####################################### # # # # # ======== =\ = ====== # # == = \ = = # # == = \ = ====== # # == = \ = = # # == = \= ====== # # # # # # # # ''''''''''''''''''''' # # # # # # > Written by Dr. Hugo P. Tolmes < # # # # # ####################################### Issue Number: 47 Release Date: May 21, 1988 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Recent news: ------------ Employees at the First National Bank of Chicago were caught in an attempt to steal $70 million through computers and wire transfers. There have been many articles on this and I could take up about three issues by typing up the six articles on it that I have found but I would much rather just print a single article that covers everything and is very short. This article is very short but explains what happened. It comes from USA TODAY. The date of the article is May 20, 1988. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ TITLE: $70M Bank Scam is Foiled; 7 Charged FROM: USA TODAY DATE: May 20, 1988 Seven men were charged Wednesday in a sophisticated scheme to steal $70 million from First National Bank of Chicao through wire transfers to Vienna, Austria. Four men were in custody. Two bank employees- Otis Wilson and Gabriel Taylor- are accused of providing confidential code words needed for money transfers by computer. The money- from corporate accounts of Merrill Lynch, United Air Lines and a liquor company -was recovered from the new accounts. Bank spokesman Tony Zehnder called it one of the biggest-ever "almost-crimes." $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ NOTA: There you have it! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ TITLE: Long-distance Bill is a Monkey on his Back FROM: The Chicago Sun-Times DATE: MAY 20, 1988 Dear Action Time: Take a gander at my phone bill. It's a nightmare. This all began in Febrary, when my long-distance company, MidAmerica in Omaha, Neb., sent a $540 bill. I tried calling but the firm wouldn't accept my call. I tried writing but never got an answer. But I did get a March bill for a whopping $507.50. Illinois Bell provided me with a special toll-free number for Mid America. A clerk took my call, assured me it was a computer error and promised everything would be OK. Whew! Thank Goodness. Unfortunately, my relief was short-lived, because my next bill was for $2,045.04. Look at all those calls, 33 pages of them. It looks like a chimpanzee compiled it. The calls cover practically the entire country. I'm 74 years old and on a fixed income. I've got enough sense to realize I couln't never make that many calls and pay for them. I tried to contact that same clerk, but she was out to lunch and never returned my call. Am I up a tree? elrose Park Dear Mute: With the chimp? All kidding aside, Janet Moss told us she had processed two credits to cover the total bill. But for some reason, the credits were still mirred down in the office machinery. Moss, customer services manager, assured us they will get through. In the meantime, you may still get hit with a few bogus calls on your next bill. Ignore them, said Moss, who also clarified the error: long-distance fraud. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ NOTA: And some people still wonder how a code can last for months without someone noticing. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ TITLE: Attack of the Computer Crackers FROM: Image: The Magazine of Northern California DATE: A T T A C K O F T H E C O M P U T E R C R A C K E R S The New Wave of Juvenile Techno-Delinquents ___________________________________________________________________________ And now that high-tech mischeif has moved from the realm of alienated whiz kids to mainstream teens, a new wave of so-called computer "Crackers" is taking form--one wider, deeper, and better organized than ever before. The Nation had better hang on tight to its data bases. An electronic mail system furthers the culture, as members message each other's computers via the phone lines. Computer files where any member is free to deposit a message are called electronic bulletin boards. There is really no way to count the number of crackers exchanging tips and techniques this way--certainly they number in the thousands. Here is one of the many Manifesto's: "This is our world now ... The world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service that already exists without paying for what could be dirt cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons, and you call us criminals. We explore, and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge, and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias, and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, wage wars, you murder, you cheat and lie to us and try to make us believe it is for our own good, yet we're the criminals." "Yes! I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they think and say, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something you will never forgive me for. I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual, but you can't stop us all. After all, we're all alike." To make an impact in the phreak/hack world, you have to be busted or do something major. This is the code of Cyberpunk, a real-life version of the high-tech, low-life vision of science-fiction writer William Gibson. One underground publication, 'Phrack World News', even prints electronic profiles of well-known crackers such as Lord Digital. Copies of 'Phrack' are electronically passed between underground BBS systems, where they cana user with the special "security clearance." Many crackers go by this version of Cyberpunk, "I'm smart but I party. I'm reckless, but I'm reponsible. I'm very childlike at times, and at other times I can be very serious. I'm different than everyone else in my high school." ___________________________________________________________________________ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ NOTA: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "a new wave of so-called computer 'Crackers'" Actually hackers would be a better name since crackers is a word that describes people who remove the copy-protection from software. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Here is one of the many Manifesto's:" What was printed is part of a file on hackers and what they stand for. It was an anonymous file written a few years ago and I have seen it around on several bulletin boards. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "To make an impact in the phreak/hack world, you have to be busted or do something major." I have heard stories of people who TRY to get busted so that they can get their name in the paper and be famous. As for doing something "major" there are many tall tales in the phreak/hack world by pseudo-hackers and some pseudo-phreaks who are trying to get a name for themselves. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "One underground publication, 'Phrack World News', even prints electronic profiles of well-known crackers such as Lord Digital." Phrack World News (PWN) is a regular feature of Phrack Magazine. It gives details on the latest happenings and is very similar to TNS. Unfortunately, Phrack World News has practically died since Knight Lightning has quit writing it. The profile on Lord Digital is unknown to me, but the profile wouldn't be a part of PWN. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Copies of 'Phrack' are electronically passed between underground BBS systems, where they can be read by a user with the special 'security clearance.'" Phrack is availiable to all people and is spread without discrimination. It is freely distributed and no one needs any security clearance to read it. I swear to god... this sounds like something that Oryan QUEST wrote. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION COMES FROM BITNET.... 227 Date: Fri, 25 Mar 1988 10:07 From: Wash Subject: Hacker hits VMS Date: Thu, 17 Mar 88 22:26:43 GMT From: "XMRP20000[khw]-g.c.mccoury" Subject: Hacker hits VMS From The Star-Ledger(Newark NJ) 3/17/88 TEEN HACKER 'INVADES' NEW SECURE COMPUTER PARIS(Reuters)- A 19-year-old West German hacker has succeeded in breaking the world's top-selling computers, Digital Equipment Corp.'s VAX system, in what experts say is a new blow to confidence in computer security. Computer specialists broke the news yesterday at a computer conference already shocked by the arrest on Sunday of West German hacker Steffen Wernery, 26, as he arrived to take part in a panel debate on system security. Wernery is a member of the Hamburg-based Chaos Computer Club which caused a storm last year when it revealed it had penetrated more than 100 computers around the world, including Enter a carriage return to see the next page or S to stop... y NASA. French police announced later that Wernery had been charged with "theft, destruction and damaging computer goods" and had been jailed pending trial. West German journalist and computer expert Hans Gliss, who was also held briefly by French police when he arrived in Paris on Sunday, said the unidentified 19-year-old from Munich had worked out how to enter VAX computers made by Digital. Gliss said the Munich hacker had breached the VAX system by using material openly available from Digital, which is based in Maynard, Mass. Digital executives were in a meeting and not available for comment, a spokeswoman said. Rudiger Dierstein, of West Germany's national space foundation DFVLR, said the consequences of the Munich hacker's achievement were "terrifying." "This person has given a full description of how to gain access to the system and gain full control. Imagine combining the intelligence of this hacker with a definite criminal intention," he said. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ TOLMES NEWS SERVICE INDEX: -------------------------- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #1 ---------------------------- Introduction to TNS Magazine - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #2 ---------------------------- Introduction to Issue #2 They Sure Can Talk in Raleigh Teaching Computer Ethics in the Schools Cash-Machine Magician Cheaper Electronics Makes It a Snap to Snoop Los Alamos Nuclear Facility Security Boost - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #3 ---------------------------- Making Computers Snoop-Proof War Against Phone Hacking Heats Up Toll Fraud Trial Sets New Tone - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #4 ---------------------------- Cellular Technology Pirate BBS Scanning Bust Rip Offs How the Soviets Are Bugging America Deadly Bugs The Newest Dating Game - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #5 ---------------------------- Electronic Cryptot - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #6 ---------------------------- HD Sentry: Hard Disk Protection from Trojan Horse Programs Check This: Ma Bell is a Generous Soul Sign In and then Sign On How To Beat Phone Assault Prisoner Phone Phreaks Suburban Kids Are Too Dumb to Steal - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #7 ---------------------------- Federal Sting Nets 25 for Cellular Phone Fraud in NYC 18 Are Seized in Illegal Use of Mobile Telephones Hello Anywhere - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #8 ---------------------------- Keeping the Secrets Inside the Computer Bugging Urine Hot-Line Innovation? Just Hold the Phone - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #9 ---------------------------- The National Guards The Caller That Isn't Long-Winded A Call to Stop Long-Distance Scam Online Junkies- Artificial Intelligence Hacking Through NASA: A Threat- Or Only an Embarassment - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #10 ----------------------------- The Bust of Shadow Hawk - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #11 ----------------------------- Shadow Hawk's Bust: Continued from TNS Issue #10 US Sprint Sues "Ring" of Hackers for $20 Million - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #12 ----------------------------- The Blue Box and Ma Bell - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #13 ----------------------------- Capt. Zap: Informant? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #14 ----------------------------- 411: Life at Directory Assistance - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #15 ----------------------------- The Max Headroom TV Pirate - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #16 ----------------------------- The Celling of America Tales That Do Not Compute Responses to Issue #12's Article Introduction: TNS QuickNotes - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #17 ----------------------------- New Security Measures at ITT Capt. Zap's Defense - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #18 ----------------------------- 2600 Magazine's Official Bulletin Boards Some Things about Phrack Inc. Syndicate Report: Will It Return? TNS QuickNotes - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #19 ----------------------------- 'If You Need Help, Press 3' Satellite Paging - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #20 ----------------------------- AT&T's Attempt at a Comeback The 1-900 Report - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #21 ----------------------------- AT&T and Sun Microsystems 1-900's AT&T Credit Card Fraud Causes a $5,430 Bill - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #22 ----------------------------- TNS Issue Directory FON Card Review Credit Card Fraud Arrests Radio ANI - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #23 ----------------------------- Dial-a-Porn Restrictions Changes at 2600 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #24 ----------------------------- 1-900 Abuses Gab Lines Phone Aid - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #25 ----------------------------- Return of The Rebel Problems for Mafia Dude The Foreign Legion Return of the Private Connection - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #26 ----------------------------- Computer Terrorism! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #27 ----------------------------- Changes at 2600 Magazine Virus Report - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #28 ----------------------------- Viruses Threatening an Era of Computer Freedom The Tulsa Busts - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #29 ----------------------------- Telecom Update - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #30 ----------------------------- Federal Phone Snafu The Trojan Wars - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #31 ----------------------------- Computer Systems Under Seige - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #32 ----------------------------- Computer Terror Youths Suspected in Phone Fraud - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #33 ----------------------------- Breaking and Entering: High Tech Style - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #34 ----------------------------- Multi-State Computer Theft Ring - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes Newsue #35 ----------------------------- Virus Wars - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #36 ----------------------------- Is Your Computer Infected? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #37 ----------------------------- Capt. Zap - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #38 ----------------------------- Names in the News Mafia Dude Interview - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #39 ----------------------------- Changes at US Sprint Chaos Computer Club Member Questioned by Authorities - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #40 ----------------------------- Pirated Software Seized Florida Pirates Busted - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #41 ----------------------------- Viruses Operators - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #42 ----------------------------- Federal Phone Privacy Suit Anti-Piracy Fund Established Another PC Virus - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #43 ----------------------------- Computing a Bit of Security Computer Secrets - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #44 ----------------------------- FBI Computer Plans Berkley Whiz Tracks German Hacker - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #45 ----------------------------- Telecom Update - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tolmes News Service Issue #46 ----------------------------- Crime in the Computer Age $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$