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635's: The Real Story (Busts on Thrifty-Tel)




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               Synergist's World News  Edition #1


                                        Written By:
                                                    The Synergist



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     The Below Article is Taken From The New York Times and From
a personal InterView With  Rebbecca Bigley On August 27 1991.
There has been some rumors running around about the 635's I hope
that this article will help some of you to stay away from the
635's.


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     On August 27. I called up thrifty tel Inc. A Small long-
distance telephone company in garder Grove CA. And I spoke with
Rebecca Bigley Below is what I have Learned from the Interview.



     In the Last 7 months, Thrifty Tel's vigilante (Rebecca
Bigley) has put seven hackers in jail. And she has made 48 others
atone for thier sins with hard cash and hardware. The case the
Bigley call her biggest she told was involving with a 16 year-old
Buena Park boy whose alleged theft of computer data cost Thrifty
Tel millions of dollars- is pending in court.  

     So far, from what Bigley told me is that the compnay has
collected more that $200,000 in penalties and reimbursedments
from hackers. And I quote "We do not have a hacking problem
anymore because we stood up and punched them right in the face,"
Bigley Proclaims.. "These kids think that what they're doing is
no big deal- they're not murdering anyone", Bigley say's. "They
think we're terrible for calling them on it. Their Attituse is
ectremely arrogant. But These are not just kids having some fun.
They are using thier intellect to devise ways to steal. They come
from white collar-families.

HISTORY OF Thrifty Tel. Inc...
------------------------------

     For Thrifty Tel Inc. the battle of wits started a year ago.
The company was founded in 1981 and went public 1988-four years
anfter AT&T spilt. which spurred the creation of the 1-800-625-
1167 and other local dialups in CA. Thrifty Tel Inc. competes
against the big three long-distance companies-AT&T, Sprint and
MCI- by offering discout prices. It serves over 11,000 customers
nationwide.

AS THE CODE HACKING BEGINS.
---------------------------

     As has every other telephone company. Thrifty has been
plagued by occasional computer hackers. But Last year with the
proliferation of technically advanced hacking. (As She Says) The
Code hacking software programs. what was once a nuisance bevame a
catastrophe.

     "Increasingly sophisticated programs have been developed in
the past couple of years to attack telephone systems similar to
ours." Bigley says. "From such programs as a program called Code
Thief. The codez are taken by random entries into the dialup and
saved. Then the program are spread around the computer fields
like wildfire."

     The first quarter of 1990 Thrifty Tel come in with a half-
million profit. Then the next quarter once code hackers found the
635 extender. The Tides turned Thrifty tel owed 425,000 dollars. 


What Actions are being taken.
-----------------------------

     As Rebbecca Bigley says " They believe that because they're
sitting at a computer teminal accross country they can not be
caught. The problem is they're using there telephone and where
watching them. As of SEPT 1991 we are installing an option called
ANI (Automatic Number Identifcation) and then when the code
abuser is using a customers code. Then we will Bill them with the
cost. And if the hacker fails to pay the bill then legal action
will be taken. This action will only be taken if the code hacker
runs over a 250 dollar bill. 


     Therefore after Sept 1. 1991. The 635's will be with the
option of ANI. Thats right if you hack on the system you should
expect a phone call from Rebecca or someone else in the Thrifty
Tel security dept.. 


          STAY AWAY FROM 1-800-635-1167... 



                         Hope this file helped you..

                                                  The Synergist

Voice Mail 1-800-666-2445 Box 703.






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