**************************************************************************** >C O M P U T E R U N D E R G R O U N D< >D I G E S T< *** Volume 1, Issue #1.09 (May 16, 1990) ** **************************************************************************** MODERATORS: Jim Thomas / Gordon Meyer REPLY TO: TK0JUT2@NIU.bitnet COMPUTER UNDERGROUND DIGEST is an open forum dedicated to sharing information among computerists and to the presentation and debate of diverse views. -------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER: The views represented herein do not necessarily represent the views of the moderators. Contributors assume all responsibility for assuring that articles submitted do not violate copyright protections. -------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************** *** Computer Underground Digest Issue #1.09 / File 5 of 6 *** *************************************************************** These excerpts from media sources on operation Sun Devil were sent by various contributors. ************************************************************************* Probe Focuses on Entry, Theft by Computers (From: CHICAGO TRIBUNE, May 10, 1990: p. I-6) PHOENIX--An interstate probe of computer invasions has uncovered losses that may reach millions of dollars and could be "just the tip of the iceberg," federal law enforcement officials said Wednesday. The investigation is focused on illegal entry into computer systems and unauthorized use of credit-card numbers and long-distance codes, said Garry Jenkins, assistant Secret Service director for investigations. No arrests for computer crime resulted, however, when 27 search warrants were served in 12 cities, including Chicago, by 150 Secret Service agents and police on Tuesday, officials said. In Chicago, federal agents seized computers and information disks at a business and a private home, said Tim McCarthey, chief of the Secret Service's criminal enforcement division in Chicago. Nationwide, some 40 computers and 23,000 disks of computer information were seized. Secret Service officials declined to release an specifics, including the number of people targeted, saying the two-year investigation, code-named "Operation Sun Devil," is continuing. "The losses that we estimate on this may run to the millions of dollars," said Stephen McNamee, U.S. Atty. for Arizona. Much of the alleged loss stems from unpaid telephone and computer access charges, officials said. They said it was possible that computer hackers had obtained goods or cash through use of unauthorized credit cards, but could not cite any instance of it. In addition to misuse of credit cards and phone lines the hackers are believed to have gained access to computers that store medical and financial histories, officials said. Under new computer crime laws, the Secret Service has jurisdiction to investigate allegations of electronic fraud through the use of access devices such as credit-card numbers and long-distance codes. Defendants convicted of unauthorized use of such devices can be sentenced up to 10 years in prison if they commit fraud of more than $,100. A similar investigation supervised by federal prosecutors in Chicago has resulted in several indictments. ******************************************************************** AT&T NEWS BRIEFS via Consultant's Liason Program Wednesday, May 9, 1990 HACKER WHACKER -- The Secret Service is conducting a coast-to-coast investigation into the unauthorized use of credit-card numbers and long-distance dialing as well as illegal entry into computer systems by hackers, according to sources. ... AP ... Authorities fanned out with search warrants in fourteen cities Tuesday in an investigation of a large nationwide computer hacker operation. Officials of the Secret Service, U.S. Attorney's Office and Arizona Attorney General's office scheduled a news conference Wednesday to release details of the operation. UPI, 5/8 ... A Long Island [NY] teen, caught up in [the investigation], dubbed Operation Sun Devil, has been charged ... with computer tampering and computer trespass. State Police, who said [Daniel Brennan, 17], was apparently trying to set up a surreptitious messaging system using the [computer system of a Massachusetts firm] and 800 numbers, raided his home Monday along with security officials of AT&T. ... [A State Police official] said that in tracing phone calls made by Brennan ... AT&T security people found that he was regularly calling one of the prime targets of the Sun Devil probe, a ... hacker who goes by the handle "Acid Phreak." ... New York Newsday, p. 31. **************************************************************************** [from risks 9.90] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 May 90 09:46:06 -0700 From: "David G. Novick" Subject: %Hacker' alters phone services The Spring, 1990, issue of Visions, the Oregon Graduate Institute's quarterly magazine, has an interesting article on a man who broke into telephone computers, creating the kinds of disruptions that have been discussed lately on RISKS. The programmer, named Corey Lindsly, lives in Portland, OR. He was eventually arrested and pled guilty to a felony count of stealing long-distance phone service. Here is an excerpt. --David ************************************************************************** Confessions of a Computer Hacker by Michael Rose Visions (Oregon Graduate Institute quarterly magazine) Spring, 1990 ... Perhaps the most disturbing part of Lindsly's adventures was his penetration of AT&T Switching Control Center Systems. These sensitive computers support long distance telephone service. System administrators for 17 of these computers spent over 520 hours mopping up Lindsly's damages. According to [AT&T New Jersey manager of corporate security Allen] Thompson, Lindsly could have "severely disrupted" the nations's telephone service. Lindsly, however, bristles at the suggestion of his doing potentially dangerous stunts. Anything beyond harmless pranks is "beneath the hacker ethic and uncouth," he says. He does admit to disconnecting phones, changing billing status, and adding custom calling features. He also likes to convert residential lines to coin class service, so when the unwitting homeowner picked up his phone, a recorded voice would tell him to deposit 25 cents. "Swapping people's phone numbers ... now that was great trick," he recalls, with obvious amusement. "You would have your next door neighbor's number and he would have yours, and people would call you and and ask for your neighbor, and vice versa, and everyone's getting totally confused." -------------------------------------------------------------------------- RISKS-LIST: RISKS-FORUM Digest Sunday 13 May 1990 Volume 9 : Issue 91 FORUM ON RISKS TO THE PUBLIC IN COMPUTERS AND RELATED SYSTEMS ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy, Peter G. Neumann, moderator Contents: "Feds Pull Plug On Hackers" (James K. Huggins) <...other articles removed...> --rjc ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 90 12:26:08 -0400 From: James K. Huggins Subject: "Feds Pull Plug On Hackers": Newspaper Article >EXCERPTED From The Detroit News, Thursday, May 10, 1990, Section B, p.1: FEDS PULL PLUG ON HACKERS Computer-fraud raid hits two homes in Michigan By Joel J. Smith, Detroit News Staff Writer Secret Service agents got a big surprise when they raided a Jackson-area home as part of an investigation of a nationwide computer credit card and telephone fraud scheme. They found a manual that details how almost anybody can use a computer to steal. It also describes how to avoid detection by federal agents. On Wednesday, James G. Huse, Jr., special agent in charge of the Secret Service office in Detroit, said the manual was discovered when his agents and Michigan State Police detectives broke into a home in Clark Lake, near Jackson, on Tuesday. Agents, who also raided a home in Temperance, Mich., near the Ohio border, confiscated thousands of dollars in computer equipment suspected of being used by computer buffs -- known as hackers -- in the scheme. The raids were part of a national computer fraud investigation called Operation Sundevil in which 150 agents simultaneously executed 28 search warrants in 16 U.S. cities. Forty-two computer systems and 23,000 computer disks were seized across the country. The nationwide network reportedly has bilked phone companies of $50 million. Huse said the Secret Service has evidence that computers in both of the Michigan homes were used to obtain merchandise with illegally obtained credit card numbers. He said long-distance telephone calls from the homes also were billed to unsuspecting third parties. There were no arrests, because it was not known exactly who was using the computers at the homes. Huse also said there was no evidence that the suspects were working together. Rather, they probably were sharing information someone had put into a national computer "bulletin board". ***************************************************************************** "Computer Hacker Ring with a Bay Area Link" (From: San Francisco Chronical, May 9, 1990: A-30) The Secret Service yesterday searched as many as 29 locations in 13 cities, including the family home of an 18-year-old San Jose State University student, in an investigation of alleged fraud by computer hackers, law enforcement sources said. The 6 a.m. search on Balderstone Drive in San Jose sought computer equipment allegedly used to "deal in pirate software and electronic fraud," San Jose police Seargeant Richard Saito said in a prepared statement. The nationwide investigation, code-named "Operation Sun Devil," concerns the unauthorized use of credit card numbers and long-distance dialing codes as well as illegal entry into computer systems by hackers, said sources. Saito said the probe centered on the "Billionaire Boys Cub computer bulletin board" based in Phoenix. A press conference on the probe is scheduled today in Phoenix. The investigation in Phoenix is also focusing on incidents in which copmputer hackers allegedly changed computerized records at hospitals and police 911-emergency lines, according to one source. The San Jose suspect was identified as Frank Fazzio Jr., whom neighors said was a graduate of Pioneer High School and lives at home with his younger sister and parents. Neither he nor his family could be reached for comment. "I've never thought him capable of that sort of thing," said one neighbor in the block-long stret located in the Almaden Valley section of south San Jose. Warrants were obtained by the Secret Service to conduct the search in San Jose, as well as in Chicago; Cincinnati; Detroit; Los Angeles; Miami; Newark, N.J.; New York City; Pittsburgh; Richmond, Va.; Plano Texas; and San Diego. Under new computer crime laws, the Secret Service has jurisdiction to investigate allegations of electronic fraud through the use of access devices such as credit card numbers and codes that long-distance companies issue to indivdual callers. Defendants convicted of unauthorized use of such "access devaices" can be sentenced to 10 years in prison if they commit fraud of more than $1,000. =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ + END THIS FILE + +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+===+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=  Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253 12yrs+