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----------------------- 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 -- --------------------------------- 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. ==========END>>>