From: Christian Weisgerber (naddy@mips.inka.de)
Date: Wed Jul 03 2002 - 15:53:43 MDT
Robert J. Bradbury <bradbury@aeiveos.com> wrote:
> http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/07/03/1253243&mode=thread&tid=172ŒÛ
Back in the early 1990s I read amazing stories about the exploits
of American ph(one f)reaks, the best of which supposedly managed
to even take over central office switches, with all the possibilities
that entailed. I was stupefied. How could somebody gain control
of a telco switch? This was something I considered plainly undoable,
and I was in awe of those people who clearly were geniuses to
accomplish the impossible.
A few years later, I think it was in Bruce Sterling's _The Hacker
Crackdown_, I read some accounts that offered additional details.
As it turned out, at that time the phone companies connected modem
dial up lines to the computer systems that were their switches.
Frequently these wouldn't even have so much as a password challenge.
Anybody who happened to have run across the number could call, log
in, and play with the system. The glorious phreaks picked manuals
from the phone company's trash or just read the online help. My
respect for those "impossible" accomplishments imploded. I mean,
*I* could have done the same easily--except that in my country the
telco infrastructure was not as insanely insecure.
I suspect, and in fact the article quoted above says so itself,
that we are dealing with a similar situation here. Apparently many
satellite systems are simply not secured at all. Anybody with a
bit of equipment, some time, and desire to play at hand can take
over. If people start making an actual annoyance of themselves in
this respect, security is likely to improve rather quickly. Also,
sending strong radio signals is contraindicated if you are trying
to stay hidden. Just ask Dzhokhar Dudayev.
Next time I pick up a penny on the street, I expect some journalist
to write a grand article on what a ruthless and clever thief and
important political activist that makes me.
-- Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de
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