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Old MFers Union of X-Bar Switchmen 01
[E2S / 0MFuXS] [Old MF'ers Union of X-Bar Switchmen] - February '95
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01.00
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Sai enh zhi ma, an jhi fei fu.
(Just because the old man lost his horse, it does not mean it is a bad thing.)
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NOTE: A good percentage of this E2S/0MFuXS issue is -SERIOUS-. Please,
don't be fooled.
The Tao of Phreak - [1995 TcP/E2S]
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I. Field Phreaking
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When most people think of phreaking, they think of 950s, codes,
ANIs, extenders.. whatever. However, the real thrill comes with going
out and actually -getting into- the equipment that makes good ol' ma bell
tick. Sound interesting? Read on... Sound boring? Try pinball.
First things first..
Going out and actually getting into the telco hardware is not for
the paranoid or light at heart. It takes some know-how, patience, and
most of all, silence! The last thing you want to do is get caught, of
course. (Hard phreaking isn't like say, red boxing.. There's no real
excuse for standing behind an open, humming, blinking midswitch when mr
policeman rolls by!) Here are a few tips that I found help immensely:
1. IF YOU DO IT BY YOURSELF, DON'T DO IT ALONE!
"Huh?" you might be saying. Well, this is what I mean by the above
statement. If you think you're smooth enough to pull off a midswitch raid
alone, you go with your bad self. I wouldn't do it. It's obvious, you
have no protection or lookouts, and, well, if you get in shit, its up to
you, and only you, to get you out. And, since the truly skilled hard phreak
does his thing as far away from the scrutiny of civilization as possible,
you may find yourself in the middle of nowhere. Not a good thing.
So, one person, in my opinion is not enough. Neither are two. Three is good,
four is optimum. Five is too many. Here is my reasoning:
With only two people, you can have one driver, one phreaker. No
lookouts, no help in any situation. Both people are stuck to their posts -
one will sit in the car whilst (V0CAB!) the other does his thing. The
phreaker has no cover, and the driver won't have any warning to any
situation. In essence,both are "sitting ducks."
With three people, you can have a phreaker, driver, and lookout/
intermediary. This is a good setup. Person 1 stays in the car, ready to
take off at a moment's notice. Person 2 phreaks. Person 3 can lookout, and
run and notify the phreaker of a problem or advise the driver on situations,
such as approaching cars or other weird things. (Trust me, weird shit
happens if you're stopped on a mountain road at 3am..) A good thing for
this person to do is take the "taking a piss" position, or "changing a tire"
position. This person can be the cover or the distraction to allow things
to come through cleanly. Three people can also get along well without
much confusion.
With four people, you can have the above setup, plus an extra person
ready to use for anything else--a standby. This person can act as a second
lookout, help carry the l00t, or as a relay in long-distance situations. I
remember one phreak when the box was across a field, and I was parked by the
side of the road. A car was approaching, suspicious looking (driving slow),
and we sure as hell didn't want to yell to the phreaker or shine lights to
get his attention. Our distraction/lookout guy was busy "looking through the
trunk for a map" :) after he tapped thrice on the rear window to advise of
a situation. So, our fourth person came in handy - "taking a piss" in the
field. I stopped the engine, signaling something was wrong (the phreaker
was too far away to hear that..) and he, being closer to the phreaker,
signaled to him, and then began walking back to the car. The phreaker
closed the box, and lied down in the field. Needless to say, he wasn't
noticed by the cop that passed by, and he passed on after asking us if
"everything was OK.."
And, finally, five or more people is just too many. This leaves
an inevitable extra person, who can get restless or cause a disruption, and
things can get just plain confusing. Also, it's a good idea not to take
more people than you have doors on your car.. Five people can also be
quite noisy.
2. DO IT WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT.
The simple concept is to do this in the middle of the night, when
everyone is fast asleep. I have a few guidelines that seem to work for us.
-PHREAK between 1:00am and 3:00am. Before 1:00, people may still
be awake, and things haven't totally settled down yet. You'll get people
coming home from parties, etc, and people -just- going to bed. 3:00 isn't
too late, however I'd limit myself to this for several reasons. 1) phreaking
when you're tired doesn't work, and it isn't fun. 2) Most assaults, murders,
and drunk-driving accidents occur between 3:00 and 4:00 am. 3) In the
summer, this gives you a one-hour buffer before daylight begins to break.
4) In the winter, 3:00-4:00 is the coldest time of the night. 5) And
finally, you need to leave room for error/problems (I.E. a flat tire.)
Now, I know the cops are on the prowl in general at these times, but if
you're smart, you'll go to a place where they won't look. Cops are more
concerned with the city at this time.. They really don't pay much attention
to the backroads. They've got bigger and better things to do. This is NOT
saying that they won't be out there, though!
-NEVER phreak -at all- past 3:45 AM. Some people start getting up
at 4:00, the sky is lighter at 4:00, and traffic starts increasing on the
roads again at this time.
-SUNDAY and Monday mornings are the best time to phreak. If you're
available, Wednesday morning is good too. This is due to several reasons.
1) On Saturday night, most people are in the mood to rest and relax. The
majority is at home, asleep, on Sunday morning. 2) Most people don't stay
out on Sunday nights, because they have to work the next day. This leaves
Monday mornings clear. 3) The middle of the week (Wednesday) is good,
because people have been working, aren't exactly getting in the weekend mood
yet, and aren't at the best morale. (They've been working for a few days,
and still have to work for a few till the weekend.) As you can see,
psychology actually plays a big part in safe phreaking! So does your
knowledge of Art Garfunkel solo-album lyrics.
3. AND LAST of all, here are some final safety tips:
1) SPEND AS LITTLE TIME AS POSSIBLE at each site. I suggest under three
minutes - that may even be a little long. (Count out three minutes.. its
quite a long time, actually..) A good phreaker can get out, open the box,
do what he wants, and get back in under two minutes.
2) ONCE YOU'VE USED A SITE, treat it as a disease! DON'T COME BACK FOR A LONG
TIME! The reasons for this are obvious. Also, the telco usually locks
a midswitch with a padlock after it's been phreaked, and you won't be able
to get back into it anyways. If you wait a while, sometimes a lineman who
services the box won't even put the lock back on when he's done.
3) DONT PHREAK SITES CLOSE TOGETHER! Phreak a site, drive 20 miles, then
phreak another. Ma bell might catch on to you if every other weekend
phones start going out in Anytown, USA.. Also, if you do things far
apart, separate COs will come out to do the repair, and they're more than
likely going to treat the phreaks as isolated incidents, versus an obvious
phreak-attack.
4) DON'T PHREAK MORE THAN THREE SITES IN A NIGHT! Trust me on this one.
5) DON'T PHREAK WITH A D0NK3Y.
4. THE GRIT!
Now that you're untouchable, let's get down to business! There are
several things I suggest bringing on a phreaktrip.
-A flashlight (d0h)
-A crowbar
(If you don't have a "tool")
-Bolt cutters
(If you feel the urge to open a padlocked switch)
-Needle-nosed pliers
(Again, if you have no tool)
-An adjustable wrench
-A "tool"
This is basically a 7/16" allen wrench with a hole
in the middle. Called "tamper proof" screws. Available
at electronics stores. Note: It's VERY hard to find the
larger sizes. My set only goes to 1/4" :(
-Gloves
(no phingerprints!)
-Wire-cutters
(some boxes have fence/barbed wire around them)
-A map
(to fake out - as a diversion)
The uses for these will become obvious as I explain what ya gotta do.
I. Finding the Wonderbox.
Not all boxes may be boxes. There are two classes of common
midswitches.
1) Boxen:
Boxes are usually ESS-type switch remotes. These will control
several hundred numbers in a prefix. There are two types of common
remotes to look for. One kind, the newest, is about five feet tall,
eight feet wide, and three feet deep. They are two-tone brown and
beige, and have "ribbed" doors on front and back. They are the
easiest to get into. They look something like this:
__________________________________
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |o| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|___|_|_|_|_|_|_|j|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|__|
|__________________________________|
Usually, the door facing the road covers the boring power supply
crap, whereas the door not facing the road has the card array, the
stuff you're looking for :)
To open one, you'll need a "tool" and a socket/adjusteable wrench,
or a crowbar :) (the dumb way to do it.) The fasteners look like
this: (Only some types have both.. Most do, but some only have the
tamper-proof)
____
/ \
regular hex | |
bolt \____/
____
tamper-proof // \\
allen screw || () ||
(use a tool) \\____//
There are two, (on some) and you'll need to loosen both to access.
Once you open it, you'll see white plastic bezels with lights and
connectors on them. You'll also find a lever-latch release on
each card, this is what you use to remove them. The cards towards
the top are usually switch (line) cards, and the ones to the bottom
(larger ones) are amplifiers, power, logic, etc..
The type of box you might run into is light green, about 4-5 feet
tall, three feet wide, and 1-2 feet deep. These can't be pried
open, thanks to a metal lip on the edge of the door. They look like
this:
________________ ______
| | | |
| | |* *|
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | |* *|
|________________| |______|
|____________| |____|
FRONT SIDE
These (USUALLY!) have the "tool" type fasteners on the side,
have two doors, and are found in groups of several (not usually
alone..) BUT THIS CAN VARY!
Other than the casing, the layout is pretty much the same..
Two doors, one holds the guts, smaller cards to the top, bigger,
power/amplifier cards to the bottom.
OLDER WES BOXES: Another type of box I recently stumbled onto is
the Western Electric midswitch.. These are older, and usually
the one's youll find are out of service. These are MUCH different
from the other boxes. The casing is similar, but usually white
and rounded. Inside, however, you'll find a series of aluminum
boxes with connectors on the front. These modules also have lever
releases, and can be pulled out.
FOUND IN DA HUT: In some older places, you'll find switching
systems in little shacks, or "huts". Inside these huts, you'll
find green fiberglass modules on shelves. These modules are
approximately 6" wide x 1.5FT long x 10" deep, and have a top
that unscrews with four screws. Under this, you'll find the cards.
The cards are similar to other cards, but have no front plastic
bezel.
Remember! MA BELL LOVES YOU!
P.S. The sound made when opening a midswitch box has been
officially classified as "B'TANG."
Good places to Beige Box in Colorado:
-Douglas County Rt. 40, near Sedalia
-Phillipsburg, CO. Between rt 285 in Conifer, and Turkey Creek in
Ken-Caryl
-Evergreen, CO
-Colorado Hwy 73
-Deer Creek Canyon Rd (Ken Caryl)
-Conifer, CO
-Larkspur, CO
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E2S/0MFuXS: Ten Men Named Ken.
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