Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!netsys!vector!telecom-gateway From: davef@brspyr1.brs.com (Dave Fiske) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Wardialers Message-ID: Date: 14 Jul 89 16:20:49 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Organization: BRS Info Technologies, Latham NY Lines: 71 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 239, message 1 of 11 In article , nsc!berlioz.nsc.com! gwang@decwrl.dec.com (George Wang) writes: > Hi there... > > I just recently saw some interesting information on the subject > of war-dialers and phone "hackers".... Supposedly there are > people who use their personal computers to "hack" out 950-XXXX > or 800 LD phone services.... > > I was just curious as to the reality of this and also the > circumstances involved in doing such a thing (I'm sure you'd > get into a LOT of trouble, no doubt!)... More importantly, what > have the LD phone companies been doing on this matter? It seems > that a while back someone had "hacked" my LD calling card. > No doubt I was upset, but what can the phone company do to prevent > such a thing? With all the info here on ESS and other sophisticated > systems, do these devices provide "anti-hacking" routines?? About 6 weeks ago, I was desperate to get through to a Technical Support number for a mail-order place I had bought some computer equipment from. Of course the line was nearly constantly busy. Finally, I decided I would just keep dialing the number as long as it took, until I got through. Since I was calling from the office, I was using my US Sprint Fon Card. After probably a half hour of repeatedly dialing the same busy number, I started getting a recording that my Fon Card number was not authorized. By this time, I was tired of dialing anyway, so I figured maybe it was just Sprint having a computer problem or something, so I didn't try again till the next day. Same thing. So I called Sprint Customer Service. They cross-examined me about my address, various details about my account, what number I had been calling and when, etc. Once they determined that I was really the person who belonged to that account, they said the unusually high number of calls in such a short period of time had triggered their security system. Apparently Sprint Security tried to contact me, but when I moved a couple years ago, I forgot to tell them of the change of my home phone number. So they called the number they had, which, of course, has been assigned to someone else now, and I guess they figured they had really caught a phone hacker, and they cancelled my Fon Card. The representative said they have no way to reinstate a cancelled card, so they would have to give me a new number and card, which would take two weeks. I certainly had mixed emotions on this. I was glad to know that Sprint does some type of monitoring for security purposes, but it seemed like they jumped the gun a bit--since all the calls I attempted had only reached busy numbers, no revenue was being lost. Plus, wouldn't it be natural to assume that since I had kept getting busy signals, that it really was me calling over and over again, trying to get through? (Also, I had called this same number several times in the preceding weeks, and gotten through--a quick check of my billing information would have shown this.) Having to wait two weeks to get another Fon Card is goofy, too. It makes the customer suffer for what was really Sprint's problem. -- "MAN USES TAPE TO STICK Dave Fiske (davef@brspyr1.BRS.COM) HIS TOE BACK ON!" Home: David_A_Fiske@cup.portal.com Headline from Weekly World News CIS: 75415,163 GEnie: davef [Moderator's Note: Mr. Fisk, you forgot to mention the article said it was *electrical tape* he used for the repair work. But in a more serious vein, Sprint pulls this kind of garbage all the time. They have no reluctance to cancel accounts at will. No advance notice; no provision for immediate restoration in the event of an error, etc. One reason some of us have remained loyal users of AT&T over the years has been that AT&T would not simply knock someone off the network -- completely disrupting their use of long distance -- without advance warning whenever possible. PT]