| ==Phrack Magazine== | |
| Volume Six, Issue Forty-Seven, File 15 of 22 | |
| Substance's Complete Guide To Hacking Meridian Mail Systems (VMB) [PART 1] | |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Feb 1st, 1995 --Made for Phrack | |
| Introduction To Meridian Mail Box Systems | |
| By Substance @ Another Way of Life [hpavc] 5183831369 | |
| NOTE1: In case you didn't know VMB stands for Voice Mail Box | |
| NOTE2: This is the information that I have gathered from hacking | |
| Meridians, and is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate | |
| NOTE3: Disclaimer : There is none, I did this article to encourage people to | |
| go and fuck around with Meridians, so sue me. | |
| ------------ | |
| Introduction | |
| ------------ | |
| Before we begin, Let's shed a little light on the subject of Meridian. This | |
| is one of my favorite VMB systems to hack, because: | |
| Number 1 : There are many Meridian VMB Systems throughout the country, in | |
| -------- 800 exchanges and numbers local to you. You can bet that there | |
| are at least 10 - 15 different corporations using Meridian | |
| throughout your area code | |
| Number 2 : (The Most Important by far.) Almost ALL Meridian mails | |
| -------- use the Mail Box number as the default password. (Unless changed | |
| manually) | |
| Number 3 : About 95 percent have outdialing features. Most don't have long | |
| -------- distance access, but this can still be very useful for diverting | |
| calls, and getting free calls in that area code. | |
| Ok, enough light shed on the matter. Let's get to identifying and hacking | |
| those fuckers! | |
| -------------------------- | |
| Identifying Meridian VMB's | |
| -------------------------- | |
| Most Meridian VMBs just come right out and say exactly what they are. I'd | |
| say about 8 out of 10 will just come out, right after it answers and say: | |
| "MERIDIAN MAIL" | |
| <wait 1 second> | |
| "MAILBOX?" | |
| or just | |
| "MAILBOX?" (it is ALWAYS a female computer [digitized] voice) | |
| Half the time you will only hear "RIDIAN MAIL". (This must be caused by | |
| a timing bug in Meridian.) Once you hear that, write the # down, since | |
| it may be useful in the future for such things as 3rd party billing | |
| (more on that later), as a code line or just as a personal VMB. If you know | |
| for a fact (or a guess in that matter) that this is a Meridian mailbox but | |
| when you call it, it just says 'Leave a message' or has someone actually | |
| talking instructing you to leave a message, then you have reached what might | |
| be a direct VMB line. These are usually numbers people pay more money for, that | |
| will give them a direct 800 number instead of going through the "mailbox #" | |
| part. | |
| These are the best, but probably the hardest to hack, because even though | |
| (according to a recent poll) about 70% of people are stupid enough to leave | |
| their mailbox number as their password, if you are serious and want to | |
| pay that much for a direct line, you are probably going to change the | |
| password. Even though I have seen many that do have the default, the | |
| odds are against it. | |
| Ok back to the point. If you find a direct VMB, call all the numbers around | |
| it, because chances good are that you will find the system that just asks | |
| for a box number, very close. I would recommend about +50 numbers and -50 | |
| numbers and you'll find the root system. You will also find many other | |
| direct boxes in your quest. | |
| NOTE: The ROOT SYSTEM is the number you call and simply hear 'MAILBOX' or | |
| 'MERiDiAN MAiL' | |
| Another thing to remember is that you have to find out how many digits your | |
| mailbox #'s are going to be. The number of digits I've seen in my career | |
| differs from about 2 digits (rare) to 6 (also fairly rare). The most likely | |
| # of digits it will probably have is 4, or 5... Call your VMB and when it asks | |
| for mailbox #, hit '111#' (Note: You ALWAYS have to end a command on a Meridian | |
| mail system with an '#') if it says (with a quick response) 'INVALID box #' | |
| then try a 4 digit code. Sometimes (yeah, I know it sucks) you will | |
| have to fuck around for a while before you can tell how many digits, or even | |
| worse you may never know, and have to keep alternating #'s of digits, until | |
| you hit a valid box. | |
| Hacking The Fuckers: | |
| First off, think of what you are going to record as an outgoing message before | |
| you go and hack it. Decide if this should be a code line, or a personal VMB, | |
| or... Both? Here are the first default boxes you should try before dialing | |
| random ones: | |
| 111 222 333 444 555 666 777 888 999 000 100 200 300 400 500 | |
| 600 700 800 900 123 234 345 456 567 678 789 890 901 121 212 | |
| etc. etc. etc. | |
| If boxes are 4 digits, add a trailing number. If you don't know the length, | |
| mess around a while, you'll get one. | |
| If you call someone's direct VMB and you hear a message like "You have | |
| reached So&So's VMB please leave a message, and I will return your call as | |
| soon as possible" there are a few ways to transfer to a different mailbox. | |
| Try simply hitting #, that might just hang up on you, unfortunately. | |
| Call back try hitting *. When you hear 'MAiLBOX' you just struck home. | |
| Try entering 123#. | |
| Now, a few things can happen. Either: | |
| 1 It will transfer you to 123's mailbox | |
| 2 It will say invalid mailbox, or simply 'MAILBOX' again | |
| 3 It will say Password | |
| When you hear 123's mailbox you can try and hack it by hitting *, and hope | |
| it will ask 'PASSWORD?' If it doesn't then you can't do much with this | |
| system except leave messages for that person (What Fun). If it does ask | |
| "PASSWORD?" then try the box # as the default password. (On your quest for a | |
| valid VMB you will find that MANY MANY people are total fucking morons | |
| and keep their password at the default) others will make it something easy to | |
| remember like 123# or 111# etc. etc. etc. If the password is not the Default | |
| then just write this number down in a notebook and move on. | |
| If all else fails and you can't figure out how to get to the MAILBOX prompt you | |
| should call all the #s around the one you found to try and find the root | |
| system. | |
| If you get in, (with the default or otherwise) it will probably say: | |
| 'MAILBOX EMPTY' or 'YOU HAVE n MESSAGES' | |
| If you press 7* it will reply with: | |
| Message option 0 (unknown at this time) | |
| Reply 1 (used to reply to a previous message) | |
| Play envelope 2 (unknown at this time) | |
| Forward 3 (Forward your mail to another box) | |
| Reply all 4 (Reply with a multi-mail) | |
| compose 5 (send multi-mail) | |
| delete 6 (used to delete mail [duh]) | |
| send 9 (sends single mail [must have mailbox number ready) | |
| if you press 8* it will reply with: | |
| Mailbox options 0 (Changes operator code (not useful) | |
| login 1 (Gives you the option to transfer mailbox's) | |
| greeting 2 (Can change greeting (internal & external) | |
| logoff 3 (Kicks you off the system) | |
| password change 4 (Changes VMB password [verifies 2x] | |
| distribution list 5 (Not useful) | |
| goto 6 (Takes you back to 'MAILBOX EMPTY' | |
| Personal verification 9 (Lets you record a name for personal verify) | |
| to exit press # (logoff) | |
| This is not all very useful, the most you can do with these commands is listen | |
| to people's mail (which can be fun), and/or take it over for your own code line | |
| or personal VMB. The whole point of hacking Meridians is the outdial function. | |
| Once you have successfully gotten into the VMB dial '0*' (Zero-Star). | |
| It should say: | |
| 'YOU HAVE REACHED A SYSTEM THAT WILL CONNECT YOU TO THE NUMBER THAT YOU ENTER. | |
| PLEASE ENTER THE NUMBER OR THE NUMBER OR THE NAME OF THE PERSON YOU WISH TO | |
| REACH. PRESS 11 FOR A NAME, SPELL THE LAST NAME THEN THE FIRST NAME blah, | |
| blah, blah.' | |
| This is the jackpot. With this you can call ANYWHERE (hopefully) for free, any | |
| time (unless the VMB has hours [...some do...]) To dial out, try this first: | |
| just dial a local number (ex 432-1342#) | |
| >From there it may beep and say 'THAT # CANNOT BE REACHED' or it may connect | |
| you. If it connects you, great! You just found an untraceable way of hacking! | |
| Call back and try 1-npa/xxx-yyyy (if that works, then abuse the hell out of it | |
| as soon as possible, because it wont last for long :) ) If those two methods | |
| don't work try these. | |
| 9+1+npa/xxx-yyyy (works most of the time) | |
| 8+1+npa/xxx-yyyy (not probable) | |
| 0+1+npa/xxx-yyyy (Possible) | |
| 9+xxx-yyyy | |
| 8+xxx-yyyy | |
| 0+xxx-yyyy | |
| If none of those work, then you're shit out of luck. Use it for a code line. | |
| If it did work, think of the possibilities, 900 numbers (for gaining access | |
| to boards), Tons of free LD, untraceable calls............ | |
| On to the last subject of part 1. | |
| ------------------------------ | |
| Another Way To Make Free Calls | |
| ------------------------------ | |
| Sorry, this only works on Direct VMB's, sometimes only the ones in your local | |
| exchange, its a long shot, but hell, its free. (But don't do this from your | |
| home phone, stupid.) | |
| Change the outgoing message on the direct VMB to 'Operator, this number accepts | |
| all collect and 3rd party billings' Call up the operator and ask for AT&T, | |
| once they come on tell her you would like to make a 3rd party billing. Tell | |
| her the number you're billing to is the VMB #, then tell her the number you | |
| wish to call. She'll say, "wait," AND a few moments later she'll come back | |
| and say they accepted. Presto! You're in! | |
| If you get busted, say you read a text file on how to do it, you didn't think | |
| it would work... (act innocent, alwayz worked for me :) | |
| You can leave me comments, suggestions or threats at my VMB | |
| (not a Meridian currently) *(800)775-0728* (direct)... | |
| -substance | |
| [EOF] |