161 lines
5.0 KiB
Plaintext
161 lines
5.0 KiB
Plaintext
THE STORY OF C0SMOS
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Downloaded off Scan Line
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Distributed by: Twisted Sector
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The story that follows was reproduced
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by the original 'Time Lord' now know to all as The Scanner. Contrary to belief he is not a Fed. In fact he is back on-line again with a new board!
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----------------------------------------March 28, 1987
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Edited for Scan Line systems under
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C0SMOS communications. 313/851-0912
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By Kieth Gave
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Free Press Staff Writer
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He called himself The Time Lord and
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he ruled 'Cosmos' from a bedroom in his
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parents' West Bloomfield home - untill
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the FBI came and shut down the 15 year
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old who had masterminded one the coun-
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try's most notorious computer bulletin
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boards.
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A sophomore at Birmingham Groves High
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School, he ran the electronic equival-
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ent of a street gang with the Apple //e
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computer he recieved as a birthday gift
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two years ago.
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The hackers traded information on how
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to make bombs and scramble the phone
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company. They swapped illegally obtain-
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ed credit card numbers that many of
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them used to charge thousands of
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dollars worth of merchandise.
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The youth said only the 'elite'
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among computer hackers frequented his
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board, which took the name Cosmos from
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Bell Telephone Co's. computer systems.
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He is not named here because he is a
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juvenile, he has not been charged and
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his parents asked his name not be used.
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"I had about 80 regular users on the
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board" he said, adding that only about
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a handful were from the Detroit area.
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Probably 75 percent were into credit
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card fraud.
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Although Time Lord was not charged,
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he was questioned at length by federal
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authorities.
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The FBI agent in charge of computer
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hackers in the Detroit area would not
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comment other then to say the youths
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he has talked with 'seem to be bright,
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affluent and board kids."
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John Anthony, FBI spokesman in De-
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troit, said authorities "have no idea
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how many are involved." "Thats one of the problems. I don't
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think we know for sure how amny are out
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there," Authony said. "These type of
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crimes are hard to detect and when you
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do, its usually the tip of the iceberg"
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The FBI's April 18 visit to Time
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Lords home turned up plenty, thanks to
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a willing young man who admitted think-
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ing like most of his friends, he would
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never get caught.
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'They knocked on the door and my
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mom answered, she told me the FBI was
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here to see me about Cosmos," said
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Time Lord, a slender, well-spoken
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young man. "I just froze right there."
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Amoung the material tunred up was a
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printout of Cosmos' user list that in-
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cluded such names as Ima hacker, The
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(414) Wizard, The Anarchist and various
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other popular hackers.
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Agents also found the youths pass-
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words to other similar systems around
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the country. These Included The World
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of Cryton, a Milwaukee board popular
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amoung credit card theives who were
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arrested last month.
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Time Lord talked with with agents
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from the FBI and the Secret Service
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and Farminging Hills police officer
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Paul Cavan (WHO WAS OUTA HIS FUCKEN
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DISTRICT AT THE TIME AND SHOULDN'T OF
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BEEN THERE ANYWAYS) for a short time
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before they were joined in his room by
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his unwitting parents.
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"They were totally shocked. They had
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no idea" said Time Lord, the oldest of
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six children, who said he tried to ex-
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plain to his parents why the phone rang
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at all hours of the night.
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Indeed, C0SMOS built quite a rep-
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utation. Newsweek mentioned it in one
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of its stories about computer hackers.
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Other reporters also have called since
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the interrogation.
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Cosmos apparently was a pacesetter
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amoung bulletin boards, Cavan said.
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"Anybody interrested in setting up a
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board in the Detroit area, thats the
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one they modeled it after," Cavan
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said. "There were eight levels of
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access. (HA. THERE WERE NINE BUDDY!)
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You could by your way up with credit
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card numbers or other criminal infor-
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mation." (YEAH RIGHT, YOU HAD TO PASS
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A TEST TO GET ACCESS, SHOWS WHAT THIS
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DUDE KNEW ABOUT IT.)
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Subject matter found on the board
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was trashing, phreaking and hacking.
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This was the usual stuff you would
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find on these types of boards.
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John Maxfield, (ALIAS: CABLE PAIR)
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a self described 'hacker tracker' who
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has compiled a list of then 1,200 com-
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puter bad guys concurred.
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"These guys are real pros," said Max-
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field, a computer security consultant
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for several firms. "There running the
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credit cards to their limit".
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"These guys have graduated from War
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Games fun to a real kind of electronic
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underworld," Maxfield said from his
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Detroit office.
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----------
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Well, we all know how much the media
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blows things up and you should re-
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ize that this took place a while ago.
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The good boards only TALK ABOUT the
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way phoco works and don't post stupid
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c0dzes (heh) or anything that would
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get you busted.
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I hope you enjoyed reading this little
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bit of information as much as I enjoyed
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participating in it.
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----------
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For those of you who were asking what
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C0SMOS communications was/is, I hope
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this kinda cleared things up.
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(> |