170 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
170 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
==Phrack Inc.==
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Volume Three, Issue Thirty-one, Phile #5 of 10
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The History of The Legion Of Doom
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--- ------- -- --- ------ -- ----
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During the summer of 1984 an idea was formulated that would ultimately
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change the face of the computer underground forever. This particular
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summer, a huge surge of interest in computer telecommunications placed
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an incredibly large number of new enthusiasts on the national computer scene.
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This crowd of people all seeking to learn as much as possible
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began to put a strain on the nation's bulletin board scene, as the novices
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stormed the phonelines in search of knowledge. From out of this chaos
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came a need for learned instructors to help pass on their store of
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information to the new throngs.
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One of the most popular bulletin boards of the day was a system in New York
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state called Plovernet, which was run by a person who called himself
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Quasi-Moto. This BBS was so heavily trafficked, that a major long
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distance company began blocking all calls to its number (516-935-2481).
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The co-sysop of Plovernet was a person known as Lex Luthor. At the time
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there were a few hacking groups in existence, such as Fargo-4A and Knights of
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Shadow. Lex was admitted into KOS in early 1984, but after making a few
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suggestions about new members, and having them rejected, Lex decided to
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put up an invitation only BBS and to start forming a new group.
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Starting around May of 1984, Lex began to contact those people who he had
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seen on BBSes such as Plovernet and the people that he knew personally
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who possessed the kind of superior knowledge that the group he envisioned
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should have. Many phone calls and Alliance Teleconferences later, the
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group of individuals who made up the original Legion of Doom were compiled.
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They were:
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Lex Luthor
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Karl Marx
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Mark Tabas
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Agrajag the Prolonged
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King Blotto
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Blue Archer
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EBA
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The Dragyn
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Unknown Soldier
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The group originally consisted of two parts: Legion of Doom, and Legion
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of Hackers. The latter was a sub-group of the first, comprised
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of people who were more advanced in computer related subjects. Later on,
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as members began to all become more computer-based, the Legion of Hackers
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was absolved. (The name "Legion of Doom" came from the cartoon series
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"Superfriends," in which Lex Luthor, Superman's arch rival, led a group
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by the same name)
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The actual Legion of Doom bulletin board was quite ahead of its time.
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It was one of the first "Invitation-only" hacking based BBSes; it was the
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first BBS with security that caused the system to remain idle until
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a primary password was entered; and it was the first hacking BBS to deal
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with many subjects in close detail, such as trashing and social
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engineering. The BBS underwent three number changes and three different
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login procedures during its life. At its height, the BBS had over
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150 users and averaged about 15 posts per day. This may seem
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high when compared to contemporary BBSes, but this was a private system,
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with only very-competent users, so the quality of messages content was always
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high.
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There was always some confusion that falsely assumed since someone
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was on the LOD BBS, that they were a member of the group. In fact,
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only a handful of the total LOD membership were ever on the actual
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LOD BBS.
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The Legion of Doom also had special subboards created for its members on
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other BBSes after the home base BBS went offline. The first was on
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Blottoland, the next on Catch-22, followed by one on the Phoenix Project,
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and the last on Black Ice Private. The group's members have usually tried to
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keep a low profile publicly, and usually limited their trade of information
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to select private BBSes and personal telephone conversations. This adherence
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to privacy has always added to the LOD mistique. Since most people didn't
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know exactly what the group was involved in, or experimenting with, people
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always assumed that it was something far too detailed or sensitive to be
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discussed. For the most part, this was not true, but it did not help to
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diminish the paranoia of security personnel that LOD was after their
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company's systems.
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The group has undergone three distinct phases, each a result of membership
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changes. The first phase ended with the busts of Marx, Tabas, Steve Dahl,
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Randy Smith, X-man, and the abandonment by Agrajag and King Blotto.
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The group lay semi-dormant for several months, until a resurgence
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in the summer of 1986, in which several new members were admitted, and a new
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surge of would-be hackers appeared, ready to be tutored. This phase again
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ended in a series of busts and paranoia. The third phase basically revolved
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around Summercon of 1988, where several new members were admitted by those
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LOD members attending the festivites. The third phase is now at an end
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brought on by busts and related paranoia, again, two years after its onset.
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There is no indication that points to any resurgence in the future, but
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nothing is certain until summer.
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Since its creation, LOD has tried to put out informative files on a wide
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variety of topics of interest to its contemporaries. These files ranged from
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the first actual scanned directory of Telenet, to files on various operating
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systems. The LOD Technical Journal was to be a semi-regular electronic
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magazine comprised of such files, and other items of interest to the hacking
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community. Only three issues of the Technical Journal were produced. As
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the fourth issue was being pieced together, several members were raided, and
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work on it was abandoned.
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>From the time it was formed continuing up to the present, the Legion of
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Doom has been quite a topic of controversy in the computer underground and
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with computer security professionals. The Legion of Doom has been
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called everything from "Organized Crime" to "a Communist threat to national
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security" to "an international conspiracy of computer terrorists bent
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on destroying the nation's 911 service." Nothing comes closer to the
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actual truth than "bored adolescents with too much spare time."
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LOD members may have entered into systems numbering in the tens of
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thousands, they may have peeped into credit histories, they may
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have monitored telephone calls, they may have snooped into files and
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buffered interesting text, they may still have total control over
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entire computer networks; but, what damage have they done? None, with
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the exception of unpaid use of CPU time and network access charges. What
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personal gains have any members made? None, with the exception of three
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instances of credit fraud that were instigated by three separate greedy
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individuals, without group knowledge.
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The Legion of Doom will long be remembered in the computer underground as
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an innovative and pioneering force, that consistently raised the collective
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level of knowledge, and provided many answers to questions ranging from the
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workings of the telephone system to the structure of computer operating
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systems. No other group dedicated to the persuit of computer and
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telecommunications knowledge has survived longer, and none probably will.
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The Legion of Doom 1984--1990
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Alumni of the Fraternal Order of the Legion of Doom (Lambda Omega Delta)
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Handle Entered Exited Location Reasons for leaving
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Lex Luthor Early 84-- Florida
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Karl Marx Early 84--Late 85 Colorado Bust w/Tabas..College
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Mark Tabas Early 84--Late 85 Colorado Too numerous to list
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Agrajag the Prolonged Early-84--Late 85 California Loss of Interest
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King Blotto Early 84--Late 85 Ohio College
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Blue Archer Early 84--Late 87 Texas College
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EBA Early 84-- Texas
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The Dragyn Early 84--Late 86 Minnesota Loss of Interest
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Unknown Soldier Early 84--Early 85 Florida Bust-Toll Fraud
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Sharp Razor Late 84--Early 86 New Jersey Bust-Compuserve Abuse
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Sir Francis Drake Late 84--Early 86 California Loss of Interest
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Paul Muad'dib Late 84--Early 86 New York Modem Broke
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Phucked Agent 04 Late 84--Late 87 California College
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X-Man Late 84--Mid 85 New York Bust-Blue Boxing
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Randy Smith Late 84--Mid 85 Missouri Bust-Credit Fraud
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Steve Dahl Early 85--Early 86 Illinois Bust-Credit Fraud
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The Warlock Early 85--Early 86 Florida Loss of Interest
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Terminal Man Early 85--Late 85 Massachusetts Expelled from Group
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Dr. Who Early 85--Late 89 Massachusetts Several Reasons
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The Videosmith Early 86--Late 87 Pennsylvania Paranoia
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Kerrang Kahn Early 86--Mid 89 London, UK Loss of Interest
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Gary Seven Early 86--Mid 88 Florida Loss of Interest
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The Marauder Early 86--Mid 89 Connecticut Loss of Interest
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Silver Spy Late 86--Late 87 Massachusettts College
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Bill from RNOC Early 87--Late 87 New York Bust-Hacking
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The Leftist Mid 87--Late 89 Georgia Bust-Hacking
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Phantom Phreaker Mid 87-- Illinois
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Doom Prophet Mid 87-- Illinois
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Jester Sluggo Mid 87-- North Dakota
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Carrier Culprit Mid 87--Mid 88 Pennsylvania Loss of Interest
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Master of Impact Mid 87--Mid 88 California Loss of Interest
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Thomas Covenant Early 88--Early 90 New York Bust-Hacking
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The Mentor Mid 88--Early 90 Texas Retired
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Necron 99 Mid 88--Late 89 Georgia Bust-Hacking
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Control C Mid 88--Early 90 Michigan
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Prime Suspect Mid 88-- New York
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The Prophet Mid 88--Late 89 Georgia Bust-Hacking
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Phiber Optik Early 89--Early 90 New York Bust-Hacking
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** AKA **
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Randy Smith Poof!
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Dr. Who Skinny Puppy
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Kerrang Kahn Red Eye
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Phantom Phreaker ANI Failure / Psychedelic Ranger
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Doom Prophet Trouble Verify
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Thomas Covenant Sigmund Fraud / Pumpkin Pete
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Necron 99 The Urvile
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Control C Phase Jitter
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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