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

 FREE DIAL-UP NETWORKING

 PRIMER NOW AVAILABLE

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

 

 (BPS) -- Informer Computer Terminals, manufacturers of portable and
mobile data communications equipment, has just released a new booklet,
"A Primer in Dial-Up Networking."  The book will be sent free of charge to
consumers who request it.

 

 "A Primer in Dial-Up Networking" explores dial-up data communications
concepts and describes the entire line of Informer communications
products for use with IBM mainframe computers.  It is designed to be used
as a quick reference or as a more complete data communications guide to
dial-up networking.

 

 Sections in the 16-page 8.5- X 11-inch guide cover such topics as:
choosing the right modem, protocols, protocol converters, error
correction, data security, data transfer and transmission characteristics,
networks, and more.  The book is geared mainly toward
mainframe-to-micro communications.

 

 For your free copy, write to: Informer Computer Terminals, Inc., Att: Cyndi
Green, 12781 Pala Drive, Garden Grove, CA 92641.

 

 -- TELECOMMUNICATIONS NEWS --

  

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 LONG-DISTANCE FRAUD EXPENSIVE FOR

 PHONE COMPANIES AND PERPETRATORS!

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

 

 (BPS) -- One alleged ring of computer "hackers" is finding out just how
expensive long distance telephone fraud can be.  U.S. Sprint announced
August 28 it has filed three lawsuits, seeking more than $20 million in
compensation, against a multi-state ring of computer "hackers."  The group
in question has allegedly been involved in the use of illegally-obtained
authorization codes to steal long-distance telephone service.

 

 The suits were filed August 27, in U.S. district courts in Los Angeles,
Seattle, and Kansas City, Mo.

 

 Long-distance telephone Computer "hackers," such as the unnamed
individuals involved in the U.S. Sprint suit, use computers and special
software to randomly identify Sprint long-distance authorization codes. 
These codes, the numbers that some customers dial to gain authorized
access to the long-distance system, are then used by the "hackers" to make
long-distance calls that are charged to the accounts of the original
holders of the authorization numbers.

 

 Since authorized customers routinely dispute charges for calls they didn't
make, the company, in this case U.S. Sprint, has to absorb the cost of
billings for calls made with illegally-obtained authorization codes.  Sprint
officials have blamed at least a portion of the $76 million loss it reported
for its second quarter to thousands of customer-billing problems.

 

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