My comments are in red. This article is FULL of libel/slander and has
a lot more to it than meets the eye.
* Roughly three weeks before this article appeared, John Vranasevich partnered
with Carolyn Meinel on various things including her Happy Hacker Wargames.
* Until this partnering, John and I were social.
* Weeks before this article, Carolyn Meinel mailed Bronc buster saying some
of the same things, almost VERBATIM. Yet JP claims he wrote all of this.
(notice the dates of this mail compared to JP's article)
- Meinel's first mail on these topics
- Meinel's second mail on these topics
* JP's sources include Carolyn Meinel. At least one piece of disinformation
in this article are a direct result of Carolyn Meinel visiting Phoenix AZ
(where I live) *2 days* before this article came out.
* When confronted with some of the errata in his article on a public mail list,
JP refuses to post some of the corrections to his mail bag. Further, he offers
no retraction, continually saying he would "stand behind his sources".
=-=
www.antionline.com/cgi-bin/News?type=antionline&date=04-19-1999&story=hhead.news
What Kind Of Hackers Head The Culture?
Friday, April 23, 1999 at 3:39:34
by John Vranesevich - Founder of AntiOnline
In August 1984, Fred Villella, then the Deputy Director of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA), resigned amidst clouds of controversy involving procurement fraud. Shortly
there after, the General Accounting Office placed retired army Colonel Villella on the
agency's list of individuals who are not to be granted federal contracts. But that wasn't the
only controversy Vilella was involved in. That same year, FEMA, partly under the direction of
Fred Vilella, was reportedly planning courses of action which would entail the rounding up an
estimated 400,000 undocumented immigrants in the case of a military invasion of central
america, and gathering an estimated 21 million African Americans to be placed in concentration
camps in the event of rioting.
After resigning from FEMA, Fred Villella began teaching courses to law enforcement through a
company called Dan Core LTD. Courses taught by Dan Core LTD. included ones titled "Developing
an Associative Matrix - Finding the Names of Members and Leaders in Suspect Groups" and "The
Use of Special Operations Personnel".
For any matters pertaining to Fred Villella, he has posted a
response to JP's article. It can be read at http://www.newdimensions.net/response.htm
In 1996, the self proclaimed "subversives expert" Fred Villella began forming a team of
hackers through "New Dimensions International", a company which he is currently the president
of. As of this year, Villella's team of hackers have included: Pete Shipley, Michael
Schiffman, "Christan Valor", "Craig Whitmore", and Brian Martin. These individuals have
arguably been the biggest names in the hacker culture, the true "head of the hacker
hierarchy".
It should be noted that a "Craig Whitmore" has never worked for NDI. If JP/CPM
are referring to 'modify', then he worked for NDI for *one day*.
+ Pete Shipley - aka "Evil Pete", runs the official Defcon Mail List, and dis.org
+ Michael Schiffman - aka "route", editor of Phrack
+ "Christan Valor" - aka "se7en", known for his mission against child pornography
+ "Craig Whitmore" - aka "Modify", works with MeaCulpa on Attrition.org
+ Brian Martin - aka "Jericho" aka "MeaCulpa", runs www.attrition.org
The past six months have shown this group to be incredibly volatile, with one of their members
being "exposed" as a "fraud", and at least two other members being targeted by the FBI in
connection with an on-going investigation involving the hacking of the New York Times website
by a group calling itself Hacking For Girlies (HFG).
JP fails to mention that one of his sources (Carolyn Meinel) is also under
investigation for the hacking of the New York Times web site. Further, JP fails to mention
that his source for the article (Carolyn Meinel) has also been exposed as a fraud.
In February of this year, Brian Martin went to several news outlets, including Wired News, and
Forbes, to announce that his long time friend, roommate and co-worker, was in fact, a fraud. A
This is not true. In the Wired article titled "Kid-Porn Vigilante Hacked
Media" by Steve Silberman (released 8.Feb.99.PST), Mr. Silberman says specifically:
"Martin finally added his old friend to his list of "charlatans" on a Web page tracking
frauds on both sides of the hacker/media fence.
Then Rabey contacted the reporters who had done the initial profiles of Se7en."
It is quite clear that Ms Lisa Rabey contacted media outlets, NOT me.
hacker that went by the name "se7en" was well known to the media for breaking into, and
deleting the contents of, child pornography sites. But, Brian Martin, who was once one of the
media's main sources for information on these very same stories, now said that "se7en" was a
fraud. "He never deleted a single kiddie porn server himself. He's a compulsive liar, always
looking for some new thing to impress people with," Martin was quoted as saying in a February
1999 Wired News piece on "se7en". It's uncertain what "finally" made Brian Martin "come
forward" with the revelation.
Fact is, JP can't cite even *3* articles that quote me by name that were
published before October of 1998. I can only find 11 articles that I am quoted in,
and only *2* of them deal with se7en (Wired/Silberman and OJR/Welch).
Brian Martin is part-owner of a security firm called Repent Security, with "offices located
at" 13610 N. Scottsdale Rd. #10-326 Scottsdale, AZ 85254 (which is actually the address of a
jack-in-the-box restaurant). He has since become one of the prime "technical sources" for
This is the direct result of Carolyn Meinel's visit to Phoenix, where she
apparently could not read simple addresses. Out of curiosity, Peter Shipley used Yahoo
to try to verify these claims. Here is what he found:
The address for repsec can be found at:
http://www.repsec.com/ab_ContactInformation.htm
RepSec, Inc.
13610 N. Scottsdale Rd. Ste: 10-326
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
If you search Yahoo for 3 minutes you get:
yp.yahoo.com/py/ypMap.py?Pyt=Typ&YY=4530&city=Scottsdale&state=AZ&country=US&slt=33.6181&sln=-111.9545&zip=85254&cs=5&stx=Boxes&stp=a&ad=2500&ycat=&l=1&tuid=8777381&tq=8&btype=default
Mail Boxes Etc
13610 N. Scottsdale Rd. #10
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
(602) 483-3764
As for "Jack in the Box:
yp.yahoo.com/py/ypMap.py?Pyt=Typ&YY=18175&city=Scottsdale&state=AZ&country=US&slt=33.6181&sln=-111.9545&zip=85254&cs=5&stx=jack%20in%20the%20box&stp=a&ad=2500&ycat=&l=1&tuid=8778015&tq=8&btype=default
Jack in the Box
13610 N Scottsdale Rd # 789
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
(602) 443-8005
Any claims that RSI's address is a Jack-in-the-Box is a blatant lie. This is a simple search
to verify, yet JP relied on the words of someone with a three year vendetta against me.
Forbes writer Adam L. Penenberg (the very same reporter that got the exclusive interview with
the Hacking for Girlies Gang), being quoted in no fewer than 7 stories.
In an IRC chat with me late last year, JP told me that Carolyn told him that
SHE put Adam Penenberg in touch with HFG. See the IRC Log.
Recently, Brian Martin (as well as his ISP Inficad Computing) was raided by the FBI as being a
suspected member of the Hacking For Girlies Gang(HFG). Also this year, according to sources
When Carolyn Meinel visited Phoenix attempting to find out more information on
me, she talked to an Inficad admin for a little over 20 minutes. During this time, that admin
NEVER said Inficad was served with a search warrant. In the past few months Inficad has been
served with a *subpoena* for copies of their logs. This happens almost once a month because
of the size of the ISP. At no time was a search warrant issued to Inficad.
close to the New York Times, Pete Shipley (aka Evil Pete), was questioned extensively about
his suspected involvement in the very same hack group. The HFG, along with breaking into the
New York Times, is also suspected of breaking into several other commercial sites and ISPs.
Sources close to the New York Times? Like John Markoff who slandered me
less than 24 hours after the NYT was hacked? The fact is, Peter Shipley has not been questioned
in relation to the New York Times.
=-=
As you can see, this "news" article is nothing more than regurgitated libel
from Carolyn Meinel. Beyond that, this is not *news*. This is a poor attempt to get readers
for a failing site that now has thousands of dollars a month to explain to its investors.
Since it is obvious he isn't spending it on research, it makes you wonder what he IS spending
it on.