact
that the vast majority of "evil" hackers on Celco 51 were in fact not evil
at all provides all the glamorization that is needed.]
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Now, some words from "Carder One" herself. These are actual messages
from Carder One posted on Celco 51.
- Area: celcodez------------------------------------------------------------
Msg#: 3517 Date: 04-05-95 21:02
From: Carder-one Read: Yes Replied: No
To: ** All ** Mark:
Subj: funz
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just a few from my friend who gave me a shitload
917-859-4655 C3586A8C
917-855-3421 9D071C2B
God this is funz...CARDER
[I understand that in undercover operations, law enforcement officials are
sometimes forced to do things that mirror the behavior of the "criminals"
that they are trying to apprehend, but the Secret Service posting cellular
esn/nam pairs to a bunch of suspected cell-phone-service-thieves is the
equivalent of the D.E.A. handing out cocaine to dealers on the street.]
- Area: codez------------------------------------------------------------
Msg#: 104 Date: 02-03-95 16:22
From: Carder-one Read: Yes Replied: No
To: Mark:
Subj: cardz
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am in the market for some new cards specific being Amex with some
identifier info. If you can provide hit me up and we will workout
a deal. Give me an e-mail and we will talk in teleconf. CARDER-ONE
[Carder One...buying.]
- Area: codez------------------------------------------------------------
Msg#: 784 Date: 02-13-95 21:22
From: Carder-one Read: Yes Replied: No
To: Mark:
Subj: cardz
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
hey I got some new Atts up fur trade.Hit me up in an E-mail CARDER.
[Carder One...selling.]
- Area: codez------------------------------------------------------------
Msg#: 2057 Date: 03-07-95 22:33
From: Carder-one Read: Yes Replied: No
To: ** All ** Mark:
Subj: hey
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
im in a bit of a pick....i need some at&t cards for a friend in Italy
if ya got some around since he pesters the shit outa me if he cant
call...if ya can deal hit me up and well we can deal.....
[...and buying again.]
- Area: INTER------------------------------------------------------------
Msg#: 2362 Date: 03-14-95 23:46
From: Carder-one Read: Yes Replied: No
To: ** All ** Mark:
Subj: AT&T
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you need I can get...in exchange f course...leave me mail here if
your not on IRC....later CARDER
[...and selling again. Perhaps these types of messages are the sort of thing
you might expect to see on an "underground" BBS. It is certainly the sort
of thing that the Secret Service expected to see. They must have been quite
disappointed, since Carder's were the only posts of this nature...]
- Area: codez------------------------------------------------------------
Msg#: 467 Date: 02-10-95 21:27
From: Sysop Read: Yes Replied: No
To: Mark:
Subj: cardz
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
All you guys going on about cards... we haven't seen any samples
floating around here... lets ee sum so *I* can see if any of them
are any good for me.. i need another computer...
shame u can't card phone lines... 8)
[...except when the sysop jumped in. It is fortunate that the Secret
Service was wrong about the people who would frequent a BBS such as
Celco 51. There was a lot of information, not just in the message areas,
but in the file bases as well, that could have been very valuable to
a person interested in committing the sort of crimes that the Secret
Service predicted they would want to commit. I find it interesting that
the Secret Service went to such great lengths to facilitate such criminal
endeavors. In closing, I offer a couple of messages from users who are
far more representative of the hacking community than the government or
the media realizes:]
- Area: celprog------------------------------------------------------------
Msg#: 2658 Date: 03-18-95 15:27
From: Read: Yes Replied: No
To: Mark:
Subj:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, I don't hate you. I prefer more of the 'behind the scenes' info,
ie. Switching. It's just that so many people are cloning these days, the
sad thing is that it is so easy, to do, and in my opinion get caught.
Why not explore something that is unexplored, instead of buying a cable
and software and cloning a phone, what a challenge! (joke) That is what
80% of the so called cellular 'hackers' do, buy most of their shit,
clone a phone, and boom, they label themselves hackers. I guess a name
can be deceiving.
- Area: celprog------------------------------------------------------------
Msg#: 688 Date: 02-12-95 15:45
From: Read: Yes Replied: No
To: Mark:
Subj:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
it seams to me that you even though i don't have a cellular, i have
read a lot of cell docs etc, i find the technology itself really
interesting... how it all works..
[There it is. I hope that any aspiring hackers will keep in mind that hacking
is not about fraud, theft, or destruction. It is about a person learning
about cellular phone technology, a person who doesn't even own a cellular
phone. And I hope that those without any interest in hacking themselves
will keep this in mind the next time they read "the evil hackers", and
realize that it is quite likely that they are not reading the whole story.
As for the people who were busted as a result of the Celco 51 sting, well,
I wish them all the best, bearing in mind that they are innocent until
proven guilty. Should it come to pass that they are found guilty, I hope
that others will not recognize them as "hackers", but rather, as people
who were willing to commit shady deals with somebody with a nick as lame
as "Carder One". Finally, I hope that the government can, as soon as they
are through patting themselves on the back, realize that they worked very
hard, for a very long time, with some rather negligible results.
``If they are selling the stuff in cyberspace, law enforcement has to be
willing to go there,'' said Donna Krappa, an assistant U.S. attorney in Newark,
I wholeheartedly agree, and I submit that if Celco 51 is any example of the
degree of lawlessness to be found in cyberspace, that law enforcement has to
be equally willing to go elsewhere.
Major
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