NEW YORK — U.S. investigators are focusing on a handful of potential suspects in last week's attacks on major Web sites, Internet security experts and hacker sources familiar with the investigation said on Monday. As experts traced the Web site blitzkrieg to a virulent new software program, Tribal Flood Network, used to break into computer networks, Internet security firms raced to offer updated programs to fend.....
by WILLIAM BASTONE
With his baby face and doughy body, 17-year-old Joshua Gilson does not look like your typical FBI quarry.
In fact, huddled over his Toshiba laptop, with rock music blaring from his bedroom stereo and Jerry Springer flickering on the TV, the Sheepshead Bay resident looks like any other teenager, albeit one experiencing maximum sensory overload, 1998-style.
But actually Gilson is part of a nationwide networkof teenage computer hackers who have stolen everything from Internet accounts to credit card numbers, a cybergang that has flourished despite a yearlong effort by the FBI to curb this online piracy, the Voice has learned. “I’ve stolen accounts and stuff like that. I didn’t even think it was that big of a deal,” Gilson said. “Everybody does it.”
For months, federal investigators have been serving subpoenas and search warrants at the homes of these young hackers, carting away computers, disks, modems, and other items as parents watch in horror. Agents with the FBI’s computer crimes squad have recently raided homes across the metropolitan area–from Brooklyn to the New Jersey suburbs–as part of a probe into wide-scale credit card fraud and other cybercrimes.
In several instances, agents visited the same residences more than once — first in mid 1997 and then again earlier this year — because some young hackers were undeterred by the federal probe. According to one court record, a hacker recently boasted to a friend that “nothing could be done to him because he was a minor.”
One federal investigator acknowledged that while “it’s tough to prosecute a juvenile,” the FBI is “not always sure you’re gonna find a teenager” at “the end of the string.” The source added, “And if you do, it still doesn’t mean the game is off, because if the damage is severe enough it is still a crime and it’s still a problem.”
Since the probe is ongoing–and every target appears to be underage —
investigators have tried to keep details of the case confidential, including whether any teenagers have been arrested on federal charges. But interviews with several subjects of the criminal inquiry and a confidential FBI document obtained by the Voice provide a detailed look at the current investigation.
The federal probe began last spring, when agents learned of the “massive deployment of a password-stealing program” on the Internet, according to the FBI document. The scheme targeted accounts on America Online (AOL), the nation’s largest online service. AOL is a favorite nesting place for young hackers, who congregate in chat rooms with names like Dead End and Island 55. “Fifteen seems to be the preferred age for an AOL hacker,” said one long-in-the-tooth 18-year-old hacker.
This is just your everyday idler program that tells everyone how long you have been gone in a chat room, but this program is unique because it has the ability to do this in AOL 9.0, AIM 5.9, Yahoo! 8.0, and MIRC chat rooms. - BrÜ
The following numbers are MR tokens for use with AOL. If you have the right equipment (which many don't), you can use these to go directly to a conference room. Some of these tokens lead to staff-only rooms, however, these can STILL be accessed by non-staff. 1 Town Hall 3 Classroom 4 The OGF Commons 5 Writers Workshop 6-8 Classroom 9 Geoworks Chat Room 10 .....
Found an old website from Olaf through Archive.Org a lot of the data is gone but most of the news stories are still available. Website URL: http://olaf.punted.net Wednesday/July/18/2001 - - puntme hi mom. Wednesday/July/18/2001 - now you die. - puntme i updated the funny section, you go now Monday/July/16/2001 - 16496 25366 - puntme hey, i think i updated something.. but its hard to tell anymore. but really ive been surfing the.....
Three 17-year-olds take credit for inserting pornographic images into America Online’s widely used chat service. Users of the latest version of AOL's Instant Messenger (AIM) software started encountering an unpleasant surprise on Saturday morning: At least three crackers -- malicious hackers -- began inserting pornographic images into "AIM Today" and vandalizing content on at least four screens of the chat software. Since last August, users.....
All my life I have loved computers, even as a kid when the only ones out were those apple’s (the ones wolfenstein worked with). I remember just pucnhing keys on the keyboard as if it were connected & as if I were this elite computer wizard. So in the 90’s when AOL first came out my father bought the family our first computer. I remember.....
So now its 1999 after web I dove into visual basic to learn to code my own progs. I cant remember the person that helped me add bas files, and how to call the different subs in that module such as ChatSend. Programming in VB was different then coding websites but wasnt to far off. There was actually a ton of sources and content available......
Man some days i just get caught in a nostalgic phase and just think about all the old times online. Theres no more chatrooms, no more sleeping at night waiting to hear that notification sound for a cracked leet; popping instantly out of bed. Waking up to find out your cracker or spammer just crashed or froze and that entire list you were cracking and.....