german hacker death suspicious

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

there used to be a lot of conspiracy literature circulating on
the itnernet
on the huge industry/black market of satellite decoding software, TV
decoding software, and encryption systems.. I personally never figured
this out but if someone could point out that material, I'd love to
go back and look at it
here's a pretty heavy article TCM will love<g>

------- Forwarded Message

Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1998 22:12:03 -0700
Subject: Murder or suicide? Hacker's death in October still a mystery

Murder or suicide? Hacker's death in October still a mystery

Copyright � 1998 Nando Media
Copyright � 1998 The Associated Press 

http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/world/112798/world37_28777_noframes.html

BERLIN (November 27, 1998 3:15 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) -- He was a
gifted computer whiz -- one of the best, one who'd made the jump from illegal
tinkering to the legitimate, potentially lucrative business of making codes
crack-proof from hackers like himself.

But when Boris Floriciz was found hanging from a tree in a Berlin park on Oct.
22, his belt around his neck and his feet dragging the ground, it drew attention
even
outside the tight-knit world of hackers.

His friends wonder whether he was caught up in the murkier side of the trade --
one of spies, espionage and black-market criminals. Was it suicide, as police
suspect? Or homicide?

At 26, Floriciz seemed headed for a great future. He'd just finished his
computer science degree. International firms sought him as a consultant. He was
happy, say
his friends, who cannot believe he would take his own life.

Floriciz's friends wonder if he had become a threat to someone on the wrong side
of the business, leading to his death.

"That was not a personal decision," Andy Mueller-Maguhn, a friend and fellow
member of the Chaos Computer Club said. "For sure not. That was murder."

>From childhood, Floriciz looked destined to be an engineer. He was always taking
things apart to see how they worked. "Radios, television, clocks, the lawnmower
- - -- nothing was safe from him," his father told Stern magazine.

He dissembled a telephone booth to get at computer data inside. He was the first
hacker to crack the microchips on Deutsche Telekom telephone cards, used at
pay phones in Germany. His homemade card reloaded as the credit ran out.

After getting caught in 1995 and sentenced to probation, Floriciz "felt the need
to draw the line," said Mueller-Maguhn.

He joined Chaos, a 10-year-old group of computer devotees, and he went back to
college, earning his diploma in September by developing a scrambler to encode
telephone calls on high-speed, digital lines.

German media reports say Floriciz also was working on cracking decoders for pay
television -- a booming business spreading across Europe. One of the key
players is Robert Murdoch, whose digital broadcasting research firm NDS Ltd.
contacted Floriciz two years ago about being a code-design consultant.

"He was an exceptionally talented engineer," said Margot Field, spokeswoman at
the firm's London headquarters. NDS wanted to hire him, but couldn't move
forward because Floriciz hadn't yet graduated or completed his compulsory
military service. The firm's last contact with him was in June.

NDS apparently wasn't the only one interested in Floriciz.

His father says Floriciz talked several times about being approached by people
he suspected worked for spy agencies, which are believed to have mined the
hacker
world for talent in the past.

Just a few months ago, Germany's spy agency tried to hire a hacker to get
secrets out of Iran's military computers, the Chaos club said. But the contact
vanished
when the hacker got Chaos involved.

Floriciz may also have attracted black marketeers of counterfeit chips for
telephone cards and mobile phones. Deutsche Telekom estimates it loses millions
of
dollars each year from counterfeit cards. And industry officials worry that TV
decoder chips offer gangsters even bigger profits on the black market.

Money wasn't a lure for Floriciz, his friends say. He preferred to post his
research on the Internet for all to see -- and use.

"It was all the same to him if others raked in the bucks from what he
developed," one friend, Daniel, told Stern. "The main thing for him was that he
had proven what
he was great at."

Mueller-Maguhn says Floriciz's open attitude about his work might have
threatened those who didn't want competitors horning in on their business.

"He had lots of jobs, but he didn't want to become a slave of one company," he
said. "Maybe that was a problem."

Floriciz left his mother's apartment on Oct. 17 at about 2 p.m. She didn't think
he'd be gone long, because he didn't take his laptop computer.

He never came back. Calls to his mobile phone went unanswered.

A passerby found his body five days later. His phone, keys, ID card and money
were with him, evidence police say points to suicide. No sign of a struggle.
Nothing
stolen. No drugs.

Detectives are waiting for test results -- fingerprint fragments or chemical
traces -- before making a final determination.

The Chaos Computer Club is putting together its own report, which it plans to
release at its annual convention Dec. 27-29 in Berlin. Already, the death notice
on
the club's Web site states what Floriciz's friends believe happened:

"The circumstances under which he disappeared and his extraordinary capabilities
lead us to the conclusion that he became a homicide victim."

By PAUL GEITNER, Associated Press Writer