In PWN Issue Seven/Part One, we had an article entitled "Maxfield Strikes
Again." It was about a system known as "THE BOARD" in the Detroit 313 NPA.
The number was 313-592-4143 and the newuser password was "HEL-N555,ELITE,3"
(then return). It was kind of unique because it was run off of an HP2000
computer. On August 20, 1986 the following message was seen on "THE BOARD."
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Welcome to MIKE WENDLAND'S I-TEAM sting board!
(Computer Services Provided By BOARDSCAN)
66 Megabytes Strong
300/1200 baud - 24 hours.
Three (3) lines = no busy signals!
Rotary hunting on 313-534-0400.
Board: General Information & BBS's
Message: 41
Title: YOU'VE BEEN HAD!!!
To: ALL
From: HIGH TECH
Posted: 8/20/86 @ 12.08 hours
Greetings:
You are now on THE BOARD, a "sting" BBS operated by MIKE WENDLAND of the
WDIV-TV I-Team. The purpose? To demonstrate and document the extent of
criminal and potentially illegal hacking and telephone fraud activity by the
so-called "hacking community."
Thanks for your cooperation. In the past month and a half, we've received all
sorts of information from you implicating many of you to credit card fraud,
telephone billing fraud, vandalism, and possible break-ins to government or
public safety computers. And the beauty of this is we have your posts, your
E-Mail and--- most importantly ---your REAL names and addresses.
What are we going to do with it? Stay tuned to News 4. I plan a special
series of reports about our experiences with THE BOARD, which saw users check
in from coast-to-coast and Canada, users ranging in age from 12 to 48. For our
regular users, I have been known as High Tech, among other ID's. John Maxfield
of Boardscan served as our consultant and provided the HP2000 that this "sting"
ran on. Through call forwarding and other conveniences made possible by
telephone technology, the BBS operated remotely here in the Detroit area.
When will our reports be ready? In a few weeks. We now will be contacting
many of you directly, talking with law enforcement and security agents from
credit card companies and the telephone services.
It should be a hell of a series. Thanks for your help. And don't bother
trying any harassment. Remember, we've got YOUR real names.
Mike Wendland
The I-team
WDIV, Detroit, MI.
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This then is the result:
Carman Harlan: Well we've all heard of computer hackers, those electronic
gangsters who try to break into other people's computer
systems. Tonight on the first of a three part news 4 [WDIV-TV,
Channel 4 in Detroit] extra, Mike Wendland and the I-Team will
investigate how such computer antics jeopardize our privacy.
Mike joins us now to tell us what at first may have been
innocent fun may now be affecting our pocket books.
Mike Wendland: Well Carman and Mort, thanks to the media and movies just about
everyone knows about hackers and phone phreaks. By hooking
their Apples, their Ataris, and their Commodores into telephone
lines these electronic enthusiasts have developed a new form of
communication, the computer bulletin board. There are probably
10,000 of these message swapping boards around the country
today, most are innocent and worthwhile. There are an
estimated 1,000 pirate or hacker boards where the main
activities are electronic trespassing, and crime [Estimates
provided by John Maxfield].
[Clipping From Wargames comes on]
In movies like Wargames computer hackers are portrayed as
innocent hobbyist explorers acting more out of mischief than
malice. But today a new generation of hackers have emerged. A
hacker that uses his knowledge of computers to commit crimes.
Hackers have electronically broken into banks, ripped off
telephone companies for millions of dollars, trafficked in
stolen credit card numbers, and through there network of
computer bulletin boards traded information on everything from
making bombs to causing terrorism.
[Picture of John Maxfield comes on]
John Maxfield: Well, now there are electronic gangsters, not just electronic
explorers they are actually gangsters. These hackers meet
electronically through the phone lines or computer bulletin
boards. They don't meet face to face usually, but it is a
semi-organized gang stile activity, much like a street gang, or
motorcycle gang.
Mike Wendland: John Maxfield of Detroit is America's foremost "Hacker
Tracker". He has worked for the F.B.I. and various other law
enforcement and security organizations. Helping catch dozens
of hackers around the country, who have used their computers
for illegal purposes. To find out how widespread these
electronic gangsters have become, we used John Maxfield as a
consultant to setup a so-called "sting" bulletin board [THE
BOARD].
We wrote and designed a special program that would allow us to
monitor the calls we received and to carefully monitor the
information that was being posted. We called our undercover
operation "The Board", and put the word out on the underground
hacker network that a new bulletin board was in operation for
the "Elite Hacker". Then we sat back and watched the computer
calls roll in.
In all we ran our so called "Sting" board for about a month and
a half, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We received literally
hundreds of phone calls from hackers coast to coast, ranging in
age from 17 to 43. All of them though had one thing in common,
they were looking for ways to cheat the system.
The hackers identified themselves by nicknames or handles like
CB radio operators use, calling themselves things like Ax
Murderer, Big Foot, and Captain Magic. They left messages on a
variety of questionable subjects, this hacker for instance told
how to confidentially eavesdrop on drug enforcement radio
conversations. A New York hacker called The Jolter swapped
information on making free long-distance calls through stolen
access codes, and plenty of others offered credit card numbers
to make illegal purchases on someone else's account.
John Maxfield: Well these kids trade these credit card numbers through the
computer bulletin boards much like they'd trade baseball cards
at school. What we've seen in the last few years is a series
of hacker gangs that are run by an adult, sort of the
mastermind who stays in the background and is the one who
fences the merchandise that the kids order with the stolen
credit cards.
Mike Wendland: Then there were the malicious messages that had the potential
to do great harm. The Repo Man from West Virginia left this
message telling hackers precisely how to break into a hospital
computer in the Charleston, WV area.
[Picture of Hospital]
This is where that number rings, the Charleston Area Medical
Center. We immediately notified the hospital that there
computer security had been breached. Through a spokesperson,
the hospital said that a hacker had indeed broken into the
hospital's computer and had altered billing records. They
immediately tightened security and began an investigation.
They caught the hacker who has agreed to make restitution for
the damages. Maxfield says though, "Most such break-ins are
never solved".
John Maxfield: When you are talking about electronic computer intrusion, it's
the perfect crime. It's all done anonymously, it's all done by
wires, there's no foot prints, no finger prints, no blood
stains, no smoking guns, nothing. You may not even know the
system has been penetrated.
Mike Wendland: Our experience with the "Sting" bulletin board came to a sudden
and unexpected end. Our cover was blown when the hackers
somehow obtained confidential telephone company records. The
result a campaign of harassment and threats that raised serious
questions about just how private our supposedly personal
records really are. That part of the story tomorrow. [For a
little more detail about how their cover was "blown" see PWN
Issue 7/Part One, "Maxfield Strikes Again." Heh heh heh heh.]
Mort Crim: So these aren't just kids on a lark anymore, but who are the
hackers?
Mike Wendland: I'd say most of them are teenagers, our investigation has
linked about 50 of them hardcore around this area, but most
very young.
Mort Crim: Far beyond just vandalism!
Mike Wendland: Yep.
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A few quicknotes in between shows, Mike Wendland and John Maxfield set up THE
BOARD. Carman Harlan and Mort Crim are newscasters.
Also if anyone is interested in the stupidity of Mike Wendland, he flashed the
post that contained the phone number to the hospital across the screen, Bad
Subscript put the VCR on pause and got the number. If interested please
contact Bad Subscript, Ctrl C, or myself.
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Carman Harlan: Tonight on the second part of a news 4 [WDIV-TV, Channel 4 in
Detroit] extra Mike Wendland and the I-Team report on how they
setup a sting bulletin board to see how much they could get on
these criminal hackers. Mike joins us now to explain that
information, that was not the only thing they got.
Mike Wendland: That's right, Carman & Mort. Our so called sting bulletin
board received hundreds of calls from hackers all over America,
and even Canada. They offered to trade stolen credit cards,
and they told how to electronically break into sensitive
government computers. But our investigation came to a sudden
end when our sting board was stung. Our cover was blown when
a hacker discovered that this man, computer security expert
John Maxfield was serving as the I-Team consultant on the
investigation. Maxfield specializes as a hacker tracker and
has worked for the F.B.I. and various other police and security
agencies. The hacker discovered our sting board by getting a
hold of Maxfield's supposedly confidential telephone records.
John Maxfield: And in the process of doing that he discovered the real number
to the computer. We were using a different phone number that
was call forwarded to the true phone number, he found that
number out and called it to discover he was on the sting board.
Mike Wendland: But the hacker didn't stop at exposing the sting, instead he
posted copies of Maxfield's private telephone bill on other
hacker bulletin boards across the country.
John Maxfield: The harassment started, all of the people on my phone bill got
calls from hackers. In some cases their phone records were
also stolen, friends and relatives of theirs got calls from
hackers. There was all sorts of other harassment, I got a call
from a food service in Los Angeles asking where I wanted the
500 pounds of pumpkins delivered. Some of these kids are
running around with guns, several of them made threats that
they were going to come to Detroit, shoot me and shoot Mike
Wendland.
Mike Wendland: A spokesperson from Michigan Bell said that the breakdown in
security that led to the release of Maxfield's confidential
records was unprecedented.
Phil Jones (MI Bell): I think as a company were very concerned because we work
very hard to protect the confidentially of customer's
records. [Yeah, right].
Mike Wendland: The hacker who got a hold of Maxfield's confidential phone
records is far removed from Michigan, he lives in Brooklyn, NY
and goes by the name Little David [Bill From RNOC]. He says
that getting confidential records from Michigan Bell or any
other phone company is child's play. Little David is 17 years
old. He refused to appear on camera, but did admit that he
conned the phone company out of releasing the records by simply
posing as Maxfield. He said that he has also sold pirated
long-distance access codes, and confidential information
obtained by hacking into the consumer credit files of T.R.W.
Little David says that one of his customers is a skip-tracer, a
private investigator from California who specializes in finding
missing people. Maxfield, meanwhile, says that his own
information verified Little David's claim.
John Maxfield: The nearest I can determine the skip-tracer was using the
hacker, the 17 year old boy to find out the whereabouts of
people he was paid to find. He did this by getting into the
credit bureau records for the private eye. This is an invasion
of privacy, but it's my understanding that this boy was getting
paid for his services.
Mike Wendland: In Long Island in New York, Maxfield's telephone records were
also posted on a bulletin board sponsored by Eric Corley,
publisher of a hacker newsletter [2600 Magazine]. Corley
doesn't dispute the harassment that Maxfield received.
Eric Corley: Any group can harass any other group, the difference with hackers
is that they know how to use particular technology to do it. If
you get a malevolent hacker mad at you there's no telling all the
different things that can happen.
Mike Wendland: What can happen? Well besides getting your credit card number
or charging things to your account, hackers have been known to
change people's credit ratings. It is really serious business!
And tomorrow night we'll hear about the hacker philosophy which
holds that if there is information out there about you it is
fair game.
Mort Crim: "1984" in 1986.
Mike Wendland: It is!
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Carman Harlan: News four [WDIV-TV, Channel 4 in Detroit] extra, Mike Wendland
and the I-Team look at how these hackers are getting out of
hand.
Mike Wendland: The problem with hackers is not just with mischief anymore,
unscrupulous hackers are not only invading your privacy, they
are costing you money. Case and point, your telephone bills,
because American telephone companies have long been targets of
computer hackers and thieves we are paying more than we should.
Experts say the long distance companies lose tens of millions
of dollars a year to, these self described "Phone Phreaks."
For example in Lansing, the Michigan Association of
Governmental Employees received a phone bill totalling nearly
three hundred and twenty one thousand dollars. For calls
illegally racked up on there credit card by hackers. Such
victims seldom get stuck paying the charges, so hackers claim
there piracy is innocent fun.
Phil Jones (MI Bell): Nothing could be further from the truth, it becomes a
very costly kind of fun. What happens is that the
majority of the customers who do pay there bills on
time, and do use our service lawfully end up quitting
after that bill.
Mike Wendland: That's not all, hackers regularly invade our privacy, they
leave pirated credit card numbers and information how to break
into electronic computer banks on bulletin boards. Thousands
of such electronic message centers exist across the country,
most operated by teenagers.
John Maxfield: There is no law enforcement, no parental guidance, they're just
on their own so they can do anything they want. So the few bad
ones that know how to steal and commit computer crimes teach
the other ones.
Mike Wendland: There is very little that is safe from hackers, from automatic
teller machines and banks to the internal telephone systems at
the White House. Hackers have found ways around them all
hackers even have their own underground publication of sorts
that tells them how to do it.
[Close up of publication]
Its called 2600 [2600 Magazine], after the 2600 hertz that
phone phreaks use to bypass telephone companies billing
equipment. It tells you how to find credit card numbers and
confidential records in trash bins, break into private
mainframe computers, access airline's computers, and find
financial information on other people through the nations
largest credit bureau, TRW. 2600 is published in a
ram-shackled old house at the far end of Long Island, New York
by this man, Eric Corley. He argues that hackers aren't
electronic gangsters.
Eric Corley: We like to call them freedom fighters. Hackers are the true
individuals of the computer revolution, they go were people tell
them not to go, they find out things they weren't supposed to
find out.
Mike Wendland: Corley's newsletter supports a hacker bulletin board called the
Private Sector. Last year the F.B.I. raided it.
Eric Corley: They managed to charge the system operator with illegal
possession of a burglary tool in the form of a computer program.
Mike Wendland: But the bulletin board is still in operation. Corley resents
the suspicion that hackers are involved in criminal activities.
Eric Corley: Hackers are not the people who go around looking for credit cards
and stealing merchandise. That's common thievery. Hackers are
the people who explore. So basically what we are saying is more
knowledge for more people. That will make it better for
everybody.
Mike Wendland: He claims that hackers, in their own ways, really protect our
rights by exposing our vulnerabilities. Well hackers may
expose our vulnerabilities, but they also invade our privacy.
There activities have really spotlighted the whole question of
privacy raised by the massive files that are now out there in
electronic data banks. Much of that information that we think
is personal and confidential is often available to the whole
world.
Original transcript gathered and typed by
Ctrl C & Bad Subscript
Major editing by Knight Lightning
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