125 lines
7.2 KiB
Plaintext
125 lines
7.2 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
||
|
|
f/f/-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-f/f/
|
||
|
|
f/f/ f/f/
|
||
|
|
f/f/ .-. . .--. .--. .--. f/f/
|
||
|
|
f/f/ : : : :--: :-:' : f/f/
|
||
|
|
f/f/ ' c-' ' ' c c c--' f/f/
|
||
|
|
f/f/ Nuclear Phreakers/Hackers/Carders f/f/
|
||
|
|
f/f/ =================================== f/f/
|
||
|
|
f/f/ Information File #4 - ESS Explained f/f/
|
||
|
|
f/f/ 10-12-89 - By Zapper f/f/
|
||
|
|
f/f/ f/f/
|
||
|
|
f/f/ f/f/
|
||
|
|
f/f/-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-f/f/
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
ESS is the big brother of the Bell family. Its very name strikes fear and
|
||
|
|
apprehension into the hearts of most phreakers, and for a very good reason.
|
||
|
|
ESS (Electronic Switching System) knows the full story on every telephone
|
||
|
|
hooked into it. While it may be parano id to say that all phreaking will come
|
||
|
|
to a screeching halt under ESS, It's certainly realistic to admit that any
|
||
|
|
phreak whose central office turns to ESS will have to be a lot more careful.
|
||
|
|
here's why.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
With Electronic Switching, every single digit dialed is recorded. This
|
||
|
|
is useful not only for nailing phreaks but for settling billing disputes. In
|
||
|
|
the past, there has been no easy way for the phone company to show you what
|
||
|
|
numbers you dialed locally. If you protested long enough and loud enough,
|
||
|
|
they might have put a pen register on your line to record everthing and
|
||
|
|
prove it to you. Under ESS, the actual printout (which will be dug out of a
|
||
|
|
vault somewhere if needed) shows every last digit dialed.
|
||
|
|
Every 800 call, every call to directory assistance, repair service, the
|
||
|
|
operator, every rendition of the 1812 overture, everything! Here is an
|
||
|
|
example of a typical printout, which shows time of connect, length of
|
||
|
|
connect, and number called.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
DATE TIME LENGTH UNITS NUMBER
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
0403 1517 3 1 296-6820
|
||
|
|
0403 1523 5 3 567-3211
|
||
|
|
0403 1600 1 0 921-1044
|
||
|
|
0403 1610 1 0 800-555-1212
|
||
|
|
0403 1612 10 2.35* 716-221-3184
|
||
|
|
0403 1629 1 0 000-000-0000
|
||
|
|
(TSPS)
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
A thousand calls to "800" will show up as just that--a thousand calls to
|
||
|
|
"800"! Every touch tone or pulse is kept track of and for most phreaks,
|
||
|
|
this in itself won't be very pretty.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
A traffic engineer did an exhaustive study of all 800 calls over the
|
||
|
|
past few years, and reached the following conclusions:
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
1) Legit made calls to 800 numbers last an average of 3 minutes or less.
|
||
|
|
of the illegal (I.E.Phreakers) calls made via 800 lines,more than 80%
|
||
|
|
lasted 5 minutes or longer.
|
||
|
|
2) The average residential telephone subscriber makes five such calls to an
|
||
|
|
800 number per month. Whenever phreakers are being watched, that
|
||
|
|
number was significantly higher. As a result of this study, one feature of
|
||
|
|
ESS is a daily log called the "800 Exceptional calling report." (As
|
||
|
|
Prometheus spoke of in NARC #3)
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Under ESS, one simply does not place a 2600 hz tone on the line, unless of
|
||
|
|
course, they want a telco security representative and a policeman at their
|
||
|
|
woor within a hour! The new generics of ESS (the #5) now in production, with
|
||
|
|
an operating prototype allow the system to silently detect all "FOREIGN"
|
||
|
|
tones not available on the customer's phone. You have exactly 12 buttons
|
||
|
|
on your touch-tone phone. ESS knows what they are, and you had best not
|
||
|
|
sound any other tones on the line, since the new #5 is programmed to
|
||
|
|
silently notify a human being in the central office, while continuing with
|
||
|
|
your call as though nothing were wrong! Someone will just punch a few keys on
|
||
|
|
their terminal, and the whole story will be right in front of them, and
|
||
|
|
printed out for action by the security representatives as needed.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Tracing of calls for whatever reason (abusive calls, fraud calls, etc.) is
|
||
|
|
done by merely asking the computer right from a terminal in the security
|
||
|
|
department. With ESS, everything is right up front, nothing hidden or
|
||
|
|
concealed in electromechanical frames, etc. It's merely a software program.
|
||
|
|
And a program designed for ease in operation by the phone company.. Call
|
||
|
|
tracing has become very sophisticated and immediate. There's no more running
|
||
|
|
in the frames and looking for long periods of time. ROM Chips in computers
|
||
|
|
work fast, and that is what ESS is all about.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Phone phreaks are not the only reason for ESS, but it was one very important
|
||
|
|
one. The first and foremost reason for ESS is to provide the phone company
|
||
|
|
with better control on billing and equipment records, faster handling of
|
||
|
|
calls (I.E. Less equipment tied up in the off ice at any one time), & to help
|
||
|
|
agencies such as the FBI keep better account of who was calling who from
|
||
|
|
where,etc. When the FBI finds out that someone whose calls they want to trace
|
||
|
|
is on an ESS exchange, they are thrilled because it's so much easier for them
|
||
|
|
to trace it.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
The United States won't be 100% ESS until sometime in the mid 1990's. But
|
||
|
|
in real practice, all phone offices in almost every city are getting some of
|
||
|
|
the most basic modifications brought about by ESS. "911" service is an ESS
|
||
|
|
function. So is ANI (Automatic Number Identification) on long distance calls.
|
||
|
|
"dial tone first" pay phones are also an ESS function. None of these things
|
||
|
|
were available prior to ESS. The amount of pure fraud calling via bogus credit
|
||
|
|
card, third number billing, etc. On Bell's lines led to the decision to
|
||
|
|
rapidly install the ANI, for example, even if the rest of the ESS was several
|
||
|
|
years away in some cases.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Depending on how you choose to look at the whole concept of ESS, it can be
|
||
|
|
either one of the most advantageous innovations of all time or one of the
|
||
|
|
scariest. The system is good for consumers in that it can take a lot of
|
||
|
|
activity and do lots of things that older systems could never do. Features
|
||
|
|
such as direct dialing overseas, call forwarding (both of which open up new
|
||
|
|
worlds of phreaking which we'll discuss in future issues) and call holding are
|
||
|
|
steps forward, without question. But at the same time, what do all of the
|
||
|
|
nasty implications mentioned further back mean to the average person on the
|
||
|
|
sidewalk? The system is perfectly capable of monitoring anyone, not just
|
||
|
|
phone phreaks! What would happen if the nice friendly government we have
|
||
|
|
somehow got overthrown and a mean nasty one took its place? With ESS, they
|
||
|
|
wouldn't have to do too much work, just come up with some new software. Imagine
|
||
|
|
a phone system that could tell authorities how many calls you placed
|
||
|
|
to certain types of people I.E. Blacks communists, laundromat service
|
||
|
|
employees... ESS could do it, if so programmed.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
(C)opyright 1989 N.A.R.C.
|
||
|
|
You can reach NARC members at
|
||
|
|
-----------------------------------
|
||
|
|
The Nuclear Wasteland 408/xxx-xxx
|
||
|
|
Balanced pH 818/xxx-xxxx
|
||
|
|
Critical Condition 615/xxx-xxxx
|
||
|
|
-----------------------------------
|
||
|
|
|