194 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
194 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
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NOTICE: The word "Hacker" is used frequently throughout this file - it is
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to be interperated as "a computer literate person", and NOT as
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"someone who engages in illegal activities using a computer".
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Friday, October 30, Pumpcon began, at the Courtyard of the Marriott, in
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Greenburgh, NY. All in all, about 30 hackers showed up, and had a great time.
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At least until the evening of Oct. 31st, when 8-10 members of the Greenburgh
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police force showed up and raided the Con. At the time of the raid, there were
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between 20 and 25 hackers in the hotel. 3 of the 4 rooms rented by Con
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attendees were raided. All the occupants of these rooms were taken to a
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conference room, and then another hotel room (255) where they were held
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approximately 6-8 hours for questioning.
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The police all came in unmarked police cars, and parked on all 4 sides of the
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hotel. No one noticed they were there, until they were standing in the hall
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where all 4 rooms were located. The officers stood in the hall outside the
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doors, but did not enter the rooms right away. They waited about five
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minutes, for some unknown reason, which was just enough time for them to be
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noticed by the hackers in at least one of the rooms. Unfortunately, there was
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no way the hackers in one room could warn the other rooms - the fone lines were
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busy, and the cops in the hall kinda left the "walk down and tell 'em in
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person"
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option out.
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The police produced copies of a search warrant to search rooms 246, 233, and
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237. Room 246 was the one where everyone was hanging out; it was pretty much
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THE room. It was where the computers were located, and where most of the Con
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attendees were 99% of the time. The other two rooms were rented by attendees
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of the con, and were simply used for sleeping quarters.
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Before too long, the police entered the rooms, and began rounding up poeple.
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My recollection of this time period is a bit faint, and I don't remember all
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the minute details. All I know is that we all ended up in a conference room,
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and then room 255.
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A few hackers who had been out driving around during the time of the bust
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returned a few hours later, and when they were seen by police, they were
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immediately taken to 255 and questioned. (They were walking down the
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hall, when a cop appeared, and told them to step into a room) The cops asked
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them if they were hackers, and when they didn't answer, one police officer
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reached into the coat pocket of one of the people, and produced an auto
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dialer. This in itself was enough to send the three to room 255, where the
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rest of the hackers were being held for questioning. My question to you -
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isn't that just a bit illegal? Bodily search without probable cause OR a
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warrant? Ooops - I'm forgetting - we're HACKERS! We're ALL BAD! We're
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ALWAYS breaking the law. We don't have RIGHTS!
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Room 255 was packed. No one was allowed to smoke, and everyone was nervous
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as hell. One by one people were called to be interviewed, with some
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interviews lasting 5 minutes, others lasting 30 or 45 minutes. Some people
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were sleeping, others were conversing, and still others were shaking, and
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looked like they were about to puke at any second. Even though the situation
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was quite serious, a few joked around, saying things like "So guys, I guess
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PumpCon '93 won't be held here, eh?".
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No one knew who was going to be arrested, or when they would be released.
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The 2 cops in the room with them were actually pretty cool, and answered any
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questions they could to the best of their knowledge. They weren't the guys
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in charge of the investigation; they were simply there to make sure we didn't
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leave. Of course, as friendly as they seemed, they were still cops...
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All the people who were detained were held until between 5:45 and 6:30am.
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Four hackers were arrested, 1 because 2 of the rooms were registered in his
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name, a second because he signed for the rooms, and the others for previous
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crimes, apparently. No one knows as of yet. As of this message, no news
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on what will become of those arrested is known. They have not yet been
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arraigned. The other hackers were all searched, questioned, and then released
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pending further investigation. Those under the age of 18 had their parents
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notified.
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To my knowledge, there were no federal investigators there at the time of the
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bust. However, people kept mentioning the FBI and the Secret Service, and it
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is very possible that they will be called in to investigate. Actually, it's
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more than just possible, it's almost guaranteed. The police said that
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although most of those detained were released, there will most likely be more
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arrests in the near future, as more is learned about the alleged illegal
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doings.
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3 computers (2 Amigas, and 1 AT&T dumb term) were confiscated, along with
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anything which looked like it could have been involved in phone fraud. For
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some odd reason, although Auto Dialers were listed on the search warrant, not
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all of them were confiscated. I acutally don't know if ANY were, I do know
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that not ALL were. ;)
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In one of the rooms, there were about 2 dozen computer magazines which were
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apparently confiscated, although the warrant did not specify that magazines
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could be taken. But, when you're busting HACKERS, I suppose you can take what
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you want. After all, hackers are evil geniuses, and don't have the same rights
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as NORMAL criminals do.
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As of yet, the actual charges against the hackers are not known. The raid
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apparently stemmed because the hackers were ALLEGEDLY using stolen calling card
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numbers and/or access codes to obtain free phone calls. One of these card
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numbers or codes was rummored to have tripped a flag at AT&T, which alerted
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security personel that something was possibly wrong.
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This assumption about the calling card fraud is made because the police
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confiscated any calling card found during their searches, and some of the
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questions they asked the detained centered entirely around calling card
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theft and use. A few other questions asked me were "Do you know what
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computer systems were accessed?", "Do you refer to each other with handles?",
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"Who was primarily responsible for this meeting?", and "Where did you hear
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about this meeting?"
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My interview lasted only about 10 minutes, and it started at about 5:50am.
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Everyone was dead tired, and the cops wanted to get everything over with
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as fast as possible so they could get some sleep. After the interviews were
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over, everyone left, to wait and see what the next few days will bring.
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I am releasing this file now, to prevent any rumors from starting, and to try
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to make the outside world aware of what happened during PumpCon. I have
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left out any specific incidences and references to specific people as a
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precaution, since the investigation is only beginning. We were hoping to
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write
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a file of all the attendees of PumpCon, to share with the world the names of
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those who were there. However, as you can obviously see, that would be highly
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stupid. For anyone who WAS there who is reading this, rest assured that the
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running list of names which was kept made a very tasteless dinner for the one
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who had it in his pocket.
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Oh, BTW, one of the cops who was apparently in charge made a comment to me...
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he said "You can post a message on the boards telling your friends to stay
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out of Greenburgh". Well boys, you heard him - PumpCon '93 will be held in
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Greenburgh, at the Courtyard Marriott....
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*--------------*
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The following is a word for word copy of the search warrant issued to each
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person who was detained and questioned. No spelling errors were corrected,
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but I probably made a few when I typed this in. Oh well.
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TOWN of GREENBURGH POLICE DEPARTMENT
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WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK
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ORDER OF SEARCH AND SEIZURE
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-----
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( signed here by Det. Hugh F. Gallagher #103)
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----------------------------------------------
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JUSTICE COURT, TOWN OF GREENBURGH
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WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK ORDER
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-----
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IN THE MATTER OF Room 233, 237, & 246 Westchester Marriott Courtyard
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THE APPLICATION FOR AN ORDER OF SEARCH AND SEIZURE OF: (Specify)
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Computers Disketts Computer Printers
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Computer Terminals Auto Dialers Disketts
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Calling Card Computer Systems & Wire
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Computer Printouts Disk Drives
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Modems Hand Written Notes About Credit Co.
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" " " " Computer Service.
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______________________________________________________________________X
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IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
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TO: ANY POLICE OFFICER OF THE TOWN OF GREENBURGH POLICE DEPARTMENT
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PROOF by affidavit having been made before me this day by Det.H.Gallagher #103
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____________(Affiant) of the Town of Greenburgh Police Department that certain
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property, which is (stolen/unlawfully possessed, used to commit an
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offense...) and which constitutes evidence and tends to demonstrate that an
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offense has been committed and that a particular person participated in the
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commission of an offense will be found at the location captioned above.
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YOU ARE THEREFORE COMMANDED,
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** (Between the hours of 6:AM - 9:00 PM / AT ANY TIME OF DAY OR NIGHT) **
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** (WITHOUT GIVING NOTICE OF YOUR AUTHORITY AND PURPOSE)**
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TO MAKE A SEARCH of the above described (location/person)** for the following
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property: (describe fully)
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Room # 233, 237, & 246 of the West. Marriott Courtyard
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and all its occupants as listed on this attached affidavit.
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>><< Suspects name was written here >><<
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AND if any such property is found, you are hereby directed to seize the same
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and without unnecessary delay, return it to the court, together with this
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warrant and a written inventory of such property subscribed and sworn by you.
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THIS COURT DIRECTS THAT this SEARCH WARRANT and ORDER issued this 1 day of
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NOV. 1992 is valid and must be executed no more than ten (10) days after the
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date of issuance.
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<< illegible justice's name here >>
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_____________________________________
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Justice Name Signature
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** Strike if N/A
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