a program called LINUX

[glenn at brewster.org (Brewster)]

How do I get out of this new group?

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From:	Huge Cajones Remailer [SMTP:nobody at huge.cajones.com]
Sent:	Thursday, February 27, 1997 1:29 PM
To:	discuss at tarnhelm.blu.org
Subject:	a program called LINUX

How do I get out of this new group?
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X-Url: http://www.boston.com/globe/met/cgi-bin/retrieve.cgi?%2Fglobe%2Fbgc%2F058%2Fmet%2F006
Hacker-plagued Sharon library drops the 'Net
By Joshua Trudell, Globe Correspondent, 02/27/97 It's an international high-tech war that Kip Roberson and Brian Myers have been fighting.
Roberson, Sharon Public Library director, and Myers, a Canton computer consultant, are trying to stop an Asia-based hacker who has broken into the library's computer server and used it to roam the Internet and store files.
This week, the library defenders have been forced to temporarily shut down the system's two Internet and e-mail-capable computers after the hacker's raids left a key program, called LINUX, in ruins.
"It's been a nuisance," Roberson said yesterday, as both popular machines sat dark.
The hacker's vandalism has temporarily brought to an end the first public e-mail stations established in the state.  "A lot of people use this system," Roberson said. "We operate at about 90 percent capacity; there are always people signed up to use the computers." The problem had not interfered with any patrons' e-mail accounts, he said.
Roberson and Myers have traced the hacker - who uses the handle "JSingh" - to addresses in Thailand. Myers believes the hacker may actually be someone in Thailand, not a local person who is working through a Thai computer system.
Roberson said the problem apparently started in November or December, when he began getting computer messages that the library's server memory was close to full.
"I didn't think anything of it at the time," he said.  Then, early this year, Roberson tried to log on to the system and it wouldn't accept his password. At that point, he called in Myers, who determined that the library had a hacker problem.  Myers said the hacker seems to have been using the Sharon library system to store personal computer files for "quite a while. He was very sophisticated. He knew how to cover his tracks." But Myers also said the hacker probably never would have been noticed if his activities had not affected Roberson's log-on routine. "I don't know why he thought he could change the password," Myers said.
Myers said the hacker would create programs to turn on the library's computer system and use its capabilities until 3 a.m., when the programs would self-destruct.
The hacker's program, he said, would search for information and moderate certain chat groups. Myers said he believes the hacker has not been chatting, but merely collecting information by a sort of remote control.
"While he slept, it was doing his bidding," Myers said.  For about a month, Myers and Roberson battled the hacker by deleting the files he left in the Sharon library system. But the nightly intrusions continued unabated. Now they hope that shutting down the LINUX program and switching off the system's modem will keep him away.
"He had so many accounts and so many files, so much had been manipulated," Roberson marveled.
Myers said the version of the LINUX program the library computer was using was 2 1/2 years old and had not been designed to be particularly secure. "It was designed by hackers," Myers said.  "Not bad hackers, but great hackers."
Now Roberson and Myers are looking ahead. The library is expected to have a temporary Internet setup and e-mail capability within the week, and Roberson said he is asking town officials to help the library upgrade its computer system.
"It'll be back, stronger and more secure," Roberson said.
The temporary shutdown has annoyed some Sharon residents.  Joseph Graham, who lives in Sharon and works in Boston as a security officer, has used the town library computer to access news groups related to his work and to find information on his hobbies.
"Because someone has a little malice in their heart, or hearts, they are inconveniencing everyone," he said.  This story ran on page b1 of the Boston Globe on 02/27/97.
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