------------------------------ From: P.A. Taylor@EDINBURGH.AC.UK Subject: CU in the News--England and Emma Nicholson; VOGON News Date: 04 Nov 90 16:07:16 gmt ******************************************************************** *** CuD #2.12: File 9 of 9: The CU in the News *** ******************************************************************** "A Bug In The Machine" By Tom Dewe Matthews. From: Sunday Correspondent, 17th Dec, 1989. "Adrian Vole " looked on helplessly as the words on his computer terminal began to drift down to the bottom of the screen. Soon, all that was left were skeleton lines of meaningless text. "Oh God", cursed Vole, "I've been hit by Cascade". There was nothing he could do to stop the computer virus from running amok. In less than ten seconds, Adrian Vole's computer had been turned into a useless piece of junk. Vole the hacker had been hacked. Adrian Vole is typical of his breed. By day he works at a computer console for a financial research company and by night he hacks away in a computer- filled den off his bedroom. Self-sufficient, with his terminal and telephone modem which connects him to the rest of the computerised world, Vole is typical in that he himself is open to attack. Hackers see themselves as fighting for freedom of information, as trying to break the control which big corporations such as IBM hold over computerised information, in order to disseminate it freely. "Hackers", says George Stone, the man who gave birth to Max Headroom, " want to be able to look into a computer system and say `I understand you and therefore can question you. You can no longer threaten me. I've beaten you". This curiosity and sometimes paranoia, is provoked by the sheer power of computers. "On one computer disc" says Stone,"you can put every address in the UK, including postcodes, and on another you can put every name from every electoral role in the country.You correlate those two discs, whack in a few parameters and you can start up your own credit company, or your own poll tax." Hackers may say they want to demystify computers,not to rob them, but they are nevertheless constantly destroying each other's systems by off- loading sabotaged computer games on to the electronic notice-boards where they swap software programs with each other. "Lounge Suit Larry" is only one in a long line of these tainted computer games which in their pure commercial state are harmless, but if you run an adulterated copy of "Larry" through your computer, it will wipe out your hard disc, which in human terms is the equivalent of removing your spine. Computer companies have been known to put bugs into the programmes that they're trying to sell to stop the customer from copying the programme- which is illegal under copyright law. The computer companies also blur the battle lines by adopting an attitude of: "If we can't beat them, let's exploit them". It is now common practice among managers of computer networks to put the telephone access number and password of a proposed system on to an electronic notice-board and then sit back and watch hackers wander around their system. In the mock battle that follows, the systems designer will even put up barriers which the hackers will try to knock down or evade. At the end of this phoney war, the system is dismantled and the manager redesigns it according to what he has learnt. The real system, with a secret telephone number and password, is then put in place and if that is hacked into it is likely that the hacker will be traced and confronted- only to be employed by the company on the theory that it takes a thief to keep one out. For the politicians who want to introduce legislation into the computer industry, such double standards are largely ignored in their pursuit of the hacker. The Conservative M.P. Emma Nicholson tried unsuccessfully to introduce a bill last summer which called for a loosening of Home Office restrictions on phone taps and up to 10 years imprisonment for those who gain unauthorised access into a computer system. If the government fails to introduce its own hacking law in the next parliamentary session, Ms Nicholson promises to be back soon with a repeat of her Private Members Bill. Hackers according to Nicholson, "are malevolent, nasty evil doers' who fill the screens of amateur users with pornography". She believes that "hacking has now become a regular terrorist action... The European Green Movement hacks into large companies", she says,"and picks out sensitive information. It could be pharmaceutical industries; it could be the oil industry, and they justify it on the grounds of environmental or racial fairness". According to Emma Nicholson, the hacked information is then used to carry out bombing and fires". The Greens may storm American air bases, but do they really invade computers? "Yes," replies Nicholson, "The Green movement in Europe is the most aggressive on this. They are akin to the Animal Liberation movement here." So the Greens are trying to destabilize society through computers? "Yes, without any doubt at all," she replies, adding that she has " a lot of validated information" to confirm this fact. The validation turns out to be a back copy of an anarchist magazine called *insurrection*, in which a communique from the Dutch anti-Apartheid movement Ra Ra lists 40 acts of sabotage against Shell in the Netherlands. A separate article asks its readers to start fires and also lists various computer viruses but doesn't tell the reader how to create them. The link between the hackers and the European Greens still seems unclear. "That", Nicholson replies, "is buried deep in my files". But what's the source? She then becomes as enigmatic as she was previously emphatic. "You could call it unofficial secret-service trackers close to the Dutch government. They're very close to the hackers and if they're named they could be put in terrible jeopardy. These hackers are very nasty people". (That's the first approx 1/4 of the article, the rest goes on to describe a German hacker "Mike Blip" of the Chaos Club). ******************************************************************* From: fitz@WANG.COM(Tom Fitzgerald) Date: Thu, 15 Nov 90 18:42:06 EST <><><><><><><> T h e V O G O N N e w s S e r v i c e <><><><><><><> Edition : 2193 Monday 12-Nov-1990 Circulation : 8447 VNS COMPUTER NEWS: [Tracy Talcott, VNS Computer Desk] ================== [Nashua, NH, USA ] Massachusetts - Considering computer-crime bill hailed as a model for others {The Wall Street Journal, 9-Nov-90, p. B1} The legislation "is the first to properly balance property and free speech interests," says Mitchell Kapor, founder and chairman of Lotus Development. The bill, which has the support of the governor and is expected to be approved by the Legislature, declares that new forms of communication such as computer bulletin boards and paperless electronic publications "are protected by fundamental rights, including freedom of speech and association and freedom from unreasonable government intrusion." The bill orders jail terms and stiff fines for those who break into computers without authorization or let loose software viruses that disrupt systems or destroy data. Hackers caught causing damage of $10,000 or more are subject to as much as 2 1/2 years in prison, a fine of up to $25,000, or both. European Community - Protecting computer software against piracy {The Wall Street Journal, 9-Nov-90, p. A6} European Community internal-market ministers gave broad-based support to proposals aimed at protecting computer software against piracy. Among the topics touched on was "reverse engineering," which allows a manufacturer to write compatible software or produce compatible equipment. The EC proposals would allow reverse engineering if the purpose was to create compatible, or "inoperable" products, although strict limits on the process would be set. <><><><><><><> T h e V O G O N N e w s S e r v i c e <><><><><><><> Edition : 2194 Tuesday 13-Nov-1990 Circulation : 8450 VNS COMPUTER NEWS: [Tracy Talcott, VNS Computer Desk] ================== [Nashua, NH, USA ] Security - Two teens charged with sabotaging voice-mail system {The Wall Street Journal, 12-Nov-90, p. B7C} Daniel Rosenbaum, 17, and a 14-year-old juvenile, both from Staten Island, allegedly gained unauthorized entry to a computerized voice-mail system owned by International Data Group, Framingham, Mass., then changed recorded greetings to lewd messages, made bomb threats and erased customers' messages, said John Keary, a New York state police investigator. The tampering occurred between May and September at the company's Peterborough, N.H. office, at which eight computer magazines published by the concern are based, said IDG telecommunications director Jane Creighton. She estimated the disruptions cost the company $2.4 million in lost revenue from advertisers and other expenses. Mr. Rosenbaum said the two broke into the company's system because they didn't get a free poster they had expected to receive with "Gamepro," one of its computer magazines, said Mr. Keary. Mr. Keary said the teen-agers were charged with computer tampering, unauthorized use of a computer and aggravated harassment. They gained entry to the voice-mail system by entering "certain codes" into it through telephones, after calling the company's toll-free number, he added. By experimentation or luck, outsiders can learn passwords needed to break into voice-mail systems, enabling them to change outgoing messages and otherwise disrupt operations. Voice-mail break-ins, however, are declining as security aspects of the systems are beefed up, asserts David Ladd, executive vice president of VMX Inc., a San Jose, Calif., seller of voice-mail systems. IDG's Ms. Creighton said that gaining access to the company's phone mail system required use of multiple passwords. The teen-agers "are subscribers and readers of ours, therefore they are very computer-knowledgeable," she added. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Permission to copy material from this VNS is granted (per DIGITAL PP&P) provided that the message header for the issue and credit lines for the VNS correspondent and original source are retained in the copy. <><><><><><><> VNS Edition : 2194 Tuesday 13-Nov-1990 <><><><><><><> ******************************************************************** ------------------------------ **END OF CuD #2.12** ******************************************************************** Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253 12yrs+