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#### PHRACK PRESENTS ISSUE 16 #### |
^*^*^*^Phrack World News, Part 1^*^*^*^ |
**** File 8 of 12 **** |
>From the 9/16 San Francisco Chronicle, page A19: |
GERMAN HACKERS BREAK INTO NASA NETWORK (excerpted) |
Bonn |
A group of West German computer hobbyists broke into an international |
computer network of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and |
rummaged freely among the data for at least three months before they were |
discovered, computer enthusiasts and network users said yesterday. |
An organization in Hamburg called the Chaos Computer Club, which |
claimed to be speaking for an anonymous group that broke into the network, |
said the illicit users managed to install a "Trojan horse," and gain entry |
into 135 computers on the European network. |
A "Trojan Horse" is a term for a permanent program that enables |
amateur computer enthusiasts [as opposed to professionals?], or "hackers," |
to use a password to bypass all the security procedures of a system and gain |
access to all the data in a target computer. |
[Actually, this type of program is a 'back door' or a 'trap door.' The group |
may very well have *used* a Trojan horse to enable them to create the back |
door, but it probably wasn't a Trojan horse per se. A Trojan horse is a |
program that does something illicit and unknown to the user in addition to its |
expected task. See Phrack xx-x, "Unix Trojan Horses," for info on how to |
create a Trojan horse which in turn creates a trap door into someone's |
account.] |
The NASA network that was broken into is called the Space Physics |
Analysis Network [ooh!] and is chiefly designed to provide authorized |
scientists and organizations with access to NASA data. The security system in |
the network was supplied by an American company, the Digital Equipment Corp. |
[Probably DECNET. Serves them right.] Users said the network is widely used |
by scientists in the United States, Britain, West Germany, Japan and five |
other countries and does not carry classified information. |
A Chaos club spokesman, Wau Holland, denied that any data had been |
changed. This, he said, went against "hacker ethics." |
West German television reports said that computer piracy carries a |
penalty of three years in prison in West Germany. The government has not said |
what it plans to do. |
The Chaos club clearly views its break-in as a major coup. Holland, |
reached by telephone in Hamburg, said it was "the most successful running of a |
Trojan horse" to his knowledge, and the club sent a lengthy telex message to |
news organizations. |
It said the "Trojan horse" was spotted by a user in August, and the |
infiltrating group then decided to go public because "they feared that they |
had entered the dangerous field of industry espionage, economic crime, East- |
West conflict...and the legitimate security interests of high-tech |
institutions." |
The weekly magazine Stern carried an interview with several anonymous |
hobbyists who showed how they gained access to the network. One described his |
excitement when for the first time he saw on his screen, "Welcome to the NASA |
headquarters VAX installation." |
According to Chaos, the hobbyists discovered a gap in the Digital VAX |
systems 4.4 and 4.5 and used it to install their "Trojan Horse." |
[Excerpted and Typed by Shooting Shark. Comments by same.] |
#### PHRACK PRESENTS ISSUE 16 #### |
^*^*^*^Phrack World News, Part 2^*^*^*^ |
**** File 9 of 12 **** |
[Ed's Note: CertainThings in the article have been blanked (XXXXX) at the |
request of the author] |
The Story of the Feds on XXXXXXX BBS |
By The Mad Phone Man |
Returninghome one afternoon with a friend, I knew something wasn't |
right when I walked into the computer room. I see a "Newuser" on the board... |
and the language he's using is... well "Intimidating"... |
"I want you all to know I'm with the OCC task force and we know who you are... |
we are going to have a little get-together and 'talk' to you all." |
Hmmm... a loser?... I go into chat mode... "Hey dude, what's up?" I ask. |
"Your number asshole" he says.... Well, fine way to log on to a board if I do |
say.... "Hey, you know I talked to you and I know who you are.." "Oh |
yeah...Who am I?." he hesitates and says... "Well uh.. you used to work for |
Sprint didn't you?" |
I say, "No, you've got me confused with someone else I think, I'm a junior |
in high school." |
"Ohyeah?.. You got some pretty big words for a high school kid," he |
says.... |
"Well, in case you didn't know, they teach English as a major these |
days...." |
He says... "Do you really want to know which LD company I'm with?" |
I say "NO, but if it will make you happy, tell me." |
He says MCI. (Whew! I don't use them)... "Well you're outta luck |
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