338 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
338 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
ÕÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͸
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³úúúÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ p h o n e l o s e r s o f a m e r i c a ÄÄÄÄÄ Ä úú³
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³ Present ³
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³ Acidflux's Story Time Hour ³
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ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͵
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³ Completed On May 16, 1995 ³
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ÔÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ;
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Once upon a time (around March I think) a local sysop challenged me to
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crack his friend's password on the local high school (Monte Vista,
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monte.mvhs.srvusd.k12.ca.us, running Ultrix v4.1). So I get in, get
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root (sysop access), and look at the password file. Unix passwords are
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scrambled with a one-way encryption method. Say your password is "fuckchop".
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It's stored in the password file as "hdVcOLOsIcvLE". When you login to a
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unix system instead of decrypting the password it encrypts what you type
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in and matches it with the stored encrypted password. So to crack passwords
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you need a program such as CrackerJack that will go through a long list of
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words (a password dictionary). I couldn't crack the guy's password so I
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deleted his account and told the local sysop there never was one
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(situation averted). So I make a few accounts, Bluesman gets on the system
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and we start looking through people's mail (this is where that "Chia Pet"
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letter from Delirium Issue #4 came from) when suddenly a root account
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(chatter) starts paging me. Here's a log of the ntalk conversation with
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"Anirvan Chatterjee" (It's been formatted for the sake of reading):
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[Connection established]
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Me: May I help you?
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An: chan? Elizabeth?
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Me: Yes?
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Me: Have we met?
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An: This is Anirvan, I believe...
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Me: Anirvan! How are you?
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An: Oh fine...do you see me listed as "root"?
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Me: Yes, why?
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An: oh...I was doing some routine syadmin stuff, when I saw you logged in...
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Me: 10:00pm on a friday night eh?
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An: what else is there to do on a friday night?!
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Me: Yeah, I guess you're right.
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An: well, i have friends online i talk to, and then tere's other fun stuff to do...
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Me: Yeah, I'm new to this, you know how that is.
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An: of course...
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An: where are you coming in from?
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An: an online service? a commercial carrier?
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An: ccnet's probab;ly t
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Me: Yeah, I have an account on there, why?
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An: where? I mean, what's your email address?
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An: there...
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Me: Scall@ccnet.com
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An: coolness...
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An: Geez....hate how those lines keep overlapping (type control-L t
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Me: Yeah... say, doesn't it bother you in the slightest I have root?
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An: say what?
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An: you have root?
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An: please explain..
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Me: Well, I'm going to format your winchesters.
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Me: Just business, nothing personal.
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An: errr...who is this?
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Me: Hehe, I'm just kidding! Internet humor.
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An: errr, yes.
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An: Charlie?
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Me: What? This is Liz.
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An: I'm sure.
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Me: y0ur c0mput3r h4s b33n b0rd3d by th 3l33t3st 0f th3 3l33t!!@#$!!
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An: that's so nice to know.
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Me: r3sist3nc3 iz futil3!!
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An: yay.
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An: I'm so impressed.
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Me: Wanna see a neat trick?
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An: not really, so Charlie,
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[Connection closing. Exiting]
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# removeuser chatter
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Enter login name for user to be removed: chatter
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This is what the entry in /etc/passwd looks like:
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chatter:.bplovnCwERio:337:15:Anirvan Chatterjee,CPR2,(510)837-7507,
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:/u/students/chatter:/bin/csh
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Is this the entry you wish to delete? y
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Working ...
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User chatter removed.
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Do you want to remove chatter's home directory,
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all subdirectories and files (y/n)? y
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You should have backed up chatter's files if you do not wish to lose them.
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Are you sure that you want to remove chatter's files (y/n)? y
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Deleting /u/students/chatter
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.oOo.
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Then I kill all his processes and change the root password. Again,
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situation averted. 10 minutes later he unmounts the drives.
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The next morning he tells the computer lab who did it ("Acidflux, Bluesman
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and Deadlocke [aka Silicon [)ragon]"... like I said, I made a few accounts
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while I was on) and that we hacked in to use thier link to the Lawerence
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Livermore Labs (local nuclear facility... anyone read The Cuckoo's Egg?).
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On top of that Bluesman logged in from a New York system so Anirvan starts
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talking like MOD was after his ass (This was in the California Bay Area BTW).
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That afternoon Anirvan gets a call from a Monte Vista freshman named
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Brett Nelson posing as _me_. He says "This is Acidflux, you will recieve a
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call at 9pm tonight" along w/ some veiled threats and whatnot. They
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recognized his voice and kicked him out of school (I think this story has a
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moral in it somewhere). A couple months later the system is back up and I
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find this article on Anirvan's Webpage (http://192.188.37.4/~anirvan):
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"Beyond Wargames"
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by Anirvan Chatterjee (`95)
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Net historians record the sudden increase in destructive net
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activities after the release of Wargames (the seminal cracker-as-hero
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movie, the tale of an antisocial nerdy 80s teen equipped with a modem
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who stumbles onto the secrets of a corrupt military establishment (see
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also, Sneakers)). Those were the days when cracker and darkside
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hackers were truly dangerous only to government and corporate America.
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Well, think again. While corporate network security has increased
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severalfold since then, the massive growth rate of the Internet won't
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be able to extend the same degree of protection to newcomers unable to
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obtain the best protection money can buy. I speak from experience,
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having gone through two such cases recently, both very close to home.
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Everybody probably knows about the cracker intrusion into Monte
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Vista's computer network. (You don't? The Reader's Digest Condensed
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Book editionI was online at Monte Vista from home on a Friday night
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when I saw someone else, a friend of mine, logged in too. I tried to
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"talk" to her online, but she didn't respond. So I was doing some
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routine system maintenance, when I saw a strange call to talk from
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someone logged in as the system operator--but I was the system
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operator. Oh well, I ignored it, until my friend finally agreed to
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talk to me. She seemed rather confused, didn't understand who I was. I
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tried asking her what she was planning to do this weekend. Suddenly,
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she burst into a rant along the lines of "I am elite! I broke into
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your system! Hahaha!" By this time, I'd realized that "she" was
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somebody who had broken in under that account, and broken into the
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system operator's account. We did some online jousting, (by now I had
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Charlie Hsu, speaking voice, advising me on the fax line) until I
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managed to remotely shut down the Monte Vista network, but only to
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find that he'd deleted my account, my email, my projects, my web
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page--everything. Talk about playing the martyr for my system. (Yes,
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yes, the proper authorities have been contacted, and they're working
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hard, trying to catch the evildoers.) Anyway, there's my story. Now
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you can laugh at it.)
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But after all that, who to blame? The cracker, certainly, but also the
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cluelessness of the newbie system administrators (including yours
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truly) who just didn't know enough to implement current and effective
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security measures. That, and insecure usage habits on the part of so
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many equally clueless users ignoring even the most simple warnings
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about password security (a computer network is only as strong as its
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weakest password). As long as the Internet keeps expanding at such
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furious rates and the age, maturity, education, training, and
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all-around cluefulness of the average user keeps declining, this will
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keep growing as an issue.
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Net.access is getting easier and easier to obtain, and security
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measures from many established, otherwise clueful net.folks are being
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correspondingly toned down to fit the minimal effort/maximum personal
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gain philosophy of many coming online for the first time (the same
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type of people who will break every point of net.courtesy to get
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information, rather than checking documentation, FAQs (Frequently
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Asked (and Answered) Question lists), or contacting their local system
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administrator). (For example, Microsoft Bob's password protection will
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automatically let you change it if you guess incorrectly three times
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in a row--even a four-year-old could get past that kind of
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protection!)
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I found out very recently that my Internet carrier's security could be
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easily compromised, not online, but through what crackers call "social
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engineering"--by breaking in through their customer support. January
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31, someone posing as the cracker who broke into Monte Vista called my
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house and left me a voice message instructing me to wait for a call at
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9:00 p.m. if I wanted to recover my password. I tried dialing into my
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account, and found my password to be invalid--someone had changed it!
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Of course, I didn't believe that the caller was who he claimed to be
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for a second--he had pronounced my name correctly. Nobody ever
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pronounces my name correctly after having only seen the spelling, so I
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knew it had to be someone who knew me. And who had something against
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me. I listened to the message again (the idiot had done me a huge
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favor by leaving a long snippet of his voice digitally recorded for me
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to listen to again and again) when I realized who it was--an annoying
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Monte Vistan I'd busted and kicked off the Monte Vista network a few
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months ago, for some truly unsavory activities he'd gotten into, all
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the system rules he'd violated. I contacted my Internet carrier's
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support staff, and hooked up with a rather clueful administrator, who
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traced the breakin. I was informed that someone calling in from the
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local dial-in node had accessed my account (when I had been hours away
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from the nearest modem), and deleted all the files in it. Damn! Damn!
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Damn!
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As we retraced the cracker's steps, we found that the [please
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substitute a handful of your favorite explicit pejoratives here] had
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unsuccessfully tried to access my account at 11:00 a.m. (why wasn't he
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at school during 4th period? note network knowledge has little
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correlation with common sense, intelligence, or academic achievement),
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then spoke to someone on the support staff between then and 1:00 p.m.,
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convincing them that he was me. Then the "helpful" support staff
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changed my password for "me," as soon as the intruder was able to
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pronounce my name correctly, and give them my phone number and
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address. Once he had BS'ed his way past their safeguards, he then
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asked them to change "his" password for him, as he had "forgotten" it.
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Devious little [choose your own again], eh? Then a little before 1:00
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p.m., and again at 1:40, p.m. he logged in under my account, with the
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new (now changed) password. He went through all my files. Then he
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deleted everything: my saved mail, my notes, my projects, my backups.
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And as if that wasn't enough, he then proceeded to browse through
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through my email. By this time in the conversation with the tech
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admin, I was seething. Luckily for me, the guy was able to restore
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most of my files and mail from system backups made the Friday before.
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So I didn't lose too much, but that's beside the point. I felt so
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violated. Nobody should be able to go through my email and files,
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reading and deleting at will, invading my privacy; there's a world of
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difference between system operators doing routine checks, and
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intruders breaking in as part of some sick revenge fantasy. So I
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registered several "secure" codewords with the support staff (my
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mother's maiden name, etc.) that they would have to get from anyone
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calling for support under my name. And that was that.
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Yes, yes, the cracker, a (now "former"?) Monte Vista student, has been
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caught and arrested, for his numerous ugly computer-related crimes
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(physical theft of computer equipment is a rather silly idea if you
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want to stay on the good side of the law), and I have the oddest
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feeling I may have seen the last of him. But it's not the [yet another
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pejorative here] himself I'm so concerned about, as much as the trend
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he's running on. Online interaction has become so easy and widespread
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that it seems as if anybody with something against you could take
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action against you. And the more business that we conduct online, the
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more dangerous it is (I've purchased several items directly on the
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Internet over the course of the last year, using unencrypted credit
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card numbers--dangerous, I know.) From mailbombings and anonymous
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flames, canceled postings, forged mail or postings, to outright
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electronic intrusion, almost anything is possible. Take Kevin Mitnick,
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the recently captured master cracker who infiltrated sites in the
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hundreds, from the accounting records of Netcom (the nation's largest
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Internet Service Provider, and very possibly the least-liked (for its
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anarchic administration and dumbed-down service)) to the Well,
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arguably the coolest and most respected Service Provider in America,
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the home of the Net's "cultural elite" (synonymous with its technical
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elite). News reports say his breakins weren't "personal." God help
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anybody who pissed him off. Interestingly enough, at least three
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movies about the Internet are now filming. One of these is The Net,
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about someone who's very identity is tampered with when police,
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credit, and other identity records are all altered. As technically
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improbable as the plot is, the concept is definitely sound (recall the
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case of the vengeful phone phreaker who rerouted his parole officer's
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home phone to a (900) sex number). This stuff doesn't just happen to
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other people. Let the netizen beware. Tough times lie ahead.
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An aside: Don't let this article scare you into not getting online.
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Accessing the Internet is a fabulous experience, and not akin to war
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as my words might lead you to believe; it just requires some common
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sense. As long as you have your wits about you, and aren't afraid to
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turn to manuals or your friendly neighborhood system administrator for
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help, you'll be OK. Interested in getting online? Do ask me, or
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someone else with online experience for help. I love helping people,
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but I'd much rather be able to help someone before s/he actually
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commits her time and money to problematic, expensive commercial
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networks.
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.oOo.
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Then I find this followup letter:
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Dear Geek-meister:
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Enjoyed your latest issue. A couple of philosophical and technical
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notes you may wish to ponder:
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(1) Re: Anirvan's tome on Internet security, There's a consistent
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assumption that the crackers he describes in the article are male. How
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did the author know? Did "he" write about hunting giraffes? Use locker
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room humor (actually, I've heard enough qualifying material from
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females during stints at MV to dispel any such assumption)? How many
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readers just read along and assumed, along with the author, that the
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"perp" wears pants (oops), make that Jockeys (nope) boxers? (yikes),
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buttons left over right (okay, I think).
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My purpose here is not to pick on AC--indeed, I think his energy,
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intellectual curiosity and considerable erudition in publishing
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Paradox are really laudable. I just think we should all ferret out,
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consider and overcome creeping sexism wherever we find it.
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.oOo.
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Sorry if this has been more self-glorifying than informative but after
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seeing Anirvan's side of the story I had to type this up. I'm going to
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go have a coke and a smile so I'm ending the story here. Watch out
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for that creeping sexism.
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-Acidflux
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[Enclosed is a GIF of Anirvan that Acidflux uploaded to me so you all can see
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what the poor victim looked like. For those of you who haven't, read the
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Delirium Mags! Available at the PLA Texas Line. -RedBoxChiliPepper]
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ÕÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍContactÍTheÍPhoneÍLosersÍOfÍAmericaÍNearestÍYou!ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͸
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³ Voice: ³ Data: ³
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³ 512-370-4680 PLA Voicemail System ³ 618-797-2339 PLA BBS Illinois Line ³
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ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͵ 512-883-7543 PLA BBS Texas Line ³
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³ U.S. Mailing Address: ³ 512-851-8317 Sonic Youth Systems ³
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³ Phone Losers Of America ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͵
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³ P.O. Box 3642 ³ FTP Site: FTP.FC.NET ³
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³ Corpus Christi, TX 78463 ³ directory pub\deadkat\incoming\PLA ³
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³ ³ (Thanks to Disorder & Deadkat!) ³
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ÔÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÏÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ;
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