Ocean County Phone Punx Presents OCPP09 "Carjackers of the Information Super Highway" July 26, 1998 Last Updated June 31, 1998 Contents Intro - Mohawk Phreak World News - Mohawk The Soda Can Box-Cyber Cow NYC Survival Guide - Admiral Reverse Phreaking- Mohawk Tutorial on Blackmail - Jambi Warning - MF 2 Death BellSouth RightTouch Service - Admiral Microsoft Dupe A Human - Czechmate Fighting Back - Mohawk Busted - Mohawk Letters News - X Logik Intro-Mohawk Better late then never I guess. This is the first time that we have been late with an issue. The issue could have been released on June 26th but I didn't want to release half an issue. The staff of the OCPP has been caught up in various personal issues and we didn't have a lot of free time. Just incase this type of thing happens again we have a new release time for our issues. New issues will now come out two to three months after the previous issue. We will try to keep in two months as much as possible but just in case we can't, we have another month to work on it. The more writers we have, the faster the issues will come out. I would like to thank all of the supporting writers that helped with this issue. Please excuse the lack of articles from me and Seuss as we have been so busy with the FAQs, the site, and life itself that we didn't have that much time to work on articles. We will make it up to you though. Most of the site has been totally redone and we will continue to improve it. The beginner alt.phreaking FAQ has been released and it will soon be in HTML format as well as text format. We also have several projects that we are working on that will turn into some very interesting articles in the neat future. We also have two name changes in out staff: Checkmate is now Czechmate and the American Anarchist is now the Admiral. We would also like to thank all of our readers for your understanding and concern. To make it up to you, we will try to make the next issue the best we can. .....The Staff of the OCPP..... Mohawk.................Editor in chief Mr. Seuss .............Tech. editor/Head tech. writer Czechmate..............Staff writer Phear..................Staff writer/Graphics Admiral................Staff writer Lineside...............Staff writer Punkroq................Editor X-Logik................News editor The Assassin...........The official hitman of the OCPP V-Rok..................He just looks slick all day Distro Sites JadeDragon's Phreaking Page http://free.prohosting.com/~jadedrgn We are still looking for more writers. For information about positions, mail: ocpp@hotmail.com If you would like to become a distro site, mail: ocpp@hotmail.com To be notified of any URL changes and issue releases, get on the mailing list: ocpp@hotmail.com Disclaimer and Copyright info is located at the end of the issue. Phreak World News-Mohawk If you have something that you would like to appear in PWN mail it to ocpp@hotmail.com Headlines Security Breach Issue 3 released Alt.Phreaking FAQ re-released Phreak Show Mailing List Takedown movie news Phreak Show Mailing list Security Breach Issue 3 Released Security Breach Issue 3 has been released. Security Breach does not have a website but you can get all of the issues at the ocpp's website. Alt.phreaking FAQ re-released The alt.phreaking FAQ has been re-released. The new version has been split into two different files: the beginner version and the advanced version. You can get the beginner version now at the ocpp's website. The advanced FAQ is still being worked on. As always, the quality of the FAQ depends on your input. Email us at ocpp@hotmail.com Takedown movie news There is a new movie in the works called Takedown which is based on the whole Kevin Mitnick Sage. The movie is in preproduction and there is currently no release date. In future issues we will cover this movie in more detail as news becomes available. -Ulrich logs on to 'Takedown' Skeet Ulrich, who was last on the big screen in ``The Newton Boys,'' has agreed to star in ``Takedown,'' the story of real-life computer hacker Kevin Mitnick. Based on New York Times reporter John Markoff's best-selling book of the same name, ``Takedown'' recounts how Mitnick was tracked down by high-tech genius Tsutomu Shimomura, who will be played by Russell Wong (``The Joy Luck Club''). Markoff teamed with Shimomura to tell the story, which was acquired by Miramax's Dimension label. Joe Chappelle (``Phantoms'') will direct the project. Ulrich will return to his home state of North Carolina for ``Takedown,'' which begins shooting at the end of July. His other credits include ``As Good as It Gets'' and ``Scream.'' -Whitaker goes to the mat for `Takedown' pic Forest Whitaker is in final negotiations to join the cast of ``Takedown.'' Skeet Ulrich, Russell Wong and Scott Cooper are also attached to the film being directed by Joe Chappelle. The film is about real-life computer hacker Kevin Mitnick (Ulrich), who is tracked down by high-tech master Tsutomu Shimomura (Wong). The project is based on New York Times writer John Markoff's book on Mitnick. Phreak Show Mailing List If you would like to join the Phreak Show Mailing list email SinQ@juno.com. This list is not run by the OCPP. This is a discussion CC list where your email address is kept private. The Soda Can Box-Cyber Cow One of the biggest problems faced to the modern phreak is that when you beige box of a house or a can people know. When someone else is on the line the voltage changes and the connection is not as good. Also there is the breathing thing. So in an attempt to thwart the public's efforts to stop us I have gone deep into my Cow lab and have come out with the SODA CAN BOX. What you need to make this is simple: 1 beige box 1 regular phone you can rip apart 1 roll of tape 1 soda can Here is what you need to do. First you must drink a soda then wash it out. Now cut the top off and put tape around the sharp edge and out side of the can. Note: do not cover the bottom of can yet. Now take you phone and open it up. Inside there should be a speaker or ear piece cut the wires so you still have some room to work with. Now place the speaker on the bottom of the can so it fits snugly. Now tape it on and wrap tape all around the can for better sound . Cut the end of your beige box off so you can soder the ring and tip to the two wires. Now soder the wires, it does not matter what one goes where. That's it. Now you have a box without circuitry so that the voltage won't change, and no mouth piece so your breathing and other outside noise can't be heard. NYC Survival Guide - Admiral This is a guide for surviving in NYC, because a lot of con artists and scammers inhabit NYC. This is purely a guide for avoiding any of these scams and crimes that could happen to you. Street Smarts Here are some tips on how to be aware of some of the scams and other crimes that are sometimes committed on unwary tourists and New Yorkers. General Tips - Avoid empty subway cars -- ride with many people or in the conductor's car (usually the middle car of the train). - Never display large amounts of cash out in the open. - Don't keep your wallet in the back pocket of your pants. Moving the wallet to the front pocket will reduce your chance of being pick-pocketed. - Telephone information from a payphone is free. Simply dial 555-1212 on any pay phone and ask for the number you are interested in. You don't need to put in any change. - Be aware of your wallet or purse in commotions. Pick pockets often use helpers who create a disturbance nearby. In less than safe areas... If you feel even the least bit unsafe, then it is time to take some precautionary measures. - Be aware of who is around you. - Stay in populated areas. - How you carry yourself is crucial. Look confident in where you are going, how you walk and what you are doing. - Try to walk in the middle of the sidewalk and not next to the buildings or the street. - Clutch your purse/bag securely under your arm. - If there are two of you, place handbags between you instead of on the outside. - Turn rings around, so the gems face your palm. - Keep necklaces tucked under your clothing. In a less than safe situation... - If someone is harassing you on the street, then go into a populated store or shop or find a police officer. - Yell "Fire" not "Help". People will come look if they think there's a fire, but "Help" is like crying wolf. - If you do find yourself being mugged then it's better to give the mugger what he/she wants. Your life isn't worth any material possession! Scams Avoid these at all costs! - Avoid "three card Monty" and the shell game - YOU CANNOT WIN! - Beware of the "Bag-of-Money Scam" - Be aware of the old "public telephone coin scam" - Don't fall prey to people who ask to check if your money is counterfeit or stolen, the hoodlum could say this while playing a scam like the "fake drivers license sale scam". - Be aware that when a homeless person asks you to exchange 4 quarters for a dollar, they are typically doing this to buy drugs (drug dealers don't take loose change). - Watch out for people offering you taxi rides at any transportation center such as the Port Authority, Grand Central, or Airports. Though many are honest, some are just trying to lure you to a more secluded spot for mugging, or illegally evading a taxi dispatcher. Read this story about one traveler's experience bad experience at JFK. Scam Descriptions - Three card Monty: Typically, Three card Monty scams consist of two or more people trying to find the designated card out of three shuffled cards. The shuffler is the most obvious member of this swindling bunch. Then there is a planted player who plays and constantly wins money, HOWEVER, please note that they know each other and are simply showing how easy it is to win, so they can bring other people into the game. Supposedly, to win the game, one simply has to choose the correct card out of the three cards that one of the swindlers shuffles. The shuffler will lose the first few rounds to you to get you to bring out more money. At this point, if they see you take your wallet out, they will grab it and run. Three card monty games are usually played on a card board box on the busy sidewalks of New York City. Whenever a police car passes by, you can observe how quickly these hoodlums disperse. Sidewalk card games are both illegal and fraudulent for some very good reasons: - The players know one another and have divided Times Square into areas. The players work together. The games are not spontaneous. - The dealers are not alone... They work in racially integrated teams, men and women, people in business suits, and informal dress. - A person in the crowd, often nicely dressed, will "play" and win, convincing the public that they too, can win. They can't. - The dealer will sometimes let a player win a little amount in order to rope him/her into betting higher amounts. Sometimes, when they see the wallet or purse come into the open, they will grab it and everyone will run. - Pick Pockets work the crowd around these cardboard box 3 card monty games. - And if by some fluke someone wins, the "lucky" winner is often followed and mugged. - The hand is quicker than the eye... these are pros - Bag-of-Money Scam: These are a couple of the typical scenarios for the bag-of-money scam. Scenario 1 - Person approaches you and claims that they found a bag of money and shows you the inside (there might be a twenty dollar bill on top bundled with a bunch of newspaper) - They say they will split it with you, but they need trust money (they will ask for as much money as you say you have) - They dash off with the money. Scenario 2 - Person approaches you and claims that they found a bag of money and shows you the inside (there might be a twenty dollar bill on top bundled with a bunch of newspaper) - They say they are going to get the police and they need you to hold onto the bag. - They ask for trust money from you, so you won't "cheat" them. - They dash off with the money. - Public telephone coin scam: Often times, dishonest people will gather change by finding old public telephones that do not have the little guard in the coin return slot. After finding one of these telephones, they stuff the coin return slot with paper to stop the coin from falling out when someone tries to get their coin back. (You can reach in the coin return slot and pull the paper out to get your coin back and who knows?.. you may hit the jackpot :) - Fake Drivers License Sale Scam: Many people know that Manhattan is a hotbed for obtaining fake ids. However, beware of who you are dealing with because you may get more than you bargained for... you may get mugged or robbed. In this scenario, the hoodlum approaches the victim and asks if they want to purchase a fake drivers license. They will usually claim that it can be done quickly in 15 minutes, or so. If the victim does give the money to the hoodlum, then he claims that he is going into a shop to check if the money is real. He goes into a shop, gives the money (or pretends to do so) to the shop keeper, and goes away, telling you to wait outside the shop. He will be back in a few minutes. Of course, he does not return. Do not deal with people who approach you on the street, they are the ones who are most likely to try to grab your money and run. Reverse Phreaking-Mohawk Reverse phreaking is a method that you use to rip off the telephone company by combining phreaking, social engineering, and scamming. When you get down to it, it's basically fraud. I have never seen this method mentioned before but I wouldn't be surprised if this had another name and was discussed somewhere else. The basic idea of reverse phreaking is easy. Instead of risking getting in trouble by the law and wasting time looking for a place or person to phreak, you phreak yourself. This way you cut out the middle man, that being the person you are phreaking. And the best part is, it will always work, in theory anyway. What the hell am I getting at? Let me start off with an example. Most of us know that if you can hack into a VMB and change the greeting to make it sound like you are accepting a 3rd party call, you can call all over the world. However, you have to find a VMB, then find the code, and then worry about the person finding out about it. If you use reverse phreaking, you will be able to get all the free long distance you want for however long you want. To do this, you first need a VMB. Now go to a payphone and change your greeting to make it sound like your accepting a 3rd party call. It helps a lot if it isn't your voice. Now you just make as many 3rd party bill calls to your house as you want. After 2 or 3 weeks out of abusing the hell out of this, call up the telco and act really surprised. Make sure you keep your greeting on there incase they want to listen to it. Make sure you get them to tell you that someone hacked your VMB. Play really dumb by saying stuff like I never knew that there we're people out there that did these sort of things. Make sure you write down the persons name and the time you called for future reference. At the end of your month when your billion dollar phone bill comes, call up and bitch at them. Blame it all on your VMB provider, which helps if it's your long distance company. Don't stop bitching until you get the charges removed. Tell them that you don't know anyone in that place you called and that you don't even know what a 3rd party call is. AT&T almost always removes 3rd party calls that you didn't make. That was just an example of reverse phreaking. There are tons of situations that you can apply this to. We will be working on other examples of reverse phreaking for future issues. If you come up with any, be sure to send them in. This is fraud, so if you do this, you could be looking at jail time. Tutorial on Blackmail-Jambi Scamming, the all around useful skill has been around forever. Satan scammed Eve into eating' an apple. So how'd he do it? Well, like the modern day scammer did some research, polished up his social engineering skills, and just basically had the motivation to get the task done. Research- Remember knowledge is power. This is a key element in most scams, if you don't know anything how are you going to convince others that you do? Like in any other subject you need different kinds of information for different kinds of scams. For instance you know something is up with the guy down the street from you messing around with someone other than his wife and he's rich, feel like a little black mail? Me to, what you need to find out is what ways you could prove he is cheating, put yourself in his wife's shoes. Find out if she suspects him, if she does it will be tons easier. Well right now your probably asking yourself how do I find this out? Well, if you are a phreaker, hacker, or an experienced scammer you should already know, but if not here it goes. Phone conversations- One of the easiest ways to prove things to people 99.8% of the time is to let them hear it in the offending persons voice, the target knows this also, which dramatizes it upon their first time of hearing the information. Think about it next time your having a conversation that you wouldn't want a certain person to hear. Think about someone calling you up at 1:00 and playing that to you over the phone. Think about someone calling up that certain person at 1:00 in the morning and playing it to them over the phone. Get my drift of how effectively phone conversations can be used? Well here are some of the more popular methods of getting this info recorded. Now for this one you might need a little cash ($40 bucks or so) unless you want to sit in front of the phone all day with a tape recorder. #1 Portable Phones First of all find out if your target has a portable phone if so then get to scanning. If not skip to the next section unless you want to read this just for the info. Ask anyone with a scanner they know its extremely easy to listen in on portable phone conversations, all you need is a radio scanner . If your target does have a portable phone the first thing you need to do is find out their frequency. What you need to do is call up your target (from an untraceable source I hope) and listen for a ring on the scanner when it is set to each of these frequencies, if you hear it ring try it once more just to make sure and if you hear the rings again you got it. Here are the frequencies to try: Channel Base =========================== 1 43.720 2 43.740 3 43.820 4 43.840 5 43.920 6 43.960 7 44.120 8 44.160 9 44.180 10 44.200 11 44.320 12 44.360 13 44.400 14 44.460 15 44.480 16 46.610 17 46.630 18 46.670 19 46.710 20 46.730 21 46.770 22 46.830 23 46.870 24 46.930 25 46.970 If you don't have a scanner yourself (which you should have) borrow one or just go to radio shack and get are really good one (this will require a returnable deposit of the cost of the scanner) and just return it trying not to damage it. If you do just say you got it that way, trust me, you'd be amazed at what some people believe. Just remember your deposit is at stake. Ok now you got the scanner. So what next? Well next you need to use that $40 I told you about to get a voice activated recorder, it can be returnable using the same method as a scanner but I suggest you make the investment and keep it, it has many uses. If possible try to get one that has a plug in mike input to plug the output from the scanner into. If your really rich and want to gather lots of information you might want to get a DTMF decoder to decode the target's mistress's number. You might even want to try reverse black mail and tell the woman what's happening and make her pay for the # and info on the girl, but I suggest you try the other way first. One other way you can find out the number is once you have the tones recorded on the phone just hold the speaker up to the phone and it will call that number because the phone "hears" the tones. Just ask what # that you have called when someone answers. Ok, now you have a scanner and a voice activated recorder Now if you got one with a plug in mike input and a scanner with a plug in audio output just go to radio shack and get a wire with those plugs on both ends of the wire to connect the output of the scanner to the mic input of the tape recorder. Then program in the targets portable phone frequency, set the voice activated recording push down the record button and wait till the tapes full. If for some reason you couldn't get those plugs on the scanner or tape recorder just put the tape recorder next to the scanner in a VERY quiet room next to the scanner with the voice activated recording set. If its not quiet you'll get hours of background noise on your tape which is very unpleasant. If at first you don't succeeded in getting any info, try, try again. Don't give up he's bound to talk to her over the phone some time. Video\Pictures This is one of the more advanced ways to gather information, a picture says a thousand words. All i can say is see if you can get close enough to take video or pictures and make sure to date them all so the wife of the target knows that she was away when it happened. Try to do it in daylight unless you found a way to film them in action from a large picture window or something at night when the lights are on. If you can afford it get a telephoto lens. Otherwise you are confined to daylight. Make sure to wear things that camouflage you with your surroundings and keep yourself well hid. Don't be siting on his porch wearing a bright orange hunting suit with your walkman blasting loud enough for the neighbors to hear it, I suggest only earth toned clothes unless the background you'll be in is something else. Audio\Bugs If you have access to the target's house this is the perfect and easiest way to get the evidence you need. There are a few ways you can do this, the easiest way to do this if you have access to the house multiple times. All you have to do is take the voice activated recorder like I told you about earlier and place it in an obscure spot but make sure you will still be able to hear the... uh, action. The second way is to make a radio bug, if you can't find plans or don't want to deal with all of that shit you can buy a kit at Radio Shack but it is very weak and only goes a few hundred feet, so you'll have to connect a small FM radio to your handy dandy voice activated recorder like I told you before, running the output from the FM radio to the input of the tape recorder with the voice activated recording set. Once you got that all set you need to put it all in a big Ziplock bag (incase it rains) and find a tidy little spot outside the house that is within 200 feet of the bug that you placed inside earlier. The point of doing it this way is that you only have to go into the house once and you can leave the $9.99 worth of electronics inside. If you don't want to loose that money just charge the guy extra for it when you get your cash. If you are good with electronics and can find plans for a strong enough one just build the damn thing and rig up a voice activated recorder and FM radio in your house. Lying If all else fails lie. If you know something is going on or you've even seen it but you can't get proof just call up saying you got pictures. Why would he argue with you? Would you argue with you? For this one you need to make sure you don't get greedy or else he might just call your bluff or in any of these methods just rather that you told his wife than pay the outrageous amount of money you ask. Other Types Of Blackmail Blackmail is definitely not confined to cheating husbands, it can be used for: drug use, theft, or other illegal or embarrassing activities including um... hidden sexual orientation, sickening bondage sessions, cross dressing, not rewinding video tapes before they are returned, Etc. May I Take Your Order Here is the fun part. Now you need to determine what you want in exchange for not releasing your target's delicate information. That's right blackmail isn't confined to cash either, you can have them give you their credit card numbers and confirm all sales and then later say that they didn't buy that item. For you hackers you can get passwords to computer systems if the info you got is real delicate. If your underage you can even have em buy some top notch liquor for you, on them. you can get anything your mind can conceive. Also remember when your thinking about what you want make sure it would be worth it to your target to pay you in some way not to reveal the info on him. If all you got on him is smacking his wife, as an isolated incident he's not going to pay $4000 for a top notch computer system for your room. One other thing is if you absolutely have to get something that has a serial # or that can be traced back to you in some way, get cash and buy it yourself. Drop Spot This here is the more dangerous part of your mission, getting the loot. You can have him mail things to an abandon house, a P.O. BOX you got with a fake id, or just have him drop it off on a corner at night time and pick it up a few minutes later. I don't know why but when people think of drop spots they think of houses for sale. That is a NO NO. Most houses for sale that don't have people living in have their mail forwarded to another address! I learned this the hard way, I also feel sorry for the guy I let loose that info on, he paid for my stupidity, twice. I thought he never sent the money but it turned up that some lucky family in Georgia got $700 richer. Of course you can have it sent to a house for sale with no one living in it with UPS or FedEx. If what the guy is sending is worth allot tell him to put it in a bag or small box or envelope or something and make sure he tells the shipping company that the recipient will not be home and it will not be necessary for him to sign for it. Also make sure he tells the shipping company it is business papers if they ask. Going Through With It Well here we go folks the final segment of my blackmail tutorial. How to scare the living shit out of your target. Here is what you need to do, if you have a deep voice your set, but if not you need to find someone pronto that you can trust that has a deep voice, also make sure to give him some of the money because that way he can't rat on you or hell be implemented. I strongly recommend you have a friend that doesn't know the person do it that way incase you ever have to meet your neighbor he won't recognize your voice and kick the crap out of you. If you have no friends or if you are not a particularly intimidating person get a voice changer for $30.00 from The Edge company at 1 -800-732-9976, the Cat# is VC-168. Through this thing you have to adjust the volume and tone until it is just scary enough and just understandable enough, so call up a friend and have him tell you which is the scariest and which is the most understandable. Ok, now you got the deep voice, now what you need to do is set up your script, yes that's right your script. You don't want to be in the middle of a call trying to intimidate your target saying "um.. Uh... oh yeah...I' almost forgot!" That doesn't work. Also practice the script or have your friend practice the script several times until it is fluent. Don't forget to include, what information you have, what you'll do with it, what you want, were you want it sent, how you want it sent and what you want him to do. Remember to try to think of your target as a scumbag not worthy to ask to many questions. If you have this attitude you will fell power over him there fore he will fell powerless. I suggest this, first tell him to listen carefully and tell him not to say a single fucking word until you tell him to, then give a chance to ask one question with a limit of a few seconds (tell him 5 seconds just to set limits) after you've said all of your instructions. Remember to be firm, you want to be totally intimidating and you want the target to feel like you have all the power and he can't do a single thing about it. This is good because he is more likely to submit to your demands and he is more likely to keep the incident to himself. This is also a key strategy used by expert blackmailers. Also don't forget to tell him that you are watching and listening to him and if you see anything you don't like tell him that everyone will know everything about him. Last of all make sure to call him early in the morning like at 4:00 but make sure he is fully conscious! I did this one time and the guy just went "uh, ok, I'll talk to you later then honey, bye" in a groggy half asleep voice. Well that's about it, I hope you had fun leaning how to fraudulently take money from other people. And don't forget to tell em Jambi told you! Warning-MF 2 Death NEW: Microsoft Dupe-A-Human Available in both Windows and Mac formats, Dupe-A-Human is a revolutionary cloning application for computer users today. Using state-of-the-art design algorithms, DAH is the newest addition to a proud line of Microsoft products and services. FREE SHAREWARE AVAILABLE AT: www.Microsoft.com The shareware demo contains some of our proprietary software features, and the output is a simulated human, genetically-engineered to your specifications. Built-In Features ~ Docile ~ Highly impressionable ~ Drools well in large crowds ~ Comes standard with Microsoft Human 2.3 and Brain 1.0 ~ Additional software(DAH-Personality, DAH-Kinematics, DAH VirusScan) ~ 1-Year Conditional Warranty* ~ Refurbished models available ~ Great to use as a companion while driving in the HOV lane *Warranty applies only to DAH software and not DAH human. One DAH human per software package maximum. Extras must be licensed for use by Microsoft. Manufacturer is not responsible for loss, damage, unruly behavior or illogical brain function of the DAH human, nor flaws in the DAH software. Loss due to failure to immunize DAH human with MS-Dah VirusScan, or failure thereof, is not the responsibility of the manufacturer. Otherwise how would we make our money without billions of patches! MS-DAH, Personality, Kinematics, VirusScan, Brain 1.0 and Microsoft are Copyrights ©1998 Microsoft Fighting Back-Mohawk The FBI has announced that they would like to start using cell phones to catch crooks. They want to track wanted felons through their cell phones. The FBI will have to get a court order to do this but in an emergency, they will be able to get around a court order. Critics say it violates Amendment 4: illegal search and seizure and that the power will be abused. This is still in the planning stages and no final details have been released. EU says has no plans for ``cyberpolice'' force The European Union has no plans to set up a ``cyberpolice'' force to counter any threat hackers may pose to the bloc's computer networks, according to a statement published on Friday. ``The Commission is not considering the creation of a 'cyberpolice' or any other kind of Europe-wide police force,'' Anita Gradin, EU commissioner in charge of justice and home affairs matters, said. But Gradin said the EU was looking at ways to ensure efficient public protection, in particular against the use of telecommunications for the benefit of criminal organisations.'' The Commission has already carried out a study into criminality linked to high-technology. ``The findings and eventual follow-up of this study are currently under discussion in the Commission,'' Gradin said. Gradin's remarks were contained in a written answer, dated July 16, to a question from Gerhard Hager, a member of the European Parliament. Hager had asked the EU to comment on reports the U.S. was considering setting up a force to counter hackers. Busted-Mohawk Argentine Computer Hacker Agrees to Waive Extradition and Returns to Plead Guilty to Felony Charges in Boston The Argentine computer hacker who was tracked down with the aid of the first court-ordered wiretap of a computer network has returned voluntarily to the United States and is expected to plead guilty to illegal wiretapping and computer crime felonies today at one o'clock. United States Attorney Donald K. Stern announced that JULIO CESAR ARDITA of Buenos Aries, Argentina has returned voluntarily to the United States as part of a plea agreement to plead guilty to charges contained in an Information filed in the United States District Court. Under the present extradition treaty with Argentina, Ardita could not be extradited. "If we aren't vigilant, cyber crime will turn the Internet into the Wild West of the 21st century," said Attorney General Janet Reno. "The Justice Department is determined to pursue cyber-criminals at home and abroad," U.S. Attorney Stern stated: "This case demonstrates that we will unwaveringly seek to bring international computer criminals to justice. However, the international tools available to computer crime investigators and prosecutors are perilously slow and inadequate. If law enforcement is to be put on even terms with criminals who cross between countries at the speed of light, multilateral treaties embodying the ever increasing cooperation between countries fighting computer crimes must be put in place." Stern added, "We must make sure that we have a world wide web of criminal justice to catch cyber-criminals." During the summer of 1995, the Department of Defense detected intrusions into a number of military and university computer systems containing important and sensitive information about government research on satellites, radiation and energy. The activity was traced to a changing set of misappropriated accounts on an Internet host computer at Harvard University. Stern's investigative team put together an electronic profile of the intruder, using key words such as unique names the intruder gave to files and Internet protocol addresses of systems being targeted by him. This profile was used to apply for the wiretap order, the first ever obtained to search communications over a computer network, and to configure a monitoring computer which had been adapted to conduct the complex, high speed searches needed to isolate his activities. Barry W. Mawn, Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, stated, "Computer intrusions represent a significant crime problem. As this case demonstrates, cyber-criminals know no state or international borders. It was excellent joint and international cooperative law enforcement efforts, in the U.S. and with Argentine authorities, that brought about the successful conclusion to this case." Pursuant to a plea agreement, Ardita agreed to waive extradition and plead guilty to charges that he unlawfully intercepted electronic communications over a military computer and that he damaged files on a second military computer. The agreement contains a joint sentence recommendation of three years' probation and a $5,000 fine. If adopted by the District Court, the agreement calls for the sentence to be imposed immediately following Ardita's plea. The agreement also acknowledges that Ardita had cooperated completely and truthfully to date and had been debriefed over a two week period in Buenos Aires. This case was investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephen P. Heymann, Deputy Chief of Stern's Criminal Division, and Jacqueline Ross. Ethics and The Young Minds of Today By-Jambi (age15) NOTE: Please read this whole thing through before you judge it. Today, tomorrow, and the next day, our children and our grandchildren are forced to higher standards. A few years ago you could get a decent job with just a high school education; today you can get by with community college; tomorrow you will be required to have a top education to be a burger flipper. Large multimillion dollar companies tired of screwing around with mom and pop operations, the personal side of business is lost. No one cares that you couldn't afford to go to college, they just want results as fast and as cheap as possible. Hundreds of college educated minds in their little cubicles happily pounding out results quickly and cheaply. We work all our life starting in grade school to get good grades to be placed in good high school classes, working in high school to get good grades to go to a good college, go to a good college to get a good job, do good at your job to get what? More money? More possessions? What the hell ever happened to simplicity? It went to those big companies, sitting and watching us work, to make their companies larger, unstoppable. For what? More money, more possessions. What about living life? Most of our life will be spent working to be able to work more. Then when we are old and decreped we can sit in our sun chairs wondering what the fuck have I done? What happened? Then we realize the chance we had at a real life is past so we just sit in our sun chairs too old and helpless to do anything about it because we are already dead. Those multimillion dollar corporations wither us away day by day. Some have realized what is happening and tried to change it. Everyone is brainwashed into believing whatever is fed to you. You no longer think for yourselves and you think what you are told to think even at a subconscious level. Everyone is brainwashed to reject any forward going ideas that might harm these large money making machines. I'm sure many people think the Unibomber is nuts, but we are the ones who are nuts like some weird episode of the twilight zone. In fact he's the one that’s got it right. I do not believe that people needed to die but I am also not sure how else he could have gotten the point across. People are caught in the flow of the flash flood of fortune 500 organizations, and we, the workers that are the base of these organizations are starting to drown. People today are wondering what is wrong with these kids today that live in nice communities and have nice lives that just spontaneously kill people, seemingly with no cause. Its now happening all the time, what’s wrong with those kids? They must be nuts. What’s wrong with you?!? You sit and watch the youth of today decay before your eyes and you blame it on drugs and rock music. You blame it on us. ON US! How dare you! Who the hell came up with drugs and rock music? We sure as hell didn't invent it. Who gave birth to us and taught us our ways? YOU DID. Hypocritical America ignoring the youth, THE FOUNDATION of tomorrow. See if we give a fuck about you when you're in a nursing home not even able to control your bladder functions, let alone any giant organizations. Who will control them then? We will. We will control them because that is what was shoved down our throat and that is what we will shove down our children’s thoughts. These huge organizations use us. They use us almost as a fuel to make their companies grow. They just throw some of us on the fire. Now ask yourself this considering all of what I have just told you. Who here has the lack of ethics. Us? The ones that refuse to pay for a long distance phone call, or use someone’s credit card to buy something that the card company will have to pay for? Or the tyrannical organizations that use. That use to fuel their needless and meaningless growth. So, what’s your answer ETHICAL PHREAK? --------- From: Bissia Is there a phreaking mailing list I could subscribe to ? I have no www nor ftp access. Thank you for your understanding. From: Jim Hey man, I am sort of starting in the world of hacking and phreaking. I have so far hacked a few servers and some other smaller things. I have also made a red box(hard to get to work), a blue box(never got it to work though), and a beige box. do you think that if i came to a 2600 meeting would i be underclassed or not accepted for my lack of knowledge? From: dmw I've never been to NJ, but will probably be moving up in July, to Rutgers in Piscataway/ New Brunswick. Can you tell me which 2600 meeting(s) would be closest to those locations? From: The Integer Well I really need some help? The question is what is the fastest computer on the market. And could you give some specs. If there isn't a fastest computer what would be the specs for a super fast computer. Me and some of my comrads made a little wager on this topic and I thought that you PP's would have the answer! P.S. Thanks !! From: Natalia Hi! Please pay little attention to me! I read all articles in this group and it seems to me, that you are some kind of "good old guy" who is taking care of everybody and everything, so I decided to write you personally. Also it was very (I mean VERY) interesting to me to read your FAQ update. After all I reached out the conclusion that you must be someone very educated in this specific area of knowledge. Before to ask you whatever, here is some very brief info about me, so to make sure that you will understand me perfectly: I am a foreigner (I guess you already noticed that), I come from small European country _ Bulgaria and I study psychology in my country. I came here five months ago to study english and to see my cousin (I use his computer). If you are still with me (I mean you are not very bored), here is the question: After I came here my cousin insisted so I open my personnel phone line, because he needs his own. I really do not know how, but my bill raised up with the time goes by, and last month it reached $430. It was terrible, because first they disconnected my long distance provider (ATT) because I do not have right to overload $200. Then they told me, that they will reconnect me only after the total amount is received. I did not have this money and they put me in some payment plan for three months. My cousin (he has some kind of moving and storage company "P&L the Picha Moving and Storage Co.) completely refused to give me a hand or to share his phone with me, so when I want to call in Bulgaria, I have to buy calling card and go outside to pay phone. For town calls I am all set. I have been advised about your group and here I am (if my cousin find out that I connected his e-mail to all these news groups, he will kill me). But unfortunately I don't understand anything of all these black, blue or red boxes (the only one I explore is this one with my maquiage). So please, do not send me to read out whatever, just give me please an advise (could be at my personal e-mail) is there any way to call in Bulgaria for free from here (I hope I am not too obnoxious) and is there any way a stupid (or at least full technical profane) girl as me about phones, programs and so on, to learn to do stuff like that (calling for free). If it is so, please help me! If you read this, so thanks for the passion to read my letter and if you decide, that you may help me, please do it. Thanks in advance, Nataly P.S. Sorry for any misspellings, I still learn, you know? Also my area cod is 617 (Boston). From: Natalia "Thank" you for your help! I can see, that you are realy willing to help me. I appreciate it! I also want to thank you for your fast promt (more then three days - no even sign of answer). You do not have to! But is the phreaking only an occupation to show everyone, that you know something more then everybody else? I mean if you don't want to help me, please just waste a little time and send me just these simple words "I won't help you!" and don't let me waiting so long, checking 7 times per day my mail box in hot mail. Thanx any way and sorry botering you. Nataly From: Agent Orange First off, kudos to you and your fine 'zine! I haven't enjoyed any this much since TFP, which I acctually wrote in for four issues (I'll take up my pen again for you once my summer job ends), but yours is definately much better! When in the past few issues you talked about easy ways for confrencing all your ooBeR 31337 friends from IRC and abroad, I came accross something I had seen a while ago, but had changed. If you goto the following address http://www.sprintconf.com/sprintfamily/four11/demo/ you will find you get a free 10 min confrence of 7 people! It isn't much, but hey, take what you can get. Now the system does have a memory however. It remembers what numbers have already tried it out, so you'll have to switch the main numbers everytime you wanna use it. Now also kiddies, keep this address bookmarked, because it changes free offers every couple of months, the last time it was like 30 min of free long distance, or something like that. Whatever you are doing now, keep doing it, because it is good as shit! News-X Logik SBC agrees to acquire Ameritech Baby Bell building network equal to Old Ma Bell’s ex-franchise SBC Communications Inc., the Baby Bell that has gobbled up two large phone monopolies in the past year, announced the biggest deal ever in the takeover-crazed telecommunications industry. THE BELL COMPANY, aiming to nail down a giant swath of the Midwest, agreed to acquire sibling Ameritech Corp. in a stock swap valued at $61.8 billion. That marks a premium of 27% to Ameritech’s close Friday of $43.875 a share, a price already up 37% in just the past eight months. The boards of the two companies met separately over the weekend and announced the deal early Monday. If consummated, the deal would leave just four remaining Bells out of the original seven born in 1984 from the breakup on antitrust grounds of the old American Telephone & Telegraph Co. And the number could fall further. Just a year ago, SBC, based in San Antonio, added Pacific Telesis Group, the California-Nevada Bell, to its corporate corral in a $16.5 billion deal. And even now, it is working to complete its $5 billion acquisition of the Connecticut phone company, Southern New England Telecommunications Corp. But it is an Ameritech accord that will reconfigure the game, overshadowing even the pending $37 billion takeover of MCI Communications Corp. by WorldCom Inc. and increasing the pressure on big rivals such as AT&T Corp. and GTE Corp. to get even bigger fast. Those that don’t risk being outgunned in the race to package local, long-distance and other services for customers as the regulatory barriers to competition fall. Known as the most combative local phone company, SBC would emerge from the expected deal as by far the biggest local phone monopoly in America. It would encompass three of the original seven Baby Bells, post annual revenue of more than $40 billion and have a hold over 57 million local lines reaching homes and businesses in 13 states, from California and across Texas all the way up into Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, plus all of Connecticut. SBC management, led by Chairman Edward E. Whitacre Jr., would lead the combined company, which would be called SBC and majority owned by SBC’s shareholders. Antitrust approval aside, one thing stands out: It appears as though the Bells are trying to put back together the old AT&T monopoly they once constituted. The difference now, though, is that their local lines are handling a lot more than just basic telephone service. After Ameritech, SBC would need only one more deal the purchase of neighbor U S West Inc. to sew up a contiguous region encompassing roughly three-fourths of the continental U.S. Rivals and consumer watchdogs could complain that the behemoth SBC-Ameritech will simply be too big for anyone else’s good. The SBC-PacTel union and the $22.7 billion merger of Bell Atlantic Corp. with Nynex Corp. have enriched shareholders as the Bells’ stock prices have soared. But neither combination has yielded much in terms of reduced prices, better service, new features or new competition. Indeed, Ameritech itself had been planning to challenge SBC’s local service in St. Louis, where the Chicago-based Bell has been setting up a carrier to compete with SBC. That plan looks likely to be put on hold. If regulators don’t initially object to the union, it could be difficult for them to do so later, should AT&T, which held takeover talks with SBC a year ago, push to link up with, say, GTE or BellSouth Corp. Or if Bell Atlantic itself were to move to merge with BellSouth as a means of locking up the eastern U.S. In going after Ameritech, SBC could be building the heft it will need to make a run at AT&T again and add the No. 1 long-distance provider to its spread. The emphasis on mergers is as much a reflection of the stock market these days as it is of the telecom industry: What junk bonds were to the takeover-crazed 1980s, muscle-bound stock deals are to the merger mania of the late 1990s. Roaring stock prices have made possible the $83 billion merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group Inc.; the $41 billion acquisition of Chrysler Corp. by Daimler-Benz AG; the pending WorldCom-MCI marriage and a passel of other multibillion-dollar deals. SBC also faces a tough fight ahead on the regulatory front. The more SBC succeeds at expanding its business, the less it will be able to project the image of an injured upstart especially when it is AT&T whose market share and stock price keeps slipping. SBC’s resistance to competition could affect Ameritech, which has taken pains to open its phone network in return for long-distance relief from the FCC and state regulators. A federal judge in SBC’s home state of Texas recently supported SBC’s contention that the Telecom Act barring it from competing with AT&T is unconstitutional. That decision is under appeal, and Mr. Whitacre’s lawyers must defend it successfully to gain instant entry into the coveted long-distance business. Most experts predict the Bells will enter into long-distance service sometime next year. When that happens, SBC plans a full-scale attack on AT&T and its other long-distance rivals, using its local lines as a direct marketing link with consumers and businesses. SBC officials are betting they will win far more of the old Ma Bell’s long-distance business than they will have to give up as AT&T tries to offer local service. In the end, anything [AT&T] gets isn’t going to replace the profits and revenue they will lose in long-distance, Stephen Carter, president of special markets for SBC Telecommunications, said in a recent interview. AT&T’s loss in long-distance will be larger than anything it can hope to gain in local. AT&T and its rivals, in arguing that the Bell networks should be opened first to competition, couldn’t have said it better. Sprint Unveils Revolutionary Network Breakthroughs Give Customers High-Speed, High-Bandwidth, Multi-Function Capabilities Over Single Phone Line NEW YORK, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Sprint (NYSE: FON) announced today a revolutionary new telecommunications capability that can provide homes and businesses with virtually unlimited bandwidth over a single existing telephone line for simultaneous voice, video calls and data services. "This truly is the Big Bang that expands the universe of what telecommunications can do in our homes and businesses," said William T. Esrey, Sprint's chairman and chief executive officer. The new capability, developed under the code name Project FastBreak, is not a single technology but a combination of numerous technological advances. "As a result, we are introducing tomorrow's network today -- the Integrated On-Demand Network (ION)," said Esrey. A household or business will be able to conduct multiple phone calls, receive faxes, run new advanced applications and use the Internet at speeds up to 100 times faster than today's conventional modems -- all simultaneously through a single connection. The need for multiple phone lines will be eliminated, and applications such as high-speed online interactive services, video calls and telecommuting will be readily accessible and less costly. Use of the Internet will be so fast that typical pages on the World Wide Web will pop up almost instantaneously. At home, consumers no longer will be required to buy additional telephone lines to make multiple voice calls and be online at the same time. Businesses will no longer be required to manage numerous complex networks but can rely on a truly integrated network that consolidates voice, video and data traffic while reducing costs. Sprint's ION allows businesses to expand dramatically their local and wide area networks and dynamically allocate bandwidth, thus paying only for what they use rather than having to purchase a set high- bandwidth capacity that often sits idle. ION will also set a new industry benchmark for service reliability, utilizing Sprint's pervasive deployment of SONET rings across the United States. Today's announcement is the result of five years of confidential work. "We saw where the trends were pointing and quietly began designing the network of the future. We've invested more than $2 billion in building the network that will handle the advances we're announcing today, and numerous worldwide Sprint patents have either been granted or are pending," Esrey said. Sprint has been privately testing the revolutionary Integrated On-Demand Network capability with both businesses and consumers for the past year. An initial roll out to large businesses will begin later this year. The service will be generally available to businesses in mid-1999, with consumer availability late in 1999. Sprint's Integrated On-Demand Network also creates a new cost standard for the telecommunications industry. By utilizing cell-based network technology, the network cost to deliver a typical voice call will drop by more than 70 percent. For example, Sprint's costs to provide a full-motion video call or conference between family, friends or business associates will be less than to provide a typical domestic long distance phone call today. "We have moved beyond the outdated cost structure of the last 100 years," Esrey said. "We will be offering every Sprint customer their own multi-billion dollar, unlimited bandwidth network in the same monthly price range that many customers spend today for communications services." "We're past thinking about 'nailed-up' links that are permanent costs to customers. Sprint's network is ready all the time to provide capability and capacity whenever and however the customer wants it," said Esrey. Sprint's investment in ION provides the fabric for truly redefining local phone services. "Not only have we created the network of the future, but this same network will serve as the basis for our competitive local phone strategy," said Esrey. Sprint's long distance network is already built and covers the entire United States. Its reach will be extended through metropolitan broadband networks (BMAN) available in 36 major markets nationwide in 1998 and in a total of 60 major markets in 1999. These BMAN networks will allow Sprint ION to pass within proximity of 70 percent of large businesses without having to utilize Digital Subscriber Line (DSL). For smaller business locations, telecommuters, small/home office users and consumers who may not have access to BMANs, ION supports a myriad of the emerging broadband access services, such as DSL. "We are opening new vistas for the ways in which people communicate. If you are a Sprint customer, you will be online, all the time. You will not have to access this network of breathtaking power and speed; you will be part of it," said Esrey. Unmatched capabilities Sprint is able to deliver this revolutionary new capability because its network supports a seamless, integrated service to the desktop over an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) backbone network. This network fabric provides the speed, flexible bandwidth, scalability, service consistency, security and telephone voice quality that neither the Internet nor non-ATM-based networks can deliver. "Sprint's Integrated On-Demand Network gives us capabilities our competitors don't possess," said Ronald T. LeMay, Sprint's president and chief operating officer. "Because of the limitations of their network architectures, the traditional telecommunications providers are mostly consolidating and bundling different services, not integrating them. They are building separate data networks that are not integrated with their legacy voice networks. As a result, many competitors will be forced to rationalize disparate networks or risk being disadvantaged in cost and capability." In addition, Sprint's ION leap-frogs the bandwidth-only capabilities of DSL and cable modems. ION provides customers with robust voice, video and data services, along with the capability to customize multiple services, all combined with access to unlimited bandwidth, available on demand, all the time, whether they are across town or across the country. The new entrants have other problems, according to LeMay. "They are spending billions of dollars to create fiber routes and to build IP (internet protocol) networks that only offer best-effort voice transmission, but they cannot match the service quality that Sprint provides. Sprint's ION will integrate existing customers' networks and greatly simplify network management for Sprint's customers, which the emerging carriers' IP networks will not be able to accomplish." Unlike Sprint's ION, the emerging carriers networks cannot allow customers to "grab" bandwidth as needed. While the emerging carriers claim to be deploying networks to selected U.S. cities, Sprint's high-speed integrated network is deployed across the country and within most major cities through metropolitan broadband network rings. "We have also established distribution channels such as RadioShack and established customer relationships and the power of the Sprint brand, one of the most widely recognized in the United States. Sprint's total, integrated set of services -- which includes long distance, local and the only nationwide digital PCS offering -- provides Sprint with a better capacity/cost position, challenging the claims of the emerging and legacy carriers," said LeMay. Cisco, Bellcore and RadioShack Central to the deployment of Sprint's Integrated On-Demand Network (ION) will be three partners -- Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO), Bellcore and RadioShack. Cisco will provide technology at the heart and edge of ION, including customer premise equipment. Through the exchange of intellectual property, Cisco will provide the capability of voice over ATM for ION and the ability to connect to other carriers' legacy circuit-switched networks. In addition, Sprint will be an early implementer of the Directory Enabled Networks (DEN) standard. Networks with DEN capability place information about users and their services on ION to deliver better performance, reliability, security and quality for a variety of networked applications. "Cisco is proud to be working with Sprint to deliver the benefits of data, voice and video integration to customers," said John Chambers, president and CEO of Cisco Systems. "By collaborating with Sprint and Bellcore, we will develop and bring to market the first ION applications and services and lead the way in making multimedia communication an everyday part of doing business." Bellcore is providing the central software framework that is the core intelligence of ION, in addition to the telephone features commonly in use today. Through its proven expertise, Bellcore will also develop software and provide consulting services to ensure the same reliability for ION that Bellcore helped create for the circuit-switched voice network. "Bellcore is pleased to partner with Sprint and Cisco to make Sprint's vision of a truly integrated on-demand network a reality. The implications of this new network for businesses and consumers are profound," said Richard C. Smith, CEO of Bellcore. "Cisco and Bellcore are the perfect technology partners in this venture," Esrey said. "In Cisco we have the clear market leader in data networking and application enabling, while in Bellcore we have the acknowledged expert in providing the industry's most advanced capabilities of reliability and scalability." Another key partner for Sprint is RadioShack, a company already selling a full portfolio of Sprint products and services. With 6,900 locations nationwide, RadioShack has a store within a five-minute drive of 94 percent of the U.S. population. One million people visit a RadioShack store every day. "Sprint's alliance with RadioShack provides consumers with the ability to go to one place near their work or home to have all their communications questions answered, purchase their products and services, and have those products and services integrated through one communication services provider," said Esrey. "This alliance also offers distribution capabilities that no other telecom company can come close to. As Sprint revolutionizes communications with ION, the 25,000 RadioShack sales employees will help redefine the way small businesses and consumers purchase their products and services," added Esrey. "We expect to play a key role in getting America 'connected' at the grassroots level for the next century," said Leonard H. Roberts, president of RadioShack and CEO-elect of Tandy Corporation. "We are positioned to enhance our reputation of being America's 'Telephone Store,' to being America's 'Telecommunications Store'." Customers already on board Several major corporations have already committed to utilizing Sprint's Integrated On-Demand network services in the months to come. Coastal States Management, Ernst & Young LLP, Hallmark, Silicon Graphics, Sysco Foods and Tandy will be initial customers. For these businesses, and others like them, ION offers a significantly more productive and efficient communications solution than today's model. High speed, integrated communications will be available to corporate locations, branch offices, small businesses and the small office/home office worker. The result is an enhanced virtual private network that enables applications such as collaborative product development, supply-chain management, distance learning and telecommuting. "Businesses will be able to both provide communications internally and develop a totally new way to think about integrating suppliers, partners and clients into a truly integrated multimedia network," said LeMay. For small businesses, Sprint's next-generation network is the great equalizer -- delivering the same communications power that is available to large businesses. The great equalizer concept also extends big-company capability to the small offices of large corporations, to telecommuters, to small office/home office and to individual entrepreneurs. "Whether you are an executive working in your home office or a budding entrepreneur with your only office at home, the capabilities of Sprint's network are there for you online all the time," LeMay said. "A Sprint customer will have the same computer access and video-conferencing capabilities, in terms of speed, quality and reliability, that are available in the office. This has profound implications in making telecommuting truly viable." Innovation and leadership More than a decade ago, Sprint ushered in the era of pin-drop quality and reliability when it introduced the first nationwide, all-digital fiber optic network. Sprint was first to market with a variety of products and services, including the first public data network, the first national public frame relay service and the first nationwide ATM service offering. Additionally, Sprint deployed the first coast-to-coast SONET ring route and was the first carrier committed to deploying Dense Wave Division Multiplexing on nearly 100 percent of its fiber miles. SONET allows voice, video and data services of any bandwidth size to be transmitted to its destination with guaranteed delivery. Metropolitan Broadband Networks extend that powerful service and delivery guarantee in major markets. This same innovation and execution prowess is the foundation for ION. Another technological advancement developed over the past four years as part of ION is the ability to carry pin-drop quality voice traffic over an ATM network and to seamlessly connect to any public switched network. This capability will be transparent to customers using the Sprint network. Network capacity is not an issue. Through deployment of Dense Wave Division Multiplexing and other fiber-optic technologies, Sprint can efficiently and quickly scale network capacity, as the marketplace demands, while simultaneously improving unit economics. In 1998, a single Sprint fiber pair will be able to simultaneously carry over 2 million calls --- the equivalent of the combined peak time voice traffic of Sprint, AT&T and MCI. Next year, that same fiber pair will be able to simultaneously carry four times the combined voice traffic of Sprint, AT&T and MCI. "In the Year 2000, one pair of Sprint fiber will have the capacity to handle 34 million simultaneous calls, or 17 times today's combined volumes of Sprint, AT&T and MCI, without having to physically construct any new fiber," Esrey said. Sprint also is a founding member of the "Universal" ADSL Working Group, aimed at accelerating the adoption and availability of high-speed digital access for the mass market. The goal of the "Universal" ADSL Working Group is to propose a simplified version of ADSL that will deliver to consumers high- speed modem communications over existing phone lines, based on an open, interoperable International Telecommunication Union (ITU) standard. Other participants in this working group include Microsoft, Intel, Compaq, Cisco and other technology and communications companies. "Quick adoption and deployment will lead to availability of ION capabilities to a larger portion of businesses and residences," said Esrey. "Sprint led the way over a decade ago with crystal-clear quality and the construction of our nationwide fiber network. Since that time we have led the industry in numerous 'first to market capabilities' across the emerging and high-growth data market. Today, with its innovative ION applications, Sprint establishes its place as the pre-eminent provider of total services to our customers," Esrey concluded. Hacker tries to enter U.S. military computer via Japan A computer hacker in Israel has tried to illegally enter a U.S. Navy computer network in California by routing his connections via a computer software manufacturer in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, on the Sea of Japan coast, investigators said Wednesday. The Japanese company, which has no connections with the U.S. Navy, said it has received a warning message via electronic mail from the naval computer system stating that someone using the company's computer had illegally tried to enter its system, company officials said. An organization connected with the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) that deals with damage resulting from illegal computer access, said it has received no reports of U.S. Navy computers issuing such a warning. Company officials said they first realized the hacker had been illegally connecting to their computer last November, and that about 100 illegal connections had been made through the beginning of May. After analyzing records of connections made during a two-day span from March 21, the company realized the hacker had disguised his attempts to seem as if the connections were originating from the company's computer systems, they said. They said the hacker made more than 100 attempts to enter the military computer system. The warning message was received March 25. "The hacker happened to use our system to enter the U.S. system, and now he has got us caught up in a problem with the U.S. military," a company official said. The Happy Hacker' Rocks InfoWar.Com Bookstore "The Happy Hacker" continues to rock the InfoWar.Com on-line bookstore with "stunning international response!" according to site manager, Betty O'Hearn. Orders are pouring in from around the world. The book, recently given rave reviews by Winn Schwartau has skyrocketed to the top of InfoWar.Com's sales. Authored by "I remember the 40's" Carolyn Meinel, "The Happy Hacker" apparently is satisfying everyone's burning desire to understand the hacker mind and to learn their tricks in a step by step fashion. Schwartau's review opens with, "In her folksy conversational manner (she's from New Mexico), Carolyn starts off by teaching the reader how terribly insecure a Windows95 box is, and walks us through a series of super-simple ways to hack right into your corporate network. Considering that the vast majority of computer crimes and hacks occur from within a company's network, these introductory parts of 'The Happy Hacker' are worth the price of the book alone." He continues, "These are the weaknesses that Microsoft will never tell you about, wishes would just go away and provide one of the most compelling reasons to ignore Win95, forget about Win98 and rush right out and buy a copy of the infinitely more secure NT." Meinel provides dozens of step by step methods on exactly how hacking is done; from telnet to port surfing to using a shell account. Far from encouraging teenage wannabes to hack away at your front door, the book is chock full of "You Can Get Punched In the Nose, Fired and Busted Warnings" and "You Can Go To Jail Warnings." Many of the tricks and techniques throughout "The Happy Hacker" are clearly illegal, immoral and unethical. The point that Meinel makes over and over is that "hacking your own equipment is healthy and good. Hacking a box or network with permission is good. Any other kind of hacking will land you in jail." Schwartau echoes those sentiments. "Hacking is good. Criminal hacking is bad. Happy Hacking is educational, ethical and legal." "The Happy Hacker" has something for everyone. It's a moderately technical book, with advice for the Newbie sprinkled throughout, as well as offering Evil Genius Tips for the more advanced readers. Included in the book is an extensive education section on "spoofed" email, which will be a God-send to the network administrator trying to train staff in the details of how hackers work their so-called magic. The dangers of open ports and shell-based telnet are driven home as is the clearly written section on How To Map the Internet. "The biggest criticism of 'The Happy Hacker' is that there is So-Much information," Schwartau says, "and so many URL's, I wish they were all organized in a single bibliography." InfoWar.Com ships "The Happy Hacker" from stock within 24 hours unlike the "others" who require 4-6 weeks. "The Happy Hacker," Copyright, Carolyn Meinel, 1998. 260pp American Eagle Publications, Inc. ISBN 0-929408-21-7 $29.95. Available at the on-line bookstore at http://www.infowar.com or by calling 813-393-6600. SOURCE InfoWar.Com, Interpact, Inc. Mexican hackers threaten to enter government sites Mexican hackers who recently defaced a government Internet home page said on Tuesday they would break into and publicize official bank accounts, cellular phone conversations and e-mail addresses. "We'll be in every ministry, in every government cell phone, bank account, electronic transaction and e-mail to publicize what really goes on in Mexico behind our backs," a group that calls itself "X-Ploit" said in statement issued by e-mail. In February, the group claimed responsibility for defacing the Finance Ministry's web site, which appeared plastered with pictures of revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata. The hackers, however, have said they were not affiliated with the cyber-savy Zapatista National Liberation Army, which led a 1994 Indian uprising in the southern state of Chiapas. "X-Ploit" said on Tuesday it had hacked into web sites of the National Water Commission, the National Statistics Institute, the Health Ministry and the Mexican Senate. It claimed to have obtained a list of senators' e-mail addresses. German liberals say computer attacked by hacker Germany's Free Democratic Party (FDP), junior partner in Chancellor Helmut Kohls centre-right government, said on Monday a hacker had broken into its computer system and altered internal files causing considerable damage. It said many Internet Web sites would have to be rebuilt and that the party's server would have to be taken offline altogether for the work to be completed. It was not clear whether the hacker, whose identity was not known, had targetted just the liberals or attacked other parties as well, the FDP said. ``While technically extremely proficient, the hacker made rather unimaginative, clumsy and humourless changes,'' the FDP said in a statement. ``The damage done was considerable.'' The liberal FDP, Germany's self-styled party of tax-cutting, is running on a pro-business platform in the September 27 general election. Hacker Hits Air Force Computers A hacker broke into the computer system at the Elgin Air Force Base but was quickly spotted and cut off, officials said. The hacker has not been identified, and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations is looking into the break-in. The June break-in was the first at Eglin, which develops and tests new bombs, missiles and other weapons. As the hacker tried to move deeper into the computer system, automatic security measures detected suspicious activity and the hacker's access was shut down, said Dave Sears, a computer scientist with the 96th Communications Group. The OCPP is a free publication. Copyright 1997, 1998. All information in this issue is property of the Ocean County Phone Punx. Nothing may be copied or reproduced. Our staff and our ISPs are not responsible for your actions. 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