88 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
88 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
ÿ
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Here is some interesting news that appeared in the August 15, 1991
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edition of the 'HOUSTON CHRONICLE'. It involved the now defunct
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hacking group the 'Legion of Doom', who as you recall was busted in the
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'Operation SunDevil' raids last Summer.
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EX-HACKERS' TACTICS ATTRACTING CRITICISM
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Houston computer-security experts up to their old tricks, executive says
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Joe Abernathy
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Houston Chronicle
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A new computer-security consulting firm run by members of a once
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notorious nationwide hackers' group is facing heat for what a technology
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executive sees as a return to the ways of the computer underground.
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Comsec Data Security, a Houston-based firm recently incorporated by
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reformed members of the defunct Legion of Doom, counters that the attack is
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an attempt by competitors to discredit the company.
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Scott Chasin, a Comsec principal, acknowledged that he and his
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colleagues surveyed competing firms by posing as prospective customers.
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But he emphatically denied that the activity included unauthorized
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access to comuter systems.
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"It was not a Legion of Doom operation, it was not some big
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clandestine thing," Chasin said. "It's called shopping for yoour
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competitors, that's what it's called, competitive shopping, and thats what
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we did. But some of these consultants that have been in the industry, some
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of the dinosuars, got upset."
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To survey the pricing and services offered by its competition,
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Comsec called security consulting firms around the nation, representing
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itself as an unrelated company with a hacker problem.
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They said they were from Landmark Graphics, a real Houston
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technology company with a real hacker problem - one it didn't know about at
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the time. They gave out information regarding Landmark's computer system
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that the company says wasn't publicly available.
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Chasin said the computer system they described was generic and was
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drawn from their knowledge of such systems but not from any unauthorized
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information about Landmark.
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But Landmark chief financial officer Hardie Morgan questioned the
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ethics of the Comsec survey, regardless of whether it included hacking.
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"My thoughts are that in effect they haven't changed their way of
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doing business," he said.
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Morgan said Comsec representatives asked security firms to send
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information, and left a phone number and address. "Most of those firms
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followed u pand got a constant busy signal," he said. The address was the
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home of a Comsec principal.
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But the phone number belonged to Southwestern Bell.
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"That is a number that is utilized by Southwestern Bell for testing
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various and sundry equipment," said Bill Ray, general security manager for
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the phone company. "It's what's called a permanent busy. How they came
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about having that number, I have no idea. I doubt that they hacked it."
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The Comsec members said they didn't know to whom the phone number
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belonged, only that it always gave a busy signal.
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Morgan said the company has performed a full security evaluation.
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"We did find some weaknesses in out security, particularly as it
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related to our connection to the Internet," a nationwide network that is a
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favorite haunt of computer enthusiast, Morgan said. "We found that people
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were using an unsecured line we had as jumping-off point into the
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Internet."
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Chasin contends competing firms are engineering publicity about the
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Landmark incident.
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"We think it's a plot to get us out of the business," he said.
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The matter ws brought to the Chronicle's attention by a third
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party.
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Chasin said the Comsec members now regret their "comparison
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shopping" but defend it as standard business practice.
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Ray and Morgan took issue with that.
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"Their position is that this is standard operating procedure, and I
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can tell you that is not true," Morgan said. "Their concern is that this
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is wrecking their business. I said they should have thought about that
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before."
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August 15, 1991.
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*** DANSE MACABRE *** (713) 324-2139 *** DANSE MACABRE ***
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