IP: Hacker editor rides herd on unruly institution

["Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com>]

From: believer@telepath.com
Subject: IP: Hacker editor rides herd on unruly institution
Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 11:51:24 -0500
To: believer@telepath.com

Source:  Fox News - AP

Hacker editor rides herd on unruly institution
 11.01 a.m. ET (1502 GMT) September 19, 1998

 By Chris Allbritton, Associated Press

 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) � The lines of text scrolled off the screen quickly,
but the bleached-blond hacker snatched quick glances at the visitors' log
on his Web page. Lots of visitors using military and government computers.
The hacker, who calls himself Route, said he always gets a kick out of the
feds' visits. He smiled. 

 The FBI, the CIA and the others "wouldn't be doing their job if they
weren't tracking computer information both legitimate and illegitimate,''
Route said. "I guess Phrack falls somewhere in between.'' 

 Phrack is an online publication called a 'zine. It's a digital chimera:
written for hackers but read by law enforcement, too. It's been the subject
of federal prosecution, yet it still operates in the open. Its name
combines "hack'' and "phreak,'' which refers to phone hacking. 

 It's got attitude, technical know-how and in many ways defines today's
hacker scene. It first hit the electronic bulletin boards Nov. 17, 1985,
ages ago in hacker years. 

 To put its longevity in perspective, Phrack came out two years after the
movie "WarGames'' in which actor Matthew Broderick established the cliched
image of the hacker as the lonely kid who altered his grades with a
computer. Phrack predates the World Wide Web by almost a decade. And Phrack
is older than many of its readers, who number about 8,000, said Route, who
refuses to give his real name. 

 Route, 24, doesn't look like the scrawny computer nerd with the
cathode-ray pallor so many think of when the word hacker is mentioned.
Silver earrings dangle from each ear and a bar pierces his tongue. Spidery
tattoos creep down his shoulders and over biceps grown solid with hours of
iron work. 

 Behind his glower lies a keen mind that cuts through computer network
problems like a digital knife, an invaluable skill for his day job at a
computer security firm with Fortune 500 companies for clients. Route
refused to name his company. 

 Phrack's improbable history begins in 1985 when a hacker with the handle
Taran King cobbled together various subversive texts that had been
circulating like Soviet-era samizdat on the archipelago of underground
electronic bulletin boards. It included all sorts of mischief-making: "How
to Pick Master Locks,'' "How to Make an Acetylene Bomb'' and
"School/College Computer Dial-Ups.'' 

 But Phrack found itself the focus of federal prosecution in 1990, when
editor Craig Neidorf, a k a Knight Lightning, was prosecuted by the Chicago
Computer Fraud and Abuse Task Force. His alleged crime? He published a
document in Phrack with certain details of the emergency 911 systems in use
around the country. It had been given to him by another hacker who had
copied it from computers owned by BellSouth, which valued it at almost
$80,000. 

 But the task force wanted to prove the document was more than valuable.
Assistant U.S. Attorney William J. Cook said it put dangerous information
in the hands of hackers. 

 The case fell apart when Neidorf's lawyer proved that more detailed
information about the system had appeared in other publications. You could
order them from phone company technical catalogs for $13. The charges were
dropped. Neidorf's trial was over. 

 If today's Phrack is a bit less confrontational, that's understandable.
Like many of the older hackers, Route is shifting his focus away from
anarchy texts and phone hacking to computer security. Its "how-to'' days
are pretty much over. 

 "Phrack is not meant to be a manual of vulnerabilities,'' he said. 

 As the editor, Route knows that Phrack can still be used for illegal
purposes. "But you can't hold people completely liable for just putting
information out there.'' 

 He said he has had "blatantly illegal stuff'' sent to him. Once, he said
he received the technical specifications for most pager systems used in the
country, complete with how to hack those systems. He didn't publish. 

 "It's a judgment call,'' he said. "I have no intention of running up
against the law or (upsetting) the military.'' 

 But it's almost guaranteed that something gleaned from Phrack will be used
against the computer system of a big and powerful organization or business. 

 "The scene is going to do what the scene is going to do,'' he said. "It's
like any clique in society. You have good people and you have bad people.'' 

                  � 1998 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
-----------------------
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and
educational purposes only. For more information go to:
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-----------------------




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