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Current issue : #38 | Release date : 1992-04-26 | Editor : Dispater
IntroductionDispater
Phrack LoopbackDispater & Phrack Staff
Phrack Pro-Phile on AristotleAristotle
Pirates' CoveRambone
Network Miscellany IVDatastream Cowboy
Beating The Radar Rap Part 2 of 2Dispater
Users Guide to VAX/VMS Part 3 of 3Black Kat
Wide Area Information ServicesMycroft
Cellular TelephonyBrian Oblivion
Standing Up To Fight The BellsKnight Lightning
The Digital Telephony ProposalFBI
PWN Special Report VI on CFP-2Max Nomad
PWN/Part 1Datastream Cowboy
PWN/Part 2Datastream Cowboy
PWN/Part 3Datastream Cowboy
Title : PWN/Part 3
Author : Datastream Cowboy
                                ==Phrack Inc.==

                 Volume Four, Issue Thirty-Eight, File 15 of 15

              PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN
              PWN                                             PWN
              PWN              Phrack World News              PWN
              PWN                                             PWN
              PWN     Issue XXXVIII / Part Three of Three     PWN
              PWN                                             PWN
              PWN        Compiled by Dispater & Friends       PWN
              PWN                                             PWN
              PWN     Special Thanks to Datastream Cowboy     PWN
              PWN                                             PWN
              PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN


 CFP-2: Sterling Speaks For "The Unspeakable"                    March 25, 1992
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 By Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen (Newsbytes)

WASHINGTON, D.C. --  Bruce Sterling, the prime luncheon speaker at the 2nd
Annual Conference On Computers Freedom & Privacy (CFP-2), fulfilled his program
billing as "Speaking for the Unspeakable" by taking on three separate persona
and delivering what might have been their messages.

Sterling, best known as a science fiction writer, spoke for three characters, a
"a malicious hacker," a Latin American police official, and a Hong Kong
businessman, who were, in his words, "too venal, violent, treacherous, power-
mad, suspicious, or meanspirited to receive (or accept) an invitation to
attend."

Sterling began his speech by introducing himself and then saying, "When the CFP
committee asked me if I might recommend someone to speak here at CFP-2, I had
an immediate candidate.  I thought it  would be great if we could all hear from
a guy who's been known as Sergei.  Sergei was the KGB agent runner for the
Chaos Computer Club group who broke into Cliff Stoll's computer in the famous
Cuckoo's Egg case.  Now Sergei is described as a stocky bearded Russian
espionage professional in his mid-40s.  He's married, has kids and his hobby
is fishing, in more senses than one, apparently.  Sergei used to operate out of
East Berlin, and, as far as I personally know, Sergei's operation was the
world's first and only actual no-kidding, real-life case of international
computer espionage.  So I figured -- why not send Yelsin a fax and offer Sergei
some hard currency; things are pretty lean over at KGB First Directorate these
days.  CFP could have flown this guy in from Moscow on a travel scholarship and
I'm sure that a speech from Sergei would be far more interesting than anything
I'm likely to offer here.  My proposal wasn't taken up and instead I was asked
to speak here myself.  Too bad!

"This struck me as rather a bad precedent for CFP which has struggled hard to
maintain a broad universality of taste.  Whereas you're apparently willing to
tolerate science fiction writers, but already certain members of the computer
community, KGB agents, are being quietly placed beyond the pale.  But you know,
ladies and gentlemen, just because you ignore someone doesn't mean that person
ceases to exist -- and you've not converted someone's beliefs merely because
you won't listen.  But instead of Comrade Sergei, here I am -- and I am a
science fiction writer and, because of that, I rejoice in a complete lack of
any kind of creditability!

"Today I hope to make the best of that anomalous position.  Like other kinds of
court jesters, science fiction writers are sometimes allowed to speak certain
kinds of unspeakable truth, if only an apparent parody or metaphor.  So today,
ladies and gentlemen, I will exercise my inalienable civil rights as a science
fiction writer to speak up on behalf of the excluded and the incredible.  In
fact, I plan to abuse my talents as a writer of fiction to actually recreate
some of these excluded, incredible unspeakable people for you and to have them
address you today. I want these people, three of them, to each briefly address
this group just as if they were legitimately invited here and just as if they
could truly speak their mind right here in public without being arrested."

Sterling then went on to assure the crowd that he was not speaking his personal
conviction, only those of his characters, and warned the group that some of the
material might be offensive.  He then launched into the delivery of his
characters' speeches -- speeches which had the hacker talking about real damage
-- "the derailing of trains"; the Latin police official, a friend and admirer
of Noriega, discussing the proper way of dealing with hackers; and the
businessman explaining way, in the age of high speed copiers, laser printers
and diskette copying devices, the US copyright laws are irrelevant.

Often intercepted by laughter and applause, Sterling received a standing
ovation at the conclusion of the speech.  Computer Press Association newsletter
editor Barbara McMullen was overhead telling Sterling that he had replaced
"Alan Kay as her favorite luncheon speaker," while conference chair Lance
Hoffman, who had received an advance copy of the speech a few weeks before,
described the speech as "incredible and tremendous".

Sterling, relaxing after the talk with a glass of Jack Daniels, told Newsbytes
that the speech had been fun but a strain, adding, "Next time they'll really
have to get Sergei.  I'm going back to fiction."

Sterling's non-fiction work on computer crime, "The Hacker Crackdown" is due
out from Bantam in the fall and an audio tape of the CFP-2 speech is available
>from Audio Archives.  He is the author of "Islands In The Net" and is the co-
author, with William Gibson, of the presently best-selling "The Difference
Engine."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Bruce Sterling luncheon video tape is now available, sizzling, and
affordable to the Phrack readers.

     $19.95 + $4 (shipping and handling)

     Call now:  (800)235-4922
                      or
                CFP Video Library Project
                P.O. Box 912
                Topanga, CA  90290

Tell them you heard about it from The WELL and you'll get the above price.
_______________________________________________________________________________

 CFP-2 Features Role-Playing FBI Scenario                        March 25, 1992
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 By Barbara E. McMullen (Newsbytes)

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- As part of the "Birds-of-a-Feather" (BOF) sessions featured
at the 2nd Conference on Computers, Freedom & Privacy (CFP-2), FBI Agent J.
Michael Gibbons, acting as a live gamemaster, orchestrated the play-acting of
an investigation by federal agents into allegations of computer intrusion and
criminal activity.

The scenario, set up by Gibbons to show the difficulties faced by investigators
in balancing the conducting of an investigation with a protection of the rights
of the individual under investigation, was acted out with non-law enforcement
officials cast in the role of investigators; New York State Police Senior
Investigator Donald Delaney as "Doctor Doom," the suspected ringleader of the
computer criminals; Newsbytes New York Bureau Chief John McMullen as a
magistrate responsible for considering the investigators' request for a search
warrant; and author Bruce Sterling as a neighbor and possible cohort of Doctor
Doom.

Gibbons, in his role of Gamemaster, regularly intercepted the action to involve
the audience in a discussion of what the appropriate next step in the scenario
would be -- "Do you visit the suspect or get a search warrant or visit his
school or employer to obtain more information?  Do you take books in the search
and seizure?  Printers?  Monitors?  etc."  During the discussion with the
audience, points of law were clarified by Mike Godwin, Electronic Frontier
Foundation in-house counsel, and Alameda County Assistant District Attorney
Donald Ingraham.

The role-playing session immediately followed a BOF panel, "Hackers:  Why Don't
They Understand" which attempted to present a hacker view of on-line ethics.
The panel, moderated by McMullen, was composed of Steven Levy, MacWorld
columnist and author of "Hackers"; Dorothy Denning, Chair of Computer Science
at Georgetown University; Glenn Tenney, California Congressional candidate and
chair of the annual "Hacker's Conference"; Craig Neidorf, defendant in a
controversial case involving the electronic publishing of a stolen document;
"Dispater," the publisher of the electronic publication "Phrack"; Emmanuel
Goldstein, editor and publisher of "2600: The Hacker Quarterly," and hacker
"Phiber Optik."

During the panel discussion, Levy, Denning and Tenney discussed the roots of
the activities that we now refer to as hacking, Goldstein and Dispater
described what they understood as hacking and asked for an end to what they see
as overreaction by the law enforcement community, Neidorf discussed the case
which, although dropped by the government, has left him over $50,000 in debt;
and Phiber Optik described the details of two searches and seizures of his
computer equipment and his 1991 arrest by Delaney.

In Neidorf's talk, he called attention to the methods used in valuing the
stolen document that he published as $78,000.  He said that it came out after
the trial that the $78,000 included the full value of the laser printer on
which it was printed, the cost of the word processing system used in its
production and the cost of the workstation on which it was entered.  Neidorf's
claims were substantiated by EFF counsel Godwin, whose filing of a motion in
the Steve Jackson cases caused the release of papers including the one referred
to by Neidorf.  Godwin also pointed out that it was the disclosure by
interested party John Nagle that the document, valued at $78,000, was
obtainable in a book priced at under $20.00 that led to the dropping of the
charges by the US Attorney's office.

SRI security consultant Donn Parker, one of the many in the audience to
participate, admonished Phiber and other hackers to use their demonstrated
talents constructively and to complete an education that will prepare them for
employment in the computer industry.  Another audience member, Charles Conn,
described his feeling of exhilaration when, as a 12-year old, he "hacked" into
a computer at a local Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Conn said "It was wonderful.  It
was like a drug. I just wanted to explore more and more."

Parker later told Newsbytes that he thought that it was a mistake to put
hackers such as Phiber Optik and those like Craig Neidorf who glorify hackers
on a panel.  Parker said, "Putting them on a panel glorifies them to other
hackers and makes the problem worse."

The Birds-of-a-Feather sessions were designed to provide an opportunity for
discussions of topics that were not a part of the formal CFP-2 program.
_______________________________________________________________________________

 Computer Revenge A Growing Threat                                March 9, 1992
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 By Tom Steinert-Threlkeld (Dallas Morning News)
 Article in the Chicago Tribune, Page C3

The "downsizing" of corporate America is not only making companies lean and
mean.

It's doing the same thing to employees losing their jobs, said Thomas F. Ellis,
a partner in Arthur Andersen & Co.'s Computer Risk Management Services.

He looks at the latest form of revenge by employee against former employer.
Fraud, embezzlement and theft of secrets are no longer the only forms of
frustrated payback.  The calling card in the digital age is computer sabotage.

It's an invisible epidemic that corporations don't like to talk about while
they're trying to convince banks and creditors they are becoming more efficient
by downsizing, said Ellis and William Hugh Murray, information systems security
consultant to Deloitte & Touche, another of the Big Six accounting firms.

"A lot of the business trends in the U.S. are really threatening data
security," said Sanford M. Sherizen, a Natick, Massachusetts computer security
consultant.  "Corporations are paying a huge price for it," without disclosing
it.

The downsizing has led to inadequate attention to security precautions, argues
Sherizen.  The underlying trend:  Fewer and fewer people are being given more
and more responsibility for information systems.

That breeds opportunity for revenge, said Sherizen.  No longer does only the
supposedly misfit hacker, gulping down Cokes and Fritos in the middle of the
night, merit watching.  Sherizen's worldwide set of clients have found that the
middle manager wearing the white shirt and tie in the middle of the day also
deserves scrutiny, he says.

Those managers, if mistreated, find it inviting to strike back creatively.  The
VTOC, for example.

This is jargon for the Volume Table of Contents.  This is a directory a
computer compiles to keep track of where programs and data are stored.  A large
Andersen client was paralyzed recently when a VTOC in its information system
was scrambled by a downsizing victim, Ellis said.

"If you destroy the VTOC in a mainframe system, then you destroy the computer's
ability to go out and find programs and data, so you can pretty effectively
devastate a computer installation by destroying the VTOC, without ever touching
the programs and data," he said.

But those bent on revenge are not above leaving time bombs in computer systems
that will go off after their departure, destroying programs and data.

They also are appropriating information from magnetic memories and selling it
at hefty prices in the burgeoning field known euphemistically as "commercial
business intelligence," said Sherizen.

Most companies hush up these cases, because they fear copycat avengers will
strike when their vulnerability is exposed.  They also don't like to be
publicly embarrassed, the security experts say.

Technical safeguards don't hold a candle to human safeguards, said Murray.

The best way to protect against sabotage is to prevent disaffection in the
first place.  Treat as well as possible those who are being fired.  Compensate
fairly those who are staying.

Show appreciation, day in and day out.  Most revenge is slow to boil and comes
>from employees who finally conclude that their contributions are going
unrecognized, said Murray.

"Saying 'please' and 'thank you' are an incredibly important control" against
sabotage, he said.
_______________________________________________________________________________

 Computer Crime Problem Highlighted                               March 9, 1992
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 By Oscar Rojo (Toronto Star)(Page B3)

With the growing corporate dependence on computers, "information crimes" have
become easier to commit but harder to detect, says a Toronto-based security
company.

"Electronic intrusion is probably the most serious threat to companies that
rely on computerized information systems," Intercon Security Ltd. says in its
Allpoints publication.

Allpoints cited a study of 900 businesses and law enforcement agencies in
Florida showing that one of four businesses had been the victim of some form of
computer crime.

"While most of the media attention has focused on "hackers," individuals who
deliberately and maliciously try to disrupt business and government systems,
one estimate indicates that 75 per cent plus of electronic intrusion crimes may
be "insider attacks" by disgruntled employees," the publication said.

In Intercon's experience, vice-president Richard Chenoweth said the company is
as likely to find a corporate crime committed by a disgruntled employee as one
perpetrated by an outsider.

Intercon said the technology exists to guard against most electronic
intrusions.  "The problem is that many information managers still don't believe
there is a risk, so they are not making the best possible use of what is
available."
_______________________________________________________________________________

 Criminals Move Into Cyberspace                                   April 3, 1992
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 By Mick Hurrell (The Times)(Features Section)

The hacker and the virus programmer embodied the popular notion of computer
crime in the 1980s, and they are still the most widely known criminal acts in
computer technology.

The advent of new technologies over the past decade has created a whole new
casebook of serious crimes, but they have yet to gain the notoriety of computer
viruses such as Friday 13th or Michelangelo.

More then 3,000 computer crimes around the world in the past 20 years have now
been documented by SRI International (SRII), a Californian information security
consultancy.  They include attempted murder, fraud, theft, sabotage, espionage,
extortion, conspiracy and ransom collection.

Against this disturbing background, Donn Parker, SRII's senior international
security consultant, is telling businesses they will be under increasing attack
>from sophisticated criminals using computer technology and from others intent
on causing disruption.

"New technology brings new opportunities for crime," he says.  "We must
anticipate future types of crime in our security efforts before they become
serious problems."

His prospective list ranges from the annoying to the fraudulent, and includes
small computer theft, desktop forgery, digital imaging piracy, voice and
electronic mail terrorism, fax graffiti attacks, electronic data interchange
fraud, and placement of unauthorized equipment in networks.

Some of these crimes are more obvious than others.  The advanced digital
imaging systems now being used in the television and film industry to create
spectacular special effects, for example, could become a new target for crime.
As digital imaging can alter video images seamlessly, the possibilities for
sophisticated fraud are numerous.

The theft of small computers and components has already increased.  "I think
it will be worse than the typewriter theft problem of the 1970s and 1980s," Mr.
Parker says.  "We are now teaching information-security people that they have
to learn how to protect small objects of high value.  The content of the
computers could be more valuable than the hardware itself.

"I do not think the criminal community is yet aware of a computer's value other
than on the used equipment market, but ultimately some are going to figure out
that the contents the data are more valuable, which could lead to information
being used for extortion."

Desktop forgery is another crime that looks certain to boom and plague
businesses of all types.  Desktop publishing software, combined with the latest
color laser printers and photocopiers, is proving an ideal forger's tool.  Gone
is the dingy cellar with printing plates and press:  Forgers can work from
comfortable offices or their own homes and produce more accurate fakes than
ever before.

Original documents can be fed into a computer using a scanner, then subtly
altered before being printed out.  Business documents such as purchase orders
and invoices are obvious targets for the forgers, as are checks.  The quality
of a forgery is now limited only by the paper on which it is printed.

Mr. Parker says:  "As the technology gets cheaper and more available, this is
something that could flourish."

But although many of these new forms of computer crime bring with them the
possibility of increased business losses, one threat overshadows them all. "The
big security issues are going to involve networks and the connection of
computers to many others outside an organization," says Rod Perry, a partner
with Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte, the consultants.

The fear is that sophisticated criminals will take advantage of a clash between
the desire for system flexibility and the constraint necessarily imposed by
security.  Mr. Perry adds:  "The business need is paramount, and people will
accept the risk up to a point."

Networks are attractive because they allow information to be easily transferred
between users, and give free and easy access to data bases from many locations
within an organization that can extend across countries and continents.  Making
them secure against interference from both outside and within is difficult.

Mr. Parker says:  "Today's microcomputers and local and global networks have
left information security far behind.  We are dealing with what we call
cyberspace.  We are connecting our networks so that we now have a single
worldwide network of data communications.

"We have inadvertently freed the criminal from proximity to the crime.  A
criminal can be anywhere in the world, enter cyberspace by computer, and commit
a crime anywhere else.  The criminal is free to choose the jurisdiction area
>from which he works, to minimize the punishment if he gets caught."

The great concern, he says, is if technological advances result in an "anarchy
of conflicting security efforts.  Consistent security practices should be
applied uniformly as well as globally.

"When organizations in different countries with different national laws,
different ways of valuing information assets, and different national ethical
customs, use equipment from different manufacturers in their networks, they
face the problem of matching their levels of security.  They use the lowest
common denominator, which in some instances may be practically non-existent."

Some computer security consultants believe that network security headaches will
involve some restriction in how they are used.  All agree that passwords no
longer offer appropriate forms of security.

Professor Roger Needham, of the University of Cambridge computing laboratory,
says:  "At the moment, there is a lot of shoddy computer use, but it will
become more usual to take security seriously.  In the world of doing business
with paper, there are a tremendous number of rules of practice and conduct that
are second nature; security procedures in the electronic medium will also have
to become second nature."

SRII is developing software for what it says will be the world's most
sophisticated detection system, designed to identify criminal users as they
commit their crime.

Called IDES (Intruder Detection using Expert Systems), it works on the basis
that a system intruder is likely to show a different behavior pattern from that
of a legitimate user.  IDES is programmed with a set of algorithms that build
up profiles of how particular employees typically use the system.  It can then
inform the company's security division if it identifies any significant
deviation.

IDES also monitors the whole system for failed log-in attempts and the amount
of processor time being used, and compares this with historical averages.

A future refinement will allow the system to profile groups of subjects so that
it can tell, for example, when a secretary is not behaving like a "typical"
secretary.

Business crime and computer crime will increasingly become one and the same,
Mr. Parker says.  Security will be increasingly built in to systems and
"transparent" to the user.

"I think the overall loss to business from computer crime will decrease," he
says.  "But the loss per incident will increase because the risks and the
potential gains will be greater."
_______________________________________________________________________________

 PWN QuickNotes
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. New Law Enforcement Bulletin Board (Government Technology, January 1992,
   Page 17) -- St. Paul, Minnesota -- The International Association of Chiefs
   of Police (IACP) and LOGIN Information Services has announced IACP NET, a
   new computer network that will link law enforcement professionals
   nationwide.  The network uses advanced computer capabilities to foster and
   empower IACP's belief that strength through cooperation is the key to the
   success of law enforcement endeavors.

   Communications services will be the interaction focus.  An electronic mail
   feature allows private messaging among IACP NET members.  Exchange of ideas
   will be encouraged and facilitated through electronic bulletin boards on
   general subject areas and computer conferencing on specific topics.
   Anchoring the communications service is the Quest-Response Service, a
   service created and proven successful by LOGIN that allows members to post
   and respond to requests for information in a formatted and accessible
   manner.
_______________________________________________________________________________

2. ATMs Gobble Bankcards In Colorado (Denver Post, February 19, 1992) -- About
   1,000 Colorado ATM users had their Visas and Mastercards abruptly terminated
   in February by an out-of-control computer system.

   For 90 minutes during the President's Day weekend, the Rocky Mountain
   Bankcard System software told ATMS around the state to eat the cards instead
   of dishing out cash or taking deposits.  The "once-in-a-decade" glitch went
   unnoticed because it occurred as programmers were patching in a correction
   to a different problem.

   The company is rushing new plastic and letters of apology to customers who
   got terminated.
_______________________________________________________________________________

3. Minister Denies Hackers Tampered With Licence Records (Chris Moncrieff,
   Press Association, January 27, 1992) -- Allegations that computer experts
   hacked into the records of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in
   Swansea are without substance and are to be retracted, Roads and Traffic
   Minister Christopher Chope said.

   He was responding in a Commons-written reply to Donald Anderson (Lab Swansea
   East), who had asked what investigations had been made following a report
   that hackers had been able to erase driving convictions from DVLA computer
   files.  Mr. Chope said, "The Agency has discussed the recent allegations
   about unauthorized access to its computer records with the author of the
   original Police Review article, who has confirmed that there is no substance
   to them.  "The author has agreed to retract the allegations in his next
   article."  Mr. Anderson commented, "The importance of this reply is that it
   underlines the integrity of the system of driver-licence records held in
   Swansea in spite of the allegations."
_______________________________________________________________________________

4. Software Virus Found At INTEL (New York Times News Service, March 3, 1992)
   --  Intel Corporation said it had stopped shipping a computer network
   software program because some units were found to be infected with the
   "Michelangelo" virus, a program that infects IBM and compatible personal
   computers and can potentially destroy data.

   A division of Intel in Hillsboro, Oregon, said it had shipped more than 800
   copies of the program, called LANSpool 3.01, which inadvertently contained
   the virus.  The virus is designed to activate on March 6, Michelangelo's
   birthday, and can erase data and programs if it is not detected with
   antiviral software.

   The company said it had checked its software with a virus-scanning program
   before shipping it, but that it had failed to detect the virus.

   A number of computer makers and software publishers have issued similar
   alerts about the Michelangelo program and a variety of companies are now
   offering free software to check for the virus.

   There are more than 1,000 known software viruses that can copy themselves
   from computer to computer by attaching to programs and files.
_______________________________________________________________________________

5. Army Wants Virii (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, December 1991, Page 5)

                   "Attention Hackers, Uncle Sam Wants You!"

   The U.S. Army has caught the computer virus bug and is now expanding its
   interest in germ warfare to include electronic germs.

   The Army Center for Signal Warfare is soliciting proposals for the
   development of a "weaponized virus" or a piece of "malicious software" that
   could destroy an enemy's computers or software (_Technology Review_, October
   1991).  As project engineer Bob Hein explained, "This is the army.  We're in
   the weapons business."

   Hein said the army first became interested in the potential of computer
   viruses as offensive weapons after Myron Cramer's 1989 article in _Defense
   Electronics_ suggested that computer viruses offered "a new class of
   electronic warfare."  But Gary Chapman, director of Computer Professionals
   for Social Responsibility, thinks it is more likely that the army's interest
   was piqued by a French science fiction novel, _Soft War_, describing army
   infiltration of Soviet computers.

   Chapman, who called that army's plan to design killer computer viruses a
   "stupid policy," said that any viruses the army comes up with are more
   likely to paralyze the heavily networked U.S. computer system than to
   infiltrate enemy computers.

   Hein insisted that the army will develop only controllable and predictable
   bugs that will not threaten U.S. computer users.  Chapman pointed out that,
   like the biological agents they are named for, computer viruses are, by
   their very nature, uncontrollable.
_______________________________________________________________________________

6. BellSouth's MobilComm and Swiss watchmaker Swatch said they will form joint
   venture to market wristwatch pager.  The watch will cost about $200 and will
   be sold in department stores.  It will bear name of "Piepser," the German
   word for "beeper," using 4 tones to signal the wearer.  Each signal is
   activated by a telephone number that owner assigns.  In the 4th quarter of
   year, Swatch said it plans to introduce a model that can display telephone
   numbers.  (Source: Communications Daily, March 5, 1992, Page 4)
_______________________________________________________________________________

7. U.S. District Judge Harold Greene denied several new motions by Nynex in a
   criminal case being brought by the Justice Department, charging the phone
   company with violating MFJ (Modified Final Judgment) through subsidiary
   Telco Research.  The government also filed a new motion of its own, later
   denied, requesting Greene to hold a pretrial hearing to look into "actual or
   potential conflicts of interest" resulting from individuals to be called as
   witnesses for prosecution being represented by Nynex's law firm, Davis, Polk
   & Wardwell.  DoJ said:  "It appears that Davis, Polk represents present and
   former employes of Nynex in addition to the corporation."  Nynex issued a
   statement saying it's "confident" that the trial would "confirm to our
   customers," shareholders, and the public that it has fully met its
   responsibilities under MFJ.  Greene, having dismissed Nynex motions, set
   an April 6 trial date.  (Communications Daily, March 24, 1992, Page 5)
_______________________________________________________________________________

8. US West has formed a subsidiary, US West Enhanced Services, that launched
   its first product, Fax Mail.  The subsidiary will develop other products for
   the enhanced-services market, including voice, fax and data applications,
   the company said.  Test marketing of Fax Mail was conducted in Boise and was
   product-introduced in Denver.  US West described its new product as "voice
   mail for faxes," in that it stores incoming faxes until the subscriber calls
   in and instructs the service to print the waiting fax.  Each fax mail
   subscriber is supplied with a personal fax telephone number.  When a fax is
   received, Fax Mail can notify the subscriber automatically by depositing a
   message in voice mail or beeping a pager.  The service costs $19.95 per
   month, US West said.  (Communications Daily, March 24, 1992, Page 6)
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9. Hacker Insurance -- Worried about the integrity of your bank's data network?
   Relax.  Commercial banks and other depository institutions can now obtain up
   to $50 million in coverage for losses due to computer-related crime.  A new
   policy from Aetna Casualty and Surety Co. offers insurance against computer
   viruses, software piracy, and toll-call fraud, among other high-tech rip-
   offs.  The Hartford, Connecticut insurer will also cover liabilities due to
   service bureau and communications failures with Aetna Coverage for Computer
   and Electronic Network Technology.  Paul A. Healy, VP of Aetna's fidelity
   bond unit, says "the policy will help institutions manage the risk
   associated with the changing technology."  (Information Week, March 30,
   1992, Page 16)
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