56 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
56 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
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Operation Sundevil
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by the Prodigy
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Operation SunDevil, a legendary event in computer history. But what
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was it and what were the results of it?
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On May 9, 1990, the U.S. Attorney's in Phoenix, Arizona released to
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the press an announcement of a crackdown on "illegal computer hacking
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activities". The official name for this action was "Operation SunDevil",
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named after the mascot of Arizona State University, where this case started.
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Twenty seven search warrants were used on May 8, 1990, resulting
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in four arrests, with 150 Secret Service Agents carrying out the operation.
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Operation SunDevil was an effort to arrest several hackers to posting stolen
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credit card codes and telephone calling card codes. The targets for this
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crackdown had been selected through a detailed two year investigation. Forty
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two computer systems were seized by the US secret service, and about twenty
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five of them were actually running bulletin boards. During 1990, the
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Phoenix branch of the Secret Service had close to 300 BBS's that were
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under observation, and all of them had been either called by Secret Service
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agents or by informers, who passed logs of their sessions on to the Secret
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Service. The four people who were arrested were: "Tony the Trashman" in
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Tucson, AZ on May 9th, "Dr. Ripco", sysop of the Ripco BBS, was also
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arrested, on illegal firearms possessions however. Also arrested were
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"Electra", in PA, and an unnamed male juvenile hacker in PA.
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Along with the forty or so computers taken, the Secret Service also
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took approximately 23,000 disks, and unknown quantities of printed material,
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computer printouts, magazines, notebooks, diaries, non-fiction books on
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hacking, and anything else that caught the Feds' eye.
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The Secret Service claimed in a press conference on May 9, 1990, that
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the primary purpose of Operation SunDevil was to send a message to the
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hacking community, that they could not hide behind the "relative anonymity
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of their computer terminals.", and that the Feds could and would bust them.
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They said that this bust "should convey a message to any computer enthusiast
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whose interests exceed the ethical use of computers." But who is to decide
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what are the so-called "ethical uses" of computers?
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The outcome of Operation SunDevil was a let down for the Feds. They
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had sent their "message", but only one indictment was served as a result
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of the arrests. Prosecutors involved in the case say chances are "extremely
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high" that all charges will be dropped. In the end, this two year, expensive
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operation resulted in not much of a real prize for the Feds, and shows
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that even if you do get arrested, the Feds don't really have much of a
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case against you, even if they do take all your stuff.
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Written 1/5/1993 by Shredder.
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All rights are fish.
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Mail: shredder@works.uucp
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VMB: 1-800-344-3624 Send mail to box 8888.
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This has been a Taco Bell Syndicate Production.
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