Date: Sat, 2 May, 1992 21:19:04 CDT
From:
[email protected]
Subject: File 4--A Forgotten Victim of the 1990 Raids
One victim of the January, 1990 raids, has preferred to remain out of
the public eye and has successfully kept a low profile. We'll call
him "Joe." Joe ran Jolnet, a Unix public access BBS in Lockport,
Illinois, about 30 miles southwest of Chicago across the river from
Joliet. Joe reportedly discovered files on his system containing E911
information purloined from BellSouth's computers by Legion of Doom
member Robert Riggs (who used the handle "Robert Johnson"). Joe
reported their existence to whom he believed to be the proper telecom
authorities, which included providing access to Jolnet for Bellcore's
Henry Kluepfel. They took no immediate action. Joe cooperated with
the authorities, but ultimately had his equipment confiscated anyway.
The files Riggs obtained were related to BellSouth's E911 system, and
from Jolnet he sent parts of them to others. Since 1988, the Secret
Service had been investigating "computer intrusions," particularly a
few Legion of Doom members. The arrest and indictment of Riggs led
them to Craig Neidorf, who published a portion of the edited E911
maintenance files in Phrack 24 under the sig of "The Eavesdropper." In
January 18, 1990, The Secret Service and security personnel from
Southwestern Bell and Bellcore found the Phrack file and a password
cracking program called login.c among Craig Neidorf's posessions. They
traced the login.c program back to Len Rose, and on February 1, 1990,
they searched his premises in Maryland, where they found unauthorized
Unix sourcecode in his possession. Not realizing how ballistic the
Secret Service and AT&T would go over possession of unlicensed
software, and threatened with major felony charges of transporting
stolen property across state lines (18 USC 2314) and wire fraud (18
USC 1030(a)(6), Len indicated that he sent a copy of the program to
Joe.
The next day (February 2), Secret Service Special Agent Barbara Golden
obtained a warrant to search Joe's house under 18 USC 2314 and 18 USC
1030(a)(6). They would look for disks, documents, and anything else
that seemed computer-related. Secret Service agents and various
security officials wasted little time in trooping out to Joe's brown
ranch house with the yellow trim. On February 3, they struck. Marty
Flynn of AT&T Corporate Information Security valued the software Joe
was suspected to have (which included UNIX SVR 3.1 and 3.2, and
Starland 3.0 Network Software) at over $250,000. Flynn checked AT&T
records and informed the agents that Joe held only a limited $100
"Tool Chest" agreement. Joe's previous cooperation with Kluepfel for
over a year was forgotten. Joe was raided and he lost much of his
equipment, even though he was never indicted.
Joe's fall from grace--from cooperative citizen to victim--was another
in the list of disrupted lives caused by the Secret Service and
others. Those who were indicted paid a heavy price, but the
victimization of those who are unindicted must not be forgotten.
The Players:
Joe, at last report, was employed, relatively happy, and just wanted
to be left alone. He still did not have his equipment returned, and
was not trying to get it.
Craig Neidorf has graduated from the University of Missouri and plans
to go to law school.
Len Rose is completing the last few weeks of a one-year sentence in a
community release center in Chicago.
Robert Riggs was released from prison in 1991 and periodically appears
at conferences.
Henry Kluepfel, former Assistant U.S. Attorney William J. Cook, and
Secret Service Special Agents Timothy Foley and Barbara Golden are
defendants in a civil sought brought against them for reckless
behavior in the subsequent raid on Steve Jackson Games.
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