187 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
187 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
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= Abuse Hits Computer Networking =
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========================================
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Typed by :Byte Rider
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Actical by :William C. Rempel
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From :L.A. Times Newspaper
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Date :Aug 1, 1985
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Subject :Abuse with BBSes
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From Long Island, an electronic bulletin board is open to computer users who
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want to share opinions about American foreign policy in Central America. Gay
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activists around the country can exchange information over several electronic in
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San Francisco. And a Texas-based white supremacist group that claims computer
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technology is "Aryan technology" uses a computer network to disseminate racist
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hate propaganda.
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These invisible networks, blending computer technology with the free speech
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tradition of 18th-Century pamphleteering, represents America's newest
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communications forums.
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Anyone with a computer equipped to send or recieve messages over a telephone
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line can participate. An electronic bulletin board is simply a computer that
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can answer telephones and exchange messages with other computers.
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1,500+ Boards in Use:
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Industry experts estimate that there are more than 1,500 computer bulletin
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boards operated out of offices and homes across America, serving a potential
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audience of about 1 million computer users equipped with telephone connectors
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called modems.
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Doctors, business executives, engineers, Vietnam veterans and teen-agers are
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among the growing number of bulletin board users sharing information or opinions
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via computer on subjects ranging from famine in Africa, tax law changes or the
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nuclear freeze movement to science, software or sports.
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But computer bulletin boards also are being used to exchange stolen credit
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card numbers, to organize illicit sex rings and to offer advice on how to
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assemble bombs or break into the data banks of credit bureaus, schools or
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government agencies.
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7 Teen-Agers Arrested
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Earlier this month, for example, New Jersey police arrested seven teen-agers
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and closed down a bulletin board that published false credit card numbers,
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details on how to assemble a pipe bomb and private telephone numbers to computer
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systems in the Pentagon, a credit agency and a medical library.
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Two teen-agers in Monterey were arrested and their computers seized last April
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after they posted extortion demands on an Encino bulletin board.
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This is a corner of the high-tech underworld, the world of "pirate" bulletin
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boards where law enforcement investigators increasingly are finding clues to
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such criminal activities as fraud and vandalism.
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"I guess it's like with anything else-there's always going to be someone who
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abuses a good thing," Paul Zurkowski, president of the Information Industry
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Assn. in Washington, said.
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Corporations that have been victims of computer criminals-among them TRW Inc,
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which operates a nationwide credit bureau out of Orange County, and MCI
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Communications Corp., the long distance telephone service in Washington-now
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monitor scores of underground bulletin boards daily.
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In a typical investigation last April, an undercover "hacker" at TRW spent
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several days "lurking" in two New York-based bulletin boards-named Sherwood
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Forest II and III-where the agent found a published appeal for credit cards with
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credit limits of $5,000 to $25,000. The message offered to pay cash or trade
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Commodore computer software.
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A responce came three days later when another bulletin board patron using the
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code name "Circuit Breaker" left a message that he had some credit card account
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numbers to trade. During that same period other Sherwood Forest patrons
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published a stolen telephone credit card number, solicited help to gai
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unauthorized entry to an insurance company computer and requested information on
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how to make a bomb.
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TRW notified authorities, and Secret Service agents subsequently seized about
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$25,000 in computers from two upstate New York teen-agers. They Face federal
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wire fraud charges.
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Monitoring Efforts Pay Off
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In recent months, numerous arrest and confiscated computers have resulted from
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the bulletin board monitoring programs of corporations and law enforcement
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agencies. Roger A. Braham, TRW's security assurance supervisor, estimates that
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at least 26 pirate bulletin boards have been closed down in the last year, about
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half as a direct response to TRW-initiated investigations.
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Cats Den, a Boston-area bulletin boards, was shut down in February after a TRW
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agent came upon published plans of a 14-year-old computer user to attempt to
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sabotage the credit of another teenager's parents. (TRW denied that sabotage
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was possible.)
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Dragon Fire, the popular bulletin board of a well-to-do teen-ager in
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Gainesville, TEX., was taken off-line in May after TRW found telephone credit
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card numbers published as well as messages indicating that users in
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Massachusetts planned to vandalize a high school there.
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And Farmers of Doom, a Denver-area bulletin board that routed its incoming
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calls through a suburban public phone both to foil any tracing attempts, was
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closed in May based on a tip from TRW agents.
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"We want them to know they're being watched," Braham, a retired Orange city
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police investigator, said.
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The stepped-up campaign to intercept illegal computer activities prompted ne
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hacker-calling himself "Doctor Who"-to warn in a recent electronic bulletin
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board message to fellow hackers: "This is way!! Say . . . away from TRW
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untill it kools down."
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In California, legislation is pending that would make it unlawful to publish,
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on a computer network, anyones unlisted phone number, credit card numbers or
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computer access codes without their approval. Bulletin boar operators who fail
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to remove such private information after notifacation also would be liable in
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the bill sponsored by State Sen. John Doolittle (R-Citrus Heights).
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"Bulletin boards are great. We'd like to encourage their use, but we're
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concerned about the abuse of privacy," Ted Blanchard, legislative consultant
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Doolittle, said. "Everyone needs to understand the rules."
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Originated in Chicago
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The nation's first electronic bulletin board is believed to have originated in
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Chicago where two computer buffs set up a home-grown system on Feb. 16,
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1978-still in the early days of the personal computer revolution.
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At first, they were the venue primarily of computer hobbyists who used the
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message system to send out calls for assistance to solve technical programs.
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Rapidly, their protential was recognized by national organizations and
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professional groups such as doctors and engineers who set up computer networks
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to organize conventions, share a variety of communications.
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Today electronic bulletin board networks are operated by such widely disparate
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groups by such viduals as the Ku Klux Klan, an alleged prostitution ring in
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Florida, scientists working with the national Areonautics and Space
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Administration and local police agentcies in Arizona. Almost anyone with a
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personal computer can set up his own electronic bulletin board with investments
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in readily avaliable electronics gear for as little as $2,000.
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"All you need is a cheap computer, the right software and a modem (that hooks
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your computer to your telephone) and you're a bulletin board," Everick Bowens,
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director of security for MCI and president of the newly formed Communications
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Fraud Control Assn., said.
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While most bulletin board networks are small, many operated by large companies
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such as CompuServe, Dialog and The Source-each of them major data base
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providers-who monitor users of their bulletin boards.
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MCI routinely monitors bulletin boards to see if its long distance access
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codes-popular among youths who call themselves "Phreakers"-are being distributed
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illegally.
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Bowens said that the enforcement efforts has been largely effective, but one
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side effect of success is that operators of pirate bulletin boards have become
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more sophisticated and, therefore, more difficult to investigate.
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"A lot of these phreaks have gone
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Special Thanks to: The Prophet, for his excellent file: Unix Use and Security
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From the Ground Up.
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The End, good luck, enjoy yourself, and don't get caught!
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Lord Lawless
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Phortune 500/BOD
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--This has been a Lord Lawless Presentation, (C) 1987.--
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u are a super user that dir contains
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much that will be useful to you.
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In order to move up to a directory one level higher than you are presently in,
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type "cd ..". So to move from /Bill/files to /Bill I would just type cd ..
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and, assuming I started in /Bill/files I would now be in /Bill.
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Ok, now you can wander the system "cat"'ing around and whatnot. If a file
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