Computer underground Digest Wed Feb 22, 1995 Volume 7 : Issue 15 ISSN 1004-042X Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@NIU.BITNET) Archivist: Brendan Kehoe Retiring Shadow Archivist: Stanton McCandlish Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala Ian Dickinson Copy Ediotr: Ettie-Ann Shrdlu CONTENTS, #7.15 (Wed, Feb 22, 1995) File 1--Affidavit of FBI agent against Baker File 2--soc.culture.usa, et al.-Re: Censorship at U of Michigan (fwd) File 3--Baker chronology File 4--Text of 18 USC 41 Sect. 875c (of Baker Indictment) File 5--HACK - WELL/Mitnick FAQ (fwd) File 6--Re: Banished CPU BBS - commentary File 7--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 18 Feb, 1995) CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION APPEARS IN THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 14 Feb 1995 23:59:18 -0600 (CST) From: David Smith Subject: File 1--Affidavit of FBI agent against Baker ((MODERATORS' NOTE: The Jake Baker case raises sticky issues of First Amendment protections, creative applications of old laws to new scenarios, and maintaining decency in cyberspace. The underlying issues extend beyond obscenity and free speech, and a future issue will attempt to address the complexity of what's at stake. The following posts provide the background for the case)). ============================================== United States Attorney Easten District of Michigan 211 W. Fort Street Suite 2300 Detroit, MI 48221-3211 February 9, l995 CONTACT: (313) 226-9509 United states Attorney Saul A. Green announced that Jake A. Baker, Alan known aa Abraham Jacob Alkhabaz, an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, was charged today in a federal criminal complaint With transmitting a threat to injure "Jane Doe, a student at the University of Michigan. Baker was arrested on the complaint in Ann Arbor at approximately 1:00 p.m. and subsequently transported to the federal courthouse in Detroit for an initial appearance. Mr. Green stated that the criminal charge is based upon a series of transmissions Mr. Baker made on the Internet computer network. on approximately January 19, 1995, the University of Michigan Department of Public Sarety became aware that Baker had transmitted communications on the Internet describing violent sex acts against women, and that at least one transmission identified Jane Doe as the specific victim of sexual torture and murder. A series of subsequent transmissions between Baker and others on the Internet system discussed plans for the abduction, torture, and murder of women. Mr. Green explained that Mr. Baker's transmissions on the Internet gave rise to a charge under 18 U.S.C. s 875(c), which criminalizes the transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of a communication "containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another." Mr. Green further emphasized that the criminal complaint against Baker is merely a charging document, and that Baker is presumed innocent of the charge. The investigation, which is being handled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is still in progress, AFFIDAVIT Greg Stejskal, being first duly sworn, states: 1. I am a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and have been so employed for the past 19 years. be following is known to me to be true through personal interviews and investigation. 2 . Abraham Jacob Alkhabaz, also known as Jake Baker , is an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan (UM) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Baker has access to computers and has been assigned a unique name (password/identifier) by the university. Baker has, via his computer, access to a computer network commonly referred to as "Internet." Internet is a world-wide information network used in interstate and foreign commerce. Accordingly, Material transmitted into Internet is communicated and distributed in interstate and foreign commerce. 3. On or about January 19, 1995, University of Michigan Department of Public Safety (UMDPS) becamee aware of certain activities of Jake Baker, i.e., the transmission into Internet of "stories" graphically depicting violent acts against women. Further, UMDPS learned that at least one of these transmissions named a female student at US as the specific target/victim. The name of the female student is known to me, but will be identified in this affidavit only as "Jane Doe." 4. On January 20, 1995, Baker was contacted by UMDPS officers regarding the Internet transmissions. After being advised of and waiving his Miranda rights, Baker admitted writing and "posting" (transmitting) several depictions into the Internet computer network. these transmissions were placed in a "compartment" of the system labelled "alt. sex stories (a.s.s.)" 5. The transmissions distributed by Baker through Internet described Baker's desire to commit acts of abduction, bondage, torture, mutilation, sodomy, rape and murder of young women. The depictions of these criminal acts are extremely graphic and detailed. 6. In a preface to one of the transmissions, with an unidentified victim, Baker writes, "Torture is foreplay, rape is romance, snuff is climax." 7. one of the depictions transmitted by Baker into Internet Involved UM Co-eds Jane Doe, who Baker identified by her true name, Using her last name as the title of the "story." In a portion of Baker's expressed desire to injure Jane Doe, Baker states: Then, Jerry and I tie her by her long brown hair to the ceiling fan, so that she's dangling in mid-air. Her feet don't touch the ground, She kicks trying to hit me, Jerry or the gorund (sic). The sight of her wiggling an mid-air, hands rudely taped behind her back, turns me on. Jerry takes a big spiky hair-brush and start beating her small breasts with it, coloring them with nice red marks. She screams and struggles harder. I've separated her legs with a spreader-bar; now I stretch out her pussy lips and super-glue them wide open. Then I take a heavy clamp, and tighten it coer her alit. once it's tight enough, I let go. Thus transmission and other similar transmissions may have been posted previously, but were posted or reposted on or about January 1, 1995. 8. Baker knew Jane Doe as a class-mate from a Japanese class at UM in the Fall of 1994. Jane Doe is aware of Baker's transmission concerning her and ir frightened and intimidated by it. 9. In late January l995, Baker signed various consent forms giving permission to the UMDPS to search and/or access his room, personal papers and computer files. This included the use of Baker's unique password, which provided access to Baker's electronic mail (e-mail). The hearth of the assail produced numerous messages between Baker and an individual identifying himself as Arthur Gronda supposedly residineding in Ontario, Canada. In these messages sent and received via Internet, Baker and Gronda discuss means of torture and acts of actual serial killers that had been reported in the media. Further, Baker and Gronda discuss actually getting together to commit the acts Baker had previously depicted and transmitted. The following is an excerpt from a message sent by Baker to Gonda on or about December 9, l994: I just picked up Bllod (sic) Lust and have started to read it. I'll look for "Final Truth" tomorrow (payday). One of the things I've started doing is going back and re- reading earlier messages of yours. Each time I do, they turn me on more and more. I can't wait to see you in person. I've been trying to think of secluded spots, but my area knowledge of Ann Arbor is mostly limited to the campus. I don't want any blood in my room, though I have come upon an excellent method to abduct a bitch --- As I said before, my toom is right across from the girl's bathroom. Wiat (sic) until late at night, grab her when she goes to unlock the door. Knock her unconscious and put her into one of those portable lockers (forgot the word for it), or even a duffle bag. Then hurry her out to the car and take her away . . . what do you think? On or about December 10, 1994, the following response was sent via lnternet to Baker by Gonda: Hi Jake. I have been out tonight and I can tell you that I am thinking more and more about "doing" a girl. I can picture it so well . . . and I can think of no better use for their flesh. I HAVE to make a bitch suffer! 10. Based on the aforementioned facts, there is probable cause to believe that Abraham Jacob Alkhabaz, also known as Jake Baker, knowingly transmitted a threat to injure the person of another in interstate and foreign commerce in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 875(c). __________________________ Greg Stetskal, Special Agent Federal Bureau of Investigation Subscribed and sworn to before me this 9th day of February, l995. _____________________________________ Hon. Thomas A. Carlson United States Magistrate Judge - - - ANDREW S. BRENNER, Esq abrenner@interaccess.com 634.8492@mcimail.com http://www.interaccess.com/users/abrenner finger abrenner@interaccess.com for PGP public key ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 18 Feb 1995 21:44:04 -0600 (CST) From: David Smith Subject: File 2--soc.culture.usa, et al.-Re: Censorship at U of Michigan (fwd) ----- Forwarded message ------ From: pjswan@engin.umich.edu (Peter Swanson) Subject-- Re: Censorship at U of Michigan Date: 16 Feb 1995 05:29:11 GMT MORE INFORMATION ON THE JAKE BAKER CASE I have several days worth of newspapers here; I will try to briefly summarize the new information contained in the accounts [DPS == Department of Public Safety (University Police)] [SSRR == Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities] Sequence of Events (Jonathan Berndt/Michigan Daily) December and January: Baker transmits e-mail messages to a man in Ontario describing the kidnapping, rape, and murder of a woman. 1/9/95 The story in question posted to alt.sex.stories 1/19/95 A 16 year old girl in Moscow reads the story, then tells her father, who tells a Michigan alumnus, who notifies the University. 1/20/95 DPS officers contact Baker. Baker waives his Miranda rights and admits to writing and posting the stories. DPS officers search Baker's room and account with permission, finding an unpublished story and the e-mail conversations. 2/2/95 University President Duderstadt suspends Baker. 2/9/95 FBI arrests Baker on basis of stories and e-mail. Bail is denied. 2/10/95 After a detention hearing, Baker is again denied bail. A defense appeal for bail bond is denied. Pre-trial motions scheduled for 2/17/95. The Media free-for-all (Patience Atkin/Michigan Daily) Detroit Free Press: "Debate between free speech and whether it's a threat for the woman's safety." --Maryanne George WDIV-4 TV Detroit: "It also goes to the issue of what constitutes free speech and what constitutes unreasonable threats." --Paul Manzella "People who make threats in society are always a concern to people who don't make threats." --Manzella Spin: "fantasy" --Detroit Free Press "sexually violent fiction" --New York Times "cyber-threats" --USA Today Baker judged 'too dangerous' to be released (Josh White/Michigan Daily) ...Baker's attorney, Douglas Mullkoff, said the detention of his client is unwarranted. "The court is presuming that he is guilty," Mullkoff said. "I respectfully disagree with every word the judge said. Mr. Baker was writing fiction in a fiction area of the Internet." During Baker's appeal hearing Friday afternoon, Mullkoff drew a similar picture. "We have a fantasy writer's workshop going on here," he said. "That is the Internet." ...U.S. Attorney Ken Chadwell entered six documents into evidence as part of the case against Baker. Three of the documents were stories that Baker had posted on the Internet, two were batches of e-mail messages to and from Gonda, and one, a previously unreleased document, was an incomplete story that DPS officers discovered in Baker's East Quad dorm room. FBI Special Agent Greg Stejskal, the only witness to testify at the Friday hearings, said the incomplete story named the same female University student and posed a further threat to her safety. "The story involves Mr. Baker abducting the female student and taking her to a secluded place off of Route 23 in Ann Arbor.," Stejskal said. "He tells her to disrobe, to take a toolbox from his car and then uses the tools to torture her." Baker, in his unfinished story, describes the abduction in detail. "I plan it well," Baker wrote. "It will be my first kidnapping; my first real rape of a pretty young girl. My first experimentation with all the devices of pain I had thought up before. I obsessed about my target more than any other girl on campus." Baker's mother, Vilma Baker, said she was shocked after watching her son handcuffed and taken out of the courtroom by U.S. Marshals. "The judge must have woken up this morning and thought he was a psychiatrist," said Mrs. Baker, a creative writing teacher in Ohio. "While his writing is alarming and I don't particularly like my son's genre; then again I don't like Stephen King or sitcoms. It was just fantasy." But Chadwell said Baker's stories went beyond being creative. ..."There is a natural progression in these cases," Chadwell said. "He was actually talking about taking action in things he could do to women. He writes in a message to Gonda that 'just thinking about it anymore doesn't do the trick. I need to DO IT.'" ...The letters themselves sent mixed messages. "Sometimes, I'll see a pretty one out in the quad and think 'Go on Jake, it'd be easy.' But the fear of getting caught always stays my hand," Baker wrote to Gonda on Dec. 9. "Sorry, can't come up with an ending to that Asian story yet. I will soon though, hang in there." Prosecutors push Baker indictment (Josh White/Michigan Daily) (summary) U.S. Attorney Ken Chadwell is pushing for an early indictment of Baker. A probable cause hearing is scheduled for Friday. Defense attorney Douglas Mullkoff is appealing the no-bond ruling in the 6th U.S. circuit court in Cincinatti. He expects the appeal (for bail) to be approved, but the next step may be the U.S. Supreme Court. The Ontario Provincial Police deny having been notified of the case and are not, in fact, looking for Arthur Gonda. 'U' had Baker e-mail before suspension, officials confirm (Cathy Boguslaski, Ronnie Glassberg/Michigan Daily)(summary) The President suspended Baker with the knowledge of Baker's e-mail. Before suspending him, Assistant General Counsel Daniel Sharphorn and Director of Housing Public Affairs Alan Levy asked Baker to withdraw from the University. Vince Keenan, chair of the Michigan Student Assembly Students' Rights Commission, said that Baker would be difficult to charge under the SSRR, and that he suspected that the President summarily suspended him because he knew that the SSRR charges wouldn't stick. Woman named in stories declines to make comment (Josh White/Michigan Daily) After repeated press contacts, Jane Doe has requested that the press stop pestering her. ACLU: Baker's free speech rights violated (Josh White/Michigan Daily) ..."This case definitely has First Amendment ramifications," said Howard Simon, executive director of the Michigan ACLU. "His stories may have been disgusting and vile, but I have seen nothing that would appear to be a threat to any person. "If Mr. Baker had sent a letter to the woman he named in his story, or had he slipped something under her door or e-mailed her a threatening message, the there may have been something, but it would be a civil suit brought by the woman. "The germane issue is: Is the FBI going to dictate what the First Amendment is going to look like in cyberspace? Will people be prosecuted for putting pornography and disgusting stories on the Internet in places set aside for them? It is not the FBI's place to be writing the First Amendment over again."... An editorial letter in the Daily reports that Baker put a disclaimer and warning about the content of his story at the top of his post. Several news sources, including the Daily, Free Press, and local TV stations, have done background checks on Baker, but nothing ominous has surfaced and the accounts seem to be hearsay anyway. High school friends, etc., told a great deal of personal information about Mr. Baker, but nothing I would consider worth the trouble of retyping. I will be disconnected from the net for about a week, so I will be unable to report the status of the Friday probable cause hearing, the bail appeal to the circuit court, or the results of the grand jury investigation. Again, others are welcome to follow up on these stories. If someone has the story in question, I am interested in obtaining it and making it available on a WWW site. I would prefer that all references to the woman's name be changed to Jane Doe, so that no one comes asking me for her name. I would certainly do it myself before making it publicly available. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Feb 1995 00:08:08 -0600 (CST) From: David Smith Subject: File 3--Baker chronology This is a document from Mike Dyer's Netzine web page -- http://www.ionet.net/~mdyer/netwatch.html. There are several other interesting, indepth articles on the legal and ethical aspects of cyberspace. Recommended hotlist addition. This is the best summary I've seen to date. The web page also lists several other supporting documents. thanks, | "The most exciting breakthroughs of the 21st century | will not occur because of technology but because David Smith | of an expanding concept of what it means to be human." bladex@bga.com | -- John Naisbitt / Patricia Aburdene ---------- Forwarded message ---------- LAST UPDATED 2/14/95 _________________________________________________________________ Only Make Believe Jake Baker (pictured) has the attention of a great many people. The 20 year old University of Michigan student has caused an firestorm of controversy over a fictional story he published in a Usenet newsgroup that now has polarized two camps. On the one side are the advocates of virtually unlimited 1st Amendment Free Speech rights, and on the other, a host of womens groups and others concerned that the founding fathers never intended their handiwork to go this far. Piecing together bits and pieces from various news and information, here is the latest I have been able to unravel: _________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND Baker, 20, a Linguistics Major of Boardman, Ohio, who last year changed his name from Abraham Jacob Alkhabaz, posted three "stories" in the Newsgroup Alt.Sex.Stories. In one of the fictional stories, Baker, who used his real name and that of a girl who had been a classmate in a Japanese language class last fall, described a scenario where he and another man broke into the girl's apartment, beat, tortured and sodomized the girl, and then lit a match as he said goodbye to the girl, presumably to burn the apartment where the girl was bound and gagged. Although such stories are not uncommon in the newsgroup, apparently the use of real names of both the author and others involved is rare. Baker claims that the motivation for the story was underlying stress having to do with a student loan. He says he chose that particular girl because "she was an attractive young woman, and I needed a name for the story I was writing". He stated that he knew the girl, but he never spoke to her. It is not known if Baker used his University password to get the access to post the story. The school requires students to sign a statement, before using campus computers, which says, among other things, "E-mail should not interfere unreasonably with one's education, or work at the University, nor should they harass or threaten an individual or group." _________________________________________________________________ January 9 --A University of Michigan alumnus, living in Moscow, saw the post and alerted University officials. February 2 --Baker was escorted from the campus on February 2, and suspended. February 3 --Baker and his attorney meet with school officials to ask that Baker be allowed to resume classes and his duties as a projectionist on the north campus. February 9 --A hearing is held on the UM campus. At approximately 1:00 p.m., prior to the scheduled hearing, Baker is arrested by federal authorities at the office of his attorney. Baker is taken before a magistrate, charged with Interstate Transmission of a Threat, in violation of 18 U.S.C. sec. 875, which carries a maximum prison term of five years. He is also accused of sending and receiving e-mail correspondence with an unnamed Canadian man, in which both describe their desire to kidnap and torture women. Baker is jailed overnight without bail, even though the prosecutor recommends bond be set. February 9 --Baker's mother and an Ann Arbor psychiatrist appear at the hearing on the UM campus. The psychiatrist and Baker's mother both testify that Jake is not a threat to anyone on campus. The psychiatrist characterizes the writings as "thoughts", with no plan of action. The psychiatrist also states that Baker is not delusional. Baker's attorney states that Baker has no criminal record. February 10 --U.S. Magistrate Thomas Carolson orders Baker held without bail, in spite of the prosecutor's request that bond be set at $100,000. Magistrate Judge Carolson stated that the posts were "more than just a story" and quoted the messages to the unnamed Ontario man as stating "Just thinking about it any more doesn't do the trick. I need to do it." The magistrate further noted that the correspondence involved where and how to carry out such an assault. A court affidavit of an FBI agent states that the messages between Baker and the Canadian man "described Baker's desire to commit acts of abduction, bondage, torture, mutilation, sodomy rape and murder of young women. Baker's mother, a high school English teacher, said after the UM campus hearing that her son chose the name from 200 names in a class, and picked the one he did simply because the woman's last name "is a sexual pun." Baker's defense attorney announces that he will appeal the denial of bail. February 10 --A U.S. District Judge, having read the e-mail correspondence between Baker and the Canadian man, upheld the ruling of the Magistrate Judge to hold Baker for trial without bail. Saying "I wouldn't want my daughter to be on the streets of Ann Arbor or Ohio with him in the condition I believe he is in at this time", Judge Bernard Friedman said that he was convinced that the female subject of Baker's story, whose identity Judge Friedman ordered kept secret, could not be protected from Baker unless he was jailed. At the hearing, Baker's attorney presented findings of a psychiatrist and psychologist, both of whom had spoken with Baker, who stated that Baker is not dangerous or mentally ill. The attorney also pointed out that Baker had cooperated with authorities, giving them his e-mail password as they searched for evidence. _________________________________________________________________ *Sidenote:* Last April, another UM student used a classmate's logon to post statements from an Organization for the Execution of Minorities, which threatened blacks, and criticized Latinos, Jews and gays. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Feb 1995 00:09:13 -0600 (CST) From: David Smith Subject: File 4--Text of 18 USC 41 Sect. 875c (of Baker Indictment) UNITED STATES CODE ANNOTATED TITLE 18. CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE PART I--CRIMES CHAPTER 41--EXTORTION AND THREATS s 875. Interstate communications (a) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any demand or request for a ransom or reward for the release of an kidnapped person, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both. (b) Whoever, with intent to extort from any person, firm, association, or corporation, any money or other thing of value, transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another, shall be fined under this titl or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both. (c) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. (d) Whoever, with intent to extort from any person, firm, association, or corporation, any money or other thing of value, transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to injure the proper or reputation of the addressee or of another or the reputation of a deceased person or any threat to accuse the addressee or any other person of a crime, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 18 Feb 1995 21:28:20 -0600 (CST) From: David Smith Subject: File 5--HACK - WELL/Mitnick FAQ (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- [mod's note: Kevin Mitnick's arrest was connected with the investigation of intrusions on the WELL, a conferencing system in Sausalito, California. The WELL has issued a press statement in the form of a FAQ]: The WELL : FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Sheet for Press Q. When did The WELL first become aware of the unauthorized activity on its system? A. Friday, January 27th. Q. How did you discover it? A. A routine system check. Q. What actions did the WELL take to help track the suspect? A. Our technical staff began monitoring and analyzing the situation over that weekend. By Monday, we had contacted Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), The FBI, Sun's Security Team, Tsutomo Shimomura of San Diego Supercomputer Center, the Board of Directors of The WELL, representatives of The WELL community and EFF to discuss our appropriate response. We also contacted other Internet service sites who we believed were compromised. Our main objective was to understand risks, options, and factors affecting our system security and Net-wide responsibilities. After discussing the situation with the above groups, and carefully considering our options and responsibilities, we made the decision to contact the U.S. Attorney's Office and to cooperate with Tsutomo Shimomura in apprehending the intruder. We did this in an effort to foster greater security on the global net. We initiated round-the-clock staffing to monitor the illegal activity. WELL technical staff were joined by Mr. Shimomura and his associates to help trace the suspect using sophisticated monitoring software that he supplied. At no time was the FBI onsite at The WELL or involved in monitoring at our site. Q. What was the chronology of events at The WELL the day leading up to the arrest of Kevin Mitnick? A. Tuesday, February 14, 2:30 pm PST WELL technical staff, which had been monitoring the activity for nearly 18 days, notices that the cracker has erased information on one transaction file on The WELL. The transaction file (there are dozens of accounting files on The WELL) contained user log-on data, and was a file which is stored elsewhere and backed up regularly. WELL decides to bring the system down so we can re-build the damaged file and do further investigation. WELL staff shuts down WELL computers. Tuesday, February 14, 3:00 pm PST Technical staff positively determines that it is only one accounting file that has been affected. Approximately three hours after the incident the damaged file is rebuilt. Tuesday, February 14, 5:00 pm PST Shimomura and assistants are contacted, and confirm with The WELL technology team that the cracker appeared to have made a typing error when he zeroed the one accounting file. Shimomura reports that they are hours from catching the suspect. Tuesday, February 14, 8:30 pm PST WELL puts system back up. Monitoring continues in full gear. Tuesday, February 14, 10:30 pm PST Kevin Mitnick is arrested in Raleigh, North Carolina. Q. What other sites were affected? A. In the interest of their privacy, we will not say. We believe that at least a dozen sites were compromised. Q. What are The WELL's normal security procedures? A. The WELL follows normal UNIX and Internet system security procedures including, but not limited to, implementing changes as recommended by CERT advisories, security patches as available from vendors (e.g. SUN, Cisco), regular use of system security diagnostic software, including "crack" and other appropriate security related measures. We feel it is inappropriate to enumerate all our security measures in a public forum. Q. Did the cracker get WELL members' credit card information or personal files? A. To the extent that we are able to determine, no credit card information was accessed by the intruder. We monitored nearly every keystroke of the cracker. A total of 11 accounts were compromised by the intruder, and we have contacted all of the account holders. In general, the cracker was not interested in information on The WELL itself, but used the WELL for storing files from other sites. Q. Wouldn't have changing all members' passwords have secured the system? A. Fundamentally, it wouldn't have made any difference. The tools used by this cracker would not have been defeated by changing individual passwords. Additionally, we have no information that would lead us to believe that member's passwords had been cracked or distributed. Q. What exactly were you monitoring and who was doing this? A. We were tracking network transactions, e.g.. ftp, smtp, telnet etc. to and from systems known and/or suspected by us to have been compromised. We added additional sites as we learned about this. Those monitoring our system included The WELL tech staff as well as Andrew Gross, a consultant from Shimomura's office. Q. What are you doing to strengthen the security of The WELL? A. We've purchased a new main server, a Sparc 1000e. We're re-installing application software from binaries, implementing one-time (DES) password protection for critical including root passwords, and requiring every user on the system to select a new password (adhering to standards that make password cracking more difficult). We are continuing close liaison with Sun specialists and other system security specialists and advisors to examine techniques used by the cracker to gain system access and addressing these system weaknesses. The WELL plans to install the new Sparc 1000e on Monday, February 20th. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Feb 95 07:36:16 EST From: Frank Tirado Subject: File 6--Re: Banished CPU BBS - commentary CuD is to be commended for presenting articles from all sources, regardless of how much we may disagree with them. A case in point is the article by Dan Gannon, forwarded by David Smith. Freedom of speech is a right of all individuals, even the hate mongers, the apologists and the revisionists. To curtail their right to speak out is to risk having our own freedoms curtailed. Contrarian views are necessary since they provide a yardstick against which we measure the rightness of our own beliefs. In fact, contrarian views have often been proved correct; for example Columbus proved the world was not flat, the Wright brothers proved that heavier than air flight was possible. Having said that, however, I must add that my heart bleeds for Mr. Gannon and the Banished CPU. I believe that he and others of his kind should be allowed to express their opinions in an open forum if only so that those opinions can refuted by the historical record. Frankly, no amount of revisionism can change the facts: Nazi atrocities happened and Jews were the main victims of Nazi pogroms. It is no favor to allow Nazi revisionists the full benefit of freedom of speech. If their actions are overt, they can be watched. If they express their beliefs in an open forum, they can be refuted. Ultimately, they will reveal their true nature: bigots and hate mongers. Finally, Nazi revisionists serve a very useful function: they keep present the horrors of the Holocaust and remind us that, if we are not vigilant, it could easily happen again. To us. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1994 22:51:01 CDT From: CuD Moderators Subject: File 7--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 18 Feb, 1995) Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. Subscriptions are available at no cost electronically. CuD is available as a Usenet newsgroup: comp.society.cu-digest Or, to subscribe, send a one-line message: SUB CUDIGEST your name Send it to LISTSERV@UIUCVMD.BITNET or LISTSERV@VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU The editors may be contacted by voice (815-753-0303), fax (815-753-6302) or U.S. mail at: Jim Thomas, Department of Sociology, NIU, DeKalb, IL 60115, USA. 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CuD material may be reprinted for non-profit as long as the source is cited. Authors hold a presumptive copyright, and they should be contacted for reprint permission. It is assumed that non-personal mail to the moderators may be reprinted unless otherwise specified. Readers are encouraged to submit reasoned articles relating to computer culture and communication. Articles are preferred to short responses. Please avoid quoting previous posts unless absolutely necessary. DISCLAIMER: The views represented herein do not necessarily represent the views of the moderators. Digest contributors assume all responsibility for ensuring that articles submitted do not violate copyright protections. ------------------------------ End of Computer Underground Digest #7.15 ************************************