**************************************************************************** >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 2, Issue #2.17 (December 16, 1990) ** **************************************************************************** MODERATORS: Jim Thomas / Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@NIU.bitnet) ARCHIVISTS: Bob Krause / Alex Smith RESIDENT INSOMNIAC: Brendan Kehoe USENET readers can currently receive CuD as alt.society.cu-digest. COMPUTER UNDERGROUND DIGEST is an open forum dedicated to sharing information among computerists and to the presentation and debate of diverse views. CuD material may be reprinted as long as the source is cited. Some authors, however, do copyright their material, and those authors should be contacted for reprint permission. It is assumed that non-personal mail to the moderators may be reprinted unless otherwise specified. Readers are encouraged to submit reasoned articles relating to the Computer Underground. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ------------------------------ From: Various Subject: The CU in the News Date: 15 December, 1990 ******************************************************************** *** CuD #2.17: File 7 of 7: The CU in the News *** ******************************************************************** From: someplace!anonymous@UUNET.UU.NET Subject: Well, did anything happen? Date: Wed, 12 Dec 90 02:59:59 -0500 Or was it a case of hysterical or malicious rumor mongering? COMPUTER JOCKEYS THREATEN PHONE WAR SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS (SJ) - Friday, November 16, 1990 By: Associated Press Edition: Stock Final Section: Front Page: 16A Telephone companies are taking precautions today against a possible disruption of service somewhere in the country by computer vandals breaking into the phone network. Non-specific threats had been made to invade the massive computers that control the telephone network, but not to attack physical facilities, industry sources said. Sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said the threats apparently were in connection with a sentencing scheduled in Atlanta this afternoon for three members of a computer group called the Legion of Doom who had broken into BellSouth Corp. computers. Franklin E. Darden Jr. and Robert J. Riggs pleaded guilty earlier this year in federal court to one conspiracy count each. Adam E. Grant pleaded guilty to possessing 15 or more access devices with intent to defraud. 'Everyone is on alert' "We have not been able to assess the validity of the threats, but we certainly take any threats seriously, and we've taken precautions to minimize the risk of intrusion," BellSouth spokesman Bill McCloskey said. "We are aware of the purported threat to try and disrupt at least part of the nationwide network," said Herb Linnen, a spokesman for American Telephone and Telegraph Co. "Our corporate security organization has sent word around the country to make sure everyone is on alert in the coming days." Linnen said the purported threat was not against any single company. He said the rumor of the attempted disruption was discussed at a regular meeting Wednesday of technical executives of a number of phone companies. "We have no idea how widespread the threat might be, but it's our understanding that the group may be national," said Peter Goodale, a spokesman for Nynex Corp., parent of the New England Telephone and New York Telephone companies. "We've taken the appropriate security measures to ensure the integrity of our network." Copied 911 program FBI and Defense Department officials said they were unaware of any such threat. Federal prosecutors in Chicago last year charged that members of the Legion of Doom had used their computers in February 1989 to tap into the 911 system of Atlanta-based BellSouth and copy the program. The information then was published in an electronic newsletter in Chicago for hackers, but the 911 network was not disrupted. Charges against the Chicago publisher were dropped in July. Copyright 1990, San Jose Mercury News ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: elroy!grian!alex@AMES.ARC.NASA.GOV(Alex Pournelle) Subject: Esquire Hacking Article Date: Wed, 5 Dec 90 09:55:23 GMT In the December Esquire magazine (with Michelle Pfeiffer on the cover), there is an article on "hacking" (system-cracking or password-stealing, really): "Terminal Delinquents", pp. 174ff, by Jack Hitt and Paul Tough, under the "Outlaws" banner. And it deserves some comments. I plan a rather lengthier commentary on this article, to be sent to the magazine, but thought it appropriate to tell the hacking community how they are portrayed. Certainly, all readers of cu-digest would do well to pick it up. The article is written about a small group of New York-based juvenile hackers (their term) who break into the Nynex billing and phone add/move/change system--to play around, look around, and just fiddle. A little time is spent on the background of phone phreaking (Draper discovering Cap'n Crunch whistles, blue boxes), essentially none on the history of actual hacking. The actions of these teenage trespassers are taken at face value; the only fact-checking appears to be one call for comment to the Nynex security office (they had no comment). Even when they are shown the "White House PROF system" (perhaps they meant PROFS?), they make no effort at independent corroboration. I find it even more disturbing that no editor at Esquire even suggested some fact-checking. The authors have not, to my eye, even done basic research like reading The Cuckoo's Egg. They talk about "The Internet Virus", not worm; their long treatise on "social-engineering of passwords" (getting people to tell them to you, or guessing them) only implicitly and offhandedly mentions the knife-edge balance between access and security. There is a lot of computer-as-electronic-phlogiston talk, some more successful than others. There is much scare talk about how any dam' fool can get your credit history from TRW. There's no direct discussion of how random system-breakins might endanger lives. There is essentially no talk about the morality, guidance or beliefs of the hackers--are we to presume that some Big Brother of government or school is supposed to teach the good and bad of computers? Or is this just a scary-but-true-to-life story about how any pimply-faced bag of teenage hormones with a modem can change your credit rating forever? I think the latter. In short, the piece is maddeningly obtuse in a magazine with a circulation of over 800,000. It is long on anecdote and very short on fact. It is a disservice to anyone who calls him/her/itself a hacker. The magazine deserves to be told this. Sincerely, Alex Pournelle ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: P.A.Taylor@EDINBURGH.AC.UK Subject: Virus Planters from Eastern Europe? Date: 27 Nov 90 17:22:04 gmt FEARS OF COMPUTER VIRUS ATTACK FROM EASTERN EUROPE GROW. From: The Independent, Sat 24.11.90, By Susan Watts, Science reporter. The computer industry in Britain is being warned against an influx of malicious viruses from eastern Europe. Governments and companies there use computers less widely than those in the West. The range of applications is limited and so programmers have time to write these destructive programs. Bryan Clough, a computer consultant based in Hove, East Sussex, returned last week from Bulgaria with 100 viruses unknown in the West. "People have been writing these as a form of protest against the authorities. Some are very good indeed...I am terrified of running them on my machine but until I do I will have no idea of what they are capable of", he says. Mr Clough predicts a wave of virus attacks on Britain, launched mainly through electronic message systems known as Bulletin boards. One bulletin board in Birmingham already believes it has been hit by Bulgarian viruses. These programs can corrupt or destroy data stored on a computer's hard disk. Jim Bates, who dismantles viruses for Scotland Yard's Computer Crime Unit,says "I'm having a hell of a job keeping up with the viruses coming through already. The problem is that we can only screen for viruses that we know about". He warns the computer industry against rogue software from eastern Europe, Bulgaria and Russia are thought to harbour the most virulent viruses. The small but legitimate software industry in Bulgaria complains that programming is one of the few skills that the industry can exploit. Recent concern is killing off even this slim chance of gaining hard currency from overseas. Part of the problem is that the authorities do not believe in copyright or patent protection for software. "Programmers are used to ripping off software" Mr Clough says, "so that they are expert at hacking into each others systems and planting viruses." He found at least 30 people producing viruses in Bulgaria. Most are known to the police who can do little to stop them since the country has no laws against computer crime. Even in Britain which introduced legislation against hacking this summer, virus writers can be arrested only if they enter a computer system without authority or cause damage once inside. Scotland Yard's anti-virus team can extradite foreign programmers who flout this law, if Britain has an extradition treaty with the country concerned. One of the most worrying of the virus-writers calls himself the "Dark Avenger". He has written a number of malicious programs, and Mr Clough believes he intends to plant these in Britain shortly. Virus detectives are dismantling one such program called "Nomenklatura", thought to have been written by this man. Security experts in Britain fear programmers in the Soviet Union may soon follow Bulgaria's lead. The Soviet Union has no copyright laws, and some sections of the software industry are already using viruses as a way to punish those who steal programs. One such virus displays the message "Lovechild in "Lovechild:in reward for stealing software" on the screen. Less than two years ago there were only 20 or so virus programs around, now there are hundreds. In Bulgaria a new virus appears once a week, Mr Clough says. ******************************************************************** ------------------------------ **END OF CuD #2.17** *********************************************************************  Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253 12yrs+