                                ==Phrack Inc.==

                      Volume Two, Issue 23, File 3 of 12

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       <>                        Subdivisions                        <>
       <>                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~                        <>
       <>          Part Three Of The Vicious Circle Trilogy          <>
       <>                                                            <>
       <>  A Study On The Occurrence Of Groups Within The Community  <>
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       <>                Presented by Knight Lightning               <>
       <>                       August 8, 1988                       <>
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               A Rose By Any Other Name... Would Smell As Sweet

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          The Administration \ Advanced Telecommunications, Inc./ATI
         ALIAS \ American Tone Travelers \ Anarchy Inc. \ Apple Mafia
  The Association \ Atlantic Pirates Guild/APG \ Bad Ass Mother Fuckers/BAMF
    Bellcore \ Bell Shock Force/BSF \ Black Bag \ Camorra \ C&M Productions
   Catholics Anonymous \ Chaos Computer Club \ Chief Executive Officers/CEO
 Circle Of Death \ Circle Of Deneb \ Club X \ Coalition of Hi-Tech Pirates/CHP
        Coast-To-Coast \ Corrupt Computing \ Cult Of The Dead Cow/-cDc-
    Custom Retaliations \ Damage Inc. \ D&B Communications \ The Dange Gang
            Dec Hunters \ Digital Gang/DG \ DPAK \ Eastern Alliance
          The Elite Hackers Guild \ Elite Phreakers and Hackers Club
  The Elite Society Of America \ EPG \ Executives Of Crime \ Extasyy (Elite)
   Fargo 4A \ Farmers Of Doom/FOD \ The Federation \ Feds R Us \ First Class
          Five O \ Five Star \ Force Hackers \ The 414s \ Hack-A-Trip
Hackers Of America/HOA \ High Mountain Hackers \ High Society \ The Hitchhikers
       IBM Syndicate \ The Ice Pirates Imperial Warlords \ Inner Circle
                        Inner Circle II \ Insanity Inc.
International Computer Underground Bandits/ICUB \ Justice League of America/JLA
     Kaos Inc. \ Knights Of Shadow/KOS \ Knights Of The Round Table/KOTRT
       League Of Adepts/LOA \ Legion Of Doom/LOD \ Legion Of Hackers/LOH
       Lords Of Chaos \ Lunitic Labs, Unlimited \ Master Hackers \ MAD!
            The Marauders \ MD/PhD \ Metal Communications, Inc./MCI
  MetalliBashers, Inc./MBI \ Metro Communications \ Midwest Pirates Guild/MPG
       NASA Elite \ The NATO Association \ Neon Knights \ Nihilist Order
Order Of The Rose \ OSS \ Pacific Pirates Guild/PPG \ Phantom Access Associates
                PHido PHreaks \ Phlash \ PhoneLine Phantoms/PLP
              Phone Phreakers Of America/PPOA \ Phortune 500/P500
               Phreak Hack Delinquents \ Phreak Hack Destroyers
         Phreakers, Hackers, And Laundromat Employees Gang/PHALSE Gang
     Phreaks Against Geeks/PAG \ Phreaks Against Phreaks Against Geeks/PAP
      Phreaks and Hackers of America \ Phreaks Anonymous World Wide/PAWW
             Project Genesis \ The Punk Mafia/TPM \ The Racketeers
 Red Dawn Text Files/RDTF \ Roscoe Gang \ SABRE \ Secret Circle of Pirates/SCP
   Secret Service \ 707 Club \ Shadow Brotherhood \ Sharp Inc. \ 65C02 Elite
    Spectral Force \ Star League \ Stowaways \ Strata-Crackers \ The Phrim
     Team Hackers '86 \ Team Hackers '87 \ TeleComputist Newsletter Staff
 Tribunal Of Knowledge/TOK \ Triple Entente \ Turn Over And Die Syndrome/TOADS
  300 Club \ 1200 Club \ 2300 Club \ 2600 Club \ 2601 Club \ 2AF \ Ware Brigade
           The Warelords \ WASP \ The United Soft WareZ Force/TuSwF
                       United Technical Underground/UTU

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Its literally unbelievable just how many different groups and organizations
there are or have been in the phreak/hack/pirate community.  The list of 130
groups displayed above is probably still just a fraction of the actual amount
of groups that there have been, but those are the only ones I am aware of at
this time.

In the past John Maxfield has estimated that there are about 50,000
hackers/phreaks/pirates operating in the United States today.  That figure has
multiplied to to a point where it probably comes close to 500,000.  Believe it
or not, almost everyone has been a member of one of the above groups (or
perhaps a group not mentioned) at one time or another.

Today's telecom security consultants and law enforcement agencies know this too
and that is how group affiliations can be turned against us.

What does being in a group mean?  In the modem community being in a group is
supposed to mean that the people in the group work on projects together and
trade specific information that people outside of the group are not allowed to
access and by the same token, have no way to get it.  However, obviously the
people in the group all feel that the other people with whom they are sharing
information, can be trusted and are worthy of associating with them to begin
with.  So when you stop and think about it, if there was no group, the people
in question would still be trading information and would still trust each other
because they would not have formed the group unless this criteria was met in
the first place.  So in truth, being in a group really means nothing on the
basis previously mentioned.

You see in the modem community, being in a group really is more like a power
trip or a "security blanket" for people who feel that they need to let people
know that they associate with a specific clique in the hopes that the
popularity of some of the other members will lend popularity to themselves.

Many groups form in such a way that they try to make it look otherwise and thus
begins the real problem.  Some groups are formed by a person who tries to get a
lot of guys together that he feels knows a lot or seems to post a lot of good
information - Bad Move; If you are going to form a group at all, stick with
people who you know can be trusted (can you really ever "know" who can be
trusted?) and then out of those people form your group or choose who you feel
should be in it.

Anyway, to prove that they are elite, most groups begin to gather specific data
for giving to group members, and this includes handing out their own names and
phone numbers with other members of the group.  They feel a false loyalty and
psychologically create such utter faith in all the members that the faith is
ultimately blind and based on hopes and aspirations of greatness.

What is the best way for a security agent or informant to blend in with the
modem community?  Join as many groups as possible, start gathering data on
the members, and spread your handle throughout the community to become "well
known."

Example:  Taken From Phrack World News Issue XV;

           [This article has been edited for this presentation. -KL]
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Mad Hatter; Informant?                                            July 31, 1987
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We at Phrack Inc. have uncovered a significant amount of information that has
led us to the belief that Mad Hatter is an informant for some law enforcement
organization.

When Taran King, Cheap Shades, Forest Ranger, and Knight Lightning arrived at
Control C's in Chicago, Illinois, Mad Hatter had already searched the place and
had found some papers that could only have done ^C harm.   We destroyed this
information and thought everything was ok.  However, as it turns out, we
searched Mad Hatter's bags and found a duplicate set of this information and
the general hypothesis was they he intended to leave it behind as incriminating
evidence.

Mad Hatter had also brought down several disks for the purpose of copying
Phantasie Realm.  Please note; PR was an IBM program and MH has an apple.

Control C told us that when he went to pick Mad Hatter up at the bus terminal,
he watched the bus pull in and saw everyone who disembarked.  Suddenly Mad
Hatter was there, but not from the bus he was supposed to have come in on.  In
addition to this, he had baking soda wrapped in a five dollar bill that he
tried to pass off as cocaine.  Perhaps to make us think he was cool or
something.

Mad Hatter constantly tried to get left behind at ^C's apartment for unknown
reasons. He also was seen at a neighbor's apartment making unauthorized calls
into the city of Chicago.  When asked who he called, his reply was "Don't worry
about it."  Mad Hatter had absolutely no money with him during PartyCon (and
incidentally he ate everything in ^C's refrigerator) and yet he insisted that
although he had taken the bus down and had return trip tickets for the bus,
that he would fly back home.  How was this going to be achieved?  He had no
money and even if he could get a refund for the bus tickets, he would still be
over $200 short.  When asked how he was going to do this, his reply was "Don't
worry about it."

On Saturday night while on the way to the Hard Rock Cafe, Mad Hatter asked
Control C for the location of his computer system and other items 4 times.
This is information that Hatter did not need to know, but perhaps a SS agent or
someone could use very nicely.

When Phrack Inc. discovered that Dan The Operator was an FBI informant and made
the news public, several people were criticizing him on Free World II Private.
Mad Hatter on the other hand, stood up for Noah and said that he was still his
friend despite what had happened.  Then later when he realized that people were
questioning his legitimacy, his original posts were deleted and he started
saying how much he wanted to kill Dan The Operator and that he hated him.

Mad Hatter already has admitted to knowing that Dan The Operator was an FBI
informant prior to SummerCon '87.  He says the reason he didn't tell anyone is
because he assumed we already knew.
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When Mad Hatter first entered the phreak/hack world, he joined;

                     Phreaks Anonymous World Wide (PAWW),
                     MetalliBashers, Inc (MBI),
                     Order of The Rose, and
                     Cult of The Dead Cow (-cDc-).

If you were a security agent or a loser hacker turned informant and you wanted
to mix in with the phreak/hack community, wouldn't you try to join as many
groups as possible to spread your name?
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Phreaks Anonymous World Wide, MetalliBashers, Inc., Order of The Rose, and
Cult of The Dead Cow, not exactly the toughest groups to join and once there is
one security person in the group, he is bound to vouch for others, etc.  So
while he spreads his name as an elite modem user throughout the community, he
is busy gathering information on group members who are foolish enough to trust
him.

Its not bad enough that some groups are easy enough to infiltrate as it is, but
does anyone remember this?

Taken From Phrack World News Issue XI;
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Phortune 500:  Phreakdom's Newest Organization               February 16, 1987
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For those of you who are in the least bit interested, Phortune 500 is a group
of telecommunication hobbyists who's goal is to spread information as well as
further their own knowledge in the world of telecommunications.  This new
group was formed by:

    Brew Associates / Handsomest One / Lord Lawless / The Renegade Chemist
          Quinton J. Miranda / Striker / The Mad Hacker / The Spiker

These eight members are also known as Board Of Directors (BOD).  They don't
claim to be *Elite* in the sense that they are they world's greatest hacker,
but they ARE somewhat picky about their members.  They prefer someone who knows
a bit about everything and has talents exclusive to him/herself.

One of the projects that Phortune 500 has completed is an individual password
AE type system.  It's called TransPhor.  It was written and created by Brew
Associates.  It has been Beta tested on The Undergraduate Lounge (Sysoped by
Quinton J. Miranda).   It is due to be released to the public throughout the
next few months.

Phortune 500 has been in operation for about 4 months, and has released two
newsletters of their own.  The Phortune 500 Newsletter is quite like the
"People" of contemporary magazines.  While some magazines cover the deep
technical aspects of the world in which we communicate, their newsletter tries
to cover the lighter side while throwing in information that they feel is "of
technical nature."  The third issue is due to be released by the end of this
month.
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             *>=-> The Phortune 500 Membership Questionnaire <-=<*

Note:  The following information is of a totally confidential nature.  The
       reason you may find this so lengthy and in depth is for our knowledge of
       you.  We, with Phortune 500, feel as though we should know prospective
       members well before we allow them into our organization.  Pending the
       answers you supply us, you will be admitted to Phortune 500 as a charter
       member.  Please answer the following completely...
...............................................................................

Handle                          :
First Name                      :
Voice Phone Number              :
Data Phone Number               :
City & State                    :
Age                             :
Occupation (If Applicable)      :
Place of Employment (Optional)  :
Work Phone Number   (Optional)  :
Computer Type                   :
Modem Type                      :
Interests                       :
Areas Of Expertise              :
References (No More Than Three) :
Major Accomplishments (If Any)  :
...............................................................................
Answer In 50 Words Or Less;

^*^  What Is Phortune 500 in Your Opinion?

^*^  Why Do You Want To Be Involved With Phortune 500?

^*^  How Can You Contribute to Phortune 500?
...............................................................................

Please answer each question to the best of your ability and then return to any
Phortune 500 Board of Directors Member Or a Phortune 500 BBS:

           The Private Connection (Limited Membership) 219-322-7266
           The Undergraduate AE   (Private Files Only) 602-990-1573
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An actual application form for joining a group.  Perhaps the concept was a good
one, perhaps not, but from a standpoint of publicity and security, this was a
complete and utter catastrophe.

Basically we are all here to learn in one way or another.  Groups and clubs
in our community only seem to segregate it and at a time when everyone should
be pulling together, this is not such a good idea.  Privacy and security are
important factors that motivate these sects within the society, but ultimately
are the final consequences worth the trouble of creating a group?

If groups had not been created, there would not be as much attention on the
phreak/hack community as there is right now.  When group names start spreading,
it starts the law enforcement agencies into a panic that its big time organized
crime.  This allows them to justify more time and money into the apprehension
of computer criminals and usually they go after the big names; the people in
the most "elite" groups.

Now before you, a member of a group, start criticizing this file, please
understand, I am not referring to any particular groups here, just groups in
general.  Any and all comments made about MBI, -cDc-, PAWW, OOTR, and P500
should not be taken personally and were used only as examples of how groups can
be potential security problems.

There are some groups that are worthwhile organizations and its obvious because
that have existed through the years and been productive.  However, the only way
to keep this community alive is for everyone to work together to protect and
learn from each other.

:Knight Lightning

                              "The Future Is Now"

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