Transcript of _Now_It_Can_Be_Told_:  "Mad Hackers' Key Party"              Hosted by Geraldo Rivera  (Sept. 30, 1991)Geraldo:  I'm Geraldo rivera.  And now, It can be told.<Flashy intro featuring various bleeps and sounds and what is supposedto look like a computer screen>Geraldo:  You're watching life imitate art.<home video of hackers hacking.  Room is in disarray, with a fewcomputers scattered around among various wires and cables andtelephones, and other equipment.>Geraldo:  Exclusive video of teenagers playing a dangerous andmind-boggling version of War Games.<video focuses on what appears to be 3 teenagers typing on computerkeyboards.><video focuses on one of the screens.>Geraldo:  If you think it's kid stuff, just watch this.<screen shows:|     quit| 221 Goodbye.| rugrcx>|        telnet tracer.army.mil| Trying 192.33.5.135....| Connected to tracer.army.mil| Escape character is '^]'.|||| Xenix K3-4 (tracer.army.mil)|||| login:|       dquayle| Password:_><screams of joy from kids><screen shows: Warning (banner)...This terminal is not secure...Do notprocess classified information...Protect user IDs, passwords...Controlaccess to your system....Destroy classified and sensitivematerial....>Geraldo:  Straight into the US Army computer.  In the name of the vicepresident!!  Straight out with America-s counter-terrorist strategiesin the Persian Gulf war. <video of bombings during Gulf War.)Cliff Stoll:  These guys in the army, they didn't do their homework.They screwed up.  <shows Cliff Stoll sitting in chair, terminal onbehind him.>Geraldo:  You bet they did.  And they're not the only ones.<more video of hackers hacking, Emmanuel Goldstein talking on atelephone>Geraldo:  Try the Pentagon, NASA, the White House.<video showing guy next to payphone, Japanese Kanji characters fillthe screen>Geraldo:  ...the IRS, the Department of Justice, and the stockexchange.<Japanese video now shows hacker typing on laptop in front of payphone - It is dark out.>Phiber Optik (guy next to pay phone, typing on laptop):  I find itvery thrilling.  It's quite interesting.Some guy in a suit speaking in a microphone:  Tomorrow's terroristsmay be able to more damage with a keyboard, than with a bomb.<more video of a hacker hacking>Geraldo:  Now it can be told.  A terrifying expose on Malice InWonderland.  The Mad Hacker's Key Party.<screen displays that title over hacker typing on keyboard><Intro to the show>Geraldo:  Welcome everybody.  Up front today, a new kind of warfare.This kind of combat won't be fought with bombs and bullets, but withbits and bytes, RAMs, and ROMs.  I'm talking about computer terrorism.Imagine this nightmare:  Saddam Hussein breaking into our Pentagoncomputers.  Well, as your about to see, we have discovered that thisis frightningly possible, given a combination of floppy disks andsloppy security.  Before you meet a mad hacker, live, right here inour studio, watch as our correspondant Krista Bradford discovers justhow vulnerable our national defense system really is.<screen switches to Krista Bradford in corner office, in front of terminal>Krista:  Thanks Geraldo.  Computers:  they are absolutely essential toour national defense.  Our military depends on them to win wars and tosave lives.  So you'd think they'd do everything possible to protectthese computers, but, think again.  This exclusive video provesotherwise.  <she hits play button on VCR, hacker home video pops upagain>Krista:  This video looks like a home video, but its implications areastounding.<video passes over computer (IBM compat.) - notable is an issue of2600 propped up against the keyboard>Krista:  These kids are in Amsterdam; they are not the enemy, they arenot spies.  They are computer hackers and they are about to break intoa US Army computer.Emmanuel:  This is about as blatant a violation as you can possiblyget.<screen shows Emmanuel Goldstein>Krista:  Emmanuel Goldstein is the editor of 2600, The Hacker Quarterly.<screen switches to Emmanuel typing at keyboard, focuses on pile of 2600'sstacked nearby><screen switches back to hacker home video, Emmanuel on the phone>Krista:  He was with the hackers as thy gained unauthorized access tothe Army computer.<list of *.MIL sites scrolls across a computer screen>Krista:  Although it wasn't classified, what the hackers found wasalarming.<long e-mail message scrolls across a screen>Krista:  A sensitive memo which details a counter-terrorist plan.<screen shows bomb going off>  The date:  January 15th - SaddamHussein's deadline to withdraw his forces from Kuwait.  <more footagefrom the Gulf War><screen switches to Emmanuel being interviewed again>Emmanuel:  It was incredible how easy it was.  Because, literally theypicked a machine at random out of a thousand machines that they had alisting of.  And used various means just to get in.<screen switches to the screen I typed above, except the first loginis guest [Login incorrect]..Second login, sync, password promptappears?Krista:  In order to get into a computer, you need to be an authorizeduser, and have a password.  So the hackers had to create one.  Using awell-known bug in the system, they managed to copy the password fileand do just that.<list of /etc/passwd floats by>Emmanuel:  <sitting at terminal>  The idea was to create a user namedDan Quayle, and give him superuser privileges, as well he deserves.Krista:  Now here's the trick:  because they didn't know anylegitimate passwords, they left the space for Dan Quayle's passwordblank.<screen focuses on dquayle record of /etc/passwd, highlights thecolons after 'dquayle'>Emmanuel:  Everything between those two colon's is the encryptedpassword, but there's nothing between those two colons, so there's nopassword.Krista:  Next, the hacker's call back as Dan Quayle, and now theydon't need a password to get in.<screen shows login as dquayle, null password...Hackers cheer asWARNING banner and logon screen (summarized above) appears.>Krista:  At this point, all of about 5 minutes have passed.  A fewseconds later, and they have gained complete control.Emmanuel:  That means they have access to the entire system, theycontrol the entire system.  They can take it down, they can changeevery file.  They can read anybody's mail.Krista:  <walking along outside>  So just how serious was thisviolation?  Well, the Army, the Justice Department, and the FBIwouldn't tell us.  They all refused to comment.  But this we do know:the US Army computer that was accessed was designed for "AuthorizedUse By Official Personnel Only".  You wouldn't want just anybody usingthis computer, especially during a time of war.<screen shows jet taking off...screen switches to guy ( Winn Schwartau[Information Security Consultant])  sitting in front of terminal setup with some other electronic devices attached.Winn:  The military knows better.  They should be protective of theircomputers a lot better than they are.<helicopter shown...screen switches to Emmanuel>Emmanuel:  Obviously, there's a problem.  Obviously people can getinto anything and see anything.<screen switches to Cliff Stoll>Cliff:  These guys in the Army, they didn't do their homework.  Theyscrewed up.<switches back to video of hackers>Krista:  They sure did.  This isn't the first time Dutch hackers haveinfiltrated government computers.<video of space shuttle taking off>Krista:  Just this April, another group made its way into thecomputers at NASA, the Pentagon, and other sensitive locations.<screen shows newspaper headline of said event>.<screen shows the Pentagon>Emmanuel:  If our own military doesn't know enough to look for thesebugs and make it hard for people to get into their systems, what canwe say about non-classified computers or computers run by schools andvarious other institutions?<screen zooms in on hardback copy of _The_Cuckoo's_Egg>Krista:  Cliff Stoll, author of The CUckoo's Egg:  How he tracked downa hacker selling secrets to the KGB.  Stoll opposes hacking, likeningit to breaking into someone's house.<screen shows cliff sitting in front of a Mac LC showing familiar'Flying Toasters'....Cliff appears more sedate than as seen before onother programs>Cliff:  Is there good that can come from someone breaking into myhouse?  If someone sneaks in through my window over there, comes inand starts looking at things, is there any good that can come fromthat?<screen switches back to Emmanuel>Emmanuel <with hand raised, looking mad at Cliff's comment>:  I don'tlike that analogy.  Hackers are not interested in personal files ofindividual people.  They're interested in huge databases and computersystems.<screen switches to Japanese TV, Kanji characters spread allover...It's night...Guy is standing in front of lighted-up pay phone>Phiber:  My handle's Phiber Optik.  I'm a computer hacker from theeast coast.<screen shows Phiber taking acoustic coupler from a bag...[This scene looksextremely modern-day Cyberpunk-ish]>Krista:  The Dutch aren't the only ones breaking into US computers.Phiber:  I find it actually very, very thrilling.  It's quiteinteresting.<screen shows laptop set on some cement stool....Screen moves to showother people milling around...Gee, is that Mr. Goldstein?!?  And ag-man looking type in sunglasses [Krista:  It is nighttime in the meat packing district of New YorkCity.  A Japanese camera crew is documenting the work of one ofAmerica's most notorious hackers.<Phiber connects the coupler to the pay phone>Phiber:  I enjoy this...Just know as much as you can about technologyand about, uh, computer networking.  <he's busy getting the pay phoneset up>Krista:  They watch him hook up his computer to a payphone, so thecall can't be traced to his home.Phiber:  <typing on the laptop>  Hacker's goal is basically to becomeone with the machine.  [in a Socratic-dialogue tone ofvoice]Krista:  Unlike Holland, hacking in the US is a crime, so this hackerprefers to remain anonymous.<screen switches to dark bookstore where A. Hacker [Phiber] sitsacross from Krista>Krista:  So what gives you the right to access other people'scomputers?A. Hacker:  To tell you the truth, I really don't care hat someonekeeps on their computers.  Me, myself personally, and my close friendsare mainly interested in programming the machines.Krista:  But if the machines are owned by somebody else, they're notyour machines!A. Hacker:  Well, sure, but we'd just be coexisting with the peoplethat normally use the machine.Krista:  Have you ever gotten into the White House computers?A. Hacker:  Well, I can't personally say whether I have or not.  Iknow it's certainly possible, there's nothing stopping anyone from it.<shot of White House>Krista:  Did you ever see anything interesting when you were there?A. Hacker:  Well, I'm not gonna say I was ever there...bu...uhh...Nocomment...<screen switches back to the studio>Geraldo:  Joining me now is Craig Neidorf. Craig is one of thecountry's most notorious hackers.  He has the dubious distinction ofbeing one of the first people prosecuted under the Computer Abuse andFraud Act.  Although the charges against him were eventually dropped.Geraldo:  Do you think it's fun what the Dutch kids did?  Get anykicks out of it?Craig [KL]:  I'm sure they probably thought it was fun.  I was a bitdisturbed by it  when I heard about it.Geraldo:  Yeah.  And you'll see why, after this.<cut away to commercial, but first a message from Winn Schwartau andGeraldo...>Winn:  We do, potentially face an electronic Pearl Harbor.<shot of Pearl Harbor>Geraldo:  Is the United States vulnerable to a computer invasion bythe enemy?  We'll be back in a moment with some of the scenarios forterror, as we continue our report on the Mad Hacker's Key Party.<Commercial>Geraldo:  We'll be hearing more from our hacker friend here in amoment, as well as from somebody who prosecutes guys just like Craig.Geraldo:  In their own defense Craig and the other hackers say theydemonstrate graphically just how vulnerable are to sabotage.  Anotherword for sabotage in the high-tech 90's is terrorism.  Here's KristaBradford with the second part of her alarming report.Krista:  Thanks Geraldo.  For years the US government has known aboutthe threat of computer terrorism, but it has done little to protectitself.  Computer security is routinely cut from the budget.  So nowwe are in the precarious position of life possibly imitating art.That according to a recent Congressional subcommitee, when thesubcomittee roled a clip from the movie Die Hard.<actually it's Die Hard II...Clip shows scene where head hancho atDullus Airport realizes someone else has control of their computersystem><scene switches to that Winn guy...An Information Security Consultant>