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Phrack Inc. Volume 02 Issue 22 File 03
==Phrack Inc.==
Volume Two, Issue 22, File 3 of 12
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<> <>
<> The Judas Contract <>
<> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <>
<> Part Two Of The Vicious Circle Trilogy <>
<> <>
<> An Exploration of The Quisling Syndrome <>
<> and <>
<> A Look At The Insurrection Of Security Into The Community <>
<> <>
<> Presented by Knight Lightning <>
<> August 7, 1988 <>
<> <>
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The Quisling Syndrome
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Definition: Quisling - (Kwiz/lin) (1) n. Vidkun Quisling (1887 - 1945),
Norwegian politician who betrayed
his country to the Nazis and became
its puppet ruler.
(2) n. A traitor.
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The "Quisling" Syndrome is rapidly becoming a common occurrence in the less
than legal realms of the modem community. In general it starts out with a
phreaker or hacker that is either very foolish or inexperienced. He somehow
manages to get caught or busted for something and is scared beyond belief about
the consequences of his actions. At this point, the law enforcement agency(s)
realize that this one bust alone is worthless, especially since the person
busted is probably someone who does not know much to begin with and would be a
much better asset if he could assist them in grabbing other more experienced
and dangerous hackers and phreaks. In exchange for these services the Judas
will have his charges dropped or reduced and considering the more than likely
parential pressure these Judases will receive, the contract will be fulfilled.
Example; Taken from Phrack World News Issue XV;
[This exceprt has been edited for this presentation. -KL]
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Mad Hatter; Informant? July 31, 1987
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We at Phrack Inc. have uncovered a significant amount of information that has
led us to the belief that Mad Hatter is an informant for some law enforcement
organization.
MH had also brought down several disks for the purpose of copying Phantasie
Realm. Please note; PR was an IBM program and MH has an apple.
Control C told us that when he went to pick MH up at the bus terminal, he
watched the bus pull in and saw everyone who disembarked. Suddenly Mad Hatter
was there, but not from the bus he was supposed to have come in on. In
addition to this, he had baking soda wraped in a five dollar bill that he tried
to pass off as cocaine. Perhaps to make us think he was cool or something.
MH constantly tried to get left behind at ^C's apartment for unknown reasons.
He also was seen at a neighbor's apartment making unauthorized calls into the
city of Chicago. When asked who he called, his reply was "Don't worry about
it." MH had absolutely no money with him during PartyCon (and incidentally ate
everything in ^C's refrigerator) and yet he insisted that although he had taken
the bus down and had return trip tickets for the bus, that he would fly back
home. How was this going to be achieved? He had no money and even if he could
get a refund for the bus tickets, he would still be over $200 short. When
asked how he was going to do this, his reply was "Don't worry about it."
On Saturday night while on the way to the Hard Rock Cafe, Mad Hatter asked
Control C for the location of his computer system and other items 4 times.
This is information that Hatter did not need to know, but perhaps a SS agent or
someone could use very nicely.
When Phrack Inc. discovered that Dan The Operator was an FBI informant and made
the news public, several people were criticizing him on Free World II Private.
Mad Hatter on the other hand, stood up for Noah and said that he was still his
friend despite what had happened. Then later when he realized that people were
questioning his legitimacy, his original posts were deleted and he started
saying how much he wanted to kill Dan The Operator and that he hated him.
Mad Hatter already has admitted to knowing that Dan The Operator was an FBI
informant prior to SummerCon '87. He says the reason he didn't tell anyone is
because he assumed we already knew.
A few things to add;
^*^ Some time ago, Mad Hatter was contacted by AT&T because of an illegal
Alliance Teleconference that he was responsible for. There was no bust.
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Could this AT&T investigation have been the starting point for Mad Hatter's
treason against the phreak/hack community? Is there more to it than that?
We may never know the full truth behind this, however we do know that Mad
Hatter was not the only one to know Dan The Operator's secret prior to
SummerCon '87. The Executioner (who had close ties to TMC Security employees
in Omaha, Nebraska) was fully aware of Dan The Operator's motives and
intentions in the modem world.
There does not always have to be a bust involved for a phreak/hacker to turn
Judas, sometimes fear and panic can be a more powerful motivator to become a
Quisling.
Example; Taken From Phrack World News Issue XV;
[This exceprt has been edited for this presentation. -KL]
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Crisis On Infinite Hackers July 27, 1987
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It all started on Tuesday, July 21, 1987. Among 30-40 others, Bill From RNOC,
Eric NYC, Solid State, Oryan QUEST, Mark Gerardo, The Rebel, and Delta-Master
have been busted by the United States Secret Service. There are rumored to be
several more members of the more "elite" community busted as well, but since we
can neither disprove or prove the validity of these rumors, I have chosen not
to name them at this time.
One of the offshoots of this investigation is the end of The Lost City of
Atlantis and The Lineman's treason against the community he once helped to
bring about. In Pennsylvainia, 9 people were busted for credit card fraud.
When asked where they learned how to perform the art in which they had been
caught, they all responded with the reply of text files from The Lost City Of
Atlantis.
So, the Secret Service decided to give The Lineman a visit. Lineman, age 16 (a
minor) had no charges against him, but he panicked anyway and turned over the
bulletin board, all g-philes, and the complete userlog to the Secret Service.
This included information from the "Club Board." The final outcome of this
action is still on its way. In the meantime, many hackers are preparing for
the worst.
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The results and consequences from The Lineman's actions were far more severe
than they originally appeared. It is highly speculated that The Lineman was in
possesion on a very large directory of phreaks/hackers/pirates that he had
recently acquired. That list is now in the hands of the government and the
Communications Fraud Control Association (as well as in the files of all of the
individual security departments of CFCA members). I've seen it and more.
The Lineman was able to acquire this list because one phreak stole it from
another and then began to trade it to his friends and to others for information
and passwords, etc. and what happened from there is such an over exposure and
lack of CONTROL that it fell into the wrong and dangerous hands. Acts such as
this will with out a doubt eventually lead all of us towards entropy.
Captain Caveman, also known as Shawn of Phreakers Quest, began work to help TMC
after he was set up by Scan Man during the summer of 1986.
However, being busted or feeling panic are still not the only motivations for
becoming a Judas. John Maxfield, one of today's best known security
consultants, was once a hacker under the handle(s) of Cable Pair and Uncle Tom.
He was a member of the Detroit based Corrupt Computing and the original Inner
Circle until he was contacted by the FBI and decided that it would be more fun
to bust hackers than be one.
The following is an excerpt from Phrack World News Issue V;
[This article has been edited for this presentation. -KL]
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Computer Kids, Or Criminals?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Maxfield is a computer security consultant who lives in a downriver
suburb. Maxfield spends most of his working hours scanning BBSs, and is known
by computer crime experts as a hacker tracker. His investigative work scanning
boards has resulted in more prosecutions of computer hackers than anyone else
in the field, say sources familiar with his work. Maxfield, who accepts death
threats and other scare tactics as part of the job, says the trick is knowing
the enemy. Next to his monstrous, homemade computer system, Maxfield boasts
the only file on computer hackers that exists. [Not true any longer -KL] It
contains several thousand aliases used by hackers, many followed by their real
names and home phone numbers. All of it is the result of four years of steady
hacker-tracking, says Maxfield. "I've achieved what most hackers would dearly
love to achieve," said Maxfield. "Hacking the hacker is the ultimate hack."
Maxfield estimates there are currently 50,000 hackers operating in the computer
underground and close to 1,000 underground bulletin boards. Of these, he
estimates about 200 bulletin boards are "nasty," posting credit card numbers,
phone numbers of Fortune 500 corporations, regional phone companies, banks, and
even authored tutorials on how to make bombs and explosives. One growing camp
of serious hackers is college students, who typically started hacking at 14 and
are now into drug trafficking, mainly LSD and cocaine, said Maxfield.
Maxfield's operation is called BoardScan. He is paid by major corporations and
institutions to gather and provide them with pertinent intelligence about the
computer underground. Maxfield also relies on reformed hackers. Letters of
thanks from VISA and McDonald's decorate a wall in his office along with an
autographed photo of Scottie, the engineer on Star Trek's Starship Enterprise.
Often he contacts potential clients about business. "More often I call them
and say, I've detected a hacker in your system," said Maxfield. "At that
point, they're firmly entrenched. Once the hackers get into your computer,
you're in trouble. It's analogous to having roaches or mice in the walls of
your house. They don't make their presence known at first. But one day you
open the refrigerator door and a handful of roaches drop out."
Prior to tracking hackers, Maxfield worked for 20-odd years in the hardware end
of the business, installing and repairing computers and phone systems. When
the FBI recruited him a few years back to work undercover as a hacker and phone
phreak, Maxfield concluded fighting hacker crime must be his mission in life.
"So I became the hacker I was always afraid I would become," he said. Maxfield
believes the hacker problem is growing more serious. He estimates there were
just 400 to 500 hackers in 1982. Every two years, he says, the numbers
increase by a factor of 10. Another worrisome trend to emerge recently is the
presence of adult computer hackers. Some adults in the computer underground
pose as Fagans, a character from a Charles Dickens novel who ran a crime ring
of young boys, luring young hackers to their underground crime rings.
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John Freeman Maxfield's BoardScan is also known as the Semco Computer Club and
Universial Export, the latter coming from the company name used by the British
government in Ian Flemming's James Bond novels and subsequent motion pictures.
Another Judas hacker who went on to become a security consultant is the
infamous Ian Arthur Murphy of I.A.M. Security. Perhaps he is better known as
Captain Zap.
The following excerpt is from The Wall Street Journal;
[This article has been edited for this presentation. -KL]
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It Takes A Hacker To Catch A Hacker As Well As A Thief November 3, 1987
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by Dennis Kneale (Staff Reporter Of The Wall Street Journal)
"Computer Hacker Ian [Arthur] Murphy Prowls A Night
Beat Tracking Down Other Hackers Who Pirate Data"
Capt. Zap actually Ian A. Murphy, is well-known as one of the first
convicted computer-hacker thieves. He has since reformed -- he swears it --
and has been resurrected as a consultant, working the other side of the law.
CRIME CREDENTIALS
Other consultants, many of them graying military vets, try to flush out
illicit hackers. But few boast the distinction of being a real hacker -- and
one with a felony among his credentials. Capt. Zap is more comfortable at the
screen than in a conversation. Asked to name his closest friend, he shakes his
head and throws up his hands. He has none. "I don't like people," he says.
"They're dreadful."
"He's legendary in the hacking world and has access to what's going on.
That's a very valuable commodity to us," says Robert P. Campbell of Advanced
Information Management in Woodbridge, Va., Mr. Murphy's mentor, who has hired
him for consulting jobs. The 30-year-old Mr. Murphy is well-connected into his
nocturnal netherworld. Every night till 4 a.m., he walks a beat through some
of the hundreds of electronic bulletin boards where hackers swap tales and
techniques of computer break-ins.
It is very busy these nights. On the Stonehenge bulletin board, "The
Marauder" has put up a phone number for Citibank's checking and credit-card
records, advising, "Give it a call." On another board, Mr. Murphy finds a
primer for rookie "hacklings," written by "The Knights Of Shadow." On yet
another he sifts out network codes for the Defense Department's research
agency.
He watches the boards for clients and warns when a system is under attack.
For a fee of $800 a day and up, his firm, IAM/Secure Data Systems Inc., will
test the security of a data base by trying to break in, investigate how the
security was breached, eavesdrop on anyone you want, and do anything else that
strikes his fancy as nerd vs. spy. He says his clients have included Monsanto
Co., United Airlines, General Foods Corp., and Peat Marwick. Some probably
don't know he worked for them. His felony rap -- not to mention his caustic
style -- forces him to work often under a more established consultant. "Ian
hasn't grown up yet, but he's technically a brilliant kid," says Lindsey L.
Baird, an Army veteran whose firm, Info-Systems Safeguards in Morristown, New
Jersey has hired Capt. Zap.
Mr. Murphy's electronic voyeurism started early, At age 14, he would
sneak into the backyard to tap into the phone switch box and listen to
neighbor's calls. (He still eavesdrops now and then.) He quit highschool at
age 17. By 19 he was impersonating a student and sneaking into the computer
center Temple University to play computer games.
EASY TRANSITION
From there it was an easy transition to Capt. Zap's role of breaking in
and peeking at academic records, credit ratings, a Pentagon list of the sites
of missiles aimed at the U.S., and other verboten verbiage. He even left his
resume inside Bell of Pennsylvania's computer, asking for a job.
The electronic tinkering got him into trouble in 1981. Federal agents
swarmed around his parent's home in the wealthy suburb of Gladwyne, Pa. They
seized a computer and left an arrest warrant. Capt. Zap was in a ring of eight
hackers who ran up $212,000 in long-distance calls by using a "blue box" that
mimics phone-company gear. They also ordered $200,000 in hardware by charging
it to stolen credit-card numbers and using false mail drops and bogus purchase
orders. Mr. Murphy was the leader because "I had the most contempt" for
authority, he says.
In 1982, he pleaded guilty to receiving stolen goods and was sentenced to
1,000 hours of community service and 2 1/2 years of probation. "It wasn't
illegal. It was electronically unethical," he says, unrepentant. "Do you know
who likes the phone company?" Who would have a problem with ripping them off?"
Mr. Murphy, who had installed commercial air conditioning in an earlier
job, was unable to find work after his arrest and conviction. So the hacker
became a hack. One day in his cab he picked up a Dun & Bradstreet Corp.
manager while he was carrying a printout of hacker instructions for tapping
Dun's systems. Thus, he solicited his first consulting assignment: "I think
you need to talk to me." He got the job.
As a consultant, Mr. Murphy gets to do, legally, the shenanigans that got
him into trouble in the first place. "When I was a kid, hacking was fun. Now
I can make money at it and still have a lot of fun."
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Now because of all the publicity surrounding our well known friends like Ian
Murphy or John Maxfield, some so-called hackers have decided to cash in on news
coverage themselves.
Perhaps the most well known personality that "sold out" is Bill Landreth aka
The Cracker, who is the author of "Out Of The Inner Circle," published by
Microsoft Press. The book was definitely more fiction than fact as it tried to
make everyone believe that not only did The Cracker form the Inner Circle, but
that it was the first group ever created. However, for starters, The Cracker
was a second-rate member of Inner Circle II. The publicity from the book may
have served to bring him some dollars, but it ultimately focused more negative
attention on the community adding to an already intense situation. The
Cracker's final story had a little sadder ending...
Taken from Phrack World News Issue X;
[This article has been edited for this presentation. -KL]
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The Cracker Cracks Up? December 21, 1986
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Computer 'Cracker' Is Missing -- Is He Dead Or Is He Alive"
ESCONDIDO, Calif. -- Early one morning in late September, computer hacker Bill
Landreth pushed himself away from his IBM-PC computer -- its screen glowing
with an uncompleted sentence -- and walked out the front door of a friend's
home here.
He has not been seen or heard from since.
The authorities want him because he is the "Cracker", convicted in 1984 of
breaking into some of the most secure computer systems in the United States,
including GTE Telemail's electronic mail network, where he peeped at NASA
Department of Defense computer correspondence.
His literary agent wants him because he is Bill Landreth the author, who
already has cashed in on the successful publication of one book on computer
hacking and who is overdue with the manuscript of a second computer book.
The Institute of Internal Auditors wants him because he is Bill Landreth the
public speaker who was going to tell the group in a few months how to make
their computer systems safer from people like him.
The letter, typed into his computer, then printed out and left in his room for
someone to discover, touched on the evolution of mankind, prospects for man's
immortality and the defeat of the aging process, nuclear war, communism versus
capitalism, society's greed, the purpose of life, computers becoming more
creative than man and finally -- suicide.
The last page reads:
"As I am writing this as of the moment, I am obviously not dead. I do,
however, plan on being dead before any other humans read this. The idea is
that I will commit suicide sometime around my 22nd birthday..."
The note explained:
"I was bored in school, bored traveling around the country, bored getting
raided by the FBI, bored in prison, bored writing books, bored being bored. I
will probably be bored dead, but this is my risk to take."
But then the note said:
"Since writing the above, my plans have changed slightly.... But the point is,
that I am going to take the money I have left in the bank (my liquid assets)
and make a final attempt at making life worthy. It will be a short attempt,
and I do suspect that if it works out that none of my current friends will know
me then. If it doesn't work out, the news of my death will probably get
around. (I won't try to hide it.)"
Landreth's birthday is December 26 and his best friend is not counting on
seeing him again.
"We used to joke about what you could learn about life, especially since if you
don't believe in a God, then there's not much point to life," said Tom
Anderson, 16, a senior at San Pasqual High School in Escondido, about 30 miles
north of San Diego. Anderson also has been convicted of computer hacking and
placed on probation.
Anderson was the last person to see Landreth. It was around September 25 -- he
does not remember exactly. Landreth had spent a week living in Anderson's home
so the two could share Landreth's computer. Anderson's IBM-PC had been
confiscated by authorities, and he wanted to complete his own book.
Anderson said he and Landreth were also working on a proposal for a movie about
their exploits.
Apparently Landreth took only his house key, a passport, and the clothes on his
back.
But concern grew by October 1, when Landreth failed to keep a speaking
engagement with a group of auditors in Ohio, for which he would have received
$1,000 plus expenses. Landreth may have kept a messy room and poor financial
records, but he was reliable enough to keep a speaking engagement, said his
friends and literary agent, Bill Gladstone, noting that Landreth's second
manuscript was due in August and had not yet been delivered.
But, the manuscript never came and Landreth has not reappeared.
Steve Burnap, another close friend, said that during the summer Landreth had
grown lackadaisical toward life. "He just didn't seem to care much about
anything anymore."
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Landreth eventually turned up in Seattle, Washington around the third week of
July 1987. Because of his breaking probation, he is back in jail finishing his
sentence.
Another individual who wanted to publicize himself is Oryan QUEST. Ever since
the "Crisis On Infinite Hackers" that occurred on July 21, 1987, QUEST has been
"pumping" information to John Markoff -- a reporter for the San Francisco
Examiner who now has moved up to the New York Times. Almost t everything Oryan
QUEST has told John Markoff are utter and complete lies and false boasts about
the powerful things OQ liked to think he could do with a computer. This in
itself is harmless, but when it gets printed in newspapers like the New York
Times, the general public get a misleading look at the hacker community which
can only do us harm. John Markoff has gone on to receive great fame as a news
reporter and is now considered a hacker expert -- utterly ridiculous.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Infiltration
~~~~~~~~~~~~
One way in which the hacking community is constantly being infiltrated happens
on some of today's best known bulletin boards. Boards like Pirate-80 sysoped
by Scan Man (who was also working for Telemarketing Company; a
telecommunications reseller in Charleston, West Virginia) can be a major
problem. On P-80 anyone can get an account if you pay a nominal fee and from
there a security consultant just has to start posted supplied information to
begin to draw attention and fame as being a super hacker. Eventually he will
be asked to join ill-formed groups and start to appear on boards with higher
levels of information and blend into the community. After a while he will be
beyond suspicion and as such he has successfully entered the phreak/hack world.
Dan The Operator was one such agent who acted in this way and would have gone
on being undiscovered if not for the events of SummerCon '87 whereafter he was
exposed by Knight Lightning and Phrack Inc.
:Knight Lightning
"The Future Is Forever"
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