Xref: utzoo rec.humor:18704 rec.humor.d:1600 comp.misc:5023
Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!decwrl!decvax!tektronix!pogo!curtc
From: curtc@pogo.GPID.TEK.COM (Curtis Charles)
Newsgroups: rec.humor,rec.humor.d,comp.misc
Subject: Re: Looking for Computer Folklore
Keywords: Obtaining Passwords...
Message-ID: <6761@pogo.GPID.TEK.COM>
Date: 9 Feb 89 18:03:48 GMT
References: <7143@pyr.gatech.EDU> <4744@sfsup.UUCP> <2887@sybase.sybase.com> <1912I78BC@CUNYVM> <1036@tutor.tut.fi>
Reply-To: curtc@pogo.GPID.TEK.COM (Curtis Charles)
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Wilsonville,  OR.
Lines: 27

Back in the good ol' days of card readers, a game we discussed was how
to obtain passwords.  Jobs were submitted by setting your deck of cards
on a counter.  An operator would grab all the jobs on the counter, run
them through the reader, and return them with their output later.

We're talking CDC hardware here, so various combinations of 6-7-8-9 or
7-8-9 punches indicated End of Job, or End of Record.  Well, there was
a magic combination (6-8-9?) that was interpreted as "read binary, and
ignore other control punches except the magic combination."

So, the devious programmer submits two jobs, the first has a program to
read binary data, followed by a 6-8-9 and (for the operators
consumption only) a 6-7-8-9.  The second job just has a 6-8-9 to switch
the system out of binary mode.  The two jobs are placed on the counter
is such a way that the first job will be the first on through the card
reader and the second job will be the last one through the card reader,
with other students jobs inbetween.  Viola', you've got a whole list of
accounts and passwords.

Of course, the operator might become suspicious when 10 jobs go in and
only 1 comes out.  Or, he might scramble the order of the jobs left on
the counter defeating the plan.  I'm not sure anybody actually did this,
but it strikes me as an easy way to breach security. 

----------------- I'd rather die on K2 than I-5 ------------------------
Curt Charles                 | "Let our swords run red with the blood of
curtc@pogo.GPID.TEK.COM      | infidels..."              -- Sean Connery