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From: s900...@otto.bf.rmit.oz.au (Felicity Jones [Ice])
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Article in the "Australian" newspaper (re-posted from comp.society)
Message-ID: <1991Jul12.142359.20447@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au>
Date: 12 Jul 91 14:23:59 GMT
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Organization: Faculty of Business, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia
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Apologies if this post appears twice. I posted it yesterday but it seems
to have disappeared.
The following is a copy of a post to comp.society, which in turn was
a copy of an article that appeared in the "Australian" newspaper last
Tuesday (the Computers & Technology feature).
I was dismayed and then outraged at the "facts" in this article,
particularly what is said regarding Len Rose.
There are many other generalisations, assumptions and inferences
that seem to be calculated to inflame the kind of panicky, knee-jerk
reaction that resulted in Operation Sun be-Devilled in the US.
Something that I do NOT wish to see here in Australia.
Comments and the real facts regarding Len's case and especially,
some references to the many forums and experts who have studied
the "hacker" problem would be appreciated, as I wish to write to
the "Australian" and inform them (and hopefully their readers)
of the facts rather than the scare-mongering half-truths that seem
to form the main point of this article.
Input from the EFF would be particularly useful, especially some
statistics on the true causes of computer security problems
which I know from my own reading is more likely to come from
a trusted employee rather than the "nerds" referred to in this
article.
So far, Australia has managed to remain fairly rational regarding
the hacker "problem", even though we have had our share of "incidents"
most of which are well known to net.people but curiously, not
mentioned in Forester's diatribe.
Here is the article:
**************************************
A colleague recently published this article in the computer section
of 'The Australian' newspaper last week. He thought it might interest
the net, or promote discussion - something difficult to do in its original
newspaper form.
George Bray [posting for Tom Forester]
Opinion: "Hackers: 'Clamp Down Now' "
The Australian, 2 July 1991, page 34.
It's about time we got tough with hackers and exposed them for
the irresponsible electronic vandals they really are.
Jailing a few of these malicious meddlers would set an example to
other would-be data thieves and help stem the tide of
computerized anarchism which is threatening to engulf the IT
industry.
Breaking into a computer is no different from breaking into your
neighbour's house. It is burglary plain and simple - though often
accompanied by malicious damage and theft of information.
Sometimes - as in the case of stolen credit card numbers - it is
followed by fraud.
The essence of hacking is that it is about gaining unauthorized
access to other peoples' systems. It is an activity which has not
been sanctioned by or approved of by the system's owner, be they
private or public.
Hackers are often portrayed as 'brilliant' or glamourized in the
media as 'whiz-kids,' but often they are only mediocre
programmers. Most 'great' hacks have in fact involved very little
in the way of intellectual ability - you don't have to be an
expert to work an autodialler and Unix systems - a favourite
target of the hacker - have notoriously poor security.
Far from being budding computer geniuses, hackers are often so
incompetent and clumsy that they frequently cause more
unintentional damage than intentional damage when blundering
around inside someone else's system.
Far from being heroes of the computer revolution, hackers are
little more than common thieves. Their modus operandi involves
stealing log-in names and passwords and then stealing information
expensively collected by the victim.
Some hackers have even become infamous by betraying their
country. Members of the Chaos Computer Club of Hamburg, in then
West Germany,were caught selling United States military secrets
to the KGB - the charred body of one of their number, Karl Koch,
was later found in a forest outside Hanover.
Other hackers, such as the group that infiltrated six London
banks in 1989, have swiftly turned to blackmail. Yet some
misguided persons have sought to justify this despicable crime by
claiming hackers are really only helping 'test system security.'
A second justification of hacking is that hackers safeguard our
civil liberties by keeping a check on the activities of
governments. I know of no cases where revealing the contents of a
state database has done good rather than harm.
If hacking cannot be defended, then virus creation is wholly
unforgivable. Enormous time and effort has been spent in recent
years making good the damage caused by the pranksters who gave us
the 'Stoned,' 'Bouncing Ball,' 'Pakistani Brain' and 'Israeli'
viruses, to name but a few.
Such computer anarchists have caused mayhem in recent years in
the US. The famous Internet worm let loose by Cornell University
student Robert Morris in late 1988 infected no less than 6,000
systems and cost thousands of dollars to contain.
Last year, the so-called 'Legion of Doom' managed to completely
stuff up the 911 emergency phone system in nine US states, thus
endangering human life. They were also later charged with trading
in stolen credit card numbers, long-distance phone card numbers
and information about how to break into computers.
In another case, Leonard DeCicco was charged with stealing US $1
million worth of security software from Digital Equipment
Corporation. Leonard Rose Jr. was charged with selling illegal
copies of a US $77,000 AT&T operating system.
One group of phone hackers was charged with stealing more than US
$1.6 million worth of free long-distance phone calls, while
another group was caught manipulating voice-mail boxes and 008
toll-free numbers to the tune of millions of dollars.
Unfortunately, attempts by US authorities to nail these deliquent
nerds have not always been successful. This is because the law is
unclear, and police lack the expertise in dealing with the
crimes.
For example, last year's Operation Sun Devil, which involved
raids in 14 cities and the seizure of 42 systems and 23, 000
disks, has yet to result in any major prosecutions.
Robert Morris, who launched the disastrous Internet worm, got a
mere slap on the wrist in the form of a US $10,000 fine and 400
hours' community service Only in Britain - where the
Computer Misuse Act became law in 1990 - do the authorities seem
to winning the war against hackers: 'mad' hacker Nicholas
Whiteley was recently jailed for four months for a series of
malicious attacks on university computers.
To some extent hacking has attracted individuals who are not at
ease socially - the classic "nerd," if you like. They may relate
better to machines than other humans.
One image of the hacker is of an adolescent male, who, for
reasons of shyness or "spots" does not get on with girls.
Instead, he tends to spend his time with the computer, rising at
2pm, then working right through to 6am,, consuming mountains of
delivered pizza and gallons of soft drink.
Some suffer from what Danish doctors are now calling "computer
psychosis" - an inability to distinguish between the real world
and the world inside the screen.
For the hacker, the machine becomes a substitute for human
contact, because it responds in rational manner, uncomplicated by
feelings and emotions.
In some senses, one can't help but feel sorry for hackers, but by
taking out their hang-ups on society they do enormous damage and
we all end up paying for their anarchic antics.
One day, these meddlers will hack into a vital military, utility
or comms system and cause a human and social catastrophe. It's
time we put a stop to their adolescent games right now.
TOM FORESTER
*Tom Forester is co-author, with Perry Morrison, of Computer
Ethics: Cautionary Tales and Ethical Dilemmas in Computing
(Blackwell / Allen & Unwin, 1990,).
*******************************************
Once again, please post or mail information regarding the above
so that I can write to the newspaper and hopefully put some
perspective on the issue.
Thanks
Felicity
--
BIS Student, RMIT Melb, Aust. s900...@otto.bf.rmit.oz.au
Co Sysop, The Guru Meditation Amiga BBS i...@guru.pub.uu.oz.au
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world!eff!mkapor
From: mka...@eff.org (Mitch Kapor)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: Article in the "Australian" newspaper (re-posted from comp.society)
Message-ID: <1991Jul14.163354.4559@eff.org>
Date: 14 Jul 91 16:33:54 GMT
References: <1991Jul12.142359.20447@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au>
Organization: The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Lines: 4
We will try to send replies to Forester and the Australian newspaper.
Mitch Kapor
EFF