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Vaginal and Anal Secretions Newsletter 062
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º ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ßÜ Û Û Û ÛÜÜÜÜ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ º
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º ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ßÛ Û Û ÜÜÜÜÛ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ º
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º Vaginal and Anal Secretions Newsletter #0062 º
ÇÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĶ
º Date Released : [07/15/92] Author: iNFoWoRLd RePRiNT. º
ÇÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĶ
º More MoD Bust News - From Infoworld Magazine. º
ÓÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĽ
This is a reprint of an article first appearing in COMPUTERWORLD
magazine. I found this to be of interest to you guys and this way it gets
around to more people.
WIRETAP SNARES ALLEGED HACKERS
New York - Last week's indictment of some of the most notorius and
self-promoting names in the computer hacker community signals a newfound
aggressiveness on the part of frustrated federal law enforcement agents.
A two-year investigation snared five defendants, ranging in age from
18 to 22, in the governments first use of court-authorized wiretaps to monitor
voice conversations and data transmissions of computer hackers.
The defendants are charged with breaking into computer systems at
several regional telephone companies, Fortune 500 firms such as Martin
Marietta Corp., universities and credit-reporting agencies such as TRW, Inc.,
which reportedly had 176 consumer credit reports stolen and sold to private
investigators.
Hardest hit was St. Louis-based Southwestern Bell, which had to spend
$370,000 to locate corrupted programs and install new securty devies,
according to the indictment.
SERIOUS REPERCUSSIONS
The charges were the result of a joint investigation by the U.S.
Attorney's Office, the Secret Service, and the FBI. The 11-count indictment
accuses the five defendants of computer fraud, computer tampering, wire fraud,
illegal wiretapping and conspiracy.
If convicted, they face up to five years in prison for each count, for
a total of 55 years, plus a maximum fine of $250,000 for each count.
Agents expressed concern that the penetration of some of the country's
most secure data networks by young men barely out of high school may have
started out as a round of one-up-manship to see who could get into the most
sophisticated system as well as harass others.
"This is no game, and we want them to know that," FBI special agent
Richard DeFilippo said. "We're not going to sit by and watch these guys play
an electronic version of 'Can you top this?' "
According to the indictment, the men allegedly carried on a
conversation in early november 1991 in which they sought instructions on how
to add and remove delinquency reports "to destroy people's lives ... or make
them look like a saint."
Several days later, members allegedly discussed a lenghy list of
institutions that operated computers, with one member noting, "We've just got
to start hitting these sites left and right." Law enforcement officials
interpreted that to mean government offices, private companies and a U.S. Air
Force base.
The high profile raid, however, may have little real effect on
hacking in the long term. "Ultimately, the only purpose this will probably
serve is that hackers will go deeper underground, which is a heck of a lot
more frightening," said Ian Murphy, president of IAM/Secure Data Systems,
Inc., a security consultancy in Gladwyne, Pa.
The arrests, however, may serve to wake some firms up to their
security vulnerabilities. At many companies, the only securt system is a
poster above the copy machine that shows a dog with a moustache and a Sherlock
Holmes hat, said David Stang, chairman of the International Computer Securtiy
Association in Washington, D.C.
NAME GAME
Indicted last week were Mark Abene, known as Phiber Optik; Elias
Ladopoulous, known as Acid Phreak; Julio Fernandez, known as Outlaw; John Lee,
known as Corrupt; and Paul Stira, known as Scorpion.
The indictment charges that they were part of a close-knit group of
hackers called MOD, an acronym used variously to mean Masters of Disaster and
Masters of Deception.
The group's earliest known act dates back to Nov. 28, 1989, when
authorities said the group wiped out nearly al the information contained in
the Learning Link computer operated by the Educational Broadcast Corp., WNET
Channel 13 in New York. A message was allegedly left that said: "Happy
Thanksgiving you turkeys, from all of us at MOD," signed by Acid Phreak,
Phiber Optik and Scorpion.
That does not wash with some observers. "Several times, Phiber Optik
has spoken publicly and very genuinely about his aversion to corrupting data,
so it seems unusual that he would destroy data and then identify himself,"
said Mike Goodwin, general counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a
civil liverties lobbying group based in Washington, D.C. "This whole
indictment could very well be an attempt to frame some people who the
authorities believe glorify hacking."
The hoped-for chilling effects of the indictments could thus be
reversed into outrage if the investigation turns out to be bungled. The
federal government, after all, has a checked history of computer raids,
obsevers pointed out.
In early 1989, for example, Secret Service Agents arrested Craig
Neidorf for allegedly dialing into the computers at Atlanta-based Bellsouth
Corp. and copying doccuments on the firm's 911 system. The agency charged
Neidorf with illegaly publishing a doccument that Bellsouth claimed was worth
$79,000. The goverment's case later collapsed when it was discovered that the
information can be ordered from Bellsouth for $13. The price of victory for
Neidorf: more than $100,000 in legal fees.
Moreover, in March 1990, the Secret Service raided the home of Steve
Jackson, who published role-playing computer games in Austing, Texas. The
agents seized computeres they said contained a "handbook of computer crime."
The handbook was, in fact, an electronic game under development.
Jackson was not charged with any crime, but he said the prolonged
disruption and seizing of equipment pushed his business close to bankruptcy.
A 'GOOD' CASE
Government officials seem anxious to sponge away those memories. The
FBI has long expressed the desire to prosecute a "good" computer crime case,
and perhaps this is it, said Buck Bloombecker, director of the National Center
for Computer Crime Data in Santa Cruz, California.
Officials think this could be that case. Assistant U.S. Attorney
Stephen Fishbein said members of MOD were able to obtain unauthorized
passwords and billing codes from switchign systems at telcom companies such as
Southwestern Bell to make free long-distance telephone calls.
At the FBI, DiFilippo said he expects other indictments could result
and other victims could be found in the course of the ongoing investigation.
That appears to have begun already. In a related action last month, Morton
Rosenfeld and Alfredo de la Fe each pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in
New York to conspiracy to use passwords and other access devices purchased
from MOD.
During the past few years, TRW and other credit-reporting agencies
have become such frequent hacker victims that "it's no longer considered
impressive to be able to get someone's TRW report," Murphy said. "It's too
easy."
NEW PROBE UNDER WAY
Law enforcement officials in San Diego are currently investigation
computer system breaches into the credit-reporting network of Equifax, Inc. in
Atlanta.
Last week's indictments could also possibly signal greater use of
wiretaps in federal computer crime investigations. Already, there is
legislation in congress that, if passed, would allow federal investigators to
intercept digital transmissions, said Otto G. Obermaier, U.S. Attorney for the
Southern District of New York.
Under current statues, federal investigators can now intercept only
analog transmissions, as they did in this case.
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