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From: covert@covert.enet.dec.com (John R. Covert  27-Nov-1990 0921)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Hackers Break Into DEA Lines
Message-ID: <14995@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 28 Nov 90 01:36:57 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 849, Message 8 of 10

>Thackeray estimated in a recent Chronicle interview that PBX abuse
>will cost industry $500 million this year. According to her formulas,
>the DEA hackers may have used service worth $100,000 or more during
>each of the 18 months in which the agency's phone system was
>compromised.
 
$100,000 in a month seems to be a little high.  Considering that a
full rate call to anywhere in the 48 states costs at most 25 cents a
minute, recalling that FTS restricts international calling, and not
taking the night and evening discount periods into account or the
savings the government gets having a private network (in other words,
considering each minute to be worth 25 cents), it would require
400,000 minutes of usage to cost $100,000.

That's more than nine hackers on the lines 24 hours a day, seven days
a week.  Unlikely.

john