    





    BEFORT on v~ ~ DUF~@FO~6
    
    It is now widely acknowled~ed that Phone Phreaks have
    contributed greatly to society. For example, we have been
    regarded by AT&T as ''a threat to national security". This
    has been of service to our President in his more t~ying
    moments of attempting to ration~lize his grand larceny of
    the Bill of Rights. We have similarly enabled AT&T to
    blame rising phone rates partly on us. And now it seems
    that we are putting people to work making devices to catch
    us. A definite contribution to the nationtS economyl
    
    The most obvious way to eliminate Blue Boxin~ is to
    change the frequencies. Fortunately, thnt's impossible.
    I-he whole fucking world has adopted MF (multifrequency)
    as the standard. So the next thin~ tried was to detect the
    2600 Hz. tone, which is normally not present on customer
    phone lines, or even between certain Central Offices(C. O. )
    l~eltronics (we printed their credit card # in Issue 20) has
    a FFF-100 Fone Freak Foiler for detect~ng 2600 Hz. tones
    longer tban . 1, . Z, or . 5 seconds(selectable). Two units
    are mounted on a card for rack mounting in a C. O. for $98
    For $350 they sell a PFFF-1 Portable Fone Freak Foller
    that also has two channels and ~s smaller than a breadbox.
    When activated by a 2600 EIz. tone, it closes a relay that
    can be hooked up to a tape recorder, alarm bell, fuse, etc.
    It can also be wired to disconnect your line, too.
    
    Dianatek makes a $295 SF and KP counter. It ooly res-
    ponds wLen it hears 2600 (SF or Single Frequency) followed
    by Key Pulse within the next 20 seconds. Since most sen-
    ders t~rne out by 20 seconds, you can't beat it by blowing
    off and then counting to 20 before KP. This means tbat it
    won't be fooled by false alarms of people picking up their
    phones, dialing long distance information and whistling.
    However, it also won't respond to SF fraud, done by send-
    ing pulses of 2600 for each digit. SF is still around in sorne
    places and we'll report on it soon as reccive info on it.
    
    Hekimian Laboratories(301424-3160) sells a $4000. 51A
    Dialed Number Recorder. It records on paper tape liXe an
    adding machine, noting such trivia as every time you pick
    up the phone or hang it up, every call you receive, and
    the ex~act numbers you dial or touch-tone. Oh, yes it notes
    when 2600 appears on the line abov~-31 dBm in volume.
    Time is kept by an internal clock with' the date, and for
    a msasly $1000 you can add Multi-frequency printout so
    that all Blue Boxed numbers wi~ be recorded. It can also
    activate other equtpment l~ke the others. A remote sigral
    extender allows the Recorder to be used at a point that is
    not connected by a DC loop, such as over carrier (and mult-
    iplexed) facilities. 5000 calls ean be recorder before the
    paper tape has to be replaced, so don't hesitate to jiggle
    the switchhook before you go to sleep tonitel
    
    Northeast Electronics makes a similar Dialed Number
    Recorder,~t a little less expensive, and a capacity for only
    500 calls on ~ rol1 of tape. Volceprint labs has another but
    it d~en't even detect 2600 unless you {ork over another
    $200 (after the initial $2000).
    
    Bramco (513 773-8271) makes cheapie tone decoders that
    you'd have to modify to turn into a fraud detector.
    
    Hek;mian also makes a Black Box detector that detects
    voice currents on a line which is not drawing t'off-hookt'
    carrent from the G. O. It also has a 2600 detector that is
    used to prevent "Reverse Sig" boxes, which simulate a
    black box by sending 2600 back to the caller. Information
    on Reverse Supervislon boxes will be forthcoming.
    
    As for Red Boxes, the Phone Company is relying on o~
    erator's ears. A lamp is usually able to tell if ccins are
    present, but only uhen an operator manually co~ects or
    returns {or tries to) coins. Still, operators are s? used to
    broken equipment that you can usnally act indignant if they
    get suspicious and get away with it. The trick is not to
    have them collect or return money wLen there isn't any.
    
    Bell's had thetr own stuff for a while, like a 2600 detec-
    tor which activated a normal tape recorder. They would
    tben use the tapes in courL And the Dialed Number Recor-
    dere are Just fancy verslons of the old Pen Register. A
    
    computer program tbst counts 800 calls for normal statis-
    tica1 da~ is now used to call attention to excessive or long
    800 calls or 555-1212 calls. Suspects get 2600 detectors
    placed on their lines as the next step. Bell's own stuft was
    al1 designed to be compatible with the rest of the system,
    thus thetr 2600 detectors have t'talk-offt protection. Ihongh
    some 2600 detectors have a narrow acceptance bandwidth
    around the center frequency, in this case 2600, E3ell's have
    an additional feab~re which rojects as false all 2600's that
    are accompanied by other sounds. These can be by~?assed
    by using guard tones, also coming up soon in TAP, but the
    poor quality of al1 the other manu~acturers doesn't allow
    the use of guard (because they don't use talk-off).
    
    All of these units work, and the~,r all have limitations.
    Obviously, putting filters in all of the phone lines in the
    conntry is too expensive. Even putting in filters at points
    of con~entration tbat all lines must go through is rough,
    and wih take time. These would probably be set up to
    drop a. call rather than trace it in order to discourage
    further phreak activity. This would be a definite bummer.
    But we h~ve one hope, and that is that we must rely on
    the inflated egos of Bell's crack security focce. Ihese
    dudes ~ow damn well that putting in filters and even the
    detectors won't earn them any peints with the top brass.
    If Bell's own security can't stop phone phreaks, what the
    hell are they on the precious payroll for~ If any agents
    are reading this, and we know they are, we hope they ask
    themselves that question and get to work finding us with
    their own in~enuity, IF THEY CANI Bob Kitzinger of
    Illinois Bell Telephone ad~nits they spend more to catch
    us than they get back. One day, Bob, even JD might be
    forced by the biggies to abandon this charade, along with
    the clowns. But Bob knows this and that's why phone
    phr.eaks have hope. If Bob gets every phreak in Illinois
    he'll be out of a iob. Yes, we'll hear rumors of busts and
    f~ters and detectors all over the place, and each time
    someone is caught a hundred papers will scream head-
    lines, but in reality it wiI1 all be people like Bob who want
    job secor~ty, being PR people rather tban recommending
    the most effective methods to thetr superiors and being

    





    replaced by a machine. We don't blame you, Bob.
    
    How do we get around the detectors tbat are around? By
    using comwon sense. Don't use home phones for Blne Box
    calls. Don't have a "favorite" booth for Red or Blue Box
    calls. Don't stay on long on Black E3OX calls. Without
    calling attention to yourself, try to find out what the story
    is in your local C. O. Ihis is possible by askin~ your
    Business rep. what kind of switching system you've got.
    Ihey tell you sometimes, if you say you just read an art-
    icle about ESS (Electronic Switchin~ System), and you're
    doing a report for school. Get a job or have a friend get
    a job at your C. O, And keep al1 calls, even from pay
    phones, under 10 minutes and even less if possible. You
    can make twice as many calls safely if they're half as long.
    Try this gem: lise a Red Box to call a cheap long distance
    nurnber, and beep off to Blue Box Landl At the end of the
    c~ll, give the operator her money. V'hy use a Blue Box
    if you've gat a Red Box? Europe, Australia and Africa,
    for example I Most booths won't hold enough Red Box $.
    
    If a Blue Box Detector records your call, there's a
    chance tbat the number you box will alSG be taped. So be
    sure to call only cool people, or amnesiacs, or corporat-
    ions. Elowever, the most important security precautionyou
    can take is to watch ~rhat you say. More phreaks have been
    caught because of big mouths than anything elze. Before
    they put a detector on your line, they have to suspect you,
    right? 3On't brag about your black box when people yo~
    don't trust are wiChin earshot. Bob says, " Most of our~
    help on Black Boxes comes from informants'~. Don't te31
    your friend that you just called them ~rith a hot credit
    card or a red box or the operator may hear you. Just act
    like every phone you're on is tapped. If you.subseribe to
    TA P, they probably are I
    
    IF YOU/QE SO SMAQT,
    
    WHY ~QEN'T YOU QICH?
    
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