mitnick-digest Monday, November 2 1998 Volume 01 : Number 190 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 1 Nov 1998 23:19:59 EST From: TEXAN0000@aol.com Subject: [mitnick] stuuf there are too many aolers on this news letter thingie ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 1 Nov 1998 22:38:56 -0600 From: "XxGaLxX" Subject: Re: [mitnick] Today's New York Times Finally someone was brave enough to come out and say it. =) Good Job John! gal FREE KEVIN http://www.kevinmitnick.com ICQ: 21375284 - ---------- > From: John Vranesevich > To: mitnick@2600.com > Subject: Re: [mitnick] Today's New York Times > Date: Sunday, November 01, 1998 9:16 PM > > Greetings All, > > Oook, I can't stand to keep quiet about this guy any longer. Allow me to > step out on a limb and give you a profile of him, based on the thousands of > hackers I've talked to over the past 6 years. Some of which were true > geniuses, and others, well, were more like him. > > He's more than likely a social outcast. He probably feels like he has > very little control over his own life, much less over anything else. He > uses the Internet to lash out at people like Arik, because it gives him a > sense of power over something. This sense of power over someone allows him > to make up for the insecurities that he's feeling in his own life. > > Now, I'm sure that he, and others like him on this list, will lash out at > me next. I'm a threat to their sense of power, a threat to their feeling > of security. But, I think that he knows how close I really am to his true > psyche. Call what I have said stereotyping if you will. But, as I have > said, I've spoken to hundreds like him, and you'd be surprised how clear of > a mold they come out of. > > What some of you seem to fail to realize, is that the media, and > individuals such as Arik, could be allies to your cause. Sure, you can > waste your time putting fliers on people's cars at Walmart, but that is > insignificant compared to the reach that stories written by reporters like > Arik have. It's people like you, that have given the scene today such a > bad appearance to the general public as a whole. > > So, if you are younger, I suspect that you'll find yourself maturing in > the future, as most of us do. If, however, you're not, I suggest you go > seek counseling, because it's very clear to me, as it probably is to most > other matured individuals on this list, that you have some serious issues > which need resolved. > > I would also like to encourage the owners of this list to publicly > denounce such childish and immature flames that are being posted to this > list. It is beginning to create a hostile environment, that is surely > detrimental to the continued productivity of the list, and VERY counter > productive to your Mitnick plight. > > Yours In CyberSpace, > John Vranesevich > Founder, AntiOnline > > > > At 06:27 PM 11/1/98 -0800, you wrote: > > > >> Ignorant reporter asshole eh? If your attitude is any indicator, then > >> it's no wonder the media hasn't picked up your viewpoint on the Mitnick > >> story. They can't take anyone like you seriously. If you fail to see > >> the relevance of the NYT story on hacktivism to the Mitnick case, then > >> you're the one proving yourself to be ignorant. > > > >Yes, ignorant reporter asshole. My attitude is not at issue here. > >But as the typical scumbag reporter, you attempt to deflect my harsh > >words through a cloud of irrelevance. I at least will be taken more > >seriously than the scum reporters who feed on a story, regarless of > >relevance or accuracy (yourself included). > > > >Carefully explain to us how a NYT (the same scum who acted as a soap- > >box for Markoff, where he spouted his inaccuracies) article on Hack- > >tivism will specifically benefit the Mitnick case. Don't be a coy > >scumbag reporter -- tread on the issue and stay on-topic. Exactly > >how will Randolph, or anyone else defending Mitnick, use your stupid > >off-subject post to create a better situation for Kevin? Dumb ass. > > > >> Maybe it was off-topic, as it did not specifically cover the Mitnick > >> case, but I bet several people on the list found the story interesting > >> if they read it. > > > >Several people, including myself, would also find the latest Iraqi > >incidents interesting. That doesn't mean I post them all on here. > >That's obvious. The fact that you formulate such a weak excuse to > >cover-up your off-topic bullshit serves as just another indication > >of how intellectually bankrupt you are... especially as a reporter. > > > >> I was simply giving a heads up. If you don't like it, then try > >> mailing me personally about it, rather than flaming me on the list. > > > >Kiss my ass. > > ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 01 Nov 1998 21:15:55 -0800 From: Derek Balling Subject: Re: [mitnick] Today's New York Times redux... >When the US government starts peeking into my encryption, that does >it: Im moving to Holland. My thought was to buy up a couple thousand acres in Montana on the Canadian border and then demand that the UN defend you as a "breakaway republic trying to flee the anti-human-rights regime of the US, a country who frequently violates its own Constitution when it suits its purpose". Just a thought. :) D ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1998 01:20:31 EST From: Antonlappe@aol.com Subject: Re: [mitnick] instructive comments in re subtlety.... > Upon penetrating the Times site, the hackers posted photos of nude women > and criticized the paper's coverage of Kevin Mitnick, a convicted > computer criminal who has been in prison since 1995. Notice the wording here. "[A] convicted computer criminal who has been in prison since 1995", implying that he's been serving time for the crimes of which he was convicted, rather than awaiting trial for crimes he has merely been accused of. (I'm pretty sure that "prison" is the wrong word, too -- that "jail" is the word for a place of pre-trial detention, while "prison" refers to cold storage for convicts.) = you are abosultely right - he is a pre-trail dentention center - a jail - not a prision - and this sentence is extremely misleading in that it makes it sound as if he has been convicted of crimes in which he is serviing a sentence since 1995. A Lappe ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 1 Nov 1998 23:37:36 -0800 (PST) From: rOTTEN Subject: Re: [mitnick] Today's New York Times On Sun, 1 Nov 1998, John Vranesevich wrote: > He's more than likely a social outcast. He probably feels like he has > very little control over his own life, much less over anything else. He > uses the Internet to lash out at people like Arik, because it gives him a > sense of power over something. This sense of power over someone allows him > to make up for the insecurities that he's feeling in his own life. At what point can the relevence of this information be made obvious to me? I mean, isn't the REAL issue whether or not he's CORRECT? There's a really strong point being made by attacking reporters who claim to want to help. Reporters have consistently been of little or no help to Mitnick and it's time that they realize there is a level of seriousness here. Why should Mitnick be dealing with dime-store novelists? I hardly think that an armchair analysis of his psyche is any more important to the list than any other off-topic post. Perhaps there will come a day when people might see through a rough delivery to gain knowledge, or change the stasis that makes them completely useless in society. > What some of you seem to fail to realize, is that the media, and > individuals such as Arik, could be allies to your cause. Sure, you can > waste your time putting fliers on people's cars at Walmart, but that is > insignificant compared to the reach that stories written by reporters like > Arik have. It's people like you, that have given the scene today such a > bad appearance to the general public as a whole. And how do we determine who are the useful reporters and who are the overzealous hacks that plague most national periodicals? By what criteria do we judge them? Or do we spoon-feed information to, and cater to the every whim of, any random idealistic journalist that pokes their nose into the "computer underground"? > So, if you are younger, I suspect that you'll find yourself maturing in > the future, as most of us do. If, however, you're not, I suggest you go > seek counseling, because it's very clear to me, as it probably is to most > other matured individuals on this list, that you have some serious issues > which need resolved. You forgot words like "denial", "regression", "bi-polar", "obssessive-compulsive" and "manic". If you're going to make an La-Z-Boy diagnosis, these are the words that will get the sheep to follow along with you. And no, I'm not flaming you, John. Just challenging this particular position of yours. <..rOTTEN..> I hack minds for a living. error187(1) critical failure ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1998 06:47:03 -0500 From: Arik Hesseldahl Subject: Re: [mitnick] Today's New York Times I'm not even going to dignify that peurile and sophmoric garbage with a response. >> Ignorant reporter asshole eh? If your attitude is any indicator, then >> it's no wonder the media hasn't picked up your viewpoint on the Mitnick >> story. They can't take anyone like you seriously. If you fail to see >> the relevance of the NYT story on hacktivism to the Mitnick case, then >> you're the one proving yourself to be ignorant. > >Yes, ignorant reporter asshole. My attitude is not at issue here. >But as the typical scumbag reporter, you attempt to deflect my harsh >words through a cloud of irrelevance. I at least will be taken more >seriously than the scum reporters who feed on a story, regarless of >relevance or accuracy (yourself included). > >Carefully explain to us how a NYT (the same scum who acted as a soap- >box for Markoff, where he spouted his inaccuracies) article on Hack- >tivism will specifically benefit the Mitnick case. Don't be a coy >scumbag reporter -- tread on the issue and stay on-topic. Exactly >how will Randolph, or anyone else defending Mitnick, use your stupid >off-subject post to create a better situation for Kevin? Dumb ass. > >> Maybe it was off-topic, as it did not specifically cover the Mitnick >> case, but I bet several people on the list found the story interesting >> if they read it. > >Several people, including myself, would also find the latest Iraqi >incidents interesting. That doesn't mean I post them all on here. >That's obvious. The fact that you formulate such a weak excuse to >cover-up your off-topic bullshit serves as just another indication >of how intellectually bankrupt you are... especially as a reporter. > >> I was simply giving a heads up. If you don't like it, then try >> mailing me personally about it, rather than flaming me on the list. > >Kiss my ass. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1998 07:23:08 -0500 From: Arik Hesseldahl Subject: [mitnick] HFG speaks to Forbes Found at http://www.forbes.com/forbes/98/1116/6211132a.htm Send your flames regarding "relevance" of this article to the topic of list to support@tspeed.net A Forbes reporter meets with the ringleader of the gang that hacked the New York Times. Here's an inside look into the picaresque underworld of Slut Puppy and Master Pimp. "We were long gone when he pulled the plug" By Adam L. Penenberg Slut Puppy and his partner in crime, Master Pimp, hacked the New York Times on Sept. 13 because they were bored and couldn't agree on a video to watch. They are members of the cyberspace gang, "Hacking for Girlies" (HF), and for six months this year operated out of Slut Puppy's three-room condo, a place so tidy, so clean, it seemed positively unhackerlike. Of course, that didn't mean there were no telltale signs that hackers typed here. The blinds were drawn, the only light source beamed from computer screens. It could just as easily have been 3 a.m. as 3 p.m. On the condition we protect his anonymity, Slut Puppy agreed to give this Forbes reporter an inside account of the group's hacksploits. If you operate on the Internet, you could get hacked. The highwaymen of the Internet are a loosely affiliated brotherhood (and sisterhood) of techno-savvy people who make a hobby of puncturing what they regard as the pomposities of society. As far as breaking the law is concerned, they think of themselves as kind of a cross between the Scarlet Pimpernel and Robin Hood-harassing people they don't like, thumbing their noses at the law. Members of the brotherhood took over the New York Times' Web site for three hours on that day, replacing the welcome screen with one tinged with nudity and obscenity. In a diatribe, Slut Puppy roasted Times technology reporter John Markoff for his coverage of imprisoned hacker- martyr Kevin Mitnick. To the people at the New York Times, the prank was sacrilege. When they discovered the hacked page and were unable to restore their own news content, the Timesters were forced to shut down the site for nine hours. While Times technicians located and plugged security holes, the company reported the hack to the FEB. Joseph Valiquette, spokesman for the FEB's New York office, confirmed that the agency's computer crime squad is investigating. Today the perpetrators are two of the most wanted fugitives in cyberspace. Although the Times prank may have been Hacking for Girlies' most spectacular hack, the newspaper was not its first target. In April of this year it penetrated Rt66 Internet, an Albuquerque Internet service provider. Over the next four months the gang claimed assaults on, among others, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Motorola and Penthouse magazine before returning to Rt66 in August. To penetrate the Times, Slut Puppy and Master Pimp employed what is called a remote root buffer overflow. By transmitting too many data into a targeted zone, then tracking and manipulating the characters that could not fit into that space, they were able to trick the system into running their commands as if they were being issued by New York Times system administrators. After wheedling their way inside the server, they pulled down the Times' front page and replaced it with one shown in part here, a fake layout that Slut Puppy had composed with two other members of HFG: Sidekick Slappy and Daddy Sweetcakes, both of whom work off-site and communicate with the gang exclusively over the Internet. Slut Puppy and Master Pimp were able to control so many functions on the site that when Times technicians tried to pull their hacked page and replace it with standard news content, the hackers, who had logged off by then, used a program that automatically slipped their page back. For almost three hours this went back and forth, until the Times took its site off-line. Chortles Slut Puppy, "They seemed to have no idea how we got in-or how to stop us." On his hacked page Slut Puppy included several pointed references to John Markoff, the Times reporter who co-wrote the 1996 book Takedown, which detailed the search and capture of Kevin Mitnick, a hacker who faces a 25-count indictment on a variety of computer and wire-fraud charges. Mitnick, whose trial starts in January, has become a martyr to hackers. Although Slut Puppy knows Mitnick broke the law, he and many other hackers blame Markoff for hyping Mitnick's crimes in Takedown, for which he reportedly shared a $750,000 advance. The book is also being turned into a movie, which will undoubtedly increase pro-Mitnick protest activities in cyberspace. Markoff says he loses no sleep over Mitnick, who has already pleaded guilty and served time for possession of unauthorized access codes to cellular phones and for violating parole. "You have to wonder how deep these hackers' thinking goes," Markoff says. "If they have a political cause, they are accomplishing the exact opposite of their goal. No one is doing more to promote the upcoming movie than the hackers themselves." Markoff wasn't the only one to make it onto Hag's hit list. Carolyn P. Meinel of Cedar Crest, N.M. is its public enemy number one. Meinel is the author of The Happy Hacker, a kind of Hacking for Dummies volume chock-full of folksy golly-gee-isms interspersed with geek talk. The goal of the book is to teach "newbies" how to hack legally. The book's tone irks many of the more sophisticated hackers, who claim to be on a mission to show how porous most computer security is-the law be damned. And here was Meinel asserting in public forums that hacker groups were like street gangs, forcing teenage initiates to commit crimes to gain membership. "Meinel has this idea that as the Happy Hacker she is this noble leader among leaders," Slut Puppy says. "But she pretends to know more than she does, so we thought, 'Let's make her life hell.'" After a cozy Easter Day dinner in April, John Mocho, co-owner of Rt66 Internet, was showing his son and grandson how to upload family photos to his wife's Web site. The hackers had nothing against Rt66. Their target was one of the isp's customers. A wholesome family scene turned downright unwholesome when Mocho tried to access his isp's front page. Instead of the usual welcome screen, he was met with a picture of one of his customers, 52-year-old mother of six Carolyn Meinel, posing on the cover of a fictional publication, "Crack Whore Magazine," as well as her credit card number. A gang Mocho had never heard of, calling itself Hacking for Girlies, claimed responsibility. While his son rushed his grandson into the next room, Mocho went after the hackers. "I had never been hacked before," he said. "This was my ISP, my customers. I wanted them off as soon as possible." Mocho launched a preemptive strike. He typed in the Unix command "kill-9," which he assumed would cripple the hackers' ability to issue commands. Seconds later Mocho was booted off his own network. Figuring there was only one sure way to get rid of them, he jumped into his car and, driving 55mph in a 30mph zone, made it to his office in three minutes flat. Mocho cursed the day he had let his partner, Mark Schmitz, and the isp's system administrator, Damian Bates, convince him to accept Meinel as a customer. A lightning rod for hackers, she had already been kicked off five other ISP's. Schmitz and Bates had preached the First Amendment. No one, they argued, should be forced off an ISP because a bunch of hackers didn't like her. Schmitz and Bates also figured their computer security was solid. They figured wrong, Mocho thought grimly. After gaining entry to his office, Mocho grabbed a network cable and yanked hard. Rt66 was cut off from the Internet. The phone would start taunting Mocho any minute now, with irate customers threatening to switch ISPs. Mocho estimated that the hackers had been inside the network 20 minutes-30 tops. Enough time to have compromised it. In their haste to leave, however, he surmised that they had left behind a standard "root kit"-software designed to take and maintain control over another's system. This, in his mind, indicated they were amateurs, which cheered him. "From a technical point, this meant they had no magic ship to get in," Mocho said. "They probably compromised a user's account, stole someone's password." What he did not realize was that HFG had not used a root kit; evidently it had been left behind by some other hackers. In fact, HFG had sailed in undetected on that magic ship Mocho was so sure wasn't there, burrowed deep inside millions of lines of ISP code. It took Mocho and company 20 hours to get Rt66 up and running again. During this process someone either missed a machine or inadvertently installed a snapshot of the hacked system by accident. For whatever reason, the back door HFG had slipped in through remained open. Using that same flight path, Hacking for Girlies would return to Rt66 in August. But long before reattacking Rt66, the hackers maintained continual access to the system: sifting through customers' E-mail, noting any security improvements. Since they despised Meinel, they read all of her mail. Although Mocho believed the Easter hack was the first time HFG had violated his ISP, Slut Puppy says he took many a joyride through Rt66's servers well before then. It was during one of these jaunts that Slut Puppy noticed that Rt66 was employing a product called Tripwire. If any files are altered by a hacker, this software is designed to alert the system administrator. But Slut Puppy knew a technique for getting around it. Because Tripwire works by comparing numbers it assigns to each file, all he had to do was adjust the numbers that were already on the system. It's like altering the answers on an exam to match yours, no matter how outlandish they are. While Slut Puppy hummed "Get your clicks on root 66" and designed the Web page, Master Pimp bounced through some Sips to camouflage their itinerary. Using the existing back door, Master Pimp typed in a keyword and within ten seconds had control of one of Rt66's servers. From there he traversed over to the system's powerhouse, "Mack," where Slut Puppy replaced Rt66's home page with HFG's. "Rather than continuing the gunfight, we cleaned up our tracks by erasing logs and left," Slut Puppy said. "We were long gone when he pulled the plug." As it happens, Meinel says that on a personal level the hackers "have hardly done any harm to me. They hurt bystanders. They harm the ISPs, their customers and the credit card companies." Meinel also says the hackers can come after her all they want. "Sure helps me sell more books," she contends. After the Easter hack, when the ISP was considering tossing her off the network, Meinel swore to Rt66 that the credit card the hackers stole had not come from the isp's credit card file. Later, Meinel admitted that she had been mistaken. This is key because Rt66 took her word the credit card file had not been breached. Slut Puppy, on the other hand, was amazed that Rt66 didn't do anything to remove the credit card file from the network after the Easter hack. So, on Aug. 7 Slut Puppy and Master Pimp, entering Rt66's servers the same way they did in April, made off with the whole customer credit card file-1,749 card numbers in all. "It was so easy getting back into their system with the same back door, we wondered if they had set a trap," Slut Puppy said. This hack not only resulted in the ISP shutting down for some 60 hours but also forced Rt66 to rebuild its security from scratch. What is unfortunate is that Rt66, by doing the right thing in alerting the FEB and credit card companies to the security breach, has suffered for its good deeds. Even with its rebuilt security-Rt66 is now one of the most secure ISPs in New Mexico-the ISP has lost 15% of its 5,000 or so members since the August hack. "I respect the hackers' skills," Rt66 system administrator Bates grumbles, "although I didn't appreciate the obnoxious way they demonstrated them." Internet Security Systems (ISS) of Atlanta, Ga., one of the big names in computer security, has donated a remote monitoring station for the Rt66 network. ISS hopes to trap Hacking for Girlies the next time it tries to invade the system. But Slut Puppy already knew about ISS' presence in Rt66 from one of his many well-placed sources. "Needless to say, we don't plan on returning anytime soon," he says. Of course, Slut Puppy knew that hacking the New York Times was a lot riskier than attacking Rt66-the newspaper has immense clout in Washington, D.C. The day after the Times hack, Slut Puppy and Master Pimp packed up the computers used in their hack spree and passed them on to others for safekeeping. Any data gleaned from their other crimes were either deleted or protected by powerful 1,024-bit encryption. "Even we don't know where all of the equipment is," Slut Puppy says. "And my password to the encryption is probably unbreakable, too, since it is more than 40 characters long, case-sensitive, and combines letters, numbers and symbols. We've planned not just for the day the FEB comes-we've even planned for a hostile raid where the Feds actually plant evidence." The group plans to lie low until law enforcement moves on to bigger and better cases. By the way, whence the name Hacking for Girlies? "Chicks dig hacking," explains Slut Puppy. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1998 08:44:40 -0500 (EST) From: ksandre Subject: Re: [mitnick] read it for yourselves.... On Sun, 1 Nov 1998 Bobwil623@aol.com wrote: > let the list members read it for themselves... > > ========================== > October 31, 1998 > `Hacktivists' of All Persuasions Take Their Struggle to the Web > By AMY HARMON Thanks for posting the article. It seems very relevant to the list, IMHO. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1998 08:45:43 -0500 (EST) From: ksandre Subject: Re: [mitnick] Today's New York Times On Sun, 1 Nov 1998, John Vranesevich wrote: > Oook, I can't stand to keep quiet about this guy any longer. Allow me to > step out on a limb and give you a profile of him, based on the thousands of > hackers I've talked to over the past 6 years. Some of which were true > geniuses, and others, well, were more like him. > > He's more than likely a social outcast. He probably feels like he has > very little control over his own life, much less over anything else. He ...sounds like you're quoting the script for the film, TAKEDOWN. > > So, if you are younger, I suspect that you'll find yourself maturing in > the future, as most of us do. If, however, you're not, I suggest you go > seek counseling, because it's very clear to me, as it probably is to most > John Vranesevich > Founder, AntiOnline Ah-Ha! Northern California pandemic - shake a tree & TEN MFCCs fall out! (MFCC == "Marriage, Family, Child Counselor) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 02 Nov 1998 12:23:56 -0500 From: John Vranesevich Subject: [mitnick] Fighting City Hall Greetings All, I think many who are currently involved in the "Mitnick Plight" are missing the target with their protests, etc. There's an old phrase which has come up time and time again in my life, "You Can't Fight City Hall". From the plights that I have been through, I've found this statement to be true for the most part. However, you should be thankful that you live in a free country. A country where although you might not be able to FIGHT city hall, you at least have the opportunity to become PART of it. No matter how many webpages people hack, or how many times they yell "Fuck The US Government", Kevin will still be sitting in jail tomorrow. It's a fact. Ranting and raving does nothing. It seems to closely resemble a child throwing a tantrum when things don't go their way. This country has a system. Kevin in now part of that system. The ONLY way you're going to do something beneficial for him, is to work through that system. There are plenty of "channels" that people could be working through which may actually make a difference. Thinking that hacking thousands of pages, and sticking little "Free Mitnick Banners" on them is going to help the man, is simply pure naivety. Some say, "Hacking Pages Helps To Get The Word Out". What image do you think is portrayed to the novice public as a whole when they watch the news, and hear about some website, which has no relevance to the Mitnick case whatsoever, that was defaced by some kiddie. I'll tell you from my experiences, the image which is portrayed is not a good one. Sure, you're getting the word out. But, you're also causing Kevin to be affiliated with the same sort of "evil hacker image" which the government is using to "scare the public" enough to pass laws which limit our freedom of speech, and our privacy. Simply feeding the fire so to speak. So, I hope that some of you will take the time to re-think the angles that you are playing. It does Kevin far more good to have people who are viewed as well educated individuals with good intentions speaking out for him, rather than by people who are viewed as rebels that have simply found a cause to be rebellious about. Just some food for thought.... Yours In CyberSpace, John Vranesevich Founder, AntiOnline ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1998 14:40:40 EST From: Bobwil623@aol.com Subject: [mitnick] Re: Fighting City Hall redux antionline writes... > I think many who are currently involved in the > "Mitnick Plight" are missing the target... although i concur, i hold different opinions about the statements that followed in re the effectiveness, utility, and desireability of political protests on the web. i completely concur, and vigorously advocate the view that political protests *about kevin* are a double-edged sword: 1. such protests draw world-wide attention to kevin's incarceration in violation of constitutional guarantees at the same time that the USG is preaching around the world about "human rights". this is a good thing, imo. 2. such protests do, in my opinion, > ...also caus[e] Kevin to be affiliated with the > same sort of "evil hacker image" which the > government is using to "scare the public" enough > to pass laws which limit our freedom of speech, > and our privacy. this is a bad thing. item 2 is the reason why kevin and his attorney have issued repeated pleas to people to stop hacking in his name. it's one thing to hack the mexican government's site in protest of brutal repression carried out in urban areas *in general*, it would be quite another to hack the mexican govt's site to protest the treatment of a single individual -- guess who they take to the hole and beat, just to remind him that things will only get worse if political protests like that continue? -- hint: it's the guy in prison who gets beat. > It does Kevin far more good to have people who > are viewed as well educated individuals with > good intentions speaking out for him... i have to concur with this as well. here's a prioritization of the things that would help kevin's current status, in my opinion, starting with the most important first: 1. release from jail. 2. money 3. money 4. money 5. public attention to unconstitutional actions by USG 6. public attention to unconstitutional actions by USG 7. public attention to unconstitutional actions by USG 8. an effective defense 9. acquittal clearly, money creates the ability to mount an effective defense, and an effective defense would lead to acquittal or a reduced sentence. right now, it's a single person fighting a government, and that doesn't work - the government will win every time. actions allegedly carried out on behalf of kevin that accomplish any of the prioritized goals id'd above that do *not* break the law will likely contribute greatly to kevin's ability to mount an effective defense. actions aimed at obtaining release, money, public attention, or an effective defense that also break the law can -- and most certainly will - -- be used to convince the court that kevin is the "leader" of people who choose to repeatedly violate the law. please do not bring up the notion that everyone violates laws all day long: i'm well aware of the hypocrisy of the position, but it doesn't negate the way in which USG personnel (prosecutors, fbi, secret service, as well as telco executives testifying that they "lost" some arbitrary amount of money) will use those events to persuade a judge who apparently doesn't like looking at kevin to treat him more harshly. strategy and tactics are different, related, and it's important to consider when to use each. if you've ever been arrested by nypd, you know timing is everything: when you're handcuffed to the bench, you don't start telling the cops at the precinct house that they're fascists and shouldn't use the wooden handles on toilet plungers to rape and torture prisoners: it kind of gets 'em agitated, and they're likely to take it out on you. now, imagine you're sitting handcuffed to the bench, and a "friend" of yours (who you've never heard of, btw) comes into the precinct house, points at you, says "i'm with him, and we're comrades in struggle" and starts trashing the precinct house, disrupting operations, throwing things off desks, and then dashes out the door and makes good his escape. newspapers hear about this, send photographers, and it's splashed all over the media for the next three days. you gonna be happy that this fellow is "standing up" for his "comrade" or are you gonna be pissed off that you're the one who's going to suffer the consequences of someone's actions whom you've never even heard of? in closing, note that jerrold m. post, the psychologist hired by cia to "evaluate" the psychological "state" of former cia employee saddam hussein, has described computer crime on the net as a matter of "national security." jerrold post is speaking for the USG when he says these things, in my opinion. USG has used "national security" to justify the following actions: - - the execution of the rosenbergs; - - the persecution of members of the communist party, the black panther party, the american indian movement, and the puerto rican independence movement; - - the implementation of nuclear "power", which is now poisoning our air, water, and land; and last but not least, - - the invasion of small and large countries around the globe. what do you think they'll do to people who they accuse of computer crimes? hmmm? guess what -- kevin was the first one they caught and who they figured they could hold accountable for the shifting importance of the internet. the political importance of kevin's case cannot be overestimated, and anyone who fails to see its political significance is either lying, a fool, or both. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1998 14:47:59 -0500 From: gjones@raleigh.ibm.com Subject: [mitnick] Keeping Kevin in mind I realize this is old news, but it brings to light the plight that kevin is going through. People like this woman just can't seem to keep Kevin's name out of an article. Hacker dips into The WELL By Janet Kornblum Staff Writer, CNET News.com March 19, 1997, 5:30 p.m. PT The WELL, one of the world's most famous online communities, has once again come under attack by a cracker who stole passwords, deleted an account and other files, and planted Trojan horses on the network, CNET has learned. The WELL discovered earlier this week that someone had been messing around in its system, probably over the course of several months. The WELL says there is no evidence that the cracker read or sent personal mail or had access to credit card information. But he or she has still caused plenty of trouble for the WELL's administrators, and the company can't say for sure if the hacker is now locked out. "This has been one of the more difficult security investigations we've had to deal with in the last several years," said The WELL president Maria Wilhelm, in a posting to members. The WELL has earned a reputation as an elite cyberspace community and the electronic home to some of the best-known digerati of the Internet age. Howard Rheingold, for instance, based his widely read book Virtual Community from experiences on The WELL. While people try to break into systems every day, break-ins into the WELL have garnered extra attention since the infamous Kevin Mitnick cracked the system and used it as a hacking home base before his capture in 1995. The WELL spent many months calming its members and repairing the damage to its credibility after Mitnick's activities came to light. Now, the community is faced with another clean-up job. The staff has had to spend hours trying to repair the damage and clear out the Trojan horses--small programs that can be used to attack computers, but unlike viruses, can't spread from computer to computer by replicating themselves. The community is also sending out an alert to all 11,000 or so members to change their passwords immediately, even though members are encouraged to do that every month, according to Gail Williams, director of conferencing. "It takes a lot of time to clean up after these incidents," she said. While the irony of cyberspace's most elite community being hacked gains extra media attention for The WELL's security problems, it is far from the only target of intruders. While there are laws on the books to prosecute hackers and the FBI has special agents trained to electronically pursue them, only 17 percent of all computer attacks are reported to law enforcement agencies, said George Grotz, an FBI special agent in San Francisco, citing a recent study. Whether hackers break into systems to steal real information or simply to vandalize a site for the sheer pleasure of it is a subject of debate. In this case, there is no evidence that the cracker gained anything tangible. "I don't understand what the appeal is, frankly, of any of the attempts to crack our site," Williams said. "What these guys attempt to do is sneak in and play around in the basement and switch the wires. What I don't understand is why they don't come in to the system and participate in the party because it's so good online." "This is just like someone walking into a magical garden and not being able to experience it as a magical garden," she added. "It's really missing the whole point." While The WELL has been forthright with its members about this security breach, many companies are reluctant to come forward because "they have a legitimate and quite understandable concern as to how this would be viewed by the stockholders," Grotz said. Online services who admit their security has been breached come under intense scrutiny from their subscribers. But some say the only way to create a completely impenetrable system would be to cut off any connections to the outside world. "We in law enforcement have tried very hard to put the word out that we want to work in a partnership of private industry and develop these cases for prosecution without looking at a downside to stockholders. The secret is finding that middle ground where all interests are protected," said Grotz. But The WELL would like to see the responsible parties stuck with the bill for cleaning up the electronic mess. "It would be interesting if the courts could make people pay for all of the hours it took in cleaning up after them and compensating the users for the disruption," Williams said. Related news stories *? Computer crimes rife, unreported February 13, 1997 *? CNET Special Report: Crime on the Net February 7, 1997 *? Hacker admits to AOL piracy January 8, 1997 *? Scam targets Prodigy users January 7, 1997 *? Hack attack strikes again December 16, 1996 *? Clinton cracks down on hackers October 14, 1996 *? Mitnick pleads not guilty September 30, 1996 *? To catch a hacker September 21, 1996 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 02 Nov 1998 15:04:44 -0500 From: kerry Subject: [mitnick] kevinmitnick.com A couple of minor additions to kevinmitnick.com -- The front page includes a count of the approximate number of pages of computerized evidence Kevin would have to look at every day, in order to get thru it by the trial date. This number goes up considerably every day, because he hasn't gotten to look at any of it yet. Note that it's not humanly possible to review all that evidence within a couple of months. How can he possibly be prepared for trial? Does anyone have time to go thru some of the court transcripts on the site and index some of the important parts using tags? A few have been done already. Email me if you can help. The documents are often long and need to be a little more accessible. The sticker page now includes a link to Telephreak's site, where people can find out how to order the Free Kevin T-Shirts, pens and pencils; there are lots of ways to spread the word. http://www.kevinmitnick.com/stick.html More changes coming soon... http://www.kevinmitnick.com ------------------------------ End of mitnick-digest V1 #190 *****************************