TELECOM Digest Fri, 14 Jan 94 08:33:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 29
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Canadian Teen Charged With $500,000 Phone Fraud (William Van Hefner)
Re: Phone Phreakers Down South (Paul Buder)
Re: Phone Phreakers Down South (Bob Niland)
Using Spare Channels on a T1 (Javier Henderson)
Re: Sprint Voice Foncard Press Release (Brent Whitlock)
Telnet to Remote PC's COM Port (Steve Pinkston)
Nynex Name Change (Dale Farmer)
Norwegian CLID (was "Anonymous Call Rejection") (Richard Cox)
Book Review: "Basics Book of Information Networking" - Motorola (R. Slade)
ISDN Residential and PacBell (Steve Cogorno)
Transborder Data Flow? (Michael L. Winkelman)
Online Comments to U.S. Social Security Administration (Jack Decker)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
From:
[email protected]
Reply-To:
[email protected]
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 94 04:27:38 EST
Subject: Canadian Teen Charged With $500,000 Phone Fraud
TORONTO (Jan. 11) UPI - A Canadian teenager has been charged with
defrauding a cellular phone network out of $500,000 worth of long
distance calls.
The youth, who as a young offender can not be identified, allegedly
used a computer to gain access to customers' voice mail boxes.
The teen would change the greetings in the voice mailboxes, and the
new greetings were used to approve calls billed to the Rogers Cantel
Inc. network.
About $200,000 worth of calls were billed to a single phone number
over a 17-day period.
Cantel blames Bell Canada's new automated long-distance billing
service, and is fighting with the phone company over who should pay
for the losses.
Since the alleged thefts last spring and fall, Cantel has started
offering customers a service that will keep their cellular phones from
accepting third-party bills.
A industry analyst estimated that long-distance fraud costs North
American companies $2 billion a year, much of it by hackers who gain
access to telephone networks by breaking access codes.
(END)
Geez, to ring-up a $500,000 cellphone bill he must have been on the
phone for AT LEAST a couple of hours!!! He'll probably end-up
counter-suing the cellular carrier for giving him a brain tumor, or
something ...
William 'Van' Hefner
Vantek Communications
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Paul Buder)
Subject: Re: Phone Phreakers Down South
Date: 13 Jan 1994 18:53:39 -0800
Organization: Teleport - Portland's Public Access (503) 220-1016
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Then too, sometimes the phreaks
> manage to get the root password (the code used by the system
> administrator for system maintainence) and reconfigure the system for
> themselves.
That wouldn't be possible on all voicemail systems. The system I use
is called Repartee. No reconfiguration of privileges is allowed over
the phone unless it is explicitly set up to do that. They have to be
done by typing into the keyboard of the voicemail computer.
[email protected] Not affiliated with teleport.
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Bob Niland)
Subject: Re: Phone Phreakers Down South
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 15:41:20 GMT
Reply-To:
[email protected]
Organization: Colorado SuperNet
V2ENA81%
[email protected] wrote:
> I am assuming that how is this done is to figure out people's voice
> mail passwords and then use the transfer feature to get off-site.
Stealing voicemail passwords and redirector access codes is trivially
easy if:
- Any of the system users have cellphones;
- They aren't directed, in the strongest terms, to NEVER use secured
system features from cellphone;
Cordless phones are also a risk, although a smaller one.
Does AT&T routinely advise their PBX customers to warn users about the
cellphone risk?
Regards, 1001-A East Harmony Road
Bob Niland Suite 503
Internet:
[email protected] Fort Collins
CompuServe: 71044,2124 Colorado 80525 USA
------------------------------
Subject: Using Spare Channels on a T1
From:
[email protected]
Date: 13 Jan 94 17:06:41 PST
Organization: Medical Laboratory Network; Ventura, CA
Hello,
I posted about this several months ago, and I only got one or two
responses. I thought I'd post again ...
Our company has the main facility in Ventura, CA, and we have smaller
sites throughout California. Right now, we're just using regular phone
lines to connect to these facilities for voice.
For data, there's a T1 going from the Ventura site to the long
distance carrier POP, and they run 56Kb circuits to each of the remote
locations. We're currently using only 7 channels on the T1, and expect
to have a total of 12 in use by the end of the year.
I'd like to know how complicated it'd be to use the remaining 12
channels for to route voice calls to our remote sites. Ideally, the
extensions at the remote sites would look like regular extensions to
everyone else in the network.
Some technical details ...
The main facility has an AT&T System 75 switch. The remote sites have
their own switches, though not all of them have the same model (or
brand, for that matter). One of the facilities doesn't even have a
switch, just three lines in a rotary (our smallest site).
Thanks!
Javier Henderson
[email protected]
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Brent Whitlock)
Subject: Re: Sprint Voice Foncard Press Release
Date: 14 Jan 94 23:41:28 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Reply-To:
[email protected] (Brent Whitlock)
> SPRINT ANNOUNCES THE VOICE FONCARD(SM)
> -- The World's First Calling Card
> That Lets Your Voice Do The Dialing --
> ... No voice can be heard truer than on Sprint."
[ME:] ^^^^^ looks like a little jab at AT&T...
> Schmieg continued, "Everybody's voice is different so this
> technology offers built-in fraud protection. The voice-matching
> process is secure enough to ensure authenticity, but flexible
> enough to allow for slight variations in a caller's voice due to
> illness or fatigue."
[ME:] I wonder how secure this really is...
> Here's how to place a call using the Voice FONCARD:
> dial the 800 access number;
> speak the Voice FONCARD number, which is the card holder's
> Social Security number, preceded by one digit (for added
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> protection, the Social Security number is not printed on the
> card);
[ME:] It's beginning to not look very secure at all... "for added
protection" your SSN is not being printed on the card, but you have to
say it so everyone within earshot will be able to hear your SSN and
make a note of it if they so choose. I think I'd rather key it in
with my fingers. I would rather not use my SSN at all, actually, as
is the case with my current FONcard.
> In addition to the Voice FONCARD, Sprint Priority Gold
> customers receive, for a low $5.00 monthly fee, benefits that make
> long distance calling easier, including:
[ME:] I already get the other benefits through my Priority Plus
membership, which costs me nothing. So essentially, users must pay
$5.00 a month for their calling card. Does a $60 annual fee for a
calling card seem a bit expensive to you? It does to me. I won't be
getting this new FONcard. I wonder how many will ...
Brent Whitlock Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology
[email protected] Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Steve Pinkston)
Subject: Telnet to Remote PC's COM Port
Organization: ADC Kentrox - Portland, Oregon
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 23:43:37 GMT
I hope someone can help me with this:
I'm looking for a way to be able able to telnet to a specific serial
port on a remote device, so that I can connect to a non-ip-addressable
device that is connected to that port.
To be more specific: I have two LANs that are interconnected via
bridges and T1/FT1 WAN links. I have a PC on the remote LAN that has
an unused serial port ("COM2"). I want to be able to use telnet from a
PC on my local LAN to connect to that that port so that I can connect
to the (9600 bps async) console port of a non-ip device located near
that PC, in this example a smart CSU. In effect we would be making
the remote PC a small terminal server.
It has been suggested to me that there may be software solutions to
this. Ultimately I want to be able to do this for Macs and unix
stations, too, but for right now I would be pleased with a solution
for PCs.
Any help or pointers to resources would be greatly appreciated.
Steve Pinkston Technical Support Specialist
ADC Kentrox Portland, OR, USA
[email protected]
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Dale Farmer)
Subject: Nynex Name Change
Date: 14 Jan 1994 11:30:11 GMT
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
Last week I had reason to walk past the building in Boston that was
the main office of New England Telephone. (Franklin Street in Boston)
They vandals had chiseled off the gold colored metal letters over the
entrance that said "New England Telephone", Leaving permanant scars in
the stone over the doors. Really ugly looking. They had placed on
each side or the doors these huge, blue NYNEX logos. Amazingly ugly
looking! They took a pretty nice looking art Deco building and stuck
these awful plastic logo thingies on to spoil the whole look.
One more reason to prove that Corporate America has no
taste ... or shame. (I don't think the execs in charge noticed the
large old style Bell System logo up around the eighth floor, otherwise
they probably would have ordered that removed also. Thank god for
their inability to look more that six feet past their noses. )
Dale Farmer Telephone art policeman :-)
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 94 20:55
From: Richard Cox <
[email protected]>
Subject: Norwegian CLID (Was: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous)
Reply-To:
[email protected]
Haakon Styri (
[email protected]) said:
>> We don't transfer ANI from Norway to the USA, arriving in the US
>> the call is only marked as 'coming from Norway' and this is unlikely
>> to change in the near future. (I could write chapter and verse about
>> why, but you probably don't want to read the full argument ...)
Perhaps some of us do want to read the full argument. It would be
very enlightening to know how this issue is viewed in other countries
-- especially one like Norway whose telecommunications decisions
usually seem very well thought out.
Apart from the idea of doing all exchange modernisation and number
changes at ten to four in the afternoon ... on Thursday afternoons,
isn't it?
If PAT doesn't want to carry this topic, feel free to mail me directly.
Richard D G Cox
Mandarin Technology, Cardiff Business Park, Llanishen, CARDIFF, Wales CF4 5WF
Voice: +44 956 700111 Fax: +44 956 700110 VoiceMail: +44 941 151515
E-mail address:
[email protected] - PGP2.3 public key available on request
------------------------------
Date: 14 Jan 94 14:18 -0600
From: Rob Slade <
[email protected]>
Subject: Book Review: "Basics Book of Information Networking" by Motorola
BKBSIFNT.RVW 931125
Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.
Kelly Ford, Promotion/Publicity Coordinator
P.O. Box 520 26 Prince Andrew Place
Don Mills, Ontario M3C 2T8
416-447-5101 fax: 416-443-0948
or
Tiffany Moore, Publicity
[email protected]
John Wait, Editor, Corporate and Professional Publishing
[email protected]
1 Jacob Way
Reading, MA 01867-9984
800-822-6339 617-944-3700
Fax: (617) 944-7273
5851 Guion Road
Indianapolis, IN 46254
800-447-2226
"The Basics Book of Information Networking", 0-201-56370-3
Ten years ago, this book was known as, "The Basics Book of Data
Communications." The preface describes it as an industry primer. A
number of other "Basics Books" have sprung from it on specialized
topics, and this new version is the "basic" book of the new series.
In general terms, the book does reasonably well as a primer. The tone
is light, with a fair bit of humour thrown in, as well as cartoon
illustrations of many points. I doubt, however, that completely
non-technical managers who need to get a minimal background overview
of data communications will be entirely comfortable with it. Although
it makes fun of other texts as being written from the perspective of
someone with three degrees in computer science, it is entirely clear,
despite any efforts taken to modify the fact, that this was written by
engineers.
At the same time, there are occasional problems with the material
presented. While there are no overt errors, there are very possible
sources of confusion, as when the discussion of"smart" and "dumb"
terminals seems to relate the two classes to block versus character
based transmission. The OSI model of data communications layers is
discussed under the topic of X.25 and packet switching, and may
contribute to a misunderstanding of the purpose of a layered model.
The strongest emphasis is on "point-to-point" networking--in other
words, the connection of terminals or computers in related, but
geographically dispersed, offices. However, as a short and reasonably
fundamental introduction to data communications, it has its uses.
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 BKBSIFNT.RVW 931125
Permission granted to distribute with unedited copies of the TELECOM
Digest and associated mailing lists/newsgroups.
DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters
Editor and/or reviewer
[email protected],
[email protected], Rob Slade at 1:153/733
DECUS Symposium '94, Vancouver, BC, Mar 1-3, 1994, contact:
[email protected]
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Steve Cogorno)
Subject: ISDN Residential and PacBell
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 17:08:46 PST
I just got off the phone with a PacBell Marketing Rep (This guy KNEW
what he was talking about, and actually treated me like an intelligent
person.)
Basically, he said that right now ISDN is a tarrifed as business.
However, Pac Bell filled a Tarrif Request on Nov. 17, 1993, to become
effective 5/15/93 making it a Residential service, with unmeasured
service.
The pricing was quite good though:
Installation
20.00 Conversion to Business Service
150.00 Installation
Monthly Service
4.25 Business Measured Rate
15.00 ISDN Service Charge
-7.50 Installation Premium (for every month up to 24 that the
service is connected.)
Usage
.04 Call Setup
.01 Per Minute (Note: 30% disc. after 5, 60% after 11 & weekend)
I have not heard what the hard costs will be yet; the Pac Bell rep
could not discuss it with me because of regulatory reasons. He said
he would have a tech call me back with info tomorrow.
For more info, you can call 1-800-622-0735. The guy I talked to was
Steven, and he really knows what he was talking about (as opposed to
the first droid who told me that "There is no service called ISDN or
SDS." When I told him that it was a 'digital' phone line, he politely
told me that _ALL_ Pacific Bell Exchanges are digital. *NOT* what I
asked... :-)
Steve
[email protected]
#608 Merrill * 200 McLaughlin Drive *
Santa Cruz, CA 95064-1015
------------------------------
From: Michael L Winkelman <
[email protected]>
Subject: Transborder Data Flow?
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 94 15:44:08 EST
Organization: NovaLink, 800-274-2814 (voice) or 800-825-8852 (data)
Does anyone out there know anything about encrypted transborder
dataflow, more specifically the rules governing whether a country will
allow data to flow into or thru that country in an encrypted manner,
as opposed to the actual export of the programs that do the
encryption?
I've heard rumblings about various countries, like France, South
Korea, etc. that either have laws in place saying that you are not
supposed to telecommunicate in an encrypted manner into the country or
even worse, you must give them the capability to decrypt what comes
into the country encrypted? Is this true? Can anyone cite some
actual laws or authorities?
Mike
[email protected]
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Jack Decker)
Subject: Online comments to U.S. Social Security Administration
Date: 13 Jan 1994 05:11:38 GMT
Organization: Youngstown State/Youngstown Free-Net
[Although not strictly telecom related, I thought you might be
interested in seeing this.]
When I logged on to Youngstown Freenet tonight, I was greeted by
the login message (I guess this is called the "Message Of The Day"
in Unix circles) which contained the following blurb:
> UNCLE SAM WANTS YOU: The Congressional Office of Technology
> Assessment is conducting a multi-city "Teleforum" in which they are
> seeking your thoughts on the Social Security Administration for a
> study they are doing. Senior citizens (and those who someday expect
> to BE senior citizens) are invited to participate.
> Access the OTA TELEFORUM off the NPTN Special Projects on the main
> menu and join in this rather interesting application of teledemocracy
> at work ...
I entered the forum and was able to pull the following "about"
paragraphs. Two things to note: Apparently the "teleforums" are
available on five popular Freenet systems (the ones in Buffalo, NY;
Cleveland, OH; Denver, CO; Tallahassee, FL; and Youngstown, OH) and I
would assume you need to have an account on one of those systems in
order to participate (Internet users can telnet to all these systems,
and they are accessible from many Gopher systems as well). Also, it
appears that the Social Security Administration is considering making
some or all of their services available via the Internet. This could
be good or bad depending on whether proper attention is paid to
privacy.
However, one thing that personally disturbs me is that they are
apparently at least considering elimination of mailing of checks to
individuals, in favor of disbursements via "Electronic Fund Transfers
or Electronic Benefit Transfers." My initial gut reaction to that is
that this could have some real negative effects on privacy and
individual liberty, because it would in effect force people to have an
account at some financial institution in order to receive benefits. I
won't comment further on that now because I haven't really thought
about all the implications of this yet.
Anyway, here's what I was able to pull off of Youngstown Freenet:
ABOUT THE OTA TELEFORUMS
Over the next five years the Social Security Administration (SSA)
intends to spend about $1.1 billion on information systems procurement
and modernization. Critics of SSA -- most notably the General
Accounting Office -- say that SSA does not have a solid justification
for this huge investment. That they have not shown that it will
result in improved service delivery, or an improved work environment.
To help settle this dispute both agencies turned to the
Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) to do a study of
the issue. The OTA, in turn, has asked the National Public
Telecomputing Network (NPTN) to set-up an electronic forum which would
allow YOU to express your opinions on the matter.
Here's how it works ...
When you enter the TeleForums you will be able to select any
(or all) of four issues to comment upon. The issues have to do
with:
1) SOCIAL SECURITY AND CUSTOMER INTERACTION
2) NETWORK ACCESS TO BENEFIT FILING SERVICES
3) DISTRIBUTION OF BENEFITS
4) YOUR GENERAL SATISFACTION WITH THE SSA
You then choose the issue you want to examine and READ THE FILE
CALLED "README." This file will contain a summary of the issue and
the kind of things we would like the discussions to focus on.
Each of these forums will be running simultaneously on NPTN
affiliates in five cities: Buffalo, NY; Cleveland, OH; Denver, CO;
Tallahassee, FL; and Youngstown, OH. Thus, a comment from someone in
Cleveland might be intermixed with something from a user in
Tallahassee, followed by someone in Youngstown, or Denver, or Buffalo.
PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU POST A COMMENT TO ANY OF THESE BOARDS IT WILL
NOT APPEAR IMMEDIATELY. Your posting will first be routed to the NPTN
machine in Cleveland for distribution to all five systems -- including
back to the system of origin. Thus, it might be several hours before
it is cleared for the network.
In summary ...
You are looking at one of the first attempts BY CONGRESS to use
this medium on a national scale to hold discussions on the policy
issues that are before it. Use it well.
If you have any questions about this project, please feel free to
contact Tom Grundner at:
[email protected] or William Beasley at:
[email protected]
<<< ISSUE #1: SOCIAL SECURITY AND CUSTOMER INTERACTION >>>
The general question in this area is:
How can the Social Security Administration improve customer
interactions by utilizing telecomputing technology?
You are free, of course, to comment on anything you'd like,
but some specific questions or issues might include:
* Should routine requests for such things as replacement
Social Security cards be made available via the telecom-
puting networks in addition to the present methods.
* Should informational materials such as explanations of
benefits be made available via the telecomputing networks.
* Should earnings record be available utilizing the tele-
computing networks.
* If any of the above were done, specifically how do you think
your life would be improved (or not-improved) by it?
* Are there issues of confidentiality, data security, and
privacy that bother you?
<<< ISSUE #2: NETWORK ACCESS TO BENEFIT FILING SERVICES >>>
The general question in this area is:
Could this new technology help the Social Security Administration
improve the process of filing for benefits?
You are free, of course, to comment on anything you'd like,
but some specific questions or issues might include:
* Should the Social Security Administration allow for the
filing of benefits via the telecomputing networks?
* Should the Social Security Administration utilize the
electronic networks to file for appeals and transfer records
and supporting documents in regard to the substantiation
of claims.
* If any of the above were done, specifically how do you think
your life would be improved (or not-improved) by it?
* Are there issues of confidentiality, data security, and
privacy that bother you?
<<< ISSUE #3: DISTRIBUTION OF BENEFITS >>>
The general question in this area is:
What do you think is the best way for the SSA to distribute
monthly benefits?
You are free, of course, to comment on anything you'd like,
but some specific questions or issues might include:
* Should the Social Security Administration continue to
mail checks to individuals or should all disbursements
be made via Electronic Fund Transfers or Electronic
Benefit Transfers?
* In order to spread the workload of the Social Security
Administration there is talk of changing the disbursement
of benefits from the first of the month to a staggered
payment date, i.e. 1st, 10th, 20th of the month. How would
this effect you? Would you find it acceptable?
* Should the Social Security Administration expand the use
of the EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) in co-operation
with other agencies.
* Should the Social Security Administration work toward
combining use of the EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer)
with various State government benefit programs?
* If any of the above were done, specifically how do you think
your life would be improved (or not-improved) by it?
* Are there issues of confidentiality, data security, and
privacy that bother you?
<<< ISSUE #4: GENERAL SATISFACTION WITH THE SSA >>>
The general question in this area is:
To what extent have you been satisfied with your interactions
with the Social Security Administration?
You are free, of course, to comment on anything you'd like,
but some specific questions or issues might include:
* In the past year did you have occasion to contact the Social
Security Administration? If so, tell us about that experience.
* How did you contact them
- In person visit to Social Security Administration Office
- Telephone Call to local Social Security Administration
- Telephone Call to 800 number of Social Security Admin.
- Postal Mail
- Community meeting with Field Representative of the
- Social Security Administration
- Other
* On a scale of 0 to 5 with 5 being the highest rating, how
would you rate your experience.
* How long did it take for you to receive a satisfactory answer
from the Social Security Administration?
* If you visited the local office in person how long did you
have to wait before you were seen?
* If you telephoned, did you have any problems getting to talk
to someone.
* If you mailed a letter, how long did you wait before you
received an answer?
* Was the information provided to you understandable?
* Would you be willing to utilize a telecomputing network to
contact the Social Security Administration?
* From your experience, how would you suggest the Social
Security Administration improve their service to you?
[End of information from Youngstown Freenet]
As of January 10, 1993 there were no messages yet in any of the four
forums, so I assume this is brand new. Remember, if you want to send
comments on any of these issues, you need to log onto one of the five
Freenet systems listed above. If you cannot do that for some reason,
I suggest contacting one of the two NPTN people mentioned (Tom
Grundner at:
[email protected] or William Beasley at:
[email protected]) and
asking for advice. Whatever you do, don't send your comments to me,
because they will go nowhere from here!
Jack
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #29
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