UPne 08-Jul-92 17:48:00 
Computer 'Masters of Disaster' indicted

   NEW YORK (UPI) -- Five alleged computer hackers known as
"Masters of Disaster" were indicted on federal charges Wednesday
for breaking into computers of major institutions for fun and for
gain, authorities said. 
   The defendants, known as "MOD" or "Masters of Disaster/Masters
of Deception," broke into computers "to harass and intimidate
rival hackers and other people they did not like; to obtain
telephone, credit, information and other services without paying
for them; and to obtain passwords, account numbers and other
things of value which they could sell to others," the indictment
said. 
   The case marked the first court-authorized use of wiretaps in
an investigation to obtain data transmissions of computer hackers
who use computer-connected telephone lines for unauthorized access
to other computers, said a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Otto
Obermaier. 
   The indictment was announced with two arrests in separate but
related computer fraud cases. 
   Among the computers the defendants allegedly broke into were
telephone switching computers operated by Southwestern Bell, New
York Telephone, Pacific Bell, U.S. West and Martin Marietta
Electronics Information and Missile Group. 
   The hackers also allegedly wiped out of almost all information
within the Learning Link computer operated by WNET and left the
words, "Happy Thanksgiving you turkeys, from all of us at MOD." 
   Southwestern Bell allegedly lost about $370,000 in 1991, due to
alleged tampering by three of the defendants, two of whom also
allegedly intercepted data on a network operated by the Bank of
America. 
   With access to credit and information services such as TRW, one
of the alleged hackers claimed he could "destroy people's lives ...
or make them look like saints," the indictment said. 
   The defendants were identified as Julio "Outlaw" Fernandez, 18,
of the Bronx; John "Corrupt" Lee, also known as John Farrington,
21, of Brooklyn; Mark "Phiber Optik" Abene, 20, of Queens; Elias
"Acid Phreak" Ladopoulos, 22, of Queens, and Paul "Scorpion" Stira,
22, also of Queens. 
   They were scheduled for arraignment at 10 a.m. July 16 in U.S.
District Court in Manhattan on charges of fraud, wire fraud,
illegal wiretapping and conspiracy. 
   In Nov. 1991, Fernandez and Lee sold information to Morton
Rosenfeld on accessing credit services and later provided a TRW
account number and password that was used to obtain about 176 TRW
credit reports on individuals. 
   Rosenfeld, 21, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to conspiracy on June
24. Alfredo De La Fe, 18, of Manhattan, pleaded guilty on June 19,
to using and selling telephone numbers and codes. 
   Rosenfeld must appear Sept. 9 for sentencing, De La Fe on Aug.
31. 
   Obermaier's office conducted the probe with James Heavey,
special- agent-in-charge of New York's U.S. Secret Service, William
Doran, special-agent-in-charge of New York's FBI office, and Scott
Charney, chief of the computer crime unit of the Department of
Justice. 
    
    
  Copyright 1992 The United Press International