.

y.
.
-.............
---

---

Iha Kntionnl Telephone Gompany, Ullltted.

PUBLIO
LOCAL CULl

OALL OFFICll
'U.&II'I'.

\...,..._

Ldoa"" ...

... .V'I'I.nckft..... (....... ""...... . .-.... ,.. .. .,

. r.. ..., ......
..... _ .. .... CoII.-

10 CAJ.L raE EXCIIAX(.i1. T.,. t_ .....n 1'-': _ I'ft'ftWW .. '" ... .. ..- ..
u...:nw ,...tIII'U.l. dan ... , w,cll! d.. ,....,...,. .. .... ... ...... .... ..-.-

....... .... _tId'vi U.

.......... n.c

.... .. tty _..-:-.w. b.t. I ..., I ... p.....: I .. .,..._ ,. , .............. _II. ...
... ...... IIIf c-II re-'. .uu c.M ........ &0 fOUI'..... n. ..,...... ..... _ ...
...__ ... .
.. -...-

--. ... - _

.. ......... die ...... ., ..

II ...... 1 __ eu.n ta r-.. die ell.... -.-, ......
.
....... CIMIn ......, ....... " ......, O$u..u.. ....wc.........
... ,..-..-.. .. , n:t ... tekl........................ ......

u.-. ... ...... . ..

NI4,.. ...u "" .. caiW.

_ .... ..., ......... old.. ....... .. .... *...... ,.. ___ OF_
i

.... ,................ CUIMICI ..... ..... _ 011 __ ........ _ -..,.... ........... ...... "....... _ .. --. u.. s.A.cn1k.. kar...... u.s ft.,,\,\:IYd' .. It.. '*' ...& ..,a,,,,, ........, ..... 1M
_ ......... -...

.... ___ Ioo

..... _ .. ..uI... Lo....... .. . "'---'

., - --- . ....... .. ..... - . ...... ..-

til. ...a ____ t.lae ... _ WI

....... _ ....-. __ wIIIlMI-...&&It.e
. -.-....
"" &0....... . 011 1OpI, .. .....-..
.... a......t
-.-...
tIIII,.___ :.IIa& __..

__ aM _

oaI,..,

I...-. .--.., _
__ .. -.- ..

0,...- ...

--. .. __ _

_.t.o&lt.e ........... -..,

. ....1dq of t.Ile. lie ,,_

t.IIIa ... ....,

We Know
Yuu should have had this issue last
munth. We know. We're sorry.
Hut just because we avoided the
holiday rush (by not contributing to
it) doesn't mean that you'll be losing
out. In fact, we used the extra time
to further pursue the late breaking
MCI scandal (see page 10) as well
as a couple of other stories, includ
ing the latest on the famous virus.
We've been playing with our new
adjunctframe (mentioned last time

in this column) and are rather

pleased with the results. We have all
of the advantages of equal access
and direct overseas dialing without
having an electronic or digital
switch. The extra time involved to
complete a call is negligible. And
touch tones are still free!
The MCI story is the first result of
our new toy. As we scan out differ
ent companies and investigate them,
more tales will unfold.

STAFFBOX
Editor-In-Chief
Emmanuel Goldstein

Office Manager

Artwork

Bobby Arwatt

Tish Valter Koch

Writers: Eric Corley, Thomas Covenant, John Droke, Mr. French,

The Glitch, Chester Holmes, Lex Luthor, Phantom Phreaker,
Bill from RNOC, David Ruderman, Lou Scannon, Silent Switchman,
Mike Yuhas, and the usual anonymous bunch.
2600 (fSSN 0749-385/) is published quarlerly by 2600 Enlerprises fllC,
NY 11733. Secolld class poslage permll pmdillg al Selaukel, New York

7 Sirong 's Lane, Selaukel,

POSTMASTER: Send addres s ch a nges to 2600, P.O. Box 752, Midd le Isla nd , NY 119530752.

Copyright (c) 1988,2600 Enterprises, Inc.

Yearly subscription: U.S. and Canada .. $15 individual, $40 corporate.

.. $25 individual, $55 corporate.

Overseas

Back issues available for 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987 at $25 per year, $30 per year overseas.
ADDRESS ALL SUBSCRIPTION CORRESPONDENCE TO: 2600 Subscription Dept., P.O.

Box 752, Middle Is l and, NY 119530752.

FOR LETTERS AND ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS, WRITE TO: 2600 Editorial Dept., P.O. Box

lJlJ, Middle Island, NY 119530099.

2600 Office line: 5167512600

BBS #1 (OSUNY): 914725-4060 (down at the moment)

BBS #2 (CEN'IRAL OFFICE): 9142343260
BBS #3 (YOYODYNE): 402564-4518
BllS #4 (BEEH I VE): 7038236591
HilS #S (HACKER'S DEN): 7183589209
USENET ADDRESS: 2600@dasysl.UUCP
ARPANET A DDRESS : phri!dasysl !2600@nyu

Winter 1988-89

2600 Magazine

Page 3

A
by Bob Page
University of Lowe l l
Computer Science Department
(Repri nt ed from

the RISKS

Newsletter, an electronic publica

tion available on many machines
that are accessible by networks.)
...

He r e ' s

the

scoop

on

the

"I nte rnet Worm" . Act u a l ly it's not a

v i rus -- a v i r u s i s a piece of code
that adds i t s e lf to ot h e r programs,
i n c l ud i n g o p e r a t i n g s y st e m s . I t
c a n n o t r u n i n d e p e n d e n t ly , b u t
rat h e r req u i re s that its "host" pro

Report on the
wo rm o pe n s a TCP connection to
anothe r m achine's s e ndmail (the
SMTP port), i nvokes deb u g mode,
and

se nds

RCPT TO t h a t

requ e st s i t s d a t a b e piped t h rou g h

a she l l . T h a t data, a s h e l l script
( f i rst-stag e b o o t s t r a p) c r e at e s a
t e mpo rary s econd -stage bootstrap
f i le called x$$,1 1 . c (where "$$" is
the cu rrent proce ss I O) . This i s a
s mall (40-line) C program.
The f i rst - st age bootst rap com
piles t his program with the local cc
and exe c u t e s i t w i th a rg u m e nt s
g i ving
the
I nt e r n e t
ho stid/

g ram be ru n to act ivate it. As s u c h ,

s o cket/p a s swo rd o f w h e re it j u st

it h a s a c l e a r a nalogy to b i o lo g i c a l

c a m e f ro m . T h e s e co n d - st a g e
b o o t s t ra p ( t h e c o m p i l e d C p ro
gram) sucks o ver two o bject f i l e s,
x$$,vax.o and x$$,su n3.0 f ro m t h e
attacki n g host . I t h a s a n a rray f o r
2 0 f i l e n a m e s (presu mably f o r 2 0

v i ruse s - - t h o s e v i r u s e s a re n o t
c o n s i d e re d l i v e , b u t t h e y i n v a d e
h o st c e l l s a n d t a k e t hem o v e r ,
mak i n g t h e m p ro d u c e new v i ru s e s.
A worm is a p ro g r a m t h at c a n
ru n by itse lf a n d c a n propagate a
fu l l y w o rk i n g v e rs i o n o f i t s e l f t o
ot her m achi n e s . A s s u c h , w h at
was set loose o n t h e Int e rnet was
clearly a worm.
T h is data was co l l ected t h ro u g h
a n e m e rg e ncy mai l i n g l ist set u p
b y Gene Sp a f f o rd a t P u rd u e
Univ e rs ity , f o r ad m i n i st ra t o rs of
major I nte rnet s it e s - - so me of t h e
text is i nc lud ed v e rbat i m f ro m that
list.

d iff e re nt m ac h i n e s ) , b u t o n ly two
(vax and sun) w e re co m piled in to
t h i s c o d e . It t h e n f i g u r e s o u t
w h e t h e r it's ru n n ing u nd e r B S O o r
Su n OS a n d l i n k s t h e a p p ro p ri a t e
f i l e agai nst t h e C library to pro d u c e
a n e x e c u t a b l e p ro g ra m c a l l e d
/u s r/t m p/s h -- so i t looks l i ke the
Bo u r n e s h e l l t o a n y o n e w h o
looked t h e re.

The Fingerd Attack

I n t h e f i ng e rd attack, it t r i e s to

T h e bas i c object of t h e worm i s

t o g et a s h e l l o n anot h e r mac h i n e

i nfilt rate syste ms v i a a bug in f i n

g e rd ,
the
f i ng e r
d a e mo n.

s o it c a n r e p roduce f u rt h e r. T h e re
a re t h r e e w a y s it att a c k s: s e n d

Appare ntly t h i s is where most of its

success was ( not i n s e n d m ail, as

mail, f i ng e rd, a n d rsh/re x e c .

The Sendmail Attack

was o rig i n a l l y reported) . When f i n

g e rd is co n n ected to, it reads its

I n t h e s e nd m a i l attac k , t h e

Page

2600 Magazine

a rg u m e nt s f ro m a pipe, but d o e s n 't

Winter 1988-89

Internet Worm
limit how m u ch it read s . If it reads

s pecial "pop u l a r" pa sswo rd s:

more tha n t h e i nt e rn a l 512- b y t e

aaa, academia, aerobics, air

buffer allo w e d , it w rit e s p a s t t he

plane, albany, albatross, albert,

e nd of its st ack. Aft e r t he st ack is a

alex, alexander, algebra, aliases,

comm a n d

alphabet, ama, amorphous, ana

to

be

execu te d

("/us r/ u c b/ f i n g e r") t h a t a ct u a l ly

log, anchor, an dromache, ani

does t h e w o rk. O n a VAX, t h e

mals, an swer, anthropogeni c,

worm k new how much f u rt h e r f r o m

anvils, anythin g, aria, ariadne,

th e stack it h a d to clobber to get t o arrow, arth u r, athena, atmothis

c o m m a n d , ______ sph e r e,
azte cs,
which it r e plac e d
azure.
"/ '
.
F,
.
t lS pretty succesJ.JuI in
bacchus, bailey,
with the co m m a n d
"/bin/sh"
( t h e finding passwords, as most banana, bananas,
bourne s h e l l). So people don't choose them
bandit, banks, bar
ber, baritone, bass,
instead of t h e f i n very well."
ger
co m m a n d
bas soon , batman,
-----being execu t e d , a
beater ,
b eauty,
shell was s t a rt e d w it h n o a rgu-

b e e t hoven,

me nts . Si nce t his is ru n in t h e co nte x t o f t h e f i nge r d a e mo n, std i n

beowulf, berkeley, berliner, beryl,

and std o u t a re co n n ect e d to t h e

brian, bridget, broadway, bum

netw o rk s o ck e t , a n d a l l t h e fil e s

bling, burgess.

were s ucke d o v e r ju st like t h e s h ell

b enz,

beverly, bicameral, bob, brenda,

campan ile, cantor, cardinal,

carmen, carolina, caroline, cas-

that s e nd mail p rovided.

The

beloved,

RSH/REXEC Attack

cades, castle, cat, cayuga, celtics,

The t hi rd way it t ried t o get i nto

cerulean, change, charles, charm

systems w a s via t h e . r h o s t s a n d

ing, charon, chester, cigar, clas

letc/ho sts . eq u iv fil e s t o d e t e rmine

sic, clusters, coffee, coke, collins,

t r u s ted h o s t s w h e re it might be
able to m i g r a t e t o. T o u s e t h e
rhosts f e at u re , it n e e d e d to actualIy get i n t o p e o p l e ' s a cco u n t s -

comr a des,

"

"

comp u t e r,

condo,

cookie, cooper, cornelius, cous

cous, creation, creosote, cretin.
daemon ,

dan cer,

d an i el,

since the worm was not r u n n i ng as

danny, dave, december, defoe,

root (it w a s ru n ning as d a e m o n) it

deluge,

had to figu r e o u t p e o p l e ' s p a s s-

dieter, digital, discovery, disney,

wo rds. To do t h i s , it w e nt t h ro ugh

dog, drought, duncan.

the le tc/p a s s w d fi l e , t r y i n g t o
guess p a s swo rds. It t ried co mbina-

d e sperate,

develop,

eager, easier, edges, edi n

burgh, edwin, edwina, egghead,

tion s o f: t h e u s e r n a m e , t h e last,

eiderdown, eileen, einstein, ele

first, last a n d f i r st , nick n a m e s ( f r o m

phant, eliza b eth, ellen, emerald,

the GECOS f i e l d) , a n d a l i s t o f

e n g i n e, e n g i n e e r , enterprise,

Wimer 1988-89

2600 Magazine

PageS

The Virus
enzyme, ersatz, establish, estate,
euclid, evelyn, extension.

outlaw, oxford.
pacific, pai n l e s s , pakistan ,

fairway, felicia, fender, fermat,

pam, papers, password, patricia,

fidelity, finite, fishers, flakes, float,

penguin, peoria, percolate, per

flower, flowers, foolproof, football,

simmon, persona, pete, peter,

foresight, format, forsythe, fourier,

philip, phoeni x, pierre, pizz a ,

fred, friend, frighten, fun, fungible.

plover, p l ymouth, poly nomial,

gabriel,

gardner,

garfield,

pondering, pork, poster, praise,

gauss, george, gertrude, ginger,

precious, prelude, prince, prince

glaci er, gnu , golfer, gorgeous,

ton, protect, protozoa, pumpkin,

puneet, puppet.

gorges, gosling, gouge, graham,

gryphon, guest, guitar, gumption,
guntis.

rabbit, rachmaninoff, rainbow,

raindrop, raleigh, random, rascal,

hacker, hamlet, handily, hap

pening, harmony, harold, harvey,

really, rebecca, remote, rick, rip

ple, robotics, roches ter, rolex,

hebri des, h einlein, h ello,

romano, ronald, rosebud, rose

herbert,

hia w a t h a ,

help,

hibernia,

honey, horse, horus, hutchins.

imbroglio, imperial, i nclude,

mary, roses, ruben, rules, ruth.

sal, saxon, scamper, scheme,
scot t , scot t y , secret,

sensor,

ingres, inna, innocuous, irishman,

sere n i t y ,

sharon,

isis.

sheffield, sheldon, shiva, shivers,

japan, jessica, jester, jixian,

shuttle, signature, simon, simple,

johnny, joseph, joshua, judith, jug

s i nger,

gle, julia.

s mooch,

kathleen, kermit, kernel, kirk

land, knight.
l a d le,

sharks,

single, s mile,
s m o t her,

smiles,
snatch,

snoopy, soap, socrates, sossina,

sparrows, spit, spring, springer,

lamb d a ,

laminati o n ,

squ i r e s ,

strangle,

stratford,

larkin, larry, lazarus, lebesgue,

lee, leland, leroy, lewis, light, lisa,

stuttgart, subway, success, sum

louis, lynne.

s u pported,

macintos h,

m ack,

m aggot,

mer, super, superstage, support,

surfer,

s u zanne,

swearer, symmetry.

magic, malcolm, mark, markus,

tangerine, tape, target, tar

marty, marvin, master, maurice,

ragon, taylor, telephone, tempta

mellon, m erlin, mets, michael,

tion,

michelle, mike, minimum, minsky,

tomato, topography, tortoise, toy

moguls, moose, morley, mozart.

nancy , nap oleon, nepenthe,
ness, network, newton, next, nox
oceanography, ocelot, olivetti,
olivia, oracle, orca, orwell, osiris,

2600 Magazine

tiger,

toggle,

ota, trails, trivial, trombone, tubas,

tuttle.
umesh,

unhappy,

unicorn,

unknown, urchin, utility.

ious, nutrition, nyquist.

Pu!?e 6

thailand,

vasant, vertigo, vicky, village,

virginia.

Winter /988-89

We Were All

Waiting

warren, water, weenie, what

not, w hiting, whitney, will, william,
williamsburg, willie, winston, wis
cons in, wizard, wombat, wood
wind, wormwood.
yaco ,
y ang,

y ellow s t o n e ,

yosemite.
zap, zimmerman.
[I w o u l d n't h ave p icked so me of

these as "po p u l a r" passwo rd s , but

then agai n , I'm not a worm w rite r.
What do I k now?]
When e v e ry t h i n g e l s e f a i l s , it

For

t h e p a r e n t ke e p s o n try i n g n e w
hosts.
One of t he t h i n g s it does befo re
it attacks a host i s co n nect to t h e
t e l net p o rt a n d immediat e ly close
it . Th u s , ''t e l netd: tt loop: p e e r d i ed"
i n /u s r/ad m/mes s a g e s means t h e
worm attempted a n attack.
The w o r m ' s ro l e i n l i f e i s t o
reprodu ce - - noth i ng mo re. T o d o
t h at i t needs t o f i nd ot h e r hosts. It
does a " netstat - r - n " to f i nd local
routes to other h o st s & n etwo rks ,

o p e n s /u s r/d ictlw o rd s a n d t ri e s
e v e ry wo rd i n t h e d i ct i o n ary. It is
pretty s u c c e s sf u l in f i nding pas s
w o r d s, a s m o s t p e o p l e d o n ' t
c hoose t h em v e ry w e l l . O n c e i t
gets i n to so m e o n e ' s acco u n t , i t
lo o k s for a .rh o st s f i l e a nd d o e s a n
"rsh" a n d/o r " r e x e c " t o a n o t h e r

looks i n letc/hosts, a n d u s e s t h e
y e l low pages d istributed hosts f i l e
if it's ava i lable. A n y t i m e it finds a
host , it t r i e s to infect it t h ro u g h o n e
of t h e t h ree above m et hods. O nce
it f i n d s a io c a l n e t w o r k ( l i k e
1 29 . 63 . n n .n n f o r u l o w e l l ) i t
sequ e nt i a l ly tries every add ress i n

host , s u c k s o v e r t h e n e ce s s a ry

t h at range.

f i les i n t o / u s r/ t m p a n d r u n s
lusr/tmp/s h to start a l l over aga i n .
Betw e e n t h e s e t h re e m e t h o d s
o f attack ( s e n d m ai l , f i n g e rd ,

If t h e s yst e m c r a s h e s o r i s
rebooted , most syst e m boot p roce
d u re s clear /Imp and lu s rlt m p as a

. rhosts), it was a b l e to spread very

q u ickly.
The Worm Itself

matt e r of co u rs e , e rasing a ny evi

d e nc e . Howeve r, s e n d m a i l log files
s h ow m a i l c o m i n g in f r o m u s e r
Idev/n u l l for u ser Ibi n/s e d , w h ich is

them so t he y can't be fou nd (s i nce

a t i poff t hat t h e wo rm e nte red.

Eac h t i me the worm i s started,
t h e re is a 1/15 c hance ( it ca l l s ran
do mO) t hat it s e n ds a s i ng l e byte
t o e r n i e.b e rke l e y .e d u o n s o m e
m agic po rt , appare n t l y t o act as

it has t h e m o pe n , however, it can

some kind of m o n it o r i n g m e c h a

still acc e s s t h e cont e n t s ) . It t h e n

n i s m.

The "s h " p rog ram i s t h e actual

worm. When it sta rts u p it c l o b b e rs
its a rgv ar ray so a " p s " w i l l n o t
show i ts name. I t o p e n s a l l its nec
e s sa ry f i l e s , then u n l inks ( d e letes)

tries t o i n fe ct a s many ot h e r hosts

The Crackdown

as p o s s i b l e -- when it successfu l ly
connects to o n e h o st , it f o rks a

T h r e e main 'swat' t e a m s f ro m
B e rkeley, MIT , and P u rd u e fo u nd

chi ld to co nt i n u e t h e infect i o n w h i l e

co p i e s of t h e VAX c o d e ( t h e .0

Winter /988-89

2600 Magazine

Page 7

Chaos
files had a l l t h e sy mbols i ntact with
sOrDewhat mea n ingful names) a nd
d i s as s embled it i nto about 3000
lines of C. The BSD development
team poked fun at the code, even
going so far to po int out bug s i n
t h e cod e a n d supp l y i ng source
p a t c h e s fo r i t! T h e y h av e n o t
relea sed t h e actua l source code,
howeve r, and refuse to do so. That
could change -- there a re a num
ber of people who want to see the
code.
Po rt i o n s o f t h e co d e a p p e a r
in co m p l et e , a s i f t h e p ro g r a m
deve lopment was not yet finished.
For example, it k nows t h e offset
needed to break the BSD f i ngerd,
but doe sn't k now the co rrect offset
for Sun's f i nge rd (which causes it
to d u m p co r e ) ; i t a l s o d o e s n ' t
erase i t s t racks as c l everl y as it
might; and so o n .
The worm u s e s a va r i a b l e
called "pleasequit" but doesn't cor
rectly initial ize it, so some fo lks
added a module called _worm.o to
t h e C l i bra ry, w h ich is produced
from: int ple asequit
-1; the fact
t h a t t h i s va lue i s s e t to -1 w i l l
cause it t o exit after one iteration.
The close scruti ny of the code
also turned up co m m e nts on the
prog ra mmer's style. Ve rbatim fro m
someone at MIT: "Fro m disassem
bling the cod e , it looks like the pro
g ra m mer is re ally anally rete ntive
about ch ecki ng return codes, and,
i n addit ion, prefe rs to use a rray
index i n g i n s t e ad of po i n t e rs t o
walk throug h arrays."
=

Page 8

2600 Magazine

in

the

Anyone who looks at the binary

will not see any embedded stri ngs
- they are XOR'ed with 81 (hex).
That's how the s h e l l c o m m a n d s
a r e i m b e d d e d . T h e " o bv i o u s "
passwords a re sto red with t h e i r
high bit set.
Although it spreads very fast , it
is somewhat s lowed down by the
fact that it drives the load average
up on the machine -- this is due to
all the e ncryptio n s going on , and
t h e l a rg e nu mber o f i n co m i n g
worms from other machi nes.
[In itia l l y , t h e f a stest defe n s e
ag a i n st t h e worm i s t o create a
directory ca l l e d l u s r/t mp/s h . The
script that creates lusr/tmp/sh fro m
one o f the . 0 files checks to s e e if
lusr/tmp/sh exists, but not to see if
it's a directory. This fix is known as
"the condom".]
Now What?

No ne of the ULowell machines

were hit by the worm. When BBN
staffers found the ir systems i nfect
ed, they cut themse lves off fro m all
other hosts. Since our con n ectio n
to the Inte rnet is through BBN, we
we re cut off as w e l l. Befo re we
were cut off , I received mai l about
the sendmail proble m and installed
a patch to disable the feature the
worm uses to get in through send
mai l . I had made local modifica
t ions to finge rd which changed the
offsets , so any attempt to scribble
o v e r the stack wou ld p ro b a b l y
have ended u p i n a core dump.
Most Inte rnet systems run n i ng
4.3BSD o r Su nOS h ave i nsta l l ed

Winter 1988-89

Computer Networks
the necessary patches to close the

possible that the bytes sent to

ernie.berkeley.edu were intended

h ole s a n d h a v e r ejoined the

Internet. As you would expect,
there is a renewed interest in sys
tem/network security, finding and

to monitor the spread of the worm.

Some news reports mentioned

plugging holes, and speculation

over what will happen to the
worm's creator.

how fast it had propagated.

A source inside DEC reports

If you haven't read or watched

the news, various log files have
named the responsible person as

make much progress there, it was

sighted on several machines that
wouldn't be on its normal propaga

Robert Morris Jr., a 23-year old

doctoral student at Cornell. His
father is head of the National
Computer Security Center, the

not on the same subnet. These

machines are not reachable from
the outside. Morris was a summer

NSA's public effort in computer

security, and has lectured widely
on security aspects of UNIX.
Associates of the student claim
the worm was a "mistake" -- that

intern at DEC in '87. He might

have included names or address
es he remembered as targets for
infesting hidden internal networks..
Most of the DEC machines in

that he panicked when, via some

"monitoring mechanism" he saw

that although the worm didn't

tion path, i.e. not gateways and

he intended to unleash it but it was

question belong to the group he

not supposed to move so quickly

worked in.

or spread so much. His goal (from

what I understand) was to have a
program "live" within the Internet. If

The final word has not been

written -- I don't think the FBI has
even met with this guy yet. It will

the reports that he intended it to

be interesting to see what hap

spread slowly are true, then it's

pens.

DO YOU HAVE A fULL SET

OF 2600 BACK ISSUES?
They're available at a rate of $25 per year ordered. Back issues
start with 1984 and indude every issue up to the present.
issues are still available at $5 each. All others are sold

(1988

ONLY by year.) Send your order to:

2600 Back Issues
PO Box 752
Middle Island, NY 11953
Winter 1988-89

2600 Magazine

Page 9

MCI: The Phone Company With

It all started with what sounded like a

friendly phone call in October:

"Hello, this is Patricia from MCI. We

noticed that you presently have an account

with MCI and we wanted to let you know

Perhaps MCI feels they're taking a cal

culated risk here. They only seem

to

make

these calls to people who already uSe'MCI

in some form. Maybe they f eel these peo
ple won't raise a fuss when they discover

that we'll be offering 'one plus' service in

who their long distance company is. In

your area starting December 10th. We'd

fact, they may never even discover that

like to verify your address."

MCl is their carrier since they most likely

The nice lady then read us our address,

have been getting MCl bills in the past.

which was one hundred percent correct.

Remember, these are people who have

She then said another person would call

us

already been using MCl's services.

to confirm this information. That call

Regardless of whether or not it pays

came within minutes and was almost iden

off, it's distressirig to see such dishonest

tical in content.

tactics on the part of a major company.

A couple of weeks later we got another

one of those calls on another of our lines
an

that had

Mel account attached to it.

Rut this time the second call never came.

In early December, equal aCcess came
to our phone lines. We decided to check

This isn't our only gripe with MCI. We

had been using an account on MCl's

950-

1986 dialup. In November we paid the bill

a few days late (it was under

$10).

Well,

10 and behold, they disconnected our code

without any warning. When we asked

the status of those two lines that had got

them to reconnect it., they said they would

ten the calls. We dialed 1-700-555-4141.

have to handle our payment for

And guess what? They had both been

first. Ten days went by and the code was

10

days

claimed by MCI. Surprised? We weren't.

still down. We asked again. This time,

In fact, when those calls come in, we

they said they were phasing out that ser

expected them to try and pull this scam

vice, so they couldn't reconnect us. But

we'd heard so much about. They made one

they came up with a bright idea. We could

big mistake though -- they tried it on us.

use our 14-digit MCl Card code instead of

We always listen very carefully when

phone companies call us. And we can say

our old 5-digit code. "It's just as easy to

remember," they said.

very definitely that MCI never asked us if

Clearly, they have the right to phase

we wanted to choose them as our long dis

out their services and replace them with

tance carrier. All they aske.d us to do was

less desirable ones. But once again, it's the

to verify

way in which they did it. MCI jumped at

OUT a ddress.

OK, so it was a sloppy representative.

the first opportunity to take away our old

you

code instead of being up front and letting

M ay be even a

corrupt one. How

can

condemn an entire company because of

the actions of one person? That's quite
easy. It happened more t h an once.

date this service would be terminated.

Different representatives called diffelOent

any good.

their customers know that as of a certain

Reing sneaky about it doesn't do anyone

The Real Scam

phone numbers and gave the same little

speech. And we've found out that other

We've saved the best for last. When we

people have gotten the same treatment.

discovered that MCI had selected them

This indicates to us that these representa

tives are reading a s c ript that tells them
nOl to ask the customer w he th er t.hey actu
a l l y wanl Me]'s "one plus" service.
Address vcrificatlOn. after all. is a much
less controversial issue.
Page 10

2600 Magazine

Winter

selves as our long distance carriers, we

decided to experiment a little. One of our
experiments involved trying to make
operator assisted call ("zero plus") on

an

an

MCI line. M CI doe sn't offer operator

assisted services. So we were curious as to

1988-89

A Lot of Explaining To Do
what would happen when we tried to do

know that your friend selected MCI as his

this.

long distance carrier and that you've just

What happened was a big surprise. We

been swindled by an AOS? Perhaps MCl's

got the same little fading dial tone that we

new slogan can be: "We bring the thrill of

got on A T & T

hotel phones right into your own home!"

in other words, the

prompt to enter our AT&T calling card

Now we shou ld p oint out that this

numbcr. We entered the card number and

"NTS Connection" doesn't work every

"Thank you for u sing NTS."

when you try

WCIC

astounded to hear a recording say,

where. In some areas you get recordings

to

make "zero plus" calls

NTS? Who the hell were they?1 And

using MCI. We need to know where it

what were they doing accepting AT&T

does work. You can find out at no charge

calling card numbers on MCl lines?

We'll skip all of the drama and simply

by dialing 10222-0 followed by a ten digit

phone number (you can use your own). If

tell you what we found out. NTS is an

you hear a fading dial tone, it means

Altcrnate Operator Service (AOS) compa

you're about to be connected to NTS. You

ny. They handle calls from hotel rooms

can stay on and ask a whole lot of ques

rates are often double those of AT&T.

in your area. (You can do the above even

And it seems that in various parts of the

if MCl isn't your primary carrier -- the

and p i va tely owned payphone s. Their

country, MCl has a clandestine relation

ship with these people. We say clandestine

because we're in the habit of reading all of

the literature from every phone company

tions if you want. Let us know if it works

10222 routes the call to MCI. You must

have equal access in your area in order

to

try this.)
There's really not much more to add.

that serves our area. And nowhere has this

We are demanding a public statement

little "service" been mentioned. We have

from MCl addressing the issues of signing

ye t to find anyone in MCI who is even

aware of thi s arrangement.

On the other

up unsuspecting consumers and billing

their own cust('mers exorbitant rates for

hand, NTS (based in Rockville, Maryland)

operator-assisted calls without telling

NTS operators (who can trick any

them. We don't expect to ever get such a

statement.

is quite proud of the MCr connection. All

of the

one into be lieving they're really from

Several yeaIS ago, we printed a story

AT&T) arc aware that they provide ser

v i ce for MCI "zero plus" customers.
Why docs MCI use an AOS? We can't

about MCl's electronic mail system, MCI

Mail, which had a policy of terminating

Imagine. But we can tell you the effects. If

MCl's liking. We called it a flagrant inva

you d ec i de to call someone collect from

your phone and MCI happens to be your
long di stance c arrier, the person who

accounts that had received mail not to

sion of privacy to peruse the mail of their

own paying subscribers. The president of

MCl indicated that he couldn't care less.

accepts on the other end will wind up with

one h e l l of a surprise when they get the
bill. You'll be the one getting the surprise
If you fo r get that MCl doesn't have opera

pany that resorts to such devious methods

to s and you attempt to place an operator

of making money and that treats its cus

assisted or calling card call through them,

tomers so shabbily is not worthy of the

The most likely scenario, though, would

be something like this: you visit a friend

historic a l significance

and need to make a phone call from his

house. Since you don't want to make your

friend pay, you dial it "zero plus" and bill

It to

your c alling card. How are you to

So all we can say right now is that it

be a vcry good idea to boycott
Mel for all of the above reasons. A com

would

its fou nders

achieved.

We would app reciate it if this article

was spread around in whatever ways pos
sible.

Winter 1988-89

2600 Magazine

Page 11

A HACKER'S GUIDE
by Red Knight
Phreakers/Hackers Underground
Network
Brief History of UNIX

get in.

No m ore lo gins - will happen when

the system won't accept any more
logins. This could mean the system is

It's because of Ken Tompson that

today we're able to h ack UNIX. He
used to work for Bell Labs in the 60's.

Tompson

started

out

using

the

going down.

Unknown 10

will happen if an invalid

10 is entered using the (su) command.

You r password has e x pi red

This is

MUL T ICS as. It was later eliminated

quite rare. Reading the etclpasswd will

and T o mpso n was left w i thout an

show you at what intervals it changes_

operating system to work with. He had

come

You may not change the password

up with something really

Th e p a s s w o r d h a s n o t y e t a g e d

quick. He did some research and in

enough. The administrator s e t s t h e

1969 UNIX came into be ing. It was a

quotas for the users.

to

single user system and it didn't have

many capabilities. In a combined effort

wit h others he rewrote the version in

Unkn own grou p [gr o u p's n a m e ]

occurs when chgrp is executed and

the group doesn't exist.

and added some good features. This

Sorry

version came out in

in an invalid super user password

1973

and was

made available to the public. This was

indicates that you have typed

(execution of the su).

the beginning of UNIX as it's presently

Pe rm iss i o n d e n i e d !

known. The more re fin ed version of

must be the owner or a super user to

UNIX is known as UNIX system V. It

Nas d evelope d by Be r k el ey University

change the password.

and it has unique capabilities.

Various types of UNIXes are CPIX,
Berkeley Ver 4.1, Berke ley 4.2, FOS,

Genix, HP-UX,

ISII,

OSx, PC-IX,

PERPOS, Sys3, Ultrix, Zeus, Xenix,

UNITY,
VENIX,
UTS,
Uni s y s,
Unipl us+,

UNOS,

Idris,

ON I X,

indicates you

Sorry [# of w e e ks] s i n ce l as t
c han ge - this will happen when the
password has not aged enough and
you try to change it.

[directory n a m e]: no perm ission you are tr ying to remove a directory for
which you have no permission.

[ file na m e] n o t removed

trying to

Coherent, Cromix, System III, System

delete a file owned by another user

7, sixth edition.

that you don't have write permission

for.

Hacking U N IX
I believe that hacking i nt o any com
puter requires knowledge of the oper

of the dir that you're trying to delete is

ating system itself. Basically what I will

not yours.

[dirn a me] not removed

ownership

t ry to do is get y ou to be more familiar

[d irna me] not e mpty

with UNIX opera tio n and its useful

contains files so you must delete the

commands.

files before executing the rmdir.

Error Messages (UNIX system V)

Login incorrect - an invalid 10 and/or

password was entered. This means

- the directory

[ co m m a n d ] n o t fou n d

you have

entered an invalid command which is

not known to UNIX.

very little. In UNIX there is no way of

c a n 't ex e c u t e pwd

guessing val i d user 10's. You may

wrong with the system and it can't exe

come across this one when trying to

cute the pwd command.

Page 12

2600 Magazine

Winter /988-89

something's

TO UNIX
( .. means one

edcasey, and also some containing

level up) permission is required to exe

numbers: smith1, mitu6, and s o me

cute pwd above the current directory .

containing special characters like bre

can n o t chd ir t o .. -

can 't open [file n a m e ]

- you defined

mer$, j#fox. Login names have

to be 3

the wrong path or f ile name or y ou

to 8 char acters in length, lowercase,

have no read permission.

and must start with a letter, In some

cp: [file n ame] a n d [file n a m e ] are

id entical - self-explanatory.
c an n o t l o c a t e p a re n t d ire ctory -

"guest".

XENIX syst e ms one may login as

User Level Accounts

[fi le name] n o t fo u n d - file which

In UNIX they have what are called

accounts. These accounts can be

you're trying to move doesn't exist.

used at the "login:" prompt. Here is a

You have m ail - self e xplanatory

Error M e ssages
(Basic N e tworking Utility)
c u: n o t f o u n d - n e t w o r k ing

list:
sys

occurs when using mv.

bin
not

trouble
daemon

installed.

login failed

- invalid 10 or password or

d ial f a i l e d

the

syste m

n e ver

answered due to a wrong number.

u u c p c o m p l e t e l y fa i l e d

rje
Ip

- did not

specify file after -so

wro n g time to ca l l

uucp
nuucp

wrong number specified .

adm
listen - if starlan is installed

you called at a

time not specified in the systems file.

system not in systems

you called a

remote not in the systems file.

UN IX Logo n Forma t
The first thing you must d o i s switch
to lower case.

"Super user accounts

make UNIX worth
hacking."

Here is what y ou will see (some

times there will be no system identifi
er).

AT&T

UN IX Sys VR3.0

(example of a

system identifier)

accounts w hich m a ke UNIX worth

log i n :

hacking. These accounts are used for

or

a specific job. In large systems they

L o g in :

Any

Super User Accounts

And then the re are super user

are assigned to users who have a

of these is a UNIX. This is

where you will have to guess at a valid

user 10. Here are some that I have
co me across: glr, g l t , radgo, rml,
che ster, cat,

10m, cora, h lt o , hwi ll ,

Winter

responsibility to maintain subsystems.

They are as follows (all lower case):

ro o t

- this is a must. T h e system

co mes configured with it. It has no

restrictions. It has power over every

1988-89

2600 Magazine

Page 13

HACKING
other account.

AWAY

The letters can be in upper case or

unmountsys - unmounts files.

lower case. Here are some of the

setup - system setup.

passwords that I have seen: Ansuya1,

makefsys - makes a new file.

sysadm - allows useful commands

PLATOON6,

uFo/7 8 ,

ShAsHi .. ,

Div417co.

(doesn't need root login).

The passwords for the super user

powerdown - powering system down.

mountfsys - mounts files.
checkfsys - checks files.
These accounts will definitely have

accounts will be difficult to hack. You

can try the accounts interchangeably
(example: login:sysadm password:
makefsys). It really could be anything.
changed

passwords assigned to them. These

The user passwords are

accounts are also commands used by

an aging process at successive inter

by

the system administrator. Here are

vals. The users are forced to change

some e x a m p les of accounts I have

it. The super user will pick a password

seen:

that won't need changing for a long

cron

period of time.

You Have Made It!

uuhelp

usenet

The hard part is over and hopefully

ha ve

ha cked

s uper-user

anonuccp

y ou

news

account. The next thing you'll probably

network

see is the system news:

bellboy
Ip

login:john
password :hacker1
System news
There will be no networking offered
to the users till August 15, due to
hardware problems.

vector
guest
games
ninja
vote
warble

sysinfo

Password Entry
Aft er the login p rompt you will

is the UNIX prompt which means

that UNIX is waiting for a command to

be entered. I will use this throughout

receive a password prompt:

the article to show outputs, etc. (it's

not a part of the command). # means

password:

you're logged in as root (very good).

or

How UNIX is Made Up

Password:

UNIX is made up of three compo

Enter the password (it won't echo).
The password rule is as follows: each

nents: the shell, the kernal, and the file

system.

The Shell

password has to contain at least six

The shell is a high level language.

characters. The maximum is eight.

Two of these have to be letters and at

It has two important uses. It acts as a

least one has to be a number or a spe

command interpreter. For instance,

cial character.

when using commands like cat, who,

Page 14

260() Magazine

Winter 1988-89

ON UNIX
Is, etc., the shell is at work figuring out

ular user (this directory contains the

whether you have entered a command

Ipasswd file).
Here are some files und er the letc

corre ctly or not. The second most

directory:

i mportant reason for the shell is its

ability to be used as programming lan

letc/passwd

guage. Suppose you're performing

letc/utmp

some tasks repeatedly over and over

letc/adm/sulog

again. You can program the shell to do

this for you.

letc/group

letc/motd
letc/conf

The Kernal

letc/profile

You could say that the kemal i s the

heart of the UNIX operating system.

Idev - contain s f iles f o r p h ysical

devices such as the prin ter an d the
disk drives.

The kernal is a low level language

lower than the shell which maintains
processes. The kemal handles memo

ry usage, maintains the file syste m ,

Itmp - temporary file directory.

the software, and hardware devices.

The File System

!lib -

The file system in UNIX is divided

into three categories: directories, ordi
nary files, and special files. (d,-)

directory that contains programs

for high level languages.

SEE FIGURE A.

lusr

- this d i rectory contains directo

ries for each user on the system.

lunix - is the kemal

Example of a list of files under lusr:

lusr/tmp

letc - contains system administrator's

lusr/lib

files. Most are not available to the reg-

lusr/docs

Basic structure
(I) . this IS an abbreviation for the roo! directory.

root level

root
system

(I)

..

lunlx

1
lete
I

Idev

Itmp

Ilib

level

Ijohn

lusr2

L
I

Imail

".profile . in case
you wish 10 change
. your environmenl.

Ipers

_
I

Ibin

Igames

capital

Ievel

Icathy

A fler you log off,

lusr
____

login passwd

.profile

1
Ibin
I

data

othello starwars

il

I
Imichelle
-
I
I
letter
letter1

resets 10 Ihe defau/1.

FIGURE A

Winter 1988-89

2600

Magazine

Page 15

HACKER'S GUIDE
lusr/j ohn - ass u m i ng that you h ave

lusr/n ews
lusrls pool
lusrispooi/ip
lusr/li b/u ucp

h acked i nto Jo h n 's accou n t.

$
Now l et's say you wanted to move
down to th e m ic h e lle dir ectory (you
own this) w h ich contains letters. You
wou ld type i n :

Ibin - co n t a i n s executable p rogra m s

(co m m ands)

$cd michelle

Th e root also contai n s:

Ibck - u s e d to m o u n t a b ack u p f i l e
syst e m .
!install - us ed to i n stall a n d remove
utilit ies.
Ilost+found - th i s is w h e r e all the
removed files go. Th i s d i r is u s ed by
fsck ( 1 M).
Isave - a uti lity u sed to save d ata.
Imnt - used for t e m porary m o u n t i n g .

or

$ cd usr/john/michelle
$pwd
lusr/john/michelle
$
To go back on e d irectory, type in:

$cd ..
or to go back to you r parent directo
ry , ju st type in "cd".
To list file directories, assuming you
a re in the parent directory:

Local Commands

Expla i ned in Deta il

$ Is lusr/john
mail
pers
games
bin
michel le

At t h e UNI X prom pt, type the pwd

co m m a n d . It w i l l show you th e cu rrent
working d i rectory you are i n .
$ pwd
lusr/admin - ass u m i ng t hat you h ave
h acked i nto a s u per u ser acco u nt.
$

This won't give you the .profile file.

To view it type:

$cd
$Is-a

Th is g ives you t h e fu l l log i n d i recto

ry. The I before t e lls you t h e locat i o n
of the root directory.
or
(refer to t h e d i ag ra m above)
$ pwd
$15

profi le
To l i s t fi l e n a m e s i n m ic h e lle's
d i r ectory type in:
$ Is michelle (tha t is, if you're in the
_

-I

60
rwxr-x
drwx_-

total

rwxrx

5 john

7 john

bluebox
bluebox

6 cathy bluebox

10 april 9 7:04
30 april 2 4:09
13 april

Page /6

mail
pers

13:00

partys

FIGURE B

2600 Magazine

Winter

1988-89

TO UNIX
"jo h n " d irect o ry )
$ Is lusr/john/mic h e l le (parent d irec
tory)

Is -I

pe r m issio n , - means remove permis

m eans assign. Example: if you
wanted all oth e r users to read the file
named m ail, you would t ype :

sion,

$chmod o+r mall

T h e Is -I is an an im po rta n t co m
m a n d in UNIX. T h is co m m a n d d is
p la y s t h e w h o l e d i r e c t o r y i n l o n g
format. Ru n t h is i n t h e parent d irecto
ry.
SEE FIGURE B.

Th e total 60 t e l l s you the amo u nt of

d isk space u s ed in a directory. The rwxrx-- is read in t riples of t h ree. The
f i rst c h a ract e r (-, d , b,c) m eans the fo l
low i n g : . is a n o rd i n a r y f i l e , d is a
d irect o ry , b is a block fil e , c is a char
acter file .
Th e r sta n d s for read p e r m issio n , w
for w rit e p e r m is s io n , x f o r exec u t e .
The f i rst colu m n i s read in t h re e triples
as sla t e d a bove. The first g r o u p of
t h r e e (i n -r w x r-x--- ) a f t e r t h e .....
specifies t h e pe r m issio n fo r t h e owner
of the fil e , the second t ripl e is for t h e
gro u p s ( t h e fo u rt h co l u m n ) , an d t h e
last triple ind icates t h e permis s ions f o r
all ot h e r u s e r s . The refore t h e -rwxr-x--
is read as fo l lows: the owner joh n h as
perm issio n to read, w rite, and execute
anyt hing i n the bin direct o ry but t h e
group h as n o writ e permis sion to it and
the rest of the u s e rs h ave no pe rmis
sion at all. The fo r m at of one of t h e
lin es i n t h e above o utput i s a s fol lows:
file type/p e r m is s io n s , lin ks , u s e r 's
n am e , g ro u p, byte s take n , d ate, time
w h e n last r e n e w e d , d irect o r y or fiie
n a m e.

cal
Now suppose y o u wanted to read
the file l ette r . T h e re are two ways of
doing t h i s . Fir s t , go to th e michelle
directory. Th e n type in:

$cat leiter
line one . \
line two ...the output of letter
line three . !
$
.

or if

you are in t h e parent directory,

type in:

$ cat lusr/john/mich e l le/lelter

and you will have the same outpul.
So m e cat opt io n s are: -s, -u , -v, -e, 1
-

Special C haracters in UNIX

- m atch es a n y n u m b e r of single char

(Exam ple: Is jo h n " will list all

acters .

files that

[.. . ] -

begin with joh n . )

matches any one of the charac

ters in the [ ].

? - matches any single character.

& - runs a p roces s in the background
leaving yo u r term inal free.
$ - val ues used f or variables also $n -

n u l l arg u m e nt.
- redirects o utput.
< - redirects input to com e from a fi l e .
- redirects co m m and to be added

to t h e e n d of a file.
I - pipe output (Example: w hol wc - I t e l l s
u s how many use rs a r e o n lin e ) .
>

chmod
The c h mod co m m and c h anges p e r
m i ssion of a directo ry o r a fil e . Fo r m at
IS ch mod wh o(+, -, =)( r, w, x). The who
IS s u bstit uted by u u s e r, g -g ro u p , 0other u s e rs, aall. Th e + m e a n s add
Winter

passwd
Password changing s e e m s to be a
big thing am ong some. To change the
passwo rd, o n e would u s e th e "pass-

1988-89

(continued o n page 40)

Page 17

2600 Magazine

GALL DEPT.

'"
Cl
'"
a.

"

u;
'"
-'

o
o

'"

....
III
....

'"
....

III
"" to
oo
"'en
.0

::len
z

- 'Q)
C

"0
u

l"
N

....

.0 Q)
u B en
u u '"
00..

>

'"
Co
o
"i'

0_

in
a>
u
'" ..
. .
MU
1"-

.. i!

.!II:

....

Qj

01
U
s:::
III
en

'iii
en

....
o

....

Q)
a.

on

...

-;,
..
C !
QI
2z

0. ..
QI U
- C

>
z

00
0

a:

m '
>-

zle

0<0
f--_
!hill

"i
o ..
>

J 0
QI
."
L.Z

01= "
.0"0.
Uo
E:: 0::
::J "- -ell
C .
" ..
_ ""c>

Z-: ;
C>""
c. C
U
_

4)::: '"
:x;- o
mIL

IT TOOK A LOT OF GALL for someone to call us collect and somehow convince
an untrained operator that we had accepted the charges and then apparently talk to
our answering machine for seven minutes. It also takes a lot of gall for an Alternate
Operator Service company like the above to charge the astronomical rates they do,

let alone com e up with an official sounding name like " Operator Assistance

Network". When we first saw that line on the phone bill, we thought it was some

kind of tax or surcharge. That's why we decided to expend a little gall of our own
and expose the entire sordid affair, phone numbers and all.

Page /8

2600 Magazine

Winter

1988-89

how to hear phone

You too can be nosy and lis
ten i n to other people's t ele

calls

ph one

with

radio

ca 11 s

phone base channels are locat

ed.

Standard UHF/VHF Scanner:

rec e iv e r. Depending o n what

You

kind of radio(s) you have, here

phones in your immediate

can

pick

up

cordless

are th e things you can pull in:

vicinity, IMTS (old style car

Short

Wave Radio: You need a

phones) in your general area,

g e n e r al coverage receiver that

and air plane phones f l yin g

is capab l e of receiving in single

overhead. For the base sta

Sideband mode (SSB) or has a

tions, you'll usually hear both

BFO mode. Your antenna can

sides

either be the whip antenna on

although sometimes the mobile

of

the

conversa tion.

the radio or a long piece of

caller won't be audible and

wire . ten to fifty feet, running

you'll just have to imagine

a r o u n d your home or better

what they're saying. Use either

yet . outside to a tree or pole.

th e whip an t enna on your

You will be able to tune ship to

scanner or buy an outdoor

sh o r e telephone calls w ithin

scanner antenna. These fre

the following frequency bands

quencies are listed in mega

(all numbers in kilohertz):

hertz:

4357-4434.
6506-6521.
8718-8812.
13100-13197.

Cordless phone s
46 .6 1 0 to 46.970
IMTS car phones
1 52.5 1 0 to 1 52.8 1 0

17232-17356.

(base stations)

22596-22716.

Airplane phones
454.02 5 to 455.000

Th e se frequencies are the

sh o r e station, which usually

(land stations)

broadcas t s both sides of the

459.02 5 to 460.000

conversa tion. Transmissi ons

(airplanes)

are i n upper sideband (USB)

The ECPA bans listening to

m o d e. Conversations may roll

car telephones. Cordless and

i n fr o m

all over the world,

airplane phones are governed

espec ially at night, and will be

by

in m a ny different languages.

Communications Act of 1 934.

sec tion

605

of

the

S o m e shortwave receivers

which says you can listen all

c a n tune all the way down to

you want as long as you do not

t h e AM b a n d.
check

If yours does.

1690 to 1 770 kilohertz.

w h ere the old cordless tele-

divulge the information to any

one else or use it for profit.
800

Winter 1988-89

Mhz Sca n n er: Newer

2600 Magazine

Page 19

p h o n e c a l l s are
scanners cover all of the ab ove

A s m e n t i o n e d b e fo r e , t h e
ECPA b ans l i s

mentioned scanner fre q u e ncies

u ne nforc e a b l e

as well as t h e

tening t o c ellular telephones.

800 Mhz c ellular

telephones (p rov i d e d the man

Old Television S e t : S ome of

u factu re r hasn't locked out the

the frequency space for cellular

c a p a b i lity) . N o t e t h a t c e l l u l a r

teleph ones u s e d to be UHF 1V

t e l e phones a r e o f a wider b and

c hannels 79 through 8 3 . Th at's

width t h a n most oth e r scanner

why newer 1V sets h ave l es s

S igna l s . and t h e average scan

UHF c h a n n e l s .

ner may lose the p e aks of s ome

h ave a n

word s ,

h ig h

make s u r e t h e re ' s an antenna

p i t c h e d women ' s voice or a per

attach e d ( e i t h e r the UHF l o o p

son

e s p e c i a l ly

screaming.

For

an

a n t e nn a , start w i t h t h e w h i p

or the

If you don't

800 Mhz scanner yet.

U H F l e a d - i n fr o m a n

o u tdoor antennal . and try tun

a nt e n n a on t h e sc anne r : sli d e

ing across t h o s e c h a n ne l s .

i t in a l l the w ay so that it is as

c o n t i n u o u s t u n i ng knob w i l l

s h o rt as p ossible

work b etter t h a n th e click stop

(800 M hz is a

s m a l l w a v e leng t h , s o s h o rt e r

kin d . C e l l u l ar t e l e p h o ne c alls

a n ten n a s

fo r ) .

on y o u r 'IV set c o u l d b e consid

Ex peri ment a l s o with a ngling

e r e d u nw a n t e d i nt e rfe re n c e ,

are

called

t h e \V h i p fo r bet t e r re cep t i o n .

b u t t he l aw mandates t h at you

Or p u rc h a s e a n o u td o o r a n t e n

t u rn yo u r 'IV set o fT as soon as

t h a t i s t u n e d for 800 M h z .

y o u re alize t h at you are rece iv

na

Or

p u rc h a s e

a car cellular

ing prote c t e d comm u nications.

Radio: H av e n ' t

a n t e n n a and m o u n t it o u t s i d e

S t a n d a rd AM

Y O ll r window ( or o n y o u r roof) .

g o t a ny fancy ra d i o equ ipment

8 7 0 . 000 to 890.000

and

(b ase stations (cells) fo r t h e

s t andard c e l l u l a r

syste m . )

8 90 . 000 t o 896 . 0 00

don't want t o buy a ny? If

y o u r n e ig h b o r s are u si ng t h e
older

models

p h o ne s .

of

cordless

you migh t b e a b l e t o

( b a s e stations for t h e ext e n d e d

p ic k u p the base channel at the

cellular ch annel s . Not in

fa r end o f t h e AM dial (p a st

widespread u se yet . )

Pa!J..e 20

2600 Ma!{azine

1 600) .

Winter 1988-89

I n the a l r
WHAT MIGHT YOU HEAR ON A C A R

<

Kids are great, B il l .

PHONE? WE'RE NOT SAYING

THAT

>

You got 'em a iob yet?

ANYONE ACTUAUY LISTENS T O T H I S

<

What?

STUFF AND THEN WRITES I T D O WN

>

You got 'em a i ob yet?

>

I feel bad for m e. I feel bad

FOR M A GAZINE A R TICLES, B U T I F

TH E Y D I D ,

IT

M IGHT

LOOK

LIKE

f o r b o t h of u s . My h e a r t

THiS

h u rts too. I love you.

t h e part of the

<

p r o b l em is t h a t t h ey got -

>

t h e y got a buyer for, for

k i s s i t if I c o u l d k i s s you r

Kent. We'l l iust make it back

heart.

i n the comm ission for Kent.

<

Now you understand that?

>

< Who'll iust m a ke it back?

th u m per before.

>

>

I t h i n k that

Huh?

< Who?
>

>

Jerry, Larry, and you .

W h a t do y o u d o w i t h a

Wh o loves you?
(osc u lating noises) I wou ld

(giggle)
I t was beating like a little

<

Real ly?

>

( m ore osculating noises )

<

God

>

A n i c e l i Hle orgy.

<

U m m , I k n ow . God you

group like tha t? You know. I

feel

m e a n w h a t, I m e a n w h a t ,

tonight.

g r ea t

d ow n

there

Yea h I h a d it i n , I w a s

what d o you with somebody

>

l i k e the deal?
< I don't know wh at you do
a n ym o re. I mea n , the m usic
i s c h a n g i n g so ra d i c a l l y i t' s

h ol d i ng it diHerently.

h a rd to keep u p .

g reat, wha tever it was you

<

Oh. Felt wonderfu l.

>

Did you notice that?

<

Yea h . I tol d you i t fel t

>

Yea h.

were doing.

<

I t's hard to find out what to

>

Uh h u h .

<

I could tel l i t w a s diHerent,

do it a nyway.
>

b u t I d o n 't k n ow w h a t i t ,

Yea h .

you're doing.

< Y o u know?
>

Yea h. Yu p. How's the kids?

< How're the kids?

>

>

Yeah . I t wa s d efinitely d if

ferent

Yea h .

(pause) Wan t me to

tel l you what I did?

Winter

1988-89

2600 Magazine

Page 21

do not attempt
<
>

S u re.

>

I like sq uished it with my

Okay, then

you

k n ow

what I'm ta lking a bout.

Of course I know, but you

l eft h a n d . And I j u s t l eft a

<

space open for tha t leeeetle

k n ow, yo u ' r e l o o k i n g at i t

cl itoris to stick out.

l ike throug h a m ic roscope

You were s q u i s h i n g it?

>

No

C a u se i t felt l ik e y o u were

<

A n d you 're g o i n g t o say it's

p u l l i n g it apa rt?

e n tirely d ifferent but if you

<

>

Wel l , at th e s a m e ti m e I

..

stand back and say " Hey

"

A l r i g h t , watch w h a t h a p

w a s , h a d t h e two f i n g e r s

>

p u l l i n g i t apart b u t the bot

pens with t h i s o n e

tom of my h a n d , wa s l ik e ,

<

s q u a s h i n g it i n .

well with it, but i t rea l l y i s

<

U h , wel l , t h a t fel t g r eat.

( pa use)

Oh .

God

wa s

h orny.

W'e l l , I th i n k we could do

ba sically the same concept.

>
<

I don't th ink 50, not at a l l .

You d o n ' t th i n k it's t he

You 're horny now?

sa m e concept?

<

No, I wa s h orny.

>

>

Oh.

<

Nah, then you're losing it.

:>

No I th i n k they're all --

>

<
>

Which one

N o , t h e o n e we r u n l a s t

>

>

- and when can you g ive

me an a n swer?

year was o u r a rt deco.

<

No, nope.

Yea h?

<

T h i s is tota l l y d i ffe r e n t .

>

Right.
And it was very nice. But

We're n ot ta l k i n g a b o u t th e

you can't, I mean she was on

s a m e one. Th e one - -

t h e p h o n e w i t h B r i a n th i s

<

Tota l ly d iHerent i s the d if

morning, a n d , a n d s u d denly

f e r e n c e b e tw e e n an e a g l e

it w a s , it was the m o n e y

a n d a n a u tom o b i l e . They're

th ing. And I got on the - -

tota l ly d iHerent.

<

Wh at's the money t h i n g ?

>

Y o u k n o w , and I g o t on the

>
<

I t's not.
S h e e s h . Yo u ' r e ta l k i n g

p h o n e with h i m a n d I s a i d

a bout a yoke trea tment that

Bria n , j ust, you know , come

comes d own l i k e a V, one is

a rt deco, on e is floral

over h ere and look l

Page 22

2600 Magazine

<

B u t you could ta ke a l m os t

Winter / 988-89

th i s at hom e
routines they want, construc
tion's s l owi n g d ow n r i g h t

everything.
> I know.
<

You know -- it's also both

ering you in the background.

>

No.

<

O h yeah.

>

Not with Brian.

so well.
>

Yeah, but Brian and he did

not g et along very well.

Y e a h , b u t Bobby seems

<

has been to his head , you

k n ow , ' B e c a refu l , you ' r e
gonna get screwed.'
>

yeah

<

You know, you know, uh

ya know you hear it from,

you

k n ow ,

sc rewed or

either
you're

get

gonna

get ->

Oh, I know, I know, but

you know on the other hand

after you talk to him for a

few m i n u tes h e ' s c o m i n g
o v e r a t o n e o ' c l o c k to
w

ork Howard?

<

No bullshit a bout it.

>

Yeah, but, uh, you know I

m ea n

I know.
And if they want -- you
k n ow ,
uh....
Lexi n g t o n
Avenue -
> I know.
< And Bergen Avenue.
> I know.
< And Old Bergen Avenue.
> I know.
<
U h , I , t h ey j u s t g otta
understand, uh you know, I
mean I gotta , what I gotta
do is sta rt going out there
more to see him then.
> Uh huh.
< And, you know, doing my
routine and say I know how
to do very well with that.
> Right, exactly.
<
T h ey w o u l d g ive m e a
fu c ki n g b r ea k , we h ave
some closings, we'll pay you,
you
k n ow w e ' r e
rig h t
around that time, we're clos
ing, you just gotta wait a lit
tle while.
> That's right, that's right.
>

<

Bria n, he knows Brian all

<

now.

they see, they see a lot

of work going on down it's

THIs

g o i n g to c h a n g e peo p l e ' s

AL SERIES ON POSSIBLE CONVERSA

attitudes.

nONS

<

You know he -- if he wants

IS THE FIRST IN AN OCCASION

THA T

OVERHEAR.

IF

ANYONE

COULD

THIS HAD BEEN A N

to j e r k - - you k n ow , you

ACTUAL CONVERSATION, L O OKING

k n ow h e could play all the

AT THIS ARnCLE WOULD BE ILLEGAL.

Winter 1988-89

2600 Magazine

Page 23

Letters For
alias within a given limit. say.

Some Ideas

an area code . The person could

Dear 2600:

After month 's o f agonizing

over 2600's financial plight. I 've

figured out a way to return to

the monthly fonnat and solve

another great prob l e m t h a t

plagues B B S ' s a l l o v e r t h e

nation . How many times have

you logged onto your favorite

BBS and seen some message

like this : " I t has come to my

attention that someone else is
using m y name.

'The G r im

Reaper'. on other BBS's. Well .

whoever you are. I 'm the re a l

Grim Reaper . I was The G rim

Reaper mon ths b e fo r e

you

came around . You b etter not

use my name any more . or I 'm
gonna kick your $#&*@ ass ! ! !

You better think of a new name

dude! ! ! "
Well. the obvious solution to
th is com mon dilemma is to
have a sort of "name registra
tion ". where individuals can
reg ister their alias w i th an
authority -- kind of like your
given name when you're born .

And who else w o u l d be t he

most likely authorization but
the hacke r s '

a n d p h reaks

'

choice - - 2600! Think about it!

You could charge each registra

get some littl e c e rt ific ate to

hang on his wall .. and maybe

ev e n a patch to

sew on his

jacket .

So the next time the loser

user logs onto the BBS . he can

now p ro u d ly assert : "By t h e

power o f 2600. I am t h e only

Grim Re aper with in the 2 1 2
area code. I am the only one
certified and authorized to use
that pseudonym . So be gone .

you pagan!"

So .

w h a d ay a s ay ? 2 6 0 0

could b e put into th e black.

and we would no longer have to

put up with d u eling 14 year

olds. We have a unique oppor

tunity to help solve the hack

ers' two most serious problems.

No thanks. There must be a

better way to raise Junds than
to p lay b ig brother to dueling
1 4 year olds. Besides. how in
the w o rld would the user be

able to prove that he/ she was

the o n e w i t h t he c e r t ificate
h a ng ing
on
their
wall?
Computers s till offer a degree
oj a nony m ity . Let's all try to
enjoy that while we can.

tion a nominal fee. like $3. For

Articles & Boards

that $3 . you will give the per

Dear 2600:

son a reg istra tion certificate.

saying that he is the only one

authorized to use a particular

Page 24

2600 Magazine

After having received your

volume 4 . number 1 0 issue. I

was truly amazed! It's great to

Winter 1988-89

Winter

Reading

s e e a p u b l i c a t i o n t h at i s
straightfo rw ard a n d informa

could offer. plus a bit o f effort

on my part. would bring about

tive . It wittingly c aters to the

nOvic e . as well as those of us

great results.

o c c a s i o n a l p e ri o d s o f " h ack
attacks" . Good j ob ! !

You can contact us with your

BBS ideas by caUing 5 1 6- 75 1 -

who h o p e l e s s ly s u ffe r fro m

I would like t o inquire about

submission of written articles.
relevant computer news. news
paper stories . and the like . I
b elieve I h ave or can obtain

e n o ugh data t o " p ublish" at

least one article on a minimum

quarterly basis . Also submit

table would be a collection of

"postings" from the area net
works which would be of worth

to you r magazine .
Next on my list is the hope of

b e ing a l l o w e d to o p e ra t e a
Greater New Orleans branch of
2600 Magazine BBS . I know of
many p eople and u sers wh o

would be more than happy to

benefit by logging into a system
like s u c h . A BBS of the like
would offer its u sers a wealth

of information that would oth

e rwi s e b e i n a c c e s s ib l e , o r
worse yet . u nnoticed! As I soon
will have a phone installed with
a few extremely advantageous
services such as call forward

ing and call transferring. I will

also be ab le to link users t o

systems that would be o u t o f

their reach but w ithin mine! I

think that the combination of

w h at a 2 6 0 0 M ag azine B B S

sw

2600. We're als o always ask

ing Jor unsplicited articles. so if
you have something you think
we mig ht publish. send it in.

Need lnjo

Dear 2600:
I

u n d e rstand

that

the

Telecaption Adaptor I I available

from S ears c an b e extended

with a few p arts to h ave an

RS232C serial output port for a
computer. I would like to find

out how to do such a modifica

tion so that the 'IV subcaption
output can be displayed on a

Te l e p ro m p t e r w ith RS 2 3 2
input. This would allow people

who are both hearing and sight

impaired to understand 'IV. My
grandmot h e r c annot s e e the
tiny letters that the TCA II gen
erates on the scre e n . I would
appreciate any information on

how to accomplish this modifi

cation.

Handel

AT&T Nightmare
Dear 2600:

Our small liberal arts college

recently switched over from its

Winter 1988-89

2600 Magazine

Page 25

The Winter
o l d c r o s s b a r sy s t em t o t h e
AT&T S y s t e m 8 5 e a rly t h is
year. I n the old days. you sub

our fac ulty cannot call home !

For a system that is supposed
to be "smart" . it sure isn't . If I

scribed to Wisconsin Bell (like

all Wisc onsin re Sid e nts) . had

were to c all myself u sing the

prefix that the school is acces

use your long-distance service

with the 1 + option. That has

it goes ah e ad and wastes an

o u tg o ing and inc oming l i n e

your name in the phone d irec

t o ry . w e r e available through
directory assistanc e . and could

sible through . the phone sys

tem doesn't even know to j ust
use an internal switch . Instead

changed since then. If technol

wh il e I t alk t o myself. So to
ogy is s u p p o s e d to make life prove to the school that some
e a s i e r . it d o e s n ' t and it also
thing needs to be done . we're
m a k e s it a h el l of alot more
getting 37 people to call them
exp e n s ive . . . . To make a l ong
selves d u ring busy business
d istance call . we now hav e to
hours. and make the system
dial
and
the
use
t ry

the 800 port (I u se Sprint)

use a calling card to place
c all . For those of you who
software for your modems .
p r o g r a m m ing
a
20+

s e q u e nc e ! Th e n w e also are
ch arg e d a 50 cent surcharge

fo r p l a c i ng t h e c a l l ! An d if
you 're like me . that really adds
up. We are u nable to c all 9 50's.
"toll free" Wisconsin Bell lines.

paralyzed . . . for about 4 h ours.

That should teach them what

they refuse to listen to. Like all
systems . no one cares until it
happens to them . . . .

Cray-Z Phreaker
Skunk Works
The b ug y o u 're a b o u t to
exploit is probably the easies t

c all w a it ing for an inc oming

part of the sys tem to fix. A l l

t h e y have t o d o i s b lock o u t
t h a t exc h a ng e l i k e they ' ve

r u n a B B S from y o u r d o rm

b l oc ked o u t o t hers . B u t the

point is you have to get the col

du ring normal b u siness hours

lege and the phone company to

lis ten to you. the end user. You
must do whatever you see fit.

and we are unable to turn off

call . Good if you are trying to

room . There are only 37 outgo

ing lines. and 27 incoming . So
(the school ' s bu siness office is
also on the system) . you will be

unable to place a call! Someone

from AT&T also forgot to pro

gram all of the reachable pre

fixes in our area ! Even some of

Page 26

2600 Magazine

Th is means be ing - lo u d and

specific as to what pro blems
y o u 're faced w ith. Remember,
you have the same right to tele
p hone service as anyone else
in thiS country. Being at a col-

Winter 1988-89

Letters Column
lege does not mean you're sign
i ng a w ay t h is right. Demand

about these in o u r las t iss ue.

So far we haven't seen a phone

ans w ers and if you don't g e t

company olfer these services.

m a k e s u re e very b o dy

R egard l e s s of w ho offers it.

though. there is another poten

them.

knows it.

A n d a m e s s a g e t o A T&T:
This is the s econd time in as
many issues that we've heard
major comp l a in ts a b o u t y o u r

tial security risk here.

Wi t h r eg a rds to us ing for
warding on a payphone, there

are t w o an.s wers. The firs t is

S y s t e m 85. Las t time it was

no. That is , according to t he

the Hous e of Representatives.

phone company . After all, why

would anyone want to use for

Who will i t be next?

ward ing on a payphone? It's

Call Forwarding
Dear 2600:

I 'm hoping you may be able

t o a n s w e r some q u e s t ions
regarding t h e p h one company s
'

availability of call forwarding .

As it stands . in order to acti

vate call forwarding, you must

h ave the s e rvice on your line

and you must activate it from

that line . I t must b e d eactivat
ed from t h e same phone that it
was activated on.
My qu estion is this : is it pos

s i b le t o fo rwa rd Phone "A" t o

P h o n e " 8 " fr o m P h o n e " C " ?
Al s o .

is it p o s s i b l e to h ave a

pay p h one fo rward e d t o y o u r

simply no t possible. The other

ans wer is yes. Of course, it's
possible. Hackers have done it
by us ing t he phone company's
computer. And we don't doubt
t ha t l a w e nfo r c e m e n t has
made us e

of

it o n occas ion.

Wha t better way to trick a drug

dealer or k idnappe r calling a
payphone?

Observations
Dear 2 600:

S e e ing h o w yo u h ave pu b

lish e d

u p d ates

to

the

800

exc h anges t h a t are own e d by

ICs.

h e re

are

some

80 0

exc hange s th at b elong to oth er

JH

c ompanies. as well as some of

t h e same comp anies ( M C I ,

There a r e r e m o t e c a ll fo r

from my NPA. and I live in the

locat ion?

warding devices available that

al10w you to c hang e the num

ber you're forw a rd ing to and to

cancel call forw a rd ing from a
r e m o t e l o c a t i o n . We t a l k e d
Winter

S print , et c . ) . Th e s e all work

midwest . I know that one carri

er (LYrEL) is a re - seller of long

distance lines to FG-B c a rriers

in my are a . Anyway, t h e list :

800

J988-89

NXX
2600 Magazine

Page 27

We Really Like
3 7 3 Tel e c o nnect
383 - Tel e c o nnect
456 M C I
4 7 2 AT&T
589 LYfEL
636 C o n q u e s t Long D istance
668 AT&T
686 C o n q u e s t Long D istance
728 Tel e c o nnect
747 Tel econnect
798 Tel e c o nnect
829 Sp rin t
869 S p rint
873 MCI
-

p u l s i ng .

Th i s a l s o

was

the

same for AHnet .

S p e a king of AlInet , I am a

legal c u s t omer of theirs, with

d i al - u p servic e . When I got my

a u th o ri z a t i o n n o t i c e

mail , I discovered that my c o d e

h a d b e e n p u t i n o n AU n e t ' s

800,

dialu p s . O n th e

950,

and

in t h e

local

F G -A

950 a n d local
FG -A no d e , I c o u l d u se my 6
d igit c o d e "as is" , b u t with the

8 0 0 " T r a v e l - M a t e " s e rv i c e , I
6 d ig i t c o d e ,

m u s t e n t e r my

Th e s e are t h e exch anges that

plu s my three digit PIN. (By the

I h ave fo u nd t h a t were not list

way, AHnet u se d t o u s e s om e

e d i n any issu e o f

2600 u nd e r

t yp e o f formula to derive c u s

a ny c o m p a n y . Th e r e m a y b e

tomers ' PIN numb e rs . This for

more . s i n c e I c ompiled th is list

mula

c u s t o m e r ' s exc h a n g e a s t h e

fe w

months

ag o .

Als o .

used

p a rt

of

the

Te leconnect i n t h i s c ase is not

fi rst digit o f t h e PI N . I am j u st

t h e s a m e c o m p a ny t h a t r u n s

ment i o ning this for the sake of

Tc l ec o n n c c / M a g a z i n e . I a m

info mlation . as they no longer

t o l d . I c a n u s u a l ly t e l l by l i s

u se this method , acc o rd ing to

t e n i ng i f t h e exc h a nge is owned

c u s t o m e r s e rv i c e . ) I a m l e s s

by a n I C . a s t h ere seems to be

t h a n h a p p y w i t h Al ln e t ' s s e r

m o re n o i s e and s t a t i c on the

vice - - t h ey are raising p ric es in

c o n n e c t i o n s and in the b a c k

my a r e a fo r b o th d i a l u p a n d

gro u n d

th a n

t h e re

is

with

e qu a l access dialing. Al so , t h ey

AT&T 8 0 0 n u m b e r s . Al s o . in

cannot

my a re a a t l e a s t . the c o nnec

r e c o r d s s t r a ig h t .

t ion

time

fo r a n AT&T 8 0 0

seem

to

get

t heir

Somehow I

w a s s i gn e d up w i t h Al l n e t a s

I did not

n u m b e r i s l e s s t h an for a n I C

my P I C eve n t h ought

o w n e d 8 0 0 n u mb e r . W e s t e rn

c h o o se t h e m . I talked to c u s

U n i o n ' s s e rvice u s e d to be such

tomer servic e about it as soon

p o o r q u a l i t y i n my area t h a t

as I fou nd out and th ey told me

1 02 2 0 # ( t h e ir

t h e p r ob l e m w o u l d be fix e d .

e q u a l a c c e s s ove rride) , I c o u l d

S o o n aft e rw ard s , I r e c e iv e d a

h e a r t h e n o i s e b e i n g c u t fo r

n o t i c e in t h e m a i l t e l l ing m e

A N I a n d c a l l e d n u mb e r o u t -

t h a t I h a d been disconnected

when I dialed

Page 28

2 6(}(} i'.Jagazine

Winter 1 988-89

Getting Your Letters

from AHn e t . H owever . t o t h i s
day. I a m still connected with
AHnet and they c annot get the
bills straigh t . They send the bill
for 1 + to my a ddress for dial
up bills. I have called them sev
eral times and still they c annot
fIx th is .
Al s o . to t o p t h ings off. w e
s t i l l received t h e c h arge from
o u r local B O C t o p ay for t h e
disconnection from AUnet even
though we are still connecte d . I
h a ve called c ustomer service a
n u m b e r of times and th ey d o n t
s e em t o w a n t to h e l p . I h a ve
c o n s i d e re d d r o p ping Al l n e t
'

o f t h e s everal t h i ngs
h ave done . but I am st ill a
c u s t o m e r of t h e i r s . Th e o n ly
good t h ing a b o u t AHnet is that
t h ey h ave a 4 5 second b u ffe r
zone t hat is u s e d wh en a c a l l is
c onn e c t e d So if you can keep a
c a l l ' s t i m e l e s s t h an 4 5 s e c
on d s . i t wo n ' t s h ow u p on you r
b i l l . I i m ag i n e t h a t s o o n e r o r
l a t e r t h ey w i l l g e t t h e e q u i p
ment t o d e t ec t answer s u p e rv i
s i o n , b u t it l o o k s l ike it w i l l be
later.
In t h e S p ring 8 8 issu e y o u
published a list of B O C rou ting
and system codes. You asked if
anyo ne knew h ow to use the
M exic o fu nct i o n o f RQ S . You
c a n u s e t h i s with a M ex i c o
N PA . s u ch a s 9 0 5 . J u st u s e
905 as the N PA a n d u se two
M e x i c a n e x c h a ng e s in t h e
because

t h ey

exc h a n g e i nfo rm a t i o n . a n d
R Q S will t e l l you th e rat e . I f

you want to t ry this o ut . a valid

exchange in Mexico is 62 1 . So
if you use 905+62 1 and get the
rate information for an intra
o ffi c e c a l l ( t o t h e 9 0 5 + 6 2 1
exch ange) , you will get a local
c all message .
Als o . a n o t e to Tel e n e t I D
u s ers . a c c o r d i n g t o Te l e n e t
C u stomer S ervic e . th e c o st o f
getting an ID i s $24 a month .
$ 1 8 a c o nn e c t h ou r . and the
b ills are it emize d (shows t h at
th e ID u ser c o nneded with) . S o
if t hi s infom latio n is tru e . then
no won d e r Tel e n e t I D ' s always
die wh en people u se them il le
g a l ly Als o . Te l e n et h as a new
t y p e of a c c e s s m a n a g e m e n t
sy s t e m c a ll e d TAMS ( I a m not
s u re what it st a n d s for) which
ke e p s b e tt e r track of ne twork
u s age .
.

Phantom Phreaker
An increasing n umber oj

IC

opera ted 800 numbe rs actually

have be t ter sound q uality than

AT&Ts . They a l s o have more
s op h is t icated caller ide n t ifica
tion Jea tures .

If y o u h av e a

l e t ter to

s e n d to us , d rop i t i n t h e
mail

a d d ress e d

to:

2600

Le t ters Dep artment, PO Box

9 9 , Mi d d l e
1 1 953.

Winter 1 988-89

2600

Is l a n d .

Magazine

NY

Page 29

by E. Solomenko

(re p rinted from Pravda)

I fi rst came across her when as an

i n te r - c i ty te l e p h o n e o p e r a t o r i n
Novos i b i rsk she tried long and h a rd
b u t w i t h o u t s u c c e s s to p u t m e
th rough to Ash khabad _
H e r efforts w e re i n v a i n . " I ' m
sorry, " she sa id, " I ' l l try via Mara . "
Getti ng th rough to Ma ra wa s no
p robl e m . " He l lo , M a r a ? C a n you
help me get a l i ne to Ashkhabad? "
The reply was anyth ing but sister
ly, " D i a l it you rse lf ! " Then they cut
her off.
I reflected sad ly that th e lack of
sol ida rity i n Ma ra was a fa r more
common a pproach than that of my
N ovos i b i rsk g u a rd ia n a n gel of th e
telephone exchange. I remembered
how on a previous occasion I had
also been tryi ng unsuccessful ly to get
th rou g h to th e e l u sive Ash khabad ,
when the operator told me that there
was a fau l t on the l i n e .
J u st i n case, I decided to try get
ti n g th rou g h w i th o u t h e r h e l p , b y
d i a l i n g d i rect from the te lephon e
box . Mi racle of m i racles - - the inter
c i ty code worked and I got th rough .
The operator had told m e there was
a fau l t in order ta get rid of me.
Ash khabad was notoriously d i ffi
cult to get a l i ne to . Yet n ow h e r
sen i o r c o l l eague was tryi ng aga i n
a n d a ga i n to con n ect me and I could
hea r her sayi n g t o th e g i rl n ext to
her (she had forgotten to switch me
off) that she h a rd ly had any voice
left from shouti ng down the l i ne to
Ash khabad .
At long last I h ea rd the voice of

Page 3 0

2600

Magazine

my f r i e n d , th e a rt i s t D u r d a
Ba i ra mov, ove r th e l i ne . We both
had to bell ow in order to be heard ;
the l i ne was terrible. The operator' s
hoarse voice broke in as she sta rted
relaying my q uestion s to Durda and
his a n swers bock to me. I felt very
touched by her concern and just had
to find out who she was .
H e r n a m e i s Valentina Efimovna
Vdovina and she works i n what they
s i m p l y refer to as the " in ter-city" ,
wh ich i s one of the country' s largest
tel ephone exchanges, connecting the
U ra l s with Kamchatka and Ku ri l .
So w h a t i s Va lenti n a Efi mov n a
l i ke?
" S h e ' s a conscientious worker, "
sa id the supervi sor, T. Vereshcha k .
" She never goes home unti l a l l th e
ca l l s that h ave been booked have
got th rough . Someti mes she sits on
i nto the n ight long after her sh ift has
gone off a u ty . We have a lot of
good operators here, but we all take
ou r hats off to Valenti na . "
Then w h o should come i n to the
room but Va lenti n a herself. About
40 yea rs of age, sma l l with a round
face and short ha i r and very kind,
h omely eye s . She s i ts down, obv i
ously ti red . Before l u n c h today she
was worki ng on eight ca l l s at once .
H e r iob i s n ' t exactly a piece of
cake. She o n l y h a s o n e d a y off a
week a n d has lost count of the num
ber of nationa l hol idays she's spent
s i tti n g in front of th e swi tchboard .
She works six hour sh i fts doing what
amounts to a jugg l i n g act with both
hands, connecti n g and d i scon nect
i ng plugs from the swi tchboa rd .

Winter 1 988-89

Then there are the operators' fet

ters, the earphones with mouthpiece
aHached . Just try spending a Whole
sh ift wearing those th ings! You soon
get bel ls ringing permanently in your
head from the con stant noise, and
th i s leads to headaches. Your voice
suffers too from the constant shout
ing to make yourself heard over bad
lines.
It is no accident that state legisla
tion a l lows for ea rly reti rement in
this job. After ten years i n the inter
city, you can retire on full pension at
5 0 . On l y a few s o l d i e r on for
longer. li lya G le i k h , Vera Raeva,
tea m l e a d e r E l s a Va s i l i evn a . . .
Lud m i l a Iva n ovn a Gorbatova has
served her for a lmost a quarter of a
century and has risen from operator
to manager. Other girls come here
stra ight from school and don 't last
two m inutes.
" I ' d get out m yse l f, " s i g h e d
Valentina Vdovina, " b u t I love my
work. I think of it as helping people
to meet each other. It' s as i f I have a
hand in their fates, even if only for a
minute. "
I s a i d tha t n o doubt she over
heard many conversations between
callers, not on pu rpose, of course,
but h ow else cou ld she check the
qual i ty o f line a n d ma ke s u re that
they could hear each other, how else
cou ld she let them know that thei r
time was almost up?
Whether she l i kes i t or not, the
operator must be party to other peo
ple's secrets, to their joys and sad
n esses . There m u s t be ca l l s from
son s return ing from the a rmy, calls

to announce the birth of a grandson,

to say that somebody has been put
in prison or that someane else lias
had a heart attack.
Sometimes they overhear whole
conversations, late at n i.9ht o r on
hol idays when there a re feo.ver calls
going through . Du ring normal work
i n g h o u r s they on ly h ave time to
q u ickly l i sten to check that every
th i n g i s O K . Twen ty secon d s for
eadl call and on to the next one.
A local ca ll comes in. "please t
me through to lesosibi rsk as quickly
as possible, my dear! "
"What n umber d o you want? "
Valentina asks.
" I ' m afra id I don 't know, II sobs
the voice.
"please don 't cry. let' s try to think
how we can find the number. Who
do you want to ring there? "
"My daughter's had an accident
th ere , " says the woma n ' s tea rfu l
voice.
" Do n ' t worry. I ' ll get th rough as
quickly as I can . I expect the su rgical
ward of the hospita l there will be
able to help . "
She got th rough to h e r colleagues
in Krasnoyarsk who gave her a line
to Lesos i b i r s k . F rom there she got
th rough to the hospita l and then to
the doctor in charge of the surgical
ward .
" He l lo, th i s i s th e N ovos i b i rsk
i nter-city exchange. Has there been
a young woman admitted follOWing
an acciaent? There has? Hang on a
second, I ' l l connect you to her moth
er. "
later the mother rang Valentina,

Winter 1988-89

2600 Magazine

Page 31

th i s time c rying with rel ief.

" Th a n k you my dear. I can ' t tel l
you h ow m u c h you h e l ped me . I
don 't know how to than k you for a l l
you d id . "
She doesn ' t h ave to tha n k h e r .
For Va len ti na t h e m a i n th i n g was
that the woman found her daughter,
knows that she is a l ive and will get
bette r . That i s the best tha n k s she
can get.
In the cou rse of her work s h e
comes a c ross a l l sorts o f d i fferen t
people. Sometimes during the busi
est time, when a l l hell is let loose
w i th te n c a l l s g o i n g th rou g h th e
switchboa rd at a time, you sUdden ly
get an i rate caller bursting in saying:
" How m u ch longer m u st I w a i t? I
h aven 't got a l l day you know. If you
don 't pull you r finger out I'm going
to comp la i n . "
" Someti mes we even h ave diffi
c u l t i e s w i th o th e r o p e r a to r s , "
explai ned Lud m i la Gorbatova . "We
can never get th roug h to the Baku
i n ter-city exchange, the operator on
d u ty never a n swers . S h e ' s e i t h e r
asleep o r has gone o ff somewhe re .
"When she d o e s fi n a l ly a n swer
she
s h o u ts
s o meth i n g
in
Azerba i d j a n i down th e phone and
hangs u p . After wh ich you can never
get back th rough aga i n . We have
s e n t a c o m p l a i n t to t h e U S S R
M i n i stry of Commu n ication s and the
B a ku i n ter-city exc hange, but with
out result. "
Vdov i n a says that s h e doesn ' t
very often come a c ross operators
l i ke th e o n e in B a k u . Th e oth e r
S i be r i a n o p e rators i n fo r eastern

Page 32

26()() Magazine

exchanges are a l l considered to be

"one of us" at Novosibirsk.
Valentina started off by working
On the Kra snoyarsk d istrict l i n k and
now is on the Khabarovsk line wh ich
i n c l u d e s t h e w h o l e o f e a s te r n
Kaza kh sta n p l u s a g ood ch u n k of
Novosi b i rsk p rovince.
She is an important l i n k for m i n
e r s , peo p l e wo r k i n g o n t h e g a s
p i peline p roject and the agricultura l
i nd ustry. W\) e n there i s an accident
o n th e p i pe l i n e for exa m p l e , o r
problems with dri l l i n g . When a cou
ple of team s a re n eeded u rgently
e l sewh e re -- a l l th i s concern s her
and she does her best to help .
Let ' s t a k e , fo r ex a m p le , t h e
Novos i b i rs k P i p e l i n e Con structi on
Trust. She knows a s much about
th e i r busi ness as its d i spatch clerk,
V l a d i m i r I v a n o v i c h G o l i ts i n . S h e
knows th at the Trust i s involved i n
pipe p rojects in Belgo and in Lower
Ta m b o v k a , i n Yagod n o e a n d i n
Krasnoyars k .
" Hello, Mr. Gol i ts i n , I ' m putti n g
you th rough to Belgo . "
" H ey, Va l o s h a , w h a t a b o u t a
hello fi rst? How are you nowadays? "
" Hello Vlad i m i r Ivanovich . I can ' t
really tal k for long now, the survi
sor ' s h e re and I ' l l get told off for
chatte ri ng ! "
Th e
s u p e rv i s o r ,
Ta i s i y a
A l e k s a n d ro v n a j u st s m i les . " You
seem to k n ow th e whole coun try,
Valya ! "
" N ot q u i te , " l a u g h s Va l e n t i n a ,
"on ly half ! "
H e r son Seriozha more o r less
g rew u p i n the exchange. When he

Win ter 1 988-89

U. S. S. ie.
was in the fourth closs he was told to
write a composition called My Future
Career. He wrote: " I wont to be a
switchboard g i rl . " When h i s mother
sow it, she laughed and told him to
change it to limon " . He looked at
her from under h i s b rows and said:
"What do you mean, ' man ', when
they' re all girls? "
Over the post two years she has
not been very well . The strain of the
job is starting to tell . Not long ago
she d id a break, but now her short,

1 8 days of holiday are over and she

is bock at work -- how could they
manage without her? She hurries to
l ig h t h e r beacon for the S e a o f
Anxiety, the Sea of Joy, and th e Sea
of Loneliness.
Tomo rrow I sho l l have to ring
Kha bo rovsk. I ' l l d i a l the inter-city
and book my cal l . And how'good it
wil l be to hea r that friendly voice
sayi n g , " D i d yo u book a ca l l to
Khaba rovs k? Putti ng you th roug h
now. "

INTERNADONAL DIRECT DIAL SERVICE

-TO IRAN TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED . ' .,1'
.

At

the oftkgoveninenl Company'Oflran has e

to deny InIemationai Direct Dial Sentice from the world into Iran. Until further notice. an AT&T
caDs from the U.S. Mainland and Hawaii to lran miast be placed tiIrough mAT&TOpemor. Effective
August 4. l988. the following am additional nUrte rale! wiII apply. ./' ,'<" .;; . . ; ...i , ',. , , . ,. ' .
. . OPERAtOR-ASSISTED RATES
. . ."" INInAL 3 MINUTES

. , ,

: '

. .l

(ALL DAYS-ALL HOURS)

Station leite, 3 Minutes

Penon Rat., 3 Minufes

. .'

$ 8.87

. - . ' S 1 1.83

NEW ADDInONAL MINUTE RATES'

. IRAN

,""", 1

. .. _

"r

__

. ... .

_i." ..

Winter 1988-89

.,. .. ..

-t

_ ,

. "

2600 Magazine

Page 33

a n i ntervievv vvith
lJy Joltn Dralce
Not m uch is known a bo u t the Chaos
Comp u ter Club, except for the a b u n
d a n c e of sca ry "yo u should h ire m e

beca use of hackers like them " tales

peddled by compu ter secu rity consul
ta n ts .
Fu rther hype a bo u t t h e "mythical
hacker elite " has a lso been perpet uat
ed by the worldwide media coverage

I\ N I\RTlclE I\bOUT !-tl\ckERS -

PEOplE wJto WORk wirJt COM
PUTERS I\Nd TJtI\ T MENTiONEd TItE
DI\TENSCJtEUdERS. IT WI\S iN DER
SpEil\l, likE NEWS WEEk JtERE,
OR TIME, I\Nd SO suddENly
MI\NY p'EoplE pJtONEd I\Nd
WI\NTE(J TO GET T ItE
DI\TENSCJtEU(lER. TJtEN f RO M
T JtERE TIlE SECONd iSSUE o f
DI\TENSCJtEUdER WI\S I!RiNTEd A
lOT, TIlEN TJtE CJtI\OS COMPUTER
Club.

when a story is picked up by a major

news service.

Who rhEN srAllrEd rhE

ChA OS COMpurEIl Club 1

Th is pas t fa ll two members of the

W I\U HollANd lIE's TIlE ORiGi

NATOR. HE JtA Cf EXTRA ROOMS
I\Nd lIE GI\VE TJtE ROOMS TO
EOpLE wJto CAME TO viSIT ltiM
EfORE iT WAS A club, ANd TItE
ROOMS of TJtE CJtAOS
COMPUTER Club ARE Aho NEXT
dOOR TO Jtis pLACE iN
HAMbURG

Chaos Compu ter Club were passing

t h ro ugh my metropolis . They decided
to h u n t me down with the little infor
m a t ion they had a bo u t me. S ince they
didn 't have the s t reet num ber, the
duo spen t a nigh t ringing the door
bells up and down the s t reet asking
for Joh n Drake . . . . Their even tual s uc
cess res u lted in this in terview.

WilEN WA S' rhE ChA OS'

COMpu rEIl Cl ub fOllMEd1
HMMM, I CI\N TEll you TJtE dl\TE
W JtEN T JtE fiRST DI\TENSC JtEUdER
W I\ S dEliVEREd. TJti s W I\ S iN
FEbRUI\RY 1982 I\Nd ir W I\ S N' T
pJtoTocopiEd. T JtE club MUST
k l\ V E b E E N I\ROUNd SiNCE ' 81.
T JtE REI\SON T JtERE WERE S O ME
C ON T I\C n bET WEEN T JtE JtI\CkERS
W I\ S T JtI\ T TJtERE W I\ S I\ N I\ R TiclE
i N 1\ NEW S p l\ pER iN GERMI\Ny ....
I T Jti N k iT WI\S 1\ 114 I\d, iN fl\cT
S O ME of us T R y iNG T O f iNd
pEop'lE i NTERES TEd iN COMPU T
E R S , iN 1\ p l\ p E R c l\llEd
1\ 114 I\lrERN l\TiVE
T I\GENSiGN
NEW S p l\ pER. TJtis i s Jtow T JtEY
GOT TOGET JtER.
A f T E R T hi s , I T JtiNk T Jt E R E W I\ S
-

--

Page

34

2600

Magazine

W"EIl dOES' PErEIl GIA SEIl

COME IN 1
IN 1982, OR EVEN bEfORE
T JtAT...VERY El\RLy. PETER
GL I\SER Li VEd iN HI\MbuRG. HE
WORkEd WiTJt COMpUTERS fOR A
TEXT PROCESSiNG COMP'ANY. HE
Jtl\d MANY CONTI\CTS W I T Jt
OT JtER pEoplE. SWEN Y Aek Ton
LiVEd w i r Jt 'kiM. SWEN W AS TJtE
fiRST TO JtI\VE CONTACTS wiTlt
W I\U HollANd. HE WI\S ONE of
T ItE fiRST, fAR bEfORE TItERE
WI\S 1\ DI\TENSCJtEUdER, OR
I\NY.TJtiNG of Tltis kiNd, wlto
JtI\(J CONT Acn wiTJt W I\U
Holll\Nd.
HE li VEd TOGETJtER w i T Jt PETER
SO T JtERE WERE OTJtER CONTACTS
T JtERE I\Nd PETER wouLd COME
iN CONTI\CT w i T Jt pEopLE wJto
WERE USING COMpUTERS fOR
MORE T JtI\N ONl Y T Yp'EWRiTiN.
So PETER bECAME 1\ "JtAckER . I

Winter 1988-89

the c haos com puter c l u b

<l mf T kNOW If HE I S REI\Uy 1\
JiI\CkER .. ..iTS 1\ silly W O Rd.
WJiEN liE GOT 1\ ModEM fOR 1\
b i R T Jidl\y p'RESENT fROM SOME
ONE fROM TJiE CJiI\OS
COMPUTER Club, fROM TJiI\T
TiME you ONly SEE Jiis bl\ck.
YES, W JiEN you W I\ NTEd TO
COMMUNiCI\TE wiTJi JiiM you
Jil\d T O buy 1\ ModEM YOURSElf.
BUT, T JiI\ T'S O VER NOW1 JiE oNly
GOES O NliNE VERy SEluOM.

Ch.as Computer C l u b , Schwenckestf.85,

M.ilbollsystem C L I NC H

040

651 64

W ITHOUT ST RUCTURES. ANyONE

CI\N COME W i T JiOUT kl\ ViNG TO
bE 1\ MEMbER.
Ho It' MA N Y pEoplE IlEcEirE
rIlE DA rElnc"ElJdEll 1
WE I\RE pRiNTiNG T W O T JiOU
SI\Nd, I Tlti Nik bUT oNly I\boUT
800 TO 100v I\ RE I\cTUl\ll Y
Ml\ilEd.

0 2000 Hamburg 20, relafo": 040 . 490 J7 5 1 , B T X CHAOS+

15. via Datex-P 444000903 1 4 . G E ON E T : G E 0 1 : Chaos- T E A M

Ho w i rIlE Club SEr up iN

IIEIA nON ro
VA rENsc"EudEIl ?
DI\ TENSCJiEUdER is T JiE pI\pER
of TJiE club.
Ho ., is rIlE club
0 llCjA NizEd1
T Ji I\ T S VERy JiI\Rd TO sl\y
bECI\UU I\S 1\ 1'11 officil\ll Y REG
i S TEREd club i T ' s oNly bEEN 1\
Y U R NOW. BEfORE T JiEN iT W I\ S
IYS T T JiE CJiI\OS COMPUTER
Club. BUT T JiEN you NEEd
SOMEONE fOR TJiE bl\Nk
!,CCOU.NT I\Nd you NEEd 1\ REG
I S T R I\ T lON.
IT's 1\ Gl\ll\cTiCl\l CONNECTioN

no It' IIS

rilE PII.ESS

' OtEd A r r"E" Club 1 You

A It'AS SEE aEp O ll rs A bOUT
l E C"A OS C O Mp u rEIl Club
bllEA kiNI;. iNro ONE s ys rEM
011 A N o rlfEIl

....

W Ji E N y o u G i V E T JiEM hliE
pRESS) SOMETJi.iNG TO E I\ T , T JiEY
I\ll COME RUNNING.

EXA MplEs1
WkEN you JiUR WE JiI\VE JUST
GONE iNTO 1\ dl\Tl\bl\Nk, EVERy
ONE fROM TkE GERMI\N P RESS
will COME I\Nd W RiTE I\bOUT ir.
IN T kE bEGiNNiNG T kis W I\S VERy
fiNE I\Nd SOME Good I\C iONS
CI\ME I\boUT bECI\UU 0 T kE
BETI\X Jil\ck ... NOW T kERE is TkE

Winter 1988-89

2600 Magazi!,e

Page 3S

the c haos
NAA JfAck WJfICJf IS \/ E R Y

fAMOUS.
BUT of T E N T IiERE ARE JOURN Al
iSTS wlio T lii N k " W Ii A T CAN WE
do i N OUR N E W S P A P E R '?" ANd
T IiEN T IiE Y S AY , A li Y E S , S O ME
T liiNG w i T Ii COMpUTERS - - l E T ' S
I!li0NE T IiE CIiAOS COMPUTER
Club. Is TIiERE A N V O N E liERE
w i T Ii T IiE NUMbER?" TIiEN T Ii EY
pliONE ANd SAY, "PlEASE sliow
us SOME IiACkiN, l E T ' S SEE liow
y o u do iT." A N <f y OU CAN'T do
I T bECAUSE i T i s fORbiddEN iN
GERMANY. I T s NOT T IiE REASON
wliy T IiE club ExisTS: fOR JOUR
N A l i s T S T O lET p E opl E k N O W
T IiERE A RE IiA Ck E R S .
.
W IiEN A b Y T E SOMEWIiERE GOES
W R ONG T IiEY AlwAY pliONE T kE
CIiAOS C O M P U T E R Llub,
bECAUSE T IiE Y T liiNk WE CAN fix
i T O R W E kNOW W Ii A T li A S IiAP
ENEd O R wlio did i T .
SOMEONE ONCE TQld ME TIiA T
bECAUSE o f T Ii E C Ii A O S
COMPUTER Club liE IiAd sold A
l O T MORE of liis SECU R i T Y sofT
W A R E ANd liE TIiAN kEd U S .
'

b rhE MA i" A iM o f rhE

C;ROpp COMp u rER lirERA c y
p R , rhERE A fA c r10"
rh C;RO Up fOR
"A ckER '1

,,,sidE

f.

T IiE R E A R E M A N y diffE R E N T E O
plE w lio l liiNk o f M A N y dif E R
E N T A i M S o f T IiE club, SOME o f
T Ii E M S O c i A U Y. A C C E p' T A b l E
W A y S o f WORkiNG w i T li C O M
p U T E R S . So ME of T IiE M ARE
liAckERS bUT N O T AU o f T IiEM.
W E ARE NOT IiAC kERS.

ir
r

A {TRAic;"r COM

,
T"E"
p U ER club

IA " ExiST

)Vh r r Y E of

GEflMA " Y ro dErER

hA Ck,,,c;
'If

AT T IiE MOMENT w kEN you

CIiANGE SOMETliiN<t iN S O MEONE
ElsE'S COMPUTER, IT'S AlREAdy
A N OffENSE. So w ltEN you l OG i N
A N d YOU'RE N O T s uppo SEd TO
lOGiN, YQl( C IiANGE SOMETliiNG
bECAUSE I T S REPORTEd SOME
WIiERE TIiAT you IiAVE lOGGEd
iN. So you IiAVE AlREAdy
c liANGEd SOMETliiNG if ou fol
low ThE lAW u RicTl y. TliiNJ<
TIiAT r liEy' ARE uill W ORkiNG
O N rliUE l AWS.

CALL OUR COMPUTER

B U L LETI N BOAR DS !
CENTRAL OFFICE
YOYODYNE
B E E H IVE
.

(914) 234"3260

{402} 564451 8
.(f()Sr 823-6S 1
HACkEH'S ON . . . .... (!1813?8209
All aval'abw 4 Ilt)uf$ a day;
No registfiltlol1 neafssa,y, .
.

No, i T ' S N O T A N O R M Al COMPUT

ER club. I T ' s MORE of A CIiAOS
COMMUNicA T i o N S Club TIiAN
CIiAOS COMPUTER C l u b . I dON'T
Page 36

T JfINk you NEEd TItE COMpUTER.

IT's MORE fOR pEoplE wHo
T liiNk MORE TitAN HAck PER
IiAp'S. HtERE ARE Also It AckERS
iN TIiE clUb SURE, TItAr'S A biT
of T IiE pRO b lEM bECAUSE IiAck
ERS IiAVE diffERENT iNTERE S T S
T Ii A N p'EoplE l i k E .US w li o AR.E
MORE INTEREUEd I N COMMUNI
CATiON ANd ART. WItETIiER
T IiEY' R E juu fREAks TItAT kNOW
A lOT Al)oUT T IiE TECIiNicAl
s idE....
TItERE ARE OTkER pEoplE iNTO .
REAl liVE ItAckiNG. lik sliowiNG
pRESS pASSES TO <l.ET INTO
T liiNGS, T IiAT'S REAl IiACkiNG

26()() Magazine

Winter

VOUR E lllltE Ri:S'rEljllll OPERATING. A. 2600 885, COlli.TACfUs

IF

."

. .

AT{51 6r151 260().

1 988-89

com pute r cl u b
HA S 4/f YONE bEEN C4 r;c;I"
A Nd f'NEd ON A "A ck'NC;
C"A RC;E1
HfE oNly T lfiNG TIf" T I C "N
TlfiNk of i5 STEVE iN pRi50N, bUT
IfE 1f"5N'T bEEN CIf"RGEd.

CA N you C;iVE liE SOliE

EA IIP'E of IIEdiA
d,sToRnoN1

TilE IIINT.
lIfE Ifon OPER"TOR of TIfE
5 ynEM 5"id, "1r'5 oN l y b EC"U5E
01 TIfE CIf"05 COUTER Club
T If"T TItE BET"X vid"EoTEX 5Y5TEM i5 " flOp." I IfE Y W ERE
TElliNG.. U5 U T IfE dEMONU R"
TioN 01 BET"X TIf"T i T W "5
bEc"un of lifE CIf"0 5
C OMP UTE R Club TIf" T pEoplE
WON T U5E IT.
Aho, W IfENEVER T IfERE i5 "
51f0w of TIfE BET"X v idEOTEX
UUIiM, pEQplE c "l l l!P TIfE
U.ub J MOVIE ON TIfE d"E MON
nR" nON "CCOUNT5.
.

IIfERE W "5 Tlfi5 biT WiTIf " b"Nk

iN H"MbuR, ON " vidEOTEX
5ynEM iN GERM"NY. I T 1f"5
M"N y M"Ny bUG5 "Nd M"Ny
MisukE5 iN iT "Nd w lfEN you
If"VE "N OVERflow of d"T",
"NYT lf i Nc;I could If"PPEN.
So iN Tlf15 w"Y TIfEY l OUNd OUT
T IfE p"nwoRd of Tlti5 b"Nk iN
H"MbURG "Nd TIfEY und Tlfi5,
"Nd T IfE N TIfE CIf"05 COMPUTER
Club R "N " 5ECTioN of iNfo R
M"TioN "GE5 ON T IfE vidEOTEX
S Y UEM. "TlfEy "ho If"VE "
MoviE iN TIfERE w ificif you C"N
look "T b U T you If " V E TO GiVE
" dON"Tio N fOR look iNG " T TIfE
MoviE - - fiVE doll1\R5, wificif is
TIfE M"xiMUM SUM fOR lookiNG
" T " vidEOTEX P."G E .
WEll, T lfE y M,,(lE T If E b"Nk
look " T Tfii5-P"GE O VER "N d
OVER "G"IN. TlEy WROTE " lIT
TLE .PROR"M 50 iT W " 5 "lw"y'5
C"UiNG i T b"ck "G"iN "Nd 1f,,(J
iT RUN OVER TIfE WEEkENd 50 Nt')
ONE f RO M T IfE b"Nk W"5 T IfERE
TO S I o P i T . I N T If E E N d iT w " s
IO,OOO M"Rh WORTIf of
dON"TioNS fROM T IfE b"Nk TO
TIfE CIf"05 COMPUTER Club.
lifE Club could'" If"VE cl"iMEd
TItE MONEy' fROM T IfE b"Nk
bEC"USE TIfERE " RE NO l"ws
U y iN G. TIf"T Tlfis W"5N'T ok.
l ltEy didN'T, bUT TIfEY 51f0 w Ed
TIfE N"TioN"l d"T" ncuRiTY
OffiCE WIf"T i5 poniblE. lJiE
b"Nk W"5 VERy TIf"Nkful fOR

Ho w dO ES T,
SystEM IVOR

tE P"ONE

Iff Rft;A Rd ro

ftlOtlfAtls1 Is r dlt;''I'A ' OR A

clUNk'N!; MECllANlcA'
sysrEM'"

You nill If" VE TIfE c l U Nk ,

clUNk, clUNk 5ynEM iN MOU
TOWN5. IIfEY If"VE juu U"RTEd
TO CIf"NGE TO T IfE <i i Gi T"l 5Y5TEM.
If you W"NT " ModEM you If"VE
TO buy iT OR RENT i T fROM T IfE
p.,OU OffiCE. OR _Y.OU un "
"" YES ModEM w Hi c lf i5 illEG"l.
lIfE ModEM 5 fROM T IfE pon
OffiCE "REN'T VERy POWERful.
lltERE i5N'T "Ny G.o od 50h
W"Rt; TO WORI( WITIf TIfEM "Nd
T lfo- RE VERY. EXP.EN5i VE.
IN GERM"NY i T i5 fORbiddEN TO
do "NYT lfiNc.t YOUtl5El f wiTlf TIfE
TElEpl-iONE LINE. llfERE i5 " jokE
Tlfu you EVEN NEEd PERMissioN
WIfEN you un " pEN TO di"l
T IfE pJioNE.
If you NEEd " lONGER c"blE
you If"VE TO GO TO T IfE pOU
OffiCE "Nd P" y M M"Rh "Nd
fill OUT " REQ UEU fORM fOR "
lONGER c"blE TO YOUR TElE
p IfoNE.

Winter 1988-89

2600 Magazine

Page 3 7

W'est germa ny's

O pHONE pHRE.,A lklNf; U
No t A IIo r ubJEc r IN
GERMA N Y ?
nERE A R E OMETiMn pEoplE
w h o T Ry T O MAkE bluE b o xn
O R T h i N G of T h E S E k i N d bUT I
d O N ' T k NO W if T h E Y w O Rk,
T hE R E W A ONE GUY. W E kNEW
w h o hAd A T hi N G l i k E T h i , bUT
hE di A P P E A R Ed INTO pRiON
OR OMEW hERE, W E hAVE TO
T R y . . , M A y b E iT will W O R k W hEN
T hE N E W Y S TE M ARE i N T AUEd,
TElE p hoNE CAU ARE VERy
E X P' E N i v E i N GERMAN Y , n p E
c i A l l y lONG d i S T ANCE CAU ANd
S O iT w oul<1 bE A u Ef ul T hiNG,
W E ARE ChARGEd fOR AU T hE
l O C A l C A U iN u N i T S of Ei!lhT
M i N U T E i N T hE d A Y ANd 12" M i N
U T n A T NiGhT.

WIIA r "
WERRNE
FRA NCE

P ENE d TO SrEffEN
IivllEN liE WEN r ro

S T E f f E N W A iNViTEd TO A SECU
RiTY CONRn T O REpORT
A bOUT W H A T hAPPENEd WiTh
NASA ANd T O ExplAiN W h A T i
p O HiblE i N T h n E NET W O R k , HE
W A A R RE <; TEd RiGhT A W A Y
W h E N hE A R RivEd AT T hE A I R
p O R T i N F RANCE A N d Q un
Tio NEd f O R 2 4 hOUR,
T hEY '< E P T hiM T hERE w A i T i N G
w hilE T HEY hAd A b ol u T El Y NO
EVidENCE W h A T S O E V E R ThAT hE
W A i N ANy WAy i N v o l v Ed iN T hE
N A SA S T O R y .

f O UNd OUT ThAT T hE Y WERE I N

ThE NASA NETWORk. A f T E R A
whilE of wORkiNG iNidE T hERE,
T hEY O N E dAY bEG A N T O UNdER
S T AN d ThAT i T WAS VERy d A N
EROU.
ThERE ARE S T O Rin AbOUT ThE
CIA -- T hE Y dON'T Ak un
T i o N , bUT hOOT fiRST. dON'T
bEliEVE ThESE S T ORin M y S Elf ,
bUT ThEN I ThiNk ThE AMERicAN
MUS T bE iUy . ...
T hEN ONE dAY T hEY phONEd
ANd CAME T O ThE CHAO
COMPUTER Club ANd Aid TO
ThE pEoplE ThERE, ".WE hAVE
OME COMpUTER pRINTOUT ANd
WE dON'T WANT T O bE killEd by
i T . WhAT hAll W E do?"
STEffEN ANd W AU Aid OK,
kEEP QUiET ANd WE will USE
OUR CONTACTS. ThEN ThE
MAChiNE S T ARTEd. ThEY T RiEd
T O GiVE iNfORMATioN T O ThE
CIA viA ThE GERMAN SECRET
SERVicE. T hEY A W ThAT O NE
WEEk lATER THE ACCOUNT W A S
S T il W O Rk iNG. T h E Y G A V E
NOTICE T O ThE C O M P A N Y ThAT
W A MANUfACTUR iNG T hE TERMi
NAl OfTWA R E. ThEN T hERE W A
A NEW V E R i o N diST RibuTEd
ThAT STill C A RRiEd ThE A ME
Mi S T AkE.

WIIA r did rilE COMMUNicA

TiON O'TWA RE A ll o w you
ro do ?

T h E y ' R E N O T MEMbER o f ThE

C h A m COMpUTER Club. ThEY
W E R E O NE y E A R W O R k i N G f O R A
C O M P A N Y ANd uddENl Y T h E Y

IT AllOWEd y o u TO look AT ThE

USER liST. UUAU Y i T TEU you
ThAT you hAVE NO PERMiION
T O look A T i T O R do AN Y T hiNG
T hERE, IT GAVE T hE W ARNIN<L iN
T h E PROGRAM bUT iT WOUldN'T
CUT you off. You could GO
f ARTJtE dnpiTE i T A yiNG you
couldN T.
So T hE Y WENT iN ANd G.A VE
T hEMElVE p R ivilEGn IN ThE
Y EM, ANd ThEY pUT iN ThESE
T ROJAN hORn - PROGRAM

Page 3 8

1 988-89

WIIA T A CIUA ll y IIA .PENEd

wirll NA SA A s' op OE d
TO . wIIA r rilE NE ri A PER
H Id ?

2600 Magazine

Winter

"com puter hac kers"

TIIAT WipEd OUT All TRACES o f
TliEI\UElvES iN T liE S Y U E M SO N O
O N E kNEW. IT A b o COpiEd iTSElf
iNTO o T liE R SYUEMS O N TliE
NETWORk ANd b ROUGliT bACk
iNfoRMATioN AboUT PASSWORds
TO TliE kids. TliE y liAVE bEEN iN
U diffERENT s ynEMs.

DiE HA ekE" BibEI I &\ II,

.,IIA r i$ ir1
You f i Nd SOME REPRiNTS of
OME AMERicAN nuff iN iT
t T APt COMplETE REPRiNTS of
oLd OATENscliEUdER, ANd SOME
ARticlES you w ill oNly fiNd iN
TliE book. You CAN fiNd Tliis
OVER T liE COUNTER iN ANy
booknORE.
I TliiNk iT liAS AN ISO NUMbER.
DiE HAckER BibEl II is dUE
SOON. IT's bEEN p,RiNTEd. WE'RE
WAiTiNG fOR STEffEN TO SENd US
COpiES. DiE HACkER BibEL III is
NOW bEiNG WORkEd ON.

258 pages softcover

ISBN 3-922708-98-6

Published by Der Grune,

Zweig 98, West Germany.

Cost 15 dollars US approximate.

- Original Material written for Bibel.

- Photocopy art/humour related to
computers and hackers.
- News clippings and articles from
various sources.
- Includes reprinted article about
Hackers Conference.
- Reprints from Datenscheuder.
- Early YIPL 1 -22 reprints and TAP
23-27.
- About 40% of the book is in English.
- A good reason to learn German.
Chaos Computer Club:
D-2000, Hamburg 20 or

Sch wenckestrasse 85
West Germany

0 1 1 49404903757, 0 1 1 4940483752.

Winter 1988-89

2600 Magazine

Page 39

UNIX HA CKING

(continucd from paRc 1 7)

wd " command as shown below :

$passwd
C h ang ing password for j o hn
O l d password :
New password:
Retype new password:
$
Thi s w i l l o n l y work w h e n t h e pass
word has aged e n o ug h .
ps
It's s o m et i m e s n ec e s s a ry to s e e
w h a t comma nd p r o c e s s e s y o u a r e
running. Thi s command l et s y o u see
that . The format i s : ps [ -a all process
e s except group l eaders] [ -e all pro

ces se s ]

[-f the whole l i st] .

$ ps
PI D TIV TI M E COMMA N D
2 0 0 tty09 1 4 :20 p s
The s y s tem report s the P I D

- the
n u m b e r w h ich i s
a number from 1 - 3 0 , 0 0 0 assigned t o
U N I X p roce s s e s . I t a l so repo rt s t h e
T TY, T I ME , a n d t h e CO MMA N D being
executed a t t h e t i m e . To stop a pro
cess e nt e r :
$ k i l l [ PI D] ( i n this case it's 200)
200 ter m i n a ted
process i d ent i f ic at io n

grep
This command i s i mpo rt a nt

s e a rc h i n g f o r a

wo

rd

when

o r words i n large

f i les. The format is : grep [ar g u m e n t ]

[file na me] . It searches f or a f i le that

co n t a i n s t h e a rg u m e n t specif i e d .
$ grep p h one cathy
phone michelle (71 8)5551 234
p h one cindy
(71 8)5553456
What this d id was to f i n d t h e arg u
ment " p h o n e" in the f i le cat h y . If the
a r gum e n t cons ists o f two or m o r e
words , then it must b e e n c losed in s i n

lu sr/j o h n/michel le/capital

$
T h i s m o v e s t h e f i l e capit a l to t h e
d i rectory n a m ed m i ch e l l e .

d iff
Fo rmat : d iff [fi l e n ame] [ f i l e n a m e ] .
T h i s shows t h e d i ff e r e n c e b etwe e n
two f i l e s . O u t p u t o f t h i s w i l l h a v e
something like 4 , 5c4,5 t h e n i t w i l l d i s
p l ay bot h s e t s o f f i l e s o n t h e scre e n .
T h e 4 , 5 c4 , 5 m e a n s t h at y o u m u st
change "c" l i n e s 4 t o 5 i n o n e f i l e to
line 4 to 5 in anot h e r .
O pt i o n s f o r u s i n g t h i s co m m a n d
a r e : - b ( i t ig nores b l a n k s pace s ) , - h
(co m pares i t q u ickly). -s ( reports f i l e s
t h at a r e t h e s a m e ) , -S[f i le) (t h i s i s used
when you want to co mpare a d i rectory
sta rt i n g at a specific f i l e ) .
T h e re is a l s o a command t o com
pare 3 f i l e s w h ic h i s :
diff3 [options] [ file1 ] [ f i le2] [fi le3]
cp
Formal cp [ f i le name] [ f i l e name ] .
T h i s makes a copy o f a f i l e .
$ cp letter letters
$
The f i l e lette rs is a d u pl icate copy
of lett e r . I n t h i s case the orig i nal is not
e rased l i ke in t h e mv co m m an d .
(E n d o f P a r t O n e . P a r t T w o will
appear in the Spring 1 989 issue and
will include more UNIX com m a n ds ,

sending a n d receiving m essages, and

s uper user commands . )

gle quotes

mv
F ormat mv [ f i l e

name].

to a not h e r d i r ect o ry .
$ m v letter letters
$
This example r e n a m e s t h e f i l e l ette r
t o letters, t h e re by d e l et i n g lette r. I f you
want t o move f i l e s t h e n you wo u l d
e nt e r :
$
mv
/ u s r /j o h n / p e r s / ca p i t a l

n am e s ( s ) ] [ d i r
it

T h i s renames a f i le or moves

2 6 () () Maga;:ine

IVinter /988-89

Marketplace

2600

W A NTED: Text fil e s / Cou nt legger /

Ph r a c k

n e w s c l i p p i n g s on h a c k e r s ,

I WANT TO START a newsletter devoted

to petty crimes, tentatively titled "For

p h re a k s , e t c . f r o m n e w s papers a n d

Infonnational Purposes Only". Please send

m a g a z i n e s . W i l l i n g to p a y o r t rad e .

me

Send

l i st to K H , N . 1 1 1 07

R ou n d u p,

info, clippings, on how to rip-off vend

ing machines, free postage, free pho to

M ead , W A 9902 1 .

copies, sneaking into movie theaters, etc.

W A NTE D : A ny hac kin g program s for

Tun Cridland, PO Box 85874, Seattle, WA

the A t a ri ST. Will trade . Also in need

98145.

of good blue box plans. Would love to

WILL TRADE: My Texas I nstrument

h ea r fro m other persons interested in

Silent 700 $eries Portable I ntelligent

I' / H fro m Lexington, K Y . Aristotle,

Data Terminal (like new) w / full docu

606-258-22 1 9 .

mentation for any hacker software for

L EA R N I N G

C O M PUTERIZED

U S E R ' S G R OUP, E LE CT RO N I C S i s

fo r t h o s e

e l e c t r o n i c s a nd
rel a ted
t ec h

COMPLETE
RA N G E

a s those i nterest
ed i n d e v e l o p

i n g, e v a l u a t i n g ,

and

of

Do you have something to sell? Are

Commodore 64
you looking for something to buy? Or

trade? This is the pl!The 2600

Marketplace Is free to shSCribenU

n o l o g i es as well

sel ling

PO Box 533, Aubu rn, NY 1 3021 -0533.

i n t e r-

ested i n l e a r n in g

s h a r i n g,

I BM c o m p atible co m p uters. Ted K.,

Send you r ad to: 2600 rketplace.

P.O. Box 99. Mlddle rslarid, NY 1 1 953,
Include your address label.

hard-

Only people please, n o busfnesses.

ware a n d soft-

software.
tested

All
and

deb ugged .
Many advanced
a p p lication s .
Call THC-J[ BBS
at 604-595-D085

ware t o d o s o . Write CLUGE, 2 0 7 East

S c h oo l St reet, Kent, Ohio 44240-3837

o r ca I 1 2 1 6-6 78-461 1 .

W A NTED: R ed box a n d / or blue box,

t o n c c h i p s for
M a c i n tosh soft wa re

hack/ phreak

making

and leave feedhlCk to the sysop for more

infonnation.
TAP B A CK I S SUES, c o m p l ete set Vol .
1 -90 of Q U A LITY c o p i es f ro m o ri g i

boxes,

nals. Includes schematics and ind exes.

for trade via mail

$1 00 po s tp a i d via U PS or Fi rst Class

o r modern a nd vend i n g machine lock

Mail. Cash / M O sent same day, checks

p i ck gu n / to ol s . Doug la s , PO Bo x 8022,

to Pete G., P.O. Box 463, Mt. Laurel, NJ

Rich mond, IN 47374.

0805 4 . We are the original; all others

F O R S A L E : 3 Co m t e c h m o d e l 550

are copie s !

S a t e l l i t e V i d eo Receive r s . Best offer,

2600 MEETI N G S . First Friday of the

fi rst come, first served ! Send reply to

month at the Citicorp Center-from 6

e i t h e r d t ro u p@ c a rr o l l l . u u c p o r send

rea l m a i l

t o : DTROUP/ Room

20 5 st ,

2 2 1 N . E a s t Ave., Wa u kesha, W I ,
5 3 1 86 . Sku n k Wo rks !
F O R SA LE: Va rious

the lobby with the tables w here all of

the weirdos h an g out) . Located at 153

E a s t 53rd Street, New York City. Come

UNIX man

u a I s / b o o k s . Fo r m o re i n fo r m a t i o n ,
w r i t e t o S e t h K . , PO B o x 2 4 5 0 7 0 ,
Brooklyn, N Y 1 1 224.

to 8 pm in the Market (also known as

b y , d ro p o f f a r t i c l e s , a s k quest i o n s .
Call 51 6-75 1 -2600 for s t i l l more i n fo .
D e a d l i n e f o r S p ri n g M a rk e t p l a c e :

3/1/89.

Winter 1988-89

2600 Magazine

Page 41

HARDWI RI NG
by Dr. Wil liams
O n e of t h e m o st o bv io u s ways
of o bt a i n i n g free t e l e p h o n e s e rv ice

g ro u n d s a n d two c h a rg e d w i re s .
Aft e r st r i p p i n g t h e w i re s , p u t a n
a l l igato r c l i p o n t h e g re e n and red

i s t h ro u g h " h ardw i ri n g " - - t h at i s ,

w i re on b o t h h a lv e s . P u tt i ng o n e
o n t h e g ro u nds i s a good idea too .
Now you have w h at it take s to
co n nect u p to any p h o n e box . On

d i r e c t l y c o n n e ct i n g a p h o n e t o
s o m e bo d y e l s e ' s l i ne without t h e i r
k n o w l e d g e . T h i s c a n b e acco m
p l i s hed i n a f ew d if f e r e nt m a n n e r s .
O n e tech n iq u e i s j u st t o hook u p a
pho n e to t h e e x t e rior of a ho u s e o r
b u s i n e s s . Anot h e r w a y , c a n n i ng , i s
a l it t l e l es s b l u n t . Any d i me sto re
phone can be hooked up, and
w a l a a ! F r e e t e l e p h o n e s e rv ic e i s
you rs j u st f o r t h e begg i n g .

the o ld e r o ne s w h e re t h e re are j u st
f o u r t e r m i n a l p o st s , you t a k e t h e
headset a n d co n nect u p t o t h e t e r
m i n a l s v i a t h e a l l igat o r C l i ps on t h e
h e ad s et . Y o u w o n ' t n e e d t o u s e
t h e o t h e r h a l f of t h e cord w it h t h e
p ho n e j ack s i nc e t h e re i s no p l ace
to hook it u p . You may a lso h ave

T h e re a r e b a s i c a l ly two types of
e x t e r i o r pho n e box e s t h at a re u s e d

to b r i n g s o m e v i s e g r i p s t o
u n screw t h e bolt w h i c h holds t h e

f o r ho m e s a nd s m a l l b u s i n e s s e s .
T h e o l d e r o ne s are a p u k e y g re e n
c o l o r , a re sq u a re , a n d h ave f o u r
t e r m i n a l s i ns i d e : two f o r t h e

box closed . S o m et i m e s , t h e colors

of t h e t e r m i n a l s are n't m a rked , so
it w i l l take some t ri a l a n d e rro r to
f i n d t h e t w o l i v e o n e s . On t h e

g ro u nds , and two f o r t h e c h a rg ed

n e w e r bo x e s t h at h a v e a t e l e

w i re s . T h e s e are k e pt c l o s ed by a
l o n g bo lt . T h e n e w e r o n e s a re
rect a ng u l a r a nd h a v e a p h o n e jack

pho n e jack i n s i d e o f t he m , you u s e

t h e o t he r h a l f o f yo u r co rd co nta i n
i n g t h e j a c k to p l u g i n s i d e of it .
T h e n y o u c o n n e ct t h e a l l i g at o r
c l ips tog et h e r o n t h e h e a d s e t . T h i s
s h o u l d b e n o p ro b l e m t o o p e n
since they are h e ld down with a

i n s i d e of t h e m . T h e y a re k e p t
c lo s ed by a l i d . T h e re i s o n ly o n e
too l you ' l l n e e d , a n d t h at i s a t o u c h
t o n e p h o n e . T h e o n e s w h e re a l l o f
t h e c o m p o n e n t s are c o n t a i n e d i n
t h e h e adset a r e t h e b e st f o r t h i s .
Take t h e cord , cut it i n t h e midd l e ,
a n d st rip t h e w i re s o n bot h h a l ve s .
T h e re s h o u l d b e f o u r w i re s : a
g ree n , red , b l ack , a n d y e l l ow . T h e

p l a st i c l i d . Easy , i s n 't it ! O n e note ,

t ho ug h . The re may be o t h e r va r i a
t i o n s o u t t h e re . F ro m m y e x p e r i
e nc e , t h e se a re t h e most co m mo n
types of box e s .
T h e re a re so m e d rawback s ;

g re e n a n d r e d o n e s c a rry t h e cu r

re l at i o n s h i p s a r e a l w a y s t w o

rent , and t h e b l ack and ye l low are

the g ro u n d s . T h e re cou l d be s o m e

s id e d . T h e good p o i nt s a re t hat it 's

easy ( it be ats h ac k i n g o u t co d e s to

t h e l o c a l e x t e n d e r at t h e p a y
v a ri at i o n s i n t h e co l o rs of t h e
p h o n e ) and , s i nce most re s i d e n t i a l
w i re s , depending o n t h e pho n e ,
b u t t h e re s h o u l d a lw a y s b e t w o a r e a s st i l l u s e AT& T a s t h e i r p r i -

Page 42

2600 Magazin e

Win ter

/ 988-89

YOU R WAY

IN

m a ry c a rr i e r , y o u c a n c a l l a n y
wh e re i n t h e wo rld. So me o t h e r
long distance carriers have limited
call i ng areas . The drawbacks are,
first , you have to do this at nig ht
like , 3 or 4 am. If you do this, you
a l w a y s ru n t h e r i s k o f g e tt i n g
caught. Some neig hbor m ight think
you' r e a p ro w l e r. Y o u s h o u l d
therefore d ress i n dark clothes a nd
not c a r ry a n y i d e ntificat i o n w i t h
y o u . T h e re i s a l s o a l i m i t e d
amount o f t h i ngs you can do . After
a l l , you can't call up you r relatives
or too many of you r fri e nds at t h at
time of day .
T h e re is a wealth of locations
where one can try to hook up. One
s pot i s h o u s i n g co n st ru ct i o n
g o i n g up a n d c o m i n g d o w n .
S o m et i m e s , w h e n h o u s e s or
a p a rt m e nts a r e b e i n g b u i lt , t h e
phones are connected befo re con
st ruct i o n i s co m p l et e . I've a l so
s e e n cases where people move
out and the pho nes are not discon
nected. Once the people l ived in a
mobile home a nd t hey moved out,
l e aving a vacant lot w it h a ut i l ity
p o l e . We l l, 1 0 a n d b e h o l d , t h e
p h o n e was st i l l co n n e cted. T h e
phone co mpany didn't disconnect
it u nt i l about seve n months lat e r,
and t h a t w a s aft e r p ra ct i c a l l y
everyone i n the neighborhood had
crank-called people i n J apan and
Aust ra l i a . You can also t ry ru ra l
n e i g h b o r h o o d s l at e at n i g ht ,
a lthough u s i ng you r o w n probably
isn't a good idea.
S m a l l b u s i n e s s c l u s t e rs o r
-

i nd u st r i a l centers a r e a lso good

s p o t s . T h e s e u s u a l l y h av e t h e
g reen box es clu mped together i n
lots o f four. Late at night, n o one is
a rou n d , so it's o n l y a matte r of
hooking up. I'm talking about those
places w h e re a compa n y leases
the shop or office space to various
c o m p a n i e s . T ry i n g to h o o k up
where a 7-1 1 is located probably
wouldn't be too smart.
Canning

A subj ect I'm g o i n g to t o u c h

upon is canni ng . The reason I say
I j u st w a n t to "touc h " u po n it is
because this topic really deserves
a who l e a rticle by itself , but s ince
you can use the same tools of the
t rade, I'm going to me ntio n it here.
C a n s a re t h o s e u g l y g re e n co n
tainers t h a t stick o u t of the g round.
Most of the sm a l l er and iso lated
cans can be e a s i l y o p e n e d with
vise grips. The bigge r o nes some
t i m e s h ave l oc k s on t h e m, but
nothing a bolt cutter cou ldn't han
d l e . M o st c a n s t h at I'v e c o m e
across come i n two f lavors : ones
wh e re t h e re a re just masses of
i n d i v id u a l
telephone
wires
clu mped together, and the others
t h at b re a k a p a rt t h e c l u m p s of
wires to help the distribution of the
t e l e p h o n e w i res. The o n e s t hat
h a v e j u s t t h e b u n d l e s of w i re s
clu mped together I've fou nd to be
of l itt le u se . I imag i n e that a guy
would h ave to m atch up the two
wires for each single phone to get
a cu rrent t h at wi l l wo rk . But then
a g a i n , I'm not an e x p e rt .

Winter 1988-89

2600 Magazine

Page 43

H A R DWI R I N G P H O N E S E RV I C E
Sometimes t h e s e do break u p a

T h e r e a l b e n e f it o f h o o k i n g u p

f e w i nd iv i d u a l h o u s e s i n t h e n e i g h

c o m e s w h e n y o u o w n a p o rt a b l e

b o r h o od . T h e re m i g ht b e a m et a l

co m pu t e r w i t h a mod e m . I f y o u

p l a t e att a c h e d t o t h e t o p o f t h e c a n

f i nd a t a rg e t c o m p ut e r t h at y o u ' d

w i t h f o u r o r f iv e t e rm i n a l s sti ck i ng
o u t . U s e t ri a l a n d e r ro r a g a i n t o

l i k e t o g e t t o k n o w b e tt e r , a n d
y o u ' re n o t st u p i d e no u g h t o t ry t o

f i n d a l iv e cu r re n t . I t i s u s u a l l y p r e t

g e t t o i t f ro m y o u r h o m e p h o n e ,

ty easy . The ot h e r cans , the bigger

t h e n t h i s m ig h t b e a good way t o

o n e s w h ic h a r e s o m e t i m e s lock e d ,

g o . P o rt a b l e s a r e g o i n g dow n i n

c a n be a g o ld m i ne . T h e y u s u a l l y

price ; I 've s e e n some in pawn

d i s t r i b u t e p a i rs o f w i r e s i n a h o r i

s ho p s f o r a bo u t $ 1 2 5 .

z o n t a l f a s h io n , w i t h a row o f m e t a l

T h e re are a cou p l e of ot h e r

st u b s s t i c k i n g o u t . I n s i d e i t m i g ht

o b s e rv a t i o n s t h at I 'd l i k e t o m a k e .

l o o k a bit co n f u s i n g . A ro u n d t h e
p e r i m e t e r , t h e re a r e w a d s o f w i re s

I ' v e att e nd e d two d i ff e r e nt h i g h

schools and I found t h e i r long dis

t a n g l e d t o g e t h e r a n d g o i n g e v e ry

t a n c e d i a l i ng proce d u res in t h e

w h i c h w a y . I n s i d e t h e p e r i m et e r

s a m e p l ac e . O n t h e p r i n c i p a l ' s

a re rows and rows o f sq u a re

d e s k , t h e re w a s a b re ad b o a rd t h at

m e t a l l i c s t u b s . T h e s e st u b s a re

s l id o u t on t h e l e ft h a n d s id e . T h e

t h i n , a b o u t t h re e e i g h t h s of a n i nc h

i n s t ru ct i o n s f o r m a k i n g l o n g d i s

w id e , a nd t h e y st i ck o u t a b o u t a n
i n c h . T h e t e l e p ho n e w i r e s w i l l c o n

t a nc e c a l l s we re t y p e d o n a p i ec e

nect to both sides of t h e horizontal

P e r h a p s t h i s i s a co m m o n o cc u r

r o w s o f t h e s e m e t a l l i c st u b s . A l l
y o u n e ed t o d o i s c o n n e ct u p t o

rence I've a l so l iv e d in a f e w d i f
f e re n t d o r m s , a nd I ' v e n o t i c e d

two h o r i z o n t a l st u b s . N o t a l l o f t h e

s i m i larit i e s i n t h e i r setup too . I n

w i re s i n t h e c a n m a y b e l i v e , s o

e a c h ro o m t h e re was a p l a t e d t e l e

of p a p e r t a p e d to t h i s locat io n .

n e e d m o re t h a n o n e t ry .

p h o n e j a c k . T h e p l at e w a s o n l y

S o m et i m e s t h e s e b i g g e r c a n s

h e l d d o w n b y two f l at h e a d screw s .

you

h a v e so m e g o o d i e s i n t h e m , s u c h

I u n sc re w e d t h e p l a t e a n d b e h i n d

as l i n e man's h eadsets and papers

w e r e most of t h e t e l e p h o n e w i r e s

c o n t a i n i n g t e c h n i c a l d a t a . F ro m

f o r t h e w h o l e f l o o r . I co u ld h a v e

w h a t I u nd e rs t a n d , t h e p u rpo s e of
t h e s e cans is t o h e l p t r o u b l e s ho o t

f lo o r u nd e t ecte d .

h o o k e d up to any ro o m on t h e

p ro b l e m s by b r e a k i n g u p u n i t s ( o r

F i n a l ly , if y o u f i nd t h a t a n y of

c l u st e rs of w i r e s ) i nto s m a l l e r

t h e a bo v e w o r k s o u t p re t t y g o o d

u n i t s . I w a n t t o e m p h a s i z e t h at I
a m n o t a n e x p e rt o n t h e s e c a n s .

f o r y o u , d o n ' t be t o o g re e d y ,
stu p i d , o r s t a rt t a k i n g l if e f o r g ra n t

T h e s e a r e j u s t m y o b s e rv at i o n s

ed . As t h e y say a n Wa l l Street :

a nd I ' m s u re t h i ng s w o r k d iff e re nt l y

" B u l l s m a k e m o n e y , b e a rs m a k e

i n d i ff e re n t p a rt s o f t h e n a t io n .

m o n e y , p i g s g e t s l a u g h t e red . "

2 6 00 Magazine

Win tl'r 1 988-89

BOOK REVIEW
Tune In On Telephone Cal l s
by Tom Kneitel
P u b l is h ed b y C R B R e sea rc h ,
Box 56, Commack N Y 1 1 725
1 60 pages , $1 2.95
Reviewed by Lou Scanno n

Telephone calls have been car

ried o n rad io waves fo r years
from sh ips at sea, fro m cars , and ,
since the adve nt of microwave and
satellite technology , even the aver
ag e l o n g d i s t a n c e c a l l t ra v e l s
thro u g h the eth e r fo r a portion of
its ro u t e . And u n l ike t h e privat e
mediu m o f t e lepho ne w i res, where
a phys ical i nt ru s i o n is requ ired to
l i s t e n i n on t h e co n v e rs a t i o n s ,
ra d i o w a v e s a r e e v e ry w h e r e
arou nd us and need only the right
kind of receiver to pull them i n .
A l t h o u g h m o s t p e o p l e k n ow
abo ut t h e ex iste nce of car phones,
there a re a good n u mber of other
t e l e p h o n e s e rv i c e s on the a i r :
i n c l u d i n g co rd le s s p ho n e s , loc a l
m a r i n e t e lepho n e s , s h ips o n t h e
h i g h s e a s a n d more . The co nver
sations can range from the o rd i
n a ry c h itc hat and gossip 0 1 you r
n e i g h bo rs , t o a l o n e l y s e a m a n
talking t o h i s wife or childre n , o r to
you r local d rug dealer planning his
next p u rc h ase of co ntro l led sub
stances .
A l a s , th anks to a recent act of
C o ng ress c a l l e d t h e " E l ect ro n ic
C o m m u n i c a t i o n s P r i v ac y A c t "
( E C PA f o r s hort) , liste ning t o some
k i nds of t e l e phone calls ove r t h e
radio i s i l lega l . Which kinds? We l l ,
it's h a rd t o s a y . If it's f ro m a car,
-

then it's definitely illegal to eaves

d ro p , if it's f ro m a co rd less tele
p ho n e , then it's maybe il legal , and
if it's from a boat or a i rplane , then
it's perfect ly O K . The law does not
specify how the rad io enthusiast is
supposed to be able to distingu ish
b e tw e e n p ro t e c t e d t r a f f i c a n d
u nprotected traffic.
F o rt u n at e l y ,
the
J u st i c e
D e p a rt m e nt has a n n o u nced t h at
t hey have no plans to enforce this
portion of the E C PA w h ich is just
as wel l , as the t hought of the Feds
breaking into yo u r hou se to see
where you have been tun ing you r
rad i o t e n d s to put a d a m p e r o n
radiotelephone eavesdropping.
F r o m t h e e d it o r o f Pop u l a r
Communications magazine comes
a book t h at p ro m i s e s to explai n
h o w y o u c a n b e c o m e a ra d i o
voyeur and l iste n i n . And indeed it
does , except by the time you come
to the e nd of the book you're won
d e ri n g w h at you p a i d fo r . M o re
than a t h i rd of the boo k (60 pages)
is co mposed of chan nel allocatio n
c h a rt s of q u e s t i o n a b l e v a l u e .
T h e re ' s no index o r b i b l io g raphy,
the latte r wh ich wo u ld have bee n
usef u l as the reader is refe rred to
othe r books whe n ever the author
declines to de lve too deep into the
t e c h n ic a l i t i e s . All i n a l l , a steep
price for a few fre q u e ncy charts
and a lot of folksy d iat ribe against
the E C PA . Kneite l may have got
t e n too u s e d to w r it i n g m o n t h l y
m a g a z i n e e d i to r i a l s a n d s e e m s
u n ab l e to t a l k about ce l l u l a r

Winter 1988-89

2600 Magazine

Page 45

BOOK REVIEW: TUNE IN ON TEL EPHONE CA LLS

m i l it a ry network u sed fo r patc h i n g
p ho n e c a l l s f o r u n iformed pe rso n

p h o n e s w it h o u t s n i p i n g at t h e
i n d u stry lobbyists and m e m b c: rs of

n e l o n s h i p s o r a t U . S . bases over
seas .

C o n g r e s s w h o s p o n s o r e ri t h e
E C P A . A l t h o u g h t h e E C PA i s wit h

o u t a d o u bt b a d l e g i s l at i o r1 t h at

A l t h o u g h t h e b o o k is i nf o r m a

f a i l s to u nde rst a n d t h e t ec h n 0 10gy

t iv e , it i s a s k i n ny vo l u me at a f at

it p u r p o rt s t o r e g u l a t e , K n '3 i t e l

p rice

s p e n d s f a r t o o m u c h s pace I II a n

wou l d h av e made a good article i n

a l re ady

sparse

tome whining

W i t h a l it t l e t r i m m i n g , i t

Popu l a r C o m m u n ic a t io n s , a n d

wo u ld o n l y have cost $2 . 5 0 at t h e

a b o u t it .
F o r t he c o m p l e t e novice , t h a re ' s
a s h o rt c h a pt e r o n w h at k i n d of
e q u i p m e nt yo u ' l l need (a S C ;l n n e r
t h at co ve rs t h e 870-896 M hz c e l l u
l a r b a nd a n d a g e n e ra l cov c: ra g e
s h o rtwave rece i v e r ) , and a f e w t i ps
o n a n t e n n a s . K n e i t e l h a s Cl f e w
g o o d w o r d s f o r t h e R ad i o S h a ck

P R O - 2 0 0 4 sca n n e r , w h i c h aft e r a
q u i c k mod if icat i o n ( a l s o d e sc r i b e d
i n t h e book) beco m e s a n eff icie nt
m ac h i ne for f o l l o w i n g c e l l u l a r c a l l s .
T h e book covers e a c h po rt i o n o f
t h e r a d i o s p e ct ru m t h at co n t a i n s

n e w s st a n d . F o r m o r e c o m p l e t e
informat i o n o n c h a n n e l a l locat io n s ,
R a d i o S h ack s e l l s t h e " P o l ice C a l l
R a d i o G u i d e " , w h i c h co n t a i n s
co m p l et e sc a n n e r f r e q u e ncy l i st
i n g s f o r a particu l a r ar ea. This w i l l
t e l l y o u j u s t a b o u t e v e ry t h i n g ,
t ho u g h it's i n a h a rd t o d igest for
mat and you ' l l have to d i g f o r w h at
you w a nt . F o r stat i o n l i s t i ng s in t h e
s h o rtwave band , w h i c h w i l l i n c l u d e
a w o r l d w i d e ru ndown of t h e m a r

i t i m e t e l e p h o n e f re q u e n c i e s a n d
m i l i t a r y M A R S f re q u e n c i e s ( b u t

s o m e t h i ng t o do w i t h t e l e p h o n e

ag a i n t h e y' l l b e b u ried a m o ng a lot

calls.

p h o ne s , w i lderness a n d remote

of o t h e r f re q u e n c y l i st i ng s ) , s e e
t h e " C o n f i d e n t i a l F r e q u e ncy L i st" ,

a r e a p h o n e s , rad i o co m m o n c a r ri

f ro m G i lf e r S h o rtwave ( 8 0 0 - G I L

Car

phones,

co rd l e s s

e rs , b e e p e rs , local m a r i n e r e g io n
,

a l m a r i n e , h i g h s e as m a ri n e , a n d

F E R - 1 o r 2 0 1 -39 1 -788 7 , Box 239 ,

5 2 P a r k Ave n u e , Park R id g e , N J

0765 6 .

oil rigs.
S a t e l l i t e a n d m i c ro w a v e l i n k s
a r e b r i e f l y t o u c h ed u po n , b u t t h e
e q u i p m e nt n e e d e d fo r i nt e rc e pt i ng
m i c rowave l i n ks i s n't d e sc r i b e d . A
l it t l e m i sce l l a n y t h at m i g ht not b e
e a s i l y f o u n d e l s ew h e r e i s a l s o
i n c l u d e d , s u c h a s t e l ep h o n e co m
p a n y m a i nt e n a nc e f re q u e n cies
experimental

a i r a nd

r a i l ro a d

p h o n e s e rv i c e s , a n d t h e M A R S

1'1I!;e 4 6

2 60() Magazine

F i rs t F ri d a y o f t h e m o n t h i n
t h e l o b b y o f t h e C i t i c orp
C e n t e r, 5 3 rd S t re e t , b e t w e e n
3 r d a n d L e H i n g t o n , N Y C fro m
5pm to 8pm. Call (5 1 6) 75 1 2 6 0 0 f o r m o re i n fo .

W i n te r 1 988-89

IMPORTANT NOTICE
Ri s ing

cost s

are

f o r c i ng

s c r i pt i o n p r i c e s
s ub s c r i p t i o n
t he

be fore

increase .

and t he

new

The

e xp i r e
t i me

for

on .

thi s

You

page

a dd r e s s
are )

and

the

it

of

of

the

your

qu a rt e r

it

of

do e s n ' t
out

( your

who

you

pieces

is
it

us

us

of

y o u want .
obvi o u s l y
thi s

t he

Sp r i ng

any

can

add t h e

1 988,

and n o t
for

to

own

t h o u gh

l e ft

You

tearing

tells

what

even

s o r ry

to

just

back

back

j u st

edit i o n

We ' r e

We ' l l

s ub

can beat

r i ght .

cho i ce

t he

y ou

are

the

our

renew your

sub s c r ipt i on

t ime .

one

that

fourth

1 988

one .

your

s en d i ng
on

s e nding
not e

t he

W i nt e r

h av e

e xp l a i n i n g

P lease
i sn ' t

if

to

ra i se
you

1 st ,

r at e s

a re

l ong

l ab e l

or

p ape r

to
If

Ma r c h

old

ones

renew now even

us

s l i gh t l y .

is

the

1 98 9

c o n fu s i on .

I N D I V I D U A L S U BS C R I PT I O N

' .J
LJ

1 ye ar/$ 1 5/$ 1 8
0 2 yea rs/$2 8/$3 3 0 3 years/$4 1 1$4 8
C O R P O RATE S U B SC R I P T I O N
1 year/$4 01$45
0 2 ye ars/$ 75/$ 8 5 0 3 ye ars/$ 1 1 01$ 1 2 5
OV E R S E AS S U B SC R I P T I O N

'.J

1 y e a r , i n d iv i d u al/$2 5/$3 0
0 1 ye a r , co rpo ratel$55/$6 5
L I F ET I M E S U B SC R I P T I O N

$ 2 6 0 (yo u ' l l n e v e r h ave to d e a l w i th t h i s ag ai n )

B A C K I S S U E S ( n e v e r o u t o f d ate a n d th e s a m e o l d p r i c e ! )
u

1 98 4/$2 5

1 9 8 5/$25

1 9 8 6/$2 5

1 9 8 8/$2 5

TOTA L A MO U N T E N C LOS E D :

1 9 8 7/$2 5

T H E I NT E R N ET WO RM STO R Y

M C I R I P P I N G O F F C U ST O M E R S
H A C K E R ' S G U I D E TO U N I X
O V E R H EA R I N G P H O N E CALLS

10

L E TT E R S

24

12
19

S OV I ET O P E R ATO R S

30

C H A O S C O M P UTE R C L U B

34

2 6 0 0 M A R K ETPLAC E

41

H A R DW I R I N G F R E E CALLS

42

R E V I EW : T U N E I N O N P H O N E C A L L S 4 5

2600 Magazine
PO BOH 752

Middle I sland, NY 1 1 953

SECOND CLASS POST A G E

U.S.A.

P e r m i t P ending at

E aSI S e l a u k el. N Y
1 1 7 33
ISSN 0 7 4 9 - 385 1

r o rw n rd l n g

n n d A d d re s s C o rre c t i o n R e q u e s t e d