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From: werner@ut-ngp.UUCP (Werner Uhrig)
Newsgroups: misc.headlines
Subject: "Pink Floyd" HACKER HITS UNIVERSITY COMPUTERS
Message-ID: <4108@ut-ngp.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 9-Oct-86 23:24:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: ut-ngp.4108
Posted: Thu Oct  9 23:24:29 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 11-Oct-86 05:31:00 EDT
Organization: UTexas Computation Center, Austin, Texas
Lines: 38


[from the Sunday paper - I hate it when they use 'hacker' instead of 'cracker']

	'Pink Floyd' attacks lack clear motive

SAN FRANCISCO - A sophisticated computer hacker who calls himself "Pink Floyd"
has broken into dozens of university and business computers around the nation
and taunted the experts who have tried to thwart him.

The hacker reportedly has used telephone connections to break into computers
at Stanford University, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, the University of
Illinois, MIT, Mitre, and at least 3 unidentified Silicon Valley companies.

The intruder began the break-ins Aug. 25.  Some of the computers contain
military and government information, ....

However, a computer official at Stanford speculated that the hacker may be
using his extraordinary skill to make a point, since no damage to files or
programs has been found.

"Pink Floyd" has made only subtle alterations to some systems to make
detecting his intrusions more difficult ....

Stanford and others have spent thousands of dollars to improve security as a
result.

Stanford officials said the hacker has tapped into as many as 60 campus
computers, some of which include systems that contain non-classified,
Pentagon-sponsored research data and programs.

The intruder, described by one computer scientist as fitting the profile of a
computer-science graduate student, has called Standford officials and carried
on a phone conversation with them while breaking security protection in campus
computers.

"This is the most pesky kind of case, involving people trying to get into
systems rather than do damage," said Jay BloomBecker, director of the
National Center for Computer Crime Data in Los Angeles.