Masters of Deception: The Gang That Ruled Cyberspace by Michele Slatalla Page A
Book: Masters of Deception: The Gang That Ruled Cyberspace by Michele Slatalla
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Authors: Michele Slatalla
Tags: General, Social Science, Sociology, Computers, True Crime, New York, New York (State), Political Science, Technology & Engineering, gangs, security, Computer Hackers, Computer Security, Computer security - New York (State) - New York, Computer crimes - New York (State) - New York, Computer crimes, Computer hackers - New York (State) - New York, Gangs - New York (State) - New York
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bad name.
Somebody on the MOD bridge dialed a lamer, and then a dozen kids all started screaming into the phone, rampaging, scaring the kid. And if you were really lucky, his mom would get on and say, "David? Who is it?" She'd be all confused, as a dozen voices caterwauled, "David? David? Who is it?" And then someone would yell, "It's the MOD!"
The name started to get around.
Eli met a lot of people. He got friendly with a hacker who used two handles: Thomas Covenant and Sigmund Fraud. But everyone knew him as Pumpkin Pete, a nickname he hated but couldn't shake. He's from Brooklyn, but he joined the Air Force and got stationed in Florida. He was obsessed by the phone system, was so desperate to get phone company technical manuals that he pulls an outlandish stunt. He tries to order hundreds of manuals from Bellcore, the research and development arm of the seven regional telephone companies. He tells Bellcore that they're building a new central office in Florida and they need the manuals right away. It doesn't work it just prompts a military investigation. But the stunt's good enough to give him a reputation. And besides, he's from Brooklyn. Now he was in MOD.
Paul's friend Hac is also inducted into MOD. He was good to have along on trashing expeditions.
Eli and Mark spent a lot of time cruising bulletin boards. They rode out across the vast wilderness of cyberspace, staking claim to anything they discovered. They came to think of it all as their own territory. They defined themselves as being somehow different, and therefore better, than the other hackers they encountered. They roust lamers and ask competent hands to ride with them. Mark thinks of himself as "maintaining" the area.
When the MOD boys come across any new bulletin board that aspires to be a hacker's board, they phone the system operator to give him the once-over, to see if he should be shut down or invited to join. That's how Mark met a kid named Zod, who was running an inane bulletin board in the 212 area code. Zod is a great name, borrowed from the evil genius who attempted to thwart Superman (in the movie). Zod's got his own gang, called Ace, which Eli is scouting for local talent.
Mark logs in to Zod's board as Phiber Optik. That should be enough of a calling card. Everyone in the underground knows who Phiber Optik is by now.
But Zod disses Mark. No one automatically gets access to this board. Not even Phiber Optik. Zod demands that all aspirants fill out a questionnaire first to show they are worthy. If you don't know the answers, you don't get a password.
Zod has larded the questionnaire with phone company acronyms. What does PREMIS stand for? What does MIZAR
stand for? LMOS?
As far as Mark could tell, Zod didn't know the answers himself.
Mark, of course, knows what they all stand for, as well as what they do. Angrily, he logs out of Zod's board.
He takes a tour of those same acronyms, in fact, to figure out who this Zod character really is. He logs in to one system, where he finds out the cable and pair number for Zod's bulletin board's phone line.
With the cable and pair number, Mark checks into another phone company computer, where he sees another phone number assigned to the same house. He still doesn't know the name of the subscriber, but he dials the number anyway.
A man answers the phone, and believe it or not, instead of saying hello like a normal dad, he gives his whole name. First and last name.
His last name's Perlman. Mark asks for Mr. Perlman's son. Zod gets on the phone.
"Perlman, " says scarily deep-voiced Mark. "This is Phiber Optik. " Zod is flabbergasted. "How did you get this number?"
Mark says, in the understatement of the year, "I looked it up. "
One kid who Eli met was really aggressive. He was pretty young, but he'd already taught himself a lot. This kid called himself The Wing, on a bulletin board called Altos. Altos is really one of the main boards for young cyberdudes. It's like Dodge City. Every aspirant,
Somebody on the MOD bridge dialed a lamer, and then a dozen kids all started screaming into the phone, rampaging, scaring the kid. And if you were really lucky, his mom would get on and say, "David? Who is it?" She'd be all confused, as a dozen voices caterwauled, "David? David? Who is it?" And then someone would yell, "It's the MOD!"
The name started to get around.
Eli met a lot of people. He got friendly with a hacker who used two handles: Thomas Covenant and Sigmund Fraud. But everyone knew him as Pumpkin Pete, a nickname he hated but couldn't shake. He's from Brooklyn, but he joined the Air Force and got stationed in Florida. He was obsessed by the phone system, was so desperate to get phone company technical manuals that he pulls an outlandish stunt. He tries to order hundreds of manuals from Bellcore, the research and development arm of the seven regional telephone companies. He tells Bellcore that they're building a new central office in Florida and they need the manuals right away. It doesn't work it just prompts a military investigation. But the stunt's good enough to give him a reputation. And besides, he's from Brooklyn. Now he was in MOD.
Paul's friend Hac is also inducted into MOD. He was good to have along on trashing expeditions.
Eli and Mark spent a lot of time cruising bulletin boards. They rode out across the vast wilderness of cyberspace, staking claim to anything they discovered. They came to think of it all as their own territory. They defined themselves as being somehow different, and therefore better, than the other hackers they encountered. They roust lamers and ask competent hands to ride with them. Mark thinks of himself as "maintaining" the area.
When the MOD boys come across any new bulletin board that aspires to be a hacker's board, they phone the system operator to give him the once-over, to see if he should be shut down or invited to join. That's how Mark met a kid named Zod, who was running an inane bulletin board in the 212 area code. Zod is a great name, borrowed from the evil genius who attempted to thwart Superman (in the movie). Zod's got his own gang, called Ace, which Eli is scouting for local talent.
Mark logs in to Zod's board as Phiber Optik. That should be enough of a calling card. Everyone in the underground knows who Phiber Optik is by now.
But Zod disses Mark. No one automatically gets access to this board. Not even Phiber Optik. Zod demands that all aspirants fill out a questionnaire first to show they are worthy. If you don't know the answers, you don't get a password.
Zod has larded the questionnaire with phone company acronyms. What does PREMIS stand for? What does MIZAR
stand for? LMOS?
As far as Mark could tell, Zod didn't know the answers himself.
Mark, of course, knows what they all stand for, as well as what they do. Angrily, he logs out of Zod's board.
He takes a tour of those same acronyms, in fact, to figure out who this Zod character really is. He logs in to one system, where he finds out the cable and pair number for Zod's bulletin board's phone line.
With the cable and pair number, Mark checks into another phone company computer, where he sees another phone number assigned to the same house. He still doesn't know the name of the subscriber, but he dials the number anyway.
A man answers the phone, and believe it or not, instead of saying hello like a normal dad, he gives his whole name. First and last name.
His last name's Perlman. Mark asks for Mr. Perlman's son. Zod gets on the phone.
"Perlman, " says scarily deep-voiced Mark. "This is Phiber Optik. " Zod is flabbergasted. "How did you get this number?"
Mark says, in the understatement of the year, "I looked it up. "
One kid who Eli met was really aggressive. He was pretty young, but he'd already taught himself a lot. This kid called himself The Wing, on a bulletin board called Altos. Altos is really one of the main boards for young cyberdudes. It's like Dodge City. Every aspirant,
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