105 lines
6.3 KiB
Plaintext
105 lines
6.3 KiB
Plaintext
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Date: Fri, 17 Feb 89 0:47:45 CST
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From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu>
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Subject: Chicago Phreak Gets Prison Term
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An 18 year old telephone phreak from the northside/Rogers Park community
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in Chicago who electronically broke into U.S. military computers and AT&T
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computers, stealing 55 programs was sentenced to nine months in prison on
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Tuesday, February 14 in Federal District Court here.
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Herbert Zinn, Jr., who lives with his parents on North Artesian Avenue in
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Chicago was found guilty of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of
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1986 by Judge Paul E. Plunkett. In addition to a prison term, Zinn must pay
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a $10,000 fine, and serve two and a half years of federal probation when
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released from prison.
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United States Attorney Anton R. Valukas said, "The Zinn case will serve to
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demonstrate the direction we are going to go with these cases in the
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future. Our intention is to prosecute aggressively. What we undertook is to
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address the problem of unauthorized computer intrusion, an all-too-common
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problem that is difficult to uncover and difficult to prosecute..."
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Zinn, a dropout from Mather High School in Chicago was 16-17 years old at
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the time he committed the intrusions, using his home computer and modem.
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Using the handle 'Shadow Hawk', Zinn broke into a Bell Labs computer in
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Naperville, IL; an AT&T computer in Burlington, NC; and an AT&T computer at
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Robbins Air Force Base, GA. No classified material was obtained, but the
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government views as 'highly sensitive' the programs stolen from a computer
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used by NATO which is tied into the U.S. missle command. In addition, Zinn
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made unlawful access to a computer at an IBM facility in Rye, NY, and into
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computers of Illinois Bell Telephone Company and Rochester Telephone Company,
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Rochester, NY.
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Assistant United States Attorney William Cook said that Zinn obtained access
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to the AT&T/Illinois Bell computers from computer bulletin board systems,
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which he described as '...just high-tech street gangs'. During his bench
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trial during January, Zinn spoke in his own defense, saying that he took the
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programs to educate himself, and not to sell them or share them with other
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phreaks. The programs stolen included very complex software relating to
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computer design and artificial intelligence. Also stolen was software used
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by the BOC's (Bell Operating Companies) for billing and accounting on long
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distance telephone calls.
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The Shadow Hawk -- that is, Herbert Zinn, Jr. -- operated undetected for at
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least a few months in 1986-87, but his undoing came when his urge to brag
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about his exploits got the best of him. It seems to be the nature of phreaks
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that they have to tell others what they are doing. On a BBS notorious for
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its phreak/pirate messages, Shadow Hawk provided passwords, telephone numbers
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and technical details of trapdoors he had built into computer systems,
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including the machine at Bell Labs in Naperville.
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What Shadow Hawk did not realize was that employees of AT&T and Illinois
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Bell love to use that BBS also; and read the messages others have written.
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Security representatives from IBT and AT&T began reading Shadow Hawk's
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comments regularly; but they never were able to positively identify him.
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Shadow Hawk repeatedly made boasts about how he would 'shut down AT&T's
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public switched network'. Now AT&T became even more eager to locate him.
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When Zinn finally discussed the trapdoor he had built into the Naperville
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computer, AT&T decided to build one of their own for him in return; and
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within a few days he had fallen into it. Once he was logged into the system,
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it became a simple matter to trace the telephone call; and they found its
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origin in the basement of the Zinn family home on North Artesian Street in
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Chicago, where Herb, Jr. was busy at work with his modem and computer.
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Rather than move immediatly, with possibly not enough evidence for a good,
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solid conviction, everyone gave Herb enough rope to hang himself. For over
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two months, all calls from his telephone were carefully audited. His illicit
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activities on computers throughout the United States were noted, and logs
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were kept. Security representatives from Sprint made available notes from
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their investigation of his calls on their network. Finally the 'big day'
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arrived, and the Zinn residence was raided by FBI agents, AT&T/IBT security
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representatives and Chicago Police detectives used for backup. At the time
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of the raid, three computers, various modems and other computer peripheral
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devices were confiscated. The raid, in September, 1987, brought a crude
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stop to Zinn's phreaking activities. The resulting newspaper stories brought
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humiliation and mortification to Zinn's parents; both well-known and
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respected residents of the Rogers Park neighborhood. At the time of the
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younger Zinn's arrest, his father spoke with authorities, saying, "Such a
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good boy! And so intelligent with computers!"
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It all came to an end Tuesday morning in Judge Plunkett's courtroom here,
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when the judge imposed sentence, placing Zinn in the custody of the Attorney
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General or his authorized representative for a period of nine months; to
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be followed by two and a half years federal probation and a $10,000 fine.
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The judge noted in imposing sentence that, "...perhaps this example will defer
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others who would make unauthorized entry into computer systems." Accepting the
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government's claims that Zinn was 'simply a burglar; an electronic one...
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a member of a high-tech street gang', Plunkett added that he hoped Zinn
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would learn a lesson from this brush with the law, and begin channeling his
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expert computer ability into legal outlets. The judge also encouraged Zinn
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to complete his high school education, and 'become a contributing member of
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society instead of what you are now, sir...'
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Because Zinn agreed to cooperate with the government at his trial, and at
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any time in the future when he is requested to do so, the government made
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no recommendation to the court regarding sentencing. Zinn's attorney asked
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the court for leniency and a term of probation, but Judge Plunkett felt
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some incarceration was appropriate. Zinn could have been incarcerated until
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he reaches the age of 21.
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His parents left the courtroom Tuesday with a great sadness. When asked to
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discuss their son, they said they preferred to make no comment.
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Patrick Townson
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