Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!casbah.acns.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: rborow@bcm1a09.attmail.com Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Do Network Interface Devices Make Fraud Easy? Message-ID: Date: 18 Feb 91 17:18:23 GMT Sender: news@casbah.acns.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 34 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 132, Message 7 of 9 Originator: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu With everyone writing about projects on your telephone line, I had a related question. It concerns the Network Interface Devices installed by Illinois Bell. In my last phone bill, IBT explained how you can now test your own phone lines to see if a problem you were experiencing is in the phone itself or in the line. Apparently, according to the geniuses at IBT, all you need to do is pop open the NID box -- located on the back of your house about five feet off the ground -- with a screwdriver or something, pull out a wire, and insert your phone's modular plug. If you can make or receive a call through this point, then the problem lies with your nonworking phone. If you cannot make or receive a call, then the problem probably lies with Bell's network. My worry is simple: with these NID's located so conveniently for anyone to use, shouldn't I (or anyone else with these NID's) be concerned with the probability of fraud? Obviously, it would take a bit of knowledge to do it, but consider this: Illinois Bell explained just this to all their customers in the January issue of {Telebriefs}, IBT's monthly "newsletter". Randy Borow Rolling Meadows, IL. [Moderator's Note: Woulddn't you find it a bit suspicious to see some stranger in your back yard fooling around with the phone wires? There was an assumption made in the {Telebriefs} item that people would not in all likelyhood be trespassing on the property of others, and that they would be treated like the burglars they are if they got caught. You can also keep the NID locked or otherwise difficult to get into if you want. A far more likely scenario in an older urban area like Chicago is that when telco's own employee is on the pole trying to find one good, working idle pair, yours gets grabbed in error. PAT]