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File: WHO IS CAPTAIN ZAP?
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= -
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- COMPUTERS: Hacking Away at Break-Ins =
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= [Washington Post -- June 28, 1984] -
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- By David H. Rothman =
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= Word Processed by BIOC Agent 003 -
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- =
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Some once-rebellious computer hackers' may be going establishment.
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A Philadephian named "Captain Zap," for example, who calls himself a
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"retired electronics hobbyist," is even doing computer security. Quite a
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switch from the days when he and friends were stealing -- via computer --
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hundreds of thousands of dollars in goods and services.
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Another young man simultaneously advises corporations and puts out the TAP
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newsletter for hacking trying to get into big computers without authorizaition.
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Aside from the ethical questions, can such consultants help prevent
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incidents such as the recent acquisition of secret passwords to a computer
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storing credit data at the TRW Information Systems, Anaheim, Calif.? Opinions
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vary.
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On on hand, you normally don't hire an ex-thief to guard your safe. But on
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the other hand, a New Jersey security man says he's uncovered hacker threats --
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via Zap -- to major banks and dozens of corporations. He and a prominent
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Washington-area consultant are among those who swear by Zap. A third computer
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expert working for the prestigious SRI think tank in Menlo Park, Calif., claims
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hackers without the usual credentials can make first-rate security people. The
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term "hacker," he stresses, is far from synonymous with "criminal."
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Says Jay BloomBecker, a Los Angeles computer crime expert: "It's pretty
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foolish to hire a hacker who's broken the law because they've already
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demonstrated their lack of trustworthiness. There are a lot of other people
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just as bright who have stayed within the law."
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Zap, whose real name is Ian A. Murphy, drew his nickname out of the air. "I
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zapped security, so I named myself that. I tried not to destroy anything. The
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object was to show people that if I could get in, a less benign person could."
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In the names of major corporations, however, Zap and friends ordered, in the
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early '80s, five Texas Instrument 787 terminals worth $3,800 each, a $13,000
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Hewlett Packard minicomputer and other odds and ends.
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All together they stole over $100,000 in goods and $212,000 in services.
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Zap received a $1,000 fine, 2.5 years probation and 15 hours a week of
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community service.
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Despite his anti-establishment computer acts, he is a Philadelphia
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Republican fond of wing tips ("they show good breeding"). His usual rates are
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between $450 and $1,200 a day, plus expenses. He says he now has six clients
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through subcontracting, although his high daily rate apparently puts off many
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prospects. To earn rent money, Zap fills in as an air-conditioning repairman,
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work he started in his teens when he first began taking computer-science
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courses (and started hacking).
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"I kept asking Spring, Bel and the others for jobs," he says, "and they kept
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turning me down. The strange thing is that I'd call Bell and say, 'Hi there,
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I bet I can get into this and that,' and they'd say, 'No, you can't.'"
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He could. He charged phone calls to an ocean liner, and even broke into
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military computer networks to play computer games. ("They have 'Star Trek,'
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'Hangman,' and 'Chess'.")
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Among those who take Zap's advice seriously: Lindsay L. Baird Jr., a tough
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ex-military policeman now in computer security consulting, and Robert P.
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Cambell, once a top Army man in computer security and now head of Advanced
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Information Management, Inc., Woodbridge, Va.
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"I had doubts at first," concedes Baird. Zap read of Baird in the
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Philadelphia Inquirer last year, requested a meeting, walked through Baird's
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house in Mountain Lakes, N.J., and declared "You're clean."
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"In what way?"
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"No hidden recording devices or microphones," replied Zap, and pulling back
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his coat to reveal a bug-detecting device.
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Baird, who believes no in The Redemption of Zap, says he has picked up items
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off hackers' electronic bulleting boards that revealed in detail how to break
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into the compters of a leading hospital supply firm, a food company and major
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banks, among dozens of other victims.
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"The FBI knows I'm working with him," says Baird, who shares much of the
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infomation that Zap uncovers. He praises Zap as "a damn good technician."
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"We're both learning from each other," says Cambell, adding that "There is
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nothing that Ian can do that my staffers can't do better, but he's developed
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his talents without a formal education."
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Captain Zap, who has started his own security firm, Secure Data Systems,
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tests clients' computer safeguards before "electronics hobbyists" get around to
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it, as he did for a major finacial firm.
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How safe was its computer system? "I can't tell you," says Zap. "I'm under
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a confidentiality agreement."
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Zap, one must remember, is a felon (and as of a few days ago had yet to pay
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off the $1,000 fine, pleading tight finances). Other reminders: Federal laws
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prohibit banks' hiring of felons for work too close to the money; some
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government agencies may not find use of a felon-consultant to be legally or
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politically possible, even through a subcontracting agreement. Besides, not
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every client can monitor the Zaps as well as a security expert.
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Despite all this, some experts maintain that people like Zap may be
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excellent at simplifying techno-gook and warning the nontechnical of some of
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the more common threats from crooks, malicious or snoopy hackers and other
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electronic break-in artists. The computer-room crew may rant and rave about
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the need for good computer security, but that's now match for hhearing thd
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facts directly from a computer felon.
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Baird plans to use Cheshire Catalyst, a New York hacker who doesn't want his
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real name use ("I like my privacy") and Zap in the "Tiger Team," military term
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for electronic devil's advocates to test cliens' computer security.
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Most problems, says Cheshire Catalyst, are "people problems. People tack
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passwords onto the corkboard above terminals.
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"If I cam in to deliver pizza," he declares. "I'd memorize the number on
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the way in and write it down as I left."
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A tall, thin man in his late twenties -- named after the grinning, vanishing
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cat in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" -- Cheshire edits the TAP newsletter
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(which bills itself "For Informational Purposes Only"). Even though TAP is
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known as the bible for people trying to break into computer and phone systems,
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Cheshire claims he himself is clean, except for logging on to systems to look
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for weaknesses.
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Meanwhile, discussion of the term "hacker" seems to be excalating. Cheshire
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distinguishes between "good" and "bad" hackers, the latter of whom a few buffs
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call "crackers."
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Geoffrey S. Goodfellow -- who testified at congressional hearings on
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computer crime and is a coauthor of The Hacker's Dictionary: a Guide to the
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World of Computer Wizards -- confirms that a "hacker" isn't necessarily a
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"computer criminal."
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A "hacker," he says, is merely someone who truly enjoys programming. He
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stretches his machine's power to the limits, and loves to "hack away" at
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computer problems.
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Not that Goodfellow thinks all hackers are 100 percent honest. He believes
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that as computer literacy spreads, more will be stealing money as well as
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computer time.
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His advice to hackers' prospective clients: "If they seem reasonable, I
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advocate putting them on a loose leash. You shouldn't take a holier-than-thou
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attitude. Unfortunately most people take the authoritarian approach...
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Goodfellow claims that hackers -- often as long-time kibitzers of computer
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systems -- may see the big security picture better than many professional
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programmers used to working within their niches.
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Goodfellow, 28, a high-school dropout, can offer himself as an example of
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sorts. A decade ago he dialed up a computer at SRI and left a note saying he'd
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improve the system in return for free computer time. He got it, and eventually
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went full-time at SRI. Among his clients: the Defense Department.
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To this day, however, Goodfellow proudly calls himself a hacker. <>
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(David H. Rothman is author of "The Silicon Jungle: Computer Survival at Work
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and Home" to be published by Ballantine Books early next year.)
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SF][G9:ba003.010585
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[Courtesy of Sherwood Forest ][ -- (914) 359-1517]
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-----End of File
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[1-77, Last=32, Quit=Q] Read File # is author of "The Silicon Jungle: Computer Survival at Work
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and Hollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
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