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3.9 KiB
Plaintext
1 line
3.9 KiB
Plaintext
f
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--FEATURE ARTICLES AND REVIEWS-
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TAPPING COMPUTER DATA IS EASY,
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AND CLEARER THAN PHONE CALLS !
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BY RIC BLACKMON, SYSOP
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-------------------------------
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FOR SEVERAL YEARS, I ACCEPTED
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CERTAIN BITS OF MISINFORMATION
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AS TECHNICALLY ACCURATE, AND
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DIDN'T PROPERLY PURSUE THE
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MATTER. SEVERAL FOOLS GAVE ME
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FOOLISH INFORMATION, SUCH AS:
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A TAP INTERRUPTS COMPUTER DATA
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TRANSMISSIONS; DATA COULD BE
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PICKED UP AS RF EMANATIONS BUT
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IT WAS A MASS OF UNINTELLIGIBLE
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SIGNAL CAUSED BY DATA MOVING
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BETWEEN REGISTERS; ONE HAD TO
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BE IN 'SYNC' WITH ANY SENDING
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COMPUTER; DATA COULDN'T BE READ
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UNLESS YOU HAD A DIRECT MATCH
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IN SPEED, PARITY & BIT PATTERN;
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AND ONLY A COMPUTER OF THE SAME
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MAKE AND MODEL COULD READ THE
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SENDING COMPUTER. THIS IS ALL
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PLAIN SWILL. IT IS IN FACT, AN
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EASIER CHORE TO TAP A COMPUTER
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THAN A TELEPHONE. THE TECHNIQUE
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AND THE EQUIPMENT IS ALMOST THE
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SAME, BUT THE COMPUTER LINE
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WILL BE MORE ACCURATE (THE TWO
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COMPUTERS INVOLVED, HAVE ERROR
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CORRECTING PROCEDURES) AND
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CLEARER (DIGITAL TRANSMISSIONS
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HAVE MORE DISTINCT SIGNALS THAN
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ANALOG TRANSMISSIONS).
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FIRST, RECOGNIZE THAT NEARLY
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ALL DATA TRANSMISSIONS ARE SENT
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IN CLEARTEXT ASCII SIGNALS. THE
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LINES CARRYING OTHER BIT-GROUPS
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OR ENCYPHERED TEXTS ARE RARE.
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SECOND, THE SIGNAL APPEARS ON
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GREEN AND RED (WIRES) OF THE
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PHONE LINE ('TIP' AND 'RING').
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THE DATA IS MOST LIKELY ASYSCH-
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RONOUS SERIAL DATA MOVING AT
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300 BAUD. NOW THAT 1200 BAUD
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IS BECOMING MORE CHIC, YOU CAN
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EXPECT TO FIND A GROWING USE OF
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THE FASTER TRANSMISSION RATE.
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FINALLY, YOU DON'T NEED TO
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WORRY ABOUT THE PROTOCOL OR
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EVEN THE BAUD RATE(SPEED) UNTIL
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AFTER A TAPED COPY OF A TRANS-
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MISSION IS OBTAINED.
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IN A SIMPLE EXPERIMENT, A TAPED
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COPY OF A DATA TRANSMISSION WAS
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MADE WITH THE CHEAPEST OF TAPE
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RECORDERS, TAPPING THE GREEN
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AND RED LINES BEYOND THE MODEM.
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THE RECORDING WAS THEN PLAYED
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INTO A MODEM AS THOUGH IT WERE
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AN ORIGINAL TRANSMISSION. AT
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THAT POINT, HAD IT BEEN NECESS-
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ARY, THE PROTOCOL SETTINGS ON
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RECEIVING TERMINAL COULD HAVE
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BEEN CHANGED TO MATCH THE TAPE.
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NO ADJUSTMENTS WERE NECESSARY
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AND A NICE, CLEAR ERROR-FREE
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DOCUMENT WAS RECEIVED ON THE
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ILLICIT VIDEO SCREEN AND A NEAT
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HARD-COPY OF THE DOCUMENT CAME
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OFF THE PRINTER. THE MESSAGE
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WAS INDEED CAPTURED, BUT HAD IT
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BEEN AN INTERCEPTION INSTEAD OF
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A SIMPLE MONITORING, IT COULD
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HAVE BEEN ALTERED WITH A SIMPLE
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WORD PROCESSOR PROGRAM, TO SUIT
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ANY PURPOSE, AND PLACED BACK ON
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THE WIRE.
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WERE I TO HAVE AN INTEREST IN
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INFORMATION ORIGINATING FROM A
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PARTICULAR COMPANY, AGENCY, OR
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OFFICE, I THINK THAT I WOULD
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FIND IT FAR MORE PRODUCTIVE TO
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TAP A DATA TRANSMISSION THAN TO
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TAP A VOICE TRANSMISSION, AND
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EVEN MORE REWARDING THAN
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GETTING HARD-COPY DOCUMENTS.
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*SIGNIFICANT & IMPORTANT INFOR-
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MATION IS MORE CONCENTRATED IN
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A DATA TRANSMISSION.
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*SIGNIFICANT & IMPORTANT INFOR-
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MATION IS MORE EASILY LOCATED
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IN DATA TRANSMISSIONS THAN IN
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MASSES OF FILES OR PHONE CALLS.
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*TRANSMITTED DATA IS PRESUMED
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TRUE, AND WHEN ALTERATION IS
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DISCOVERED, ITS READILY BLAMED
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ON THE EQUIPMENT.
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*THE LAWS CONCERNING TAPS ON
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UNCLASSIFIED AND NON-FINANCIAL
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COMPUTER DATA ARE EITHER QUITE
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LACKING OR ABJECTLY STUPID.
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THE POINT OF ALL THIS IS THAT
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THE PRUDENT MANAGER REALLY
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OUGHT TO ENCRYPT ALL DATA
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TRANSMISSIONS. ENCRYPTION
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PACKAGES ARE CHEAP (A 'DES'
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PROGRAM IS NOW PRICED AT $30)
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AND ARE EASY TO USE.
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-------------------------------
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YOUR COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS
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ARE ALWAYS WELCOME. LEAVE A
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NOTE FOR THE SYSOP WHEN SIGNING
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OFF AND LET US KNOW WHAT YOU
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THINK ABOUT THESE ARTICLES AND
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REVIEWS. PLEASE FEEL ENCOURAGED
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TO SUBMIT MATERIALS WHICH YOU
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HAVE PREPARED. THANK YOU
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FUNCTIONS-> A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,R,S,T,U,W,X,Y,Z,?
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Uploaded to P-80 by Sally Ride along with
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the previous file by the Marauder on RSTS/E
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volume 1. There are 3 more volumes available
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on RSTS. This file is from the OPEN BBS.
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A system for Security professionals, well it
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used to be a system, seems it kept crashing,
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over and over, oops!
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Sally Ride:::Space Cadet
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