108 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
108 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
#### PHRACK PRESENTS ISSUE 17 ####
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^*^*^*^ Phrack World News, Part 2 ^*^*^*^
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**** File 11 of 12 ****
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"Illegal Hacker Crackdown"
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from the California Computer News - October 1987
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Article by Al Simmons - CCN Editor
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Hackers beware!
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Phone security authorities, the local police, and the Secret Service have been
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closing down on illegal hacking - electronic thievery - that is costing the
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long-distance communications companies and their customers millions of dollars
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annually. In the U.S., the loss tally on computer fraud, of all kinds, is now
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running between $3 billion and $5 a year, according to government sources.
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"San Francisco D.A. Gets First Adult Conviction for Hacking"
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(After about 18 years, it's a about time!)
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San Francisco, District Attorney Arlo Smith recently announced the first
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criminal conviction in San Francisco Superior Court involving an adult
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computer hacker.
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In a report released August 31, the San Francisco District Attorney's office
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named defendant Steve Cseh, 25, of San Francisco as having pled guilty earlier
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that month to a felony of "obtaining telephone services with fraudulent
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intent" (phreaking) by means of a computer.
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Cseh was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Laurence Kay to three years
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probation and ordered to preform 120 hours of community service.
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Judge Kay reduced the offense to a misdemeanor in light of Cseh's making full
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restitution to U.S. Sprint - the victim phone company.
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At the insistence of the prosecuting attorney, however, the Court ordered Cseh
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to turn his computer and modem over to U.S. Sprint to help defray the phone
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company's costs in detecting the defendant's thefts. (That's like big money
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there!)
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A team of investigators from U.S. Sprint and Pac Tel (the gestapo) worked for
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weeks earlier this year to detect the hacking activity and trace it to Cseh's
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phone line, D.A. Arlo Smith said.
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The case centered around the use of a computer and its software to illegally
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acquire a number of their registered users to make long-distance calls.
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Cseh's calls were monitored for a three-week period last March. After tracing
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the activity to Cseh's phone line, phone company security people (gestapo
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stormtroopers) were able to obtain legal authority, under a federal phone
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communications statute, to monitor the origin and duration of the illegal
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calls.
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Subsequently, the investigators along with Inspector George Walsh of the San
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Francisco Police Dept. Fraud Detail obtained a search warrant of Cseh's
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residence. Computer equipment, a software dialing program, and notebooks
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filled with codes and phone numbers were among the evidence seized, according
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to Asst. D.A. Jerry Coleman who prosecuted the case.
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U.S Sprint had initially reported more than $300,000 in losses from the use of
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their codes during the past two years; however, the investigation efforts
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could only prove specific losses of a lesser amount traceable to Cseh during
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the three-week monitoring period.
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"It is probable that other computer users had access to the hacked Sprint
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codes throughout the country due to dissemination on illegal computer bulletin
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boards," added Coleman (When where BBS's made illegal Mr. Coleman?)
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"Sacramento Investigators Breakup Tahoe Electronic Thefts"
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Meanwhile, at South Shore Lake Tahoe, Secret Service and phone company
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investigators arrested Thomas Gould Alvord, closing down an electronic theft
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ring estimated to have rung up more than $2 million in unauthorized calls.
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A Sacramento Bee story, filed by the Bee staff writers Ted Bell and Jim Lewis,
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reported that Alvord, 37, was arrested September 9, on five felony counts of
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computer hacking of long-distance access codes to five private telephone
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companies.
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Alvord is said to have used an automatic dialer, with computer programmed
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dialing formulas, enabling him to find long-distance credit card numbers used
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by clients of private telephone companies, according to an affidavit filed in
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Sacramento's District Court.
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The affidavit, filed by William S. Granger, a special agent of the Secret
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Service, identified Paula Hayes, an investigator for Tel-America of Salt Lake
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City, as the undercover agent who finally brought an end to Alvord's South
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Shore Electronic Co. illegal hacking operation. Hayes worked undercover to
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purchase access codes from Alvord.
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Agent Garanger's affidavit lists U.S. Sprint losses at $340,000 but Sprint
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spokesman Jenay Cottrell said that figure "could grow considerably," according
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to the Bee report.
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One stock brokerage firm, is reported to have seen its monthly Pacific Bell
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telephone bill climb steadily from $3,000 in April to $72,000 in August. The
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long-distance access codes of the firm were among those traced to Alvord's
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telephones, according to investigators the Bee said.
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Alvord was reportedly hacking access codes from Sprint, Pacific Bell, and
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other companies and was selling them to truck drivers for $60 a month. Alvord
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charged companies making overseas calls and larger businesses between $120 and
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$300 a month for the long-distance services of his South Shore Electronics Co.
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>From The $muggler
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