Title : PWN I: The Scoop on Dan The Operator
Author : Knight Lightning
PWN ^*^ PWN ^*^ PWN { Final Issue } PWN ^*^ PWN ^*^ PWN
^*^ ^*^
PWN Phrack World News PWN
^*^ Issue XV: Part One ^*^
PWN PWN
^*^ Created, Written, and Edited ^*^
PWN by Knight Lightning PWN
^*^ ^*^
PWN ^*^ PWN ^*^ PWN { Final Issue } PWN ^*^ PWN ^*^ PWN
Welcome to my final issue of Phrack World News. Many people are wondering why
I am giving it up. There are several reasons, but the most important is that
I will be going to college and will have little (if any) time for the
phreak/hack world or PWN. I doubt I will even be calling any bulletin boards,
but I may make an occasional call to a few of my friends in the community.
The Phrack Inc. VMS is no longer in service and messages will not be received
there by anyone. Phrack Inc. is now in the hands of Sir Francis Drake, Elric
Of Imrryr, and Shooting Shark.
:Knight Lightning
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Dan The Operator; Informant July 27, 1986
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm going to assume that all of you have read PWN 14/2 and the details
surrounding SummerCon '87.
This article will feature information collected from our investigation and
quotes from the Noah Tape.
The tape actually has two parts. The front side has part of an Alliance
Teleconference in which Noah attempted to gather information by engineering
hackers. Side B contains 45 minutes of a conversation between Noah and John
Maxfield of BoardScan, in which Noah tried to engineer Maxfield into giving
him information on certain hackers by trading him information on other
hackers. All of this has been going on for a long time although we are unsure
as to how long and Noah was not exactly an informant for Maxfield, it was the
FBI.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Part One: Noah Engineers his "friends"
The Alliance teleconference recording has about 7 people on it, but the only
people I recognized were Dan The Operator, Il Duce (Fiber Optic), Johnny
Rotten, and The Ninja.
The topics discussed (mostly by Noah) included;
Bill From RNOC / Catch-22 / Doom Prophet / Force Hackers / John Maxfield
Karl Marx / Legion of Doom / Lord Rebel / Neba / Phantom Phreaker
Phucked Agent 04 / Silver Spy / SummerCon '87 / The Rebel / The Videosmith
Here is a look at some of the conversation; [Il Duce=Mark]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noah: SILVER SPY, you know him?
Mark: Yeah, what about him?
Noah: Yeah, Paul.
[This was done to make it look like Noah knew him and was his buddy.-KL]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noah: Anyway, is LORD REBEL part of LOD?
Mark: He's not really.
Noah: I didn't think so.
Mark: Well, he is, he is sort of.
Noah: Ah, well what does he know.
Mark: Not much.
Noah: Why do they care about him, he's just a pirate.
[Look at this dork! First he tries to act like he knows everything and then
when he realizes he screwed up, he tries to insult LORD REBEL's abilities.-KL]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noah: Who else is part of LOD that I missed?
Mark: I don't know who you would have heard of.
Noah: I've pretty much heard of everyone, I just can't think of anyone else.
[Yeah Noah, you are a regular best friend with everyone in LOD.-KL]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noah: Want to give out LORD REBEL's number?
Mark: Everybody knows it already.
Noah: What is it?
Mark: Which one?
Noah: Both, all.
Mark: Want do you want to know for, don't you have it?
Noah: Never bothered getting them. What do you got? Mark!
Mark: Yeah.
Noah: Do you have his number?
Mark: Yeah.
Noah: Well, what is it!?
Mark: Why should I say?
Noah: I dunno, you say everyone's got it.
Mark: Yeah, so.
Noah: So if everyone has it, you might as well give it to everybody.
Mark: Not really, I wouldn't want to be the one to tell him that I gave out
his number.
Noah: Ok Mark, fine, it's no problem for me to get anyone's number. I got
VIDEOSMITH's and SILVER SPY's, no problem. [Yeah right, see the other
conversation with John Maxfield.-KL]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noah: CATCH-22 is supposed to be the most elite BBS in the United States.
What do you think about that Mark?
Mark: What?
Noah: What do you think about that Mark?
Mark: About what?
Noah: About CATCH-22.
Mark: What about it?
Noah: (pause) Well.
Mark: Its not the greatest board because it's not really that active.
Noah: Right, but what do you think about it? Alright, first off here, first
off, first off, do you have KARL MARX's number?
Mark: What?
Noah: I doubt you have KARL MARX's phone number.
Mark: Ask me if I really care.
Noah: I'm just wondering if YOU DO.
Mark: It's one thing to have all these people's numbers, it's another if you
are welcome to call them.
Noah: Yeah (pause), well are you?
Mark: Why should I say?
Noah: I dunno, I dunno. I'm probably going to ask him anyways.
[I don't think my ragging is even necessary in this excerpt.-KL]
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Noah: Here is what MAXFIELD says, "You got the hackers, and then you got the
people who want to make money off the hackers." Information shouldn't
be free, you should find out things on your own.
[Give me a break Noah, you are the BIGGEST leach I have ever seen -KL]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One final note to make about the Alliance conversations is that halfway
through, IL DUCE and DAN THE OPERATOR gave out BILL FROM RNOC's full name,
phone number, address, etc.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Part Two: Noah Engineers John Maxfield
The list of topics discussed in this conversation is much longer;
Arthur Dent / Ben Casey / Big Brother / Bill From RNOC / BoardScan
Captain Crunch / Celtic Phrost / Cheshire Catalyst / Doc Holiday / Easywriter
Genghis Khan / Jenny Jaguar / Jester Sluggo / Karl Marx / Kerrang Khan
Kloey Detect / Max Files / Noah Espert / Legion Of Doom / Legion of Hackers
Lord Digital / Lord Rebel / Mark Tabas / Oryan QUEST / Phucked Agent 04
Phrack Inc. / Pirate's Hangout / Septic Tank / Sigmund Fraud / The Disk Jockey
The Executioner / The Federation / The *414* Wizard / The Hobbit
The Marauder The Safecracker / The Telecom Security Group / The Videosmith
The Weasel / Tommy Hawk / Torture Chamber / Twilight Zone / Tuc
Violet Boregard / Zepplin
The following are the highlights of the conversation between DAN THE OPERATOR
and JOHN MAXFIELD. [John Maxfield = John]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noah: Did you ever find VIDEOSMITH's number?
John: No, matter of fact. You know what it is, I've been on boards he's been
on in the 215 NPA [possibly Atlantis], but well.
Noah: But you don't have his number?
John: Should I?
Noah: He's fairly big, he knows his stuff. I would think he'd be worth
getting a number for.
John: Doesn't do anything for me because you know, just having his number
doesn't get him in trouble or anything.
Noah: Oh, well I don't want him to get in trouble...he's a nice person. So
do you have LORD REBEL's phone number?
John: What do you know about him?
Noah: I think he's up in New York.
John: 914?
Noah: Possibly 718, 212, possibly even 201. [Excuse me you dork. The 201 NPA
is in the state of New Jersey not New York. What a loser Noah is. -KL]
John: If you don't have a number on him I'll have to do an alphabetical
search for him. It takes a while.
Noah: Well we could talk while it's going. I think you're pretty
interesting, you're not boring like I am.
John: Well you're not boring to me as long as I keep getting people's phone
numbers. Bahahahahahahahahah Har har har.
Noah: (Pause)(Pause)(Pause) Bahahahahahahaha. Sheesh.
John: Well let's see what it finds, there's a lot of Lords in there.
Noah: He's part of LOD.
John: Oh he's part of LOD!?
Noah: Yeah.
John: Well I might have him and I might not [What a profound statement -KL].
Noah: He's not very active in LOD.
[The search for LORD REBEL's information was a failure -KL]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noah: I got a question, I'm still trying to figure this out. Are there
people like me who just call you up like this?
John: Yes there are.
Noah: A lot?
John: Enough. You know it's funny, there's people that call up and there
assholes and I'll just hang up on them. There is other people that
call up and well you know they try to feed me bullshit, but at least
they aren't being jerks about it.
Noah: You think I'm feeding you bullshit?
John: I dunno, maybe you are or maybe you aren't. What I'm saying is that
there are people that behave like humans. So there are a few that call
in.
You know when you're working with informants, you got different
categories. You got informants you can trust and you got informants
that well hold on a second. There are some informants, that they could
tell me anything and I'd believe them. Ok, because I know them. Met
them personally maybe or known the guy for 3 or 4 years, his
information is always correct that sort of thing.
Then there is somebody like you that umm is kinda maybe a "Class 2
Informant." Gives valid phone numbers and information out, but is not
really a true informant. Then there is a "Class 3 Informant" that's
like, ahh somebody like ORYAN QUEST who calls up and turns in somebody
he doesn't like, but that's all he ever does. I don't know if you can
call them Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 exactly but that's how I look at
it.
[Shortly after this, Maxfield gave out JESTER SLUGGO's information -KL]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noah: How about Phucked Agent 04?
John: Oh him, his name is XXXXX and he's out in XXXXXXX.
Noah: Something like that.
John: He's one of the jerks that made death threats against me. I kinda
would like to get him.
Noah: You want his number?
John: Yeah.
Noah: Lemme see if I can catch up with him, I know a few people in LOD.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Noah tried to get information on KERRANG KHAN for a while and then started
asking about KARL MARX -KL]
Noah: Ok, KARL MARX.
John: Oh, he got busted along with MARK TABAS you know, I told you all about
that.
Noah: Yeah yeah.
John: He lives out in NPA XXX, but he was going to college in XXXXXXXXXX and
I don't have a number for him there.
Noah: He's probably back home now.
John: Yeah, but I probably shouldn't give out his number. He did get popped.
Noah: Aw come on.
John: Nah.
Noah: Come on.
John: Nah.
Noah: Please.
John: Nah. I probably don't have a correct number anyway.
Noah: Dude. Well if you don't have a correct number then give me the old
number.
John: Nah.
Noah: C'mon dude.
John: Nah.
Noah: Dude!
John: Nah nah. Besides I have a feeling that he wouldn't appreciate being
called up by hackers anyway.
Noah: He's still around though!
John: Is he!?
Noah: Yes.
John: Oh really.
Noah: Yes sir. Because he was talking with THE MARAUDER, you know, Todd.
John: Yeah?
Noah: Yeah.
John: That's interesting.
[They went on to discuss THE SAFECRAKER, THE SEPTIC TANK, THE TWILIGHT ZONE,
TORTURE CHAMBER, and THE FEDERATION. Maxfield reveled that he had been on
TWILIGHT ZONE back when THE MARAUDER used to run it. -KL]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noah: THE MARAUDER is still home, he didn't go to college.
John: Yeah, MARAUDER, now he is heavy duty.
Noah: Yeah, he knows his snit (not a typo). However, he doesn't brag about
it.
John: Well the thing is, you know is what the hell is he trying to
accomplish? I sometimes kinda wonder what motivates somebody like that.
Noah: What do you mean?
John: Well he wants to screw around with all this stuff, but what's the
point?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIGMUND FRAUD, MAX FILES, TOMMY HAWK, TUC, PHRACK INC., MARK TABAS, were next
to be discussed. After which MAXFIELD went on to retell a story about a
district attorney in California that referred to him as a legend in his own
time. Noah then started asking about CAPTAIN CRUNCH and Easywriter, and
Maxfield told him the story of CAPTAIN CRUNCH's latest bust.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE DISK JOCKEY, DOC HOLIDAY, THE MARAUDER, BIG BROTHER, ARTHUR DENT, THE
WEASEL, BILL FROM RNOC, THE 414 WIZARD, THE EXECUTIONER, and LORD DIGITAL were
next.
Then it was Noah's turn to unload (although Noah had already given out
information on many of the previously mentioned people).
TUC, THE TELECOM SECURITY GROUP, CELTIC PHROST, ZEPPLIN, and GENGHIS KHAN had
their information handed out freely.
John: I guess I'm going to have the goons come over and pay you a visit.
Noah: Who me?
John: Take your computer, clean your room for you.
Noah: No, no, please... don't... you can't do that. I'll be an informant
dammit. I'll give you all my files, I'll send them immediately...
Federal Express.
John: Sounds good.
Noah: Has anyone ever really done that?
John: Well not by Federal Express.
Noah: I'll send you all my manuals, everything. I'll even tell you my
favorite Sprint code.
John: Sprint would appreciate that. You know, it's interesting that you know
MARAUDER.
Noah: Todd and I, yeah, well we're on a first name basis. [Yeah you know his
first name but that's as far as it goes, isn't it Noah. -KL]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noah gave out more people's information and the conversation ran on for
another 20 minutes. The problem is that this is when the tape ran out, but
the conversation was going strong. Noah was giving out numbers alphabetically
and he was still in the C-G area when the tape ran out. There is no telling
as to what was discussed next.
All of the people mentioned at the beginning were discussed in depth and the
excerpts shown here do not necessarily show the extent of the discussion. I
didn't transcript the entire conversation because in doing so would publicly
release information that would be unproductive to our society.
So, many of you are probably still asking yourself, where did we get the FBI
connection from? Well, some time ago, DAN THE OPERATOR used to hang out with
THE TRADER and they were into some kind of stock fraud using Bank Americard or
something along those lines. Something went wrong and Noah was visited by the
FBI. As it turns out, Noah became their informant and they dropped the
charges.
Sometime later, Noah tried to set up TERMINUS (see the current Phrack
Pro-Phile) to meet (unknowingly) with the FBI and give them a tour of his
board, TERMINUS realized what was going on and Noah's plans were ruined.
I hope you learned from this story, don't let yourself be maneuvered by people
like Noah. There are more informants out there than you think.
Written by Knight Lightning
For more information about DAN THE OPERATOR, you should read THE SYNDICATE
REPORTS Transmittal No. 13 by THE SENSEI. Available on finer BBSes/AEs
everywhere.
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