Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1993 13:25:21 -0700 From: Peter shipley Subject: File 6--Hacker Accused of Rigging Radio Contests (Reprinted from RISKS DIGEST, #14.55) Hacker Accused of Rigging Radio Contests By Don Clark Chronicle staff writer San Francisco Chronicle 22 Apr 1993 A notorious hacker was charged yesterday with using computers to rig promotional contest at three Los Angeles radio stations, in a scheme that allegedly netted two Porsches, $20,000 in cash and at least two trips to Hawaii. Kevin Lee Poulsen, now awaiting trial on earlier federal charges, is accused of conspiring with two other hackers to seize control of incoming phone lines at the radio stations. By making sure that only their calls got through, the conspirators were assured of winning the contests, federal prosecutors said. A new 19-count federal indictment filed in Los Angeles charges that Poulsen also set up his own wire taps and hacked into computers owned by California Department of Motor Vehicles and Pacific Bell. Through the latter, he obtained information about the undercover businesses and wiretaps run by the FBI, the indictment states. Poulsen, 27, is accused of committing the crimes during 17 months on the lam from earlier charges of telecommunications and computers fraud filed in San Jose. He was arrested in April 1991 and is now in the federal Correctional Institution in Dublin. In December, prosecutors added an espionage charge against him for his alleged theft of a classified military document. The indictment announced yesterday adds additional charges of computer and mail fraud, money laundering, interception of wire communications and obstruction of justice. Ronald Mark Austin and Justin Tanner Peterson have pleaded guilty to conspiracy and violating computer crime laws and have agreed to help against Poulsen. Both are Los Angeles residents. Poulsen and Austin have made headlines together before. As teenagers in Los Angeles, the two computer prodigies allegedly broke into a Pentagon-organized computer network that links researchers and defense contractors around the country. Between 1985 and 1988, after taking a job at Menlo Park-based SRI International, Poulsen allegedly burglarized or used phony identification to sneak into several Pacific Bell offices to steal equipment and confidential access codes that helped him change records and monitor calls. After being indicted on these charges in 1989, Poulsen skipped bail and fled to Los Angeles where he was eventually arrested at a suburban grocery store. One of the unanswered mysteries about the case is how he supported himself as a fugitive. The new indictment suggests that radio stations KIIS-FM, KRTH-FM and KPWR-FM unwittingly helped out. Poulsen and his conspirators are accused of hacking into Pacific Bell computers to block out other callers seeking to respond to contests at the stations. The conspirators allegedly used the scheme to let Poulsen and Austin win Porsches from KIIS and let a confederate win $20,000 from KPWR. Poulsen created aliases and phony identification to retrieve and sell one of his Porsches and launder the proceeds of the sale, the indictment states. In February 1989, they arranged for Poulsen's sister to win a trip to Hawaii and $1,000 from KRTH, the indictment states. [Included in RISKS with permission of the author] Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253