Transcript of _Now_It_Can_Be_Told_: "Mad Hackers' Key Party" Hosted by Geraldo Rivera (Sept. 30, 1991) Geraldo: I'm Geraldo rivera. And now, It can be told. <Flashy intro featuring various bleeps and sounds and what is supposed to look like a computer screen> Geraldo: You're watching life imitate art. <home video of hackers hacking. Room is in disarray, with a few computers scattered around among various wires and cables and telephones, and other equipment.> Geraldo: Exclusive video of teenagers playing a dangerous and mind-boggling version of War Games. <video focuses on what appears to be 3 teenagers typing on computer keyboards.> <video focuses on one of the screens.> Geraldo: If you think it's kid stuff, just watch this. <screen shows: | quit | 221 Goodbye. | rugrcx> | telnet tracer.army.mil | Trying 192.33.5.135.... | Connected to tracer.army.mil | Escape character is '^]'. | | | | Xenix K3-4 (tracer.army.mil) | | | | login: | dquayle | Password:_ > <screams of joy from kids> <screen shows: Warning (banner)...This terminal is not secure...Do not process classified information...Protect user IDs, passwords...Control access to your system....Destroy classified and sensitive material....> Geraldo: Straight into the US Army computer. In the name of the vice president!! Straight out with America-s counter-terrorist strategies in the Persian Gulf war. <video of bombings during Gulf War.) Cliff Stoll: These guys in the army, they didn't do their homework. They screwed up. <shows Cliff Stoll sitting in chair, terminal on behind him.> Geraldo: You bet they did. And they're not the only ones. <more video of hackers hacking, Emmanuel Goldstein talking on a telephone> Geraldo: Try the Pentagon, NASA, the White House. <video showing guy next to payphone, Japanese Kanji characters fill the screen> Geraldo: ...the IRS, the Department of Justice, and the stock exchange. <Japanese video now shows hacker typing on laptop in front of pay phone - It is dark out.> Phiber Optik (guy next to pay phone, typing on laptop): I find it very thrilling. It's quite interesting. Some guy in a suit speaking in a microphone: Tomorrow's terrorists may be able to more damage with a keyboard, than with a bomb. <more video of a hacker hacking> Geraldo: Now it can be told. A terrifying expose on Malice In Wonderland. The Mad Hacker's Key Party. <screen displays that title over hacker typing on keyboard> <Intro to the show> Geraldo: Welcome everybody. Up front today, a new kind of warfare. This kind of combat won't be fought with bombs and bullets, but with bits and bytes, RAMs, and ROMs. I'm talking about computer terrorism. Imagine this nightmare: Saddam Hussein breaking into our Pentagon computers. Well, as your about to see, we have discovered that this is frightningly possible, given a combination of floppy disks and sloppy security. Before you meet a mad hacker, live, right here in our studio, watch as our correspondant Krista Bradford discovers just how vulnerable our national defense system really is. <screen switches to Krista Bradford in corner office, in front of terminal> Krista: Thanks Geraldo. Computers: they are absolutely essential to our national defense. Our military depends on them to win wars and to save lives. So you'd think they'd do everything possible to protect these computers, but, think again. This exclusive video proves otherwise. <she hits play button on VCR, hacker home video pops up again> Krista: This video looks like a home video, but its implications are astounding. <video passes over computer (IBM compat.) - notable is an issue of 2600 propped up against the keyboard> Krista: These kids are in Amsterdam; they are not the enemy, they are not spies. They are computer hackers and they are about to break into a US Army computer. Emmanuel: This is about as blatant a violation as you can possibly get. <screen shows Emmanuel Goldstein> Krista: Emmanuel Goldstein is the editor of 2600, The Hacker Quarterly. <screen switches to Emmanuel typing at keyboard, focuses on pile of 2600's stacked nearby> <screen switches back to hacker home video, Emmanuel on the phone> Krista: He was with the hackers as thy gained unauthorized access to the Army computer. <list of *.MIL sites scrolls across a computer screen> Krista: Although it wasn't classified, what the hackers found was alarming. <long e-mail message scrolls across a screen> Krista: A sensitive memo which details a counter-terrorist plan. <screen shows bomb going off> The date: January 15th - Saddam Hussein's deadline to withdraw his forces from Kuwait. <more footage from the Gulf War> <screen switches to Emmanuel being interviewed again> Emmanuel: It was incredible how easy it was. Because, literally they picked a machine at random out of a thousand machines that they had a listing of. And used various means just to get in. <screen switches to the screen I typed above, except the first login is guest [Login incorrect]..Second login, sync, password prompt appears? Krista: In order to get into a computer, you need to be an authorized user, and have a password. So the hackers had to create one. Using a well-known bug in the system, they managed to copy the password file and do just that. <list of /etc/passwd floats by> Emmanuel: <sitting at terminal> The idea was to create a user named Dan Quayle, and give him superuser privileges, as well he deserves. Krista: Now here's the trick: because they didn't know any legitimate passwords, they left the space for Dan Quayle's password blank. <screen focuses on dquayle record of /etc/passwd, highlights the colons after 'dquayle'> Emmanuel: Everything between those two colon's is the encrypted password, but there's nothing between those two colons, so there's no password. Krista: Next, the hacker's call back as Dan Quayle, and now they don't need a password to get in. <screen shows login as dquayle, null password...Hackers cheer as WARNING banner and logon screen (summarized above) appears.> Krista: At this point, all of about 5 minutes have passed. A few seconds later, and they have gained complete control. Emmanuel: That means they have access to the entire system, they control the entire system. They can take it down, they can change every file. They can read anybody's mail. Krista: <walking along outside> So just how serious was this violation? Well, the Army, the Justice Department, and the FBI wouldn't tell us. They all refused to comment. But this we do know: the US Army computer that was accessed was designed for "Authorized Use By Official Personnel Only". You wouldn't want just anybody using this computer, especially during a time of war. <screen shows jet taking off...screen switches to guy ( Winn Schwartau [Information Security Consultant]) sitting in front of terminal set up with some other electronic devices attached. Winn: The military knows better. They should be protective of their computers a lot better than they are. <helicopter shown...screen switches to Emmanuel> Emmanuel: Obviously, there's a problem. Obviously people can get into anything and see anything. <screen switches to Cliff Stoll> Cliff: These guys in the Army, they didn't do their homework. They screwed up. <switches back to video of hackers> Krista: They sure did. This isn't the first time Dutch hackers have infiltrated government computers. <video of space shuttle taking off> Krista: Just this April, another group made its way into the computers at NASA, the Pentagon, and other sensitive locations. <screen shows newspaper headline of said event>. <screen shows the Pentagon> Emmanuel: If our own military doesn't know enough to look for these bugs and make it hard for people to get into their systems, what can we say about non-classified computers or computers run by schools and various other institutions? <screen zooms in on hardback copy of _The_Cuckoo's_Egg> Krista: Cliff Stoll, author of The CUckoo's Egg: How he tracked down a hacker selling secrets to the KGB. Stoll opposes hacking, likening it to breaking into someone's house. <screen shows cliff sitting in front of a Mac LC showing familiar 'Flying Toasters'....Cliff appears more sedate than as seen before on other programs> Cliff: Is there good that can come from someone breaking into my house? If someone sneaks in through my window over there, comes in and starts looking at things, is there any good that can come from that? <screen switches back to Emmanuel> Emmanuel <with hand raised, looking mad at Cliff's comment>: I don't like that analogy. Hackers are not interested in personal files of individual people. They're interested in huge databases and computer systems. <screen switches to Japanese TV, Kanji characters spread all over...It's night...Guy is standing in front of lighted-up pay phone> Phiber: My handle's Phiber Optik. I'm a computer hacker from the east coast. <screen shows Phiber taking acoustic coupler from a bag...[This scene looks extremely modern-day Cyberpunk-ish]> Krista: The Dutch aren't the only ones breaking into US computers. Phiber: I find it actually very, very thrilling. It's quite interesting. <screen shows laptop set on some cement stool....Screen moves to show other people milling around...Gee, is that Mr. Goldstein?!? And a g-man looking type in sunglasses [ Krista: It is nighttime in the meat packing district of New York City. A Japanese camera crew is documenting the work of one of America's most notorious hackers. <Phiber connects the coupler to the pay phone> Phiber: I ...
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