This is the very first issue of 2600. We will, on this page, explain our molives and what the goals art which we hope to achieve with this publication,

The idea for 2600 was born early in 1983. We saw a tremendous need for some form of communication between those who truly appreciate the concept of communication: technological enthusiasts. Of course, others have dilferent ways of describing such peoplt these range from words like hacker or phreaker to stronger terms such as criminal or anarchist. Our purpost is not to pass judgement. 2600 exists to provide information and ideas to individuals who live for both. Alt of the items contained on these pages are provided for informational purposes only. 2600 assumes no responsibility for any uses which this information may be put to.

Of course, a lot has changed since our first days. War Games came out. And then the 414 gang gol caught. Suddenly everyone was talking about phreakers and hackers. And while there were some that sort of jumped into the limelight, others were a bit more cautious, in fact, some were quite upset. Sure, the publicity was fun. But what would be the cost?

Well, time has passed and the cost has been high, Phreakers and hackers have been forced into virtual isolation. Raids by the FBI have become almost commonplace. The one magazine that was geared towards phone phreaks (TAP) mysteriously disappeared at the height of the crisis, sparking rumours that they, too, had been raided. However, in November, the magazine resurfaced, with an explanation that a fire had destroyed part of their mailing list: (incidentally, if your name was one of the ones that was lost, you can claim the issues you are chitied to by sending TAP a copy of their mailing label or a cancelled check.

And then there was the legendary computer bulletin hoard known as OSUNY. Enthusiasts from all across the country called up this board and left messages ranging from the latest in Sptint codes to how to crash an RSTS system to what to do once you've finally gained access to Autovon. Within a week alter being mentioned in Newswerk. OSUN Y was disconnected. Ward has it that they are still in existence somewhere, but by invitation only. A truly smart move, if that is the case.

Many hackers were keeping a'low profile even helore the October raids. When the FBI confiscuted

equipment from IS sites across the country on the twelfth and thirteenth of the month (sponsored by a grant from the folks at GTE), many of our contacts were lost because they feared the consequences of continuing. Two organizations, the Inner Circle and PHALSE, were deeply affected by the raids. The latter group (whose initials signify Phreakers, Hackers, and Laundromar Service Employees) is still in contact with us on occasion and has promised to contribute many articles devoted lo just what was really going on.

So it secms that the events of 1983 have conspired to actually strengthen the resolve of hackers and phreakers across the country to put out this monthly newsletter. We hope you will help us continue by subscribing, spreading the word among your friends, and of course contributing articies and information. Since we are non-profit, it really doesn't matter to us if you xerox your copy and send it to someont else—all we ask is that you let us know so that we can havé a rough idca of how many people we're reaching.

2600 has several sections, some of which will appear every month, others on an irregular basis. On this, the front page, and on page two, you will always find informative full-length features on relevant subjects. Future topics include: "A Guide to Long Distance Telephone Services and Their Vulnerabilities". "DEC and Their Many Mistakes". "Phreaking in the Sixties"; and "Tracing Methods Used by the Law", as well as any late-breaking items. "FLASH" appears on page 3 and provides a roundup of timely news items written from a technological enthusiast's perspective. Page 4 is used for a variety of things-interesting stories from the past, schemes and plots that just might work, and feedback from subscribers. The last two pages of 2600 are comprised of data. Just what sort of data, we cannbt say. However. if it is something that You are looking for, then you will probably recognize

The three holes on each page serve a purpose. We suggest that you obtain a loose-leaf book so that you can neatly file every issue of 250% you receive.

Many thanks to those of you who subscribed without even seeing an issue. A word of advice. though: don't do it again or you'll probably get ripped off! We'd also like to thank those who took advantage of our free issue offer. If interested in subscribing, the rates and address can be found at the top of thes page.

Welcome in 260f. Turn the page and become a part of our unique world.

On this page we had originally planned to run an article entitled: ESS - Orwell's Prophecy. At the las minute, however, we received this bombshell from ar anonymous contributor. It seems that a group of hackers was making use of one of IBM's ADS 3ystems. (Audio Distribution Systems enable üsers with touch-tone phones to send voice messages back and fortit to each other. Look for on in-depth article on them in a future issue.) Unfortunately, as is all too often the case, one of these hackers was really an FBi informant who was taking note of all of the illegitimate users (around 40 or so). Luckily for tms particuiar group, the informant was sloppy and left many telltale elues which gave them literally months of warning. So, when the informant de culed to send a message to the system operator, advising IBM to take action against the hackers and to call the FBI for more information, the hackers were ready. The system operator's account had aiso been penetrated by them and hence, the messuge was received by the hackers first! One of them actually followed the instructions in the message and called the FBI! And for some reason, the investigator there thought he was talking to an IBM executive. This is some of what he said.

One of the individuals that supplies me with information from time to time has uncovered a lot of abuse within the ADS systems, not only here in the United States, but in England and Italy. I talk to this individual on a private hulletin board...

We have no ability to come in as an outside investigative or law enforcement agency and do anything about it because, first off, we don't have a complainant. We don't want to step on anybody's toes, but it's been our policy to monitor bulletin boards and the phone phreaking activity across the country and advise commercial computer systems and corporations if we do discover certain computers along with the passwords and account numbers being published on the board. We do this on a one on one Dasis.

The GTE Telemail Connection

That was iny baby, too! As a matter of fact, that's low. we came across the ADS system — through the 3TE investigation. [These) people are not just inerested in data communications through terminals — hey will leave voice messages on an ADS. We have seen slowly uncovering more and more on the ADS n the last two months. The major phase of [the Telemail investigation] vas about 20 individuals that we had located and dentified and we're looking for indictments on most if them coming down in the next month or two. Ve're talking about a group of highly organized reople that do communicate on a daily basis all the ray across the country - from San Francisco and

L.A. to Denver to upstate New York. So we have a core of individuals that we are still looking at that are using your system and then we have this peripheral that we are not as concerned about because they are not part of an out & out conspiracy or an organized network, per se.. I know of at least 8 or 10 that are the central figures in this, the carryover from Telemail, And we keep hearing information of other people who are calling in with junk messages there's no real substance to their messages. Now the reason I know that is that they have included one of my sources of information onto their system and so he gets messages from the other parties.

The Communist Connection

In a way we're somewhat fortunate that it's 16year-olds or 26-year-olds as opposed to people from behind the Iron Curtain. It gives us the opportunity to see how these systems work and see if we can piug any loopholes before somebody from a not-friendly nation would try the same thing. I personally fully expect it — I'm surprised it hasn't happened in the past. It may have. We just haven't caught it. But the kids are a little bit sloppier and they're getting caught,.. I hate to sound paranoid, but we're sup posed to be considering the big picture as far as is there anything sensitive in nature. bureau, sensitive in nature first off means national security and you've got corporate trade secrets and the like that you don't need being distributed.

How the FBI Wins Trust and Gets Info

The subjects have an ego problem and they love to talk to other individuals about what they are capable of doing and bragging about it. They have a tendency to trade information. Everything is negotiable with them. We have never had to barter away access to systems - we do it more on the technical information of phone networks, computer systems, and the like to where it's more of a technical information tradeoff as opposed to an access tradeoff, [An example would be thel login procedure for a PDP-11. You integrate yourself within their confidence and their cirele of friends. You feed them a little bit of bait and a lot of times they'll go for it. You enter into a dialogue with them and they end up taking you for a ride:

These people are very hungry for technical avenues through which they can communicate. It used to be the personal computer bulletin boards - publié messages that anybody can read, You start finding out that they leave a phone number or an address and you start finding out who the parties are. There's thousands of these bulletin boards across the country and you narrow in on maybe twenty or so that are the more hardcore bulletin boards that are being used for exchange of illicit information. Then they move from there to an electronic mail service, namely GTE

(Contined on hack page)

GTE raids stil] have many unanswered questions—computer owners concerned °

’

aati Alea Sonic

On Wednesday, October |2, at 6:00 AM, the FBI started to raid the homes of over fifteen individuals for allegedly breaking into Telemail, GTE Telenet’s massive electronic. mail service. While much of the publicity has now died down, questions remain concerning the legality and the overall implications of such computer seizures,

Ata December 16 meeting of the Long [sland Computer | Association, this topic was addressed, Same members could not understand the rationale for taking away the computers in the first place. “It sounds like scare tactics to me... to keep these kids off of computers,” ane commented, “To hold the equipment seems like something that should be unlawful and it’s something that the public should lock at, Ifit’s not justified, we should say that we won't put up with it anymore and to return the equipment.” He did not elaborate on precisely what kind of action a computer group such as

LICA could take.

Legaily, the computers can_be kept for as jong as they are needed in the investigation. Uitimately, a judge will decide how long that can be.

“The allegation,” said an attorney familiar with the case, “is that the services of the Telemail bulletin boards were used and the theory that the government is proceeding under is - that it was a wolatien of Section £343, wire fraud (a scheme

with. intention te defraud someone else using either Television, telephone, or somé other communications means). They're saying that if there was use of the bulletin board service, then that was a ‘theft of service’ and there wis intention to defraud GTE."

Meanwhile, a GTE Telenet spokesperson said that ihe corporation still intends to prosecute and denied that the whole thing was being put on for the deterrent effect that i might have on other people. The spokespersdn aiso said that abuse on the sysiem. was discovered in the past, but they didn't prosecule at that time. Ths lime, though, they're

Serious.

AT&T Credit Cards Make Debut

200) Mews Service There's naw another way to place telephone calls Without dimes. This month, the “true” AT&T credit card phones.are making their debut in varigus airporis around the country. This new phone actually takes an AT&T credit card (not those wimpy “calling cards" or “PIN cards.” We're talking about a rea’ hunk of plastic, with a magnetic strip and everything.) — and there's even a littie video screen that gives you directions.

Uniess some sort of a bug can be found within the system itself, phone phreaks won't accomplish very much here, unless they can actually get their hands on other people's cards. This, in itself, wouldn't be too difficult, since large numbers OPthe cards would be sent out on the same day ina particular area. Stealing out of personal mailboxes, though, i$ an act most phone phreaks would never stoop to. And the folks at AT&T are well aware of this.

Wireless phones spell trouble

O00 News Sdrvier

With cordless phones popping up ali over the place, problems were bound to arise. It's not at all uncommon to hear another cordless conversation on your phone or to bear

these people are playing, but they are a theft of service. Somebody is m the business of providing that service and theyre deliberately mterfering with their providing that service. They're trying to get something for nothing.”

Another disagreed. “You may be on their computer, but it’s not costing them anyihing, if you're not taking up time. Unless the whole system is fully used and you were the fast user on, are you really using any af thei time? Really and truly?"

Many hackers felt they were unjustly accused. One even said he'd never used the Telemail sysiem. Others said they had looked around once or twice bui had never hurt anything. Others, thaugh, admitted ta deleting mail and playing tricks, like sending obscene messages back and forth between two innocent exécuives,:

Whether or not the Telemail system wag used fraudulently did not seem to be the overriding issue at the LICA meeting. What had members there worried was the way in which the invesligation waa beitg carried out. When dealing with computers as evidence, different ruies apply, rues that for the most part have not been written yet. “Data can be manufactured just as easily as il can be erased from a personal computer,” one member commented. “And ihe longer that they have the: computer in their custody, the less likely that ihe information that they claim is on tt was aciuaily there, Because, as we know, you could enter any date, any time into the computer and have it date- and timestamp the files.”

Then there are cordless phone phreaks to deal with, who drive into heavily populated zones holding one of the | common cordless models. [t's called “cruising for dialtones.” And some phones are nice enough to broadcast your conversation on an AM Srequency. This feature isn’t very good for private conversations, [t helped shape a recent: drug bustin the state of New York.

Recently, alady in the Midwest called up her local electric company to teil.chem that she was going to be away for two months. A member of the 2600 Club heard this on his radio and, being in a good mood, called her and told her that important, personal business should never be discussed on cordless phones. After thanking him, she exclaimed, “That thing's going right back to the Phonecenter Store!";

1984 arrives in Hong Kong

Thee Lou Angeles Tirmes

in an effort to “discourage peaple from driving their cars in heavily congested areas" all 350,000 of Hong Kong's motor vehicles will be fitted with tracking devices that will let government computers Know exactly where each car has traveled so that the owner can be billed for road use. This — system could be in full implementation by 1987, if the government has iis way. Such a system would also allow the police 10 quickly pinpoint the whereabouts of any vehicle, Tampering with the $45 tracking devices will be ifegal and any attempt to do so will trigger street cameras lo photograph the license plate of ithe car,

by Mark Bluebox

Once upon a time, I was talking to one of my favorite friends, ont of the nation's oldest and most experienced telephone enthusiasts- some might refer to him as a phone phreak. In this particular conversation, he mentioned to me bat I might want to experiment with a series of 800 numbers: exchanges starting with 9, followed by the suffix 9999 (800-9xx-9999). And so I did, and a whole new world began to open up in front of me.

They were mostly weather and time numbers in various Jocations throughout the country. And, since these were 800 numbers, there was NO CHARGE! One number in particular was of a great deal of interest to me and to many others. This was 800-957-9999, which hooked up to WWV, the radio station operated by the National Bureau of Standards that does nothing but tell the time and give shortwave reports. This is the most accurate clock in the entire world! You either have to tune WWW in on a shortwave receiver or dial 303-499-7111 in Fort Collins, Colorado. Yet, here I was with an 800 access! Being a bit of a shortwave enthusiast, I don't have to teil you how convenient this was for me. Unfortunately, it got too convenient for too many people.

I guess I made the mistake of giving it to a former president of a large amateur radio club in the Dallas area. Ht, in turn, printed it in the Amateur Radio Newsbulletin where thousands of people probably saw it. Another statewide newsbulletin picked it up and printed it. Through an amateur radio news network which this bulletin was a part of, the news got as far as California:. One day, I called up the West Link Amateur Radio News Service at 213-768-7333. (This is a service located in West Link, Californie that broadcasts news over amaleur radio, VHF, UHF, etc.) Their latest report had this little item: "Speaking of interesting things, the National Bureau of. Standards has got a very convenient time number for those of you that are not constantly at a shortwave réceiver. You can dial 1-800-957-9999 for WWV. It's just another good toll-free service for us to use." The avalanche had really begun now.

The West Link report was heard on bulletin stations all around the world and, apparently, one station in Nashville, Tennessee broadcast it. From there it fell into the hands of one of the writers for the DX program on Radio South Africal I happened to be listening to a program where they were talking about putling in distant time stations, weather stations, etc. He then mentioned, "For those of you that live in the United States, a convenient toll-free 800 number has

been provided by the National Bureau of Standards for WWW and that number is 1-800-957-9999." Imagine my surprise! Once again, the number had been broadcast all around the world. People in many, many nations now had that number. Of course, the number onty worked inside the United States, but the word was being spread by shortwave tisteners and QSL people everywhere.

The number was getting swamped. Needless to say, it was busy much of the time. A government official, who also had this number, thinking that it was legitimate, called up WWV and complained. He told them that they needed to add some more lines to their new 800 number. The general manager of the station said, "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know of any 800 number that gets you WWV."

The government official told him what the telephone number was. The general manager called it and heard his own station, Astounded, he contacted the Mountain Bell Telephone Company in Denver, Colorado. They said, "You'te not paying for any 800 in-WATS number. We show 303-499-7111 for WWV, but we don't have any 800-957- 9999."

Mountain Bell checked it out and sure enough, the number existed but not on their records. No one was getting charged for this! Now, of course, you know a monopoly as well as I do— they're sure not going to let anyone have a free ride. So they told the WATS coordinator to find out what happened. He finally made the discovery that some technicians had hooked that number up for transmission testing. [These switching technicians are toll rechnicians. AT&T Long Lines switching technicians, and carrier systems technicians. In other words, they're the group of people who link switching centers together, from New York to Los Angeles, for example, In this case, the whole escapade was a kind of group effort. The switchmen and the carrier people got together and set up this number for testing, finding noisy carriers, carriers with cross-talk on them, ctc.]

The WATS coordinator told them they'd better get this number off—-too many people knew about it. He lold them to erase every 800 test line number that was on the system. Not surprisingly, someone also got chewed out very severely

So, consequently, 800-957-9999 is no longer in existence. i But since then, Jess than two weeks later, several of the 800 • test numbers have begun to defiantly reappear. Check around, you'll probably find a few interesting ones. But I 'doubt if WWV's brief stint as a toll-free service will ever be repeated.

know the address (it's on the front page). Let's hear from YOU.

(Cominued from second page)

they decided to get a little bit cocky and see if they could shut down accounts and change passwords of the administrators and things like that. From there they have moved one step further to where they are now the same individuals communicating through the ADS systems and they also. set up conference calls through the Bell System, so they're not just attacking one particular system or one individual avenue of communication - they try to hit them all. It's an ego trip for all of them.

Pen Registers

We would put a pen register on the phone line of the individual (suspect) and it would record only the digits dialed on his telephone - we would not use a full blown wiretap to record his voice. We can only put a pen register on an individual's phone for like, thirty days before we have to go back to a judge and try to get an extension and we try to minimize the use of our electronic surveillance equipment so the public does not think we're the Big Brother of 1984. (laughter) It's coming. Actually, we're already there! (hearty laughter)

We have not utilized any pen registers for the specific purposes of going after abusers of the ADS systems. First off, we have to have an actual case presented to us or a complaint, • It's a roundabout way of doing it, but it's the way that we, in the bureau, have to have somebody outside come to us. Otherwise we can carry on the whole investi gation without IBM even being aware that we are monitoring activity within their system and we don't want to become that secret police, or anything like that. We want to be above board and work with the corporations in the community.

Just How Much Trouble Are These Hackers In?

On the federal level we can prosecute them for telephone fraud (traud by wire) if we can determine that the ADS is an ongoing business operation and that you are being denied your just revenues by them sneaking onto your system and abusing your system. The strictest penalty is a $1000 fine and 5 years in jail for an actual conviction of fraud by wire violation. Those are always lax - a more common sentence may be for an adult maybe a year in jail, 18 months, or a fine, sometimes they get probation, or agree to pay back any fraudulent money obtained

company — it stays on his record for a year, he's on probation for a year and at the end of that, his record is wiped clean. Rarely do they get the maximum penalty. It just doesn't happen.

Do Me a Favor

Please do not disclose any geographic location because we are kind of unique in that we do not have any other source available in any other part of the country that could supply us with information like this. He may be one of 200 people, but if you identify Michigan you identify between 2 or 3 individuals and it may burn the source.

We'd like to make it clear that we don't intend to do this hind of thing very often, since rumours about certain people being informants are very common in this business. But this is no rumour. This, friends, is solld fact - we would not have printed this story if • we weren't able to substantiate the claims it makes, and we had no trouble at ail doing that.. Our intent in making this information known was not to screw up the FBl's fun (they're really not doing all that much out of the ordinary anyway), but rather to expose a very dangerous individual who goes by the name of Cable Pair (some say his real name is John Maxfield). This person has been posing as an extremely friendly hacker who lives in Detroit and is just bubbling over with technical information in exchange for your secrets. He claims to have been one of the nation's first phreaks, which may or may not be true. He gives out his telephone numbers freely, will do anything to communicate with somebody (like place conference calls from his own private PBX system, provided you give him YOUR phone number), and generally will use anything you I say to him against you in the future. Our adulse is simple: stay the hell away from this person. Even if you haven't done anything wrong yourself; your life

thought Cable Pair would be a promising contributor to this publication and instead we learned a valuable lesson: don't trust anybody. Have fun, Cable Pair. Enjoy yourself. Just don't expect to see any of us

You're on your own now.