Forum on Risks to the Public in Computers and Related Systems
ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy, Peter G. Neumann, moderator
Volume 5: Issue 38
Thursday, 24 September 1987
Contents
Computer crash causes ATC delay- Dave Horsfall
- Risks TO Computers: Man Shoots Computer!
- Martin Minow
- An Aporkriffle Tail? (Zeke via Martin Minow)
- also noted by others
- The naming of names
- Dave Horsfall
- Aliases, SINs and Taxes
- Robert Aitken
- Risks in the Misuse of Databases
- Cliff Jones
- Sprint Sues Hackers
- Dan Epstein
- Re: Reach out, touch someone
- Bob English
- Info on RISKS (comp.risks)
Computer crash causes ATC delay
Dave Horsfall <munnari!astra.necisa.oz!dave@uunet.UU.NET>
24 Sep 87 14:55:54 +1000 (Thu)
>From "The Australian", Tuesday Sep 22nd:
"Heathrow crash causes delays (headline)
A software problem last week triggered a computer crash at one of the
world's busiest airports, London's Heathrow, causing delays and diversions
during a peak period.
The main computer at London's Air Traffic Control Centre broke down for
more than three hours at 4.51am on Thursday at a peak period for long-haul
arrivals, a Civil Aviation Authority spokesman said.
He insisted there was no danger but said four flights had been diverted to
other European cities. Engineers spent more than three hours repairing the
computer [system]. The computer at West Drayton, just north of Heathrow,
controls all civilian air traffic movement in England and Wales.
The aviation authority spokesman said while the computer was out of
commission, air traffic controllers had switched to a manual system and
aircraft were ordered to keep a greater separation as a safety precaution."
Comment: why no backup computer?
Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU) ACSnet/CSNET: dave@astra.necisa.oz
NEC Information Systems Aust. ARPA: dave%astra.necisa.oz@uunet.uu.net
3rd Floor, 99 Nicholson St JANET: astra.necisa.oz!dave@ukc
St. Leonards 2064 AUSTRALIA UUCP: {enea,hplabs,mcvax,uunet,ukc}!\
TEL: +61 2 438-3544 FAX: 439-7036 munnari!astra.necisa.oz!dave
Risks TO Computers: Man Shoots Computer!
Martin Minow THUNDR::MINOW ML3-5/U26 223-9922 <minow%thundr.DEC@decwrl.dec.com>
23 Sep 87 14:46
From the Echoes-Sentines [?], Somerset County, NJ, Sept. 17, 1987: GILLETTE RESIDENT IS ARRESTED AFTER SHOOTING HIS COMPUTER PASSAIC TWP. -- A Gillette man was arrested at his home last Thursday night after he fired eight bullets at his home computer, according to police. The man, Michael A. Case, 35, of 64 Summit Ave., was arrested shortly after 11 p.m., at his house, when police said they received a report that shots were fired. They arrived at the home to find a .44 Magnum automatic handgun and a shot-up IBM personal computer with a Princeton Graphics System monitor. The monitor screen was blown out by the blasts and its inner workings were visible, Lt. Donald Van Tassel said on Monday. The computer, which had bullet holes in its hardware, was hit four times while four more bullet holes were found in various areas next to the computer, Van Tassel said. "The only thing he (Case) said was that he was mad at his computer so he shot it," Van Tassel said. The handgun, which the lieutenant identified as an Israeli Arms Desert Eagle .44, has "a lot of firepower," he said. "It's a big gun." Case used hollow-point, or dum-dum, bullets, he added. Case was surprised when police arrested him because he didn't think he was breaking the law, Van Tassel said. "He couldn't understand why he couldn't shoot his own computer in his own home," Van Tassel said. Case was charged with recklessly creating a risk and using a firearm against the property of another, because the house is reportedly owned by a relative. The walls were also damaged by the shots, according to police. He was also charged with unlawful posession of a firearm without a permit, and with possession of illegal bullets, police said. In addition, Case was issued to summonses, for discharging a weapon in a restricted area and for discharging a single-projectile weapon, police said. Case spent early Friday morning in the Morris County Jail and was released later in the day on $2,500 bail, according to police. A Municipal Court appearance is scheduled for today, Sept. 17. [Strange. I just heard a speaker talking about RIFLING THROUGH FILES, rather than RIFFLING THROUGH FILES. Prophetic? PGN]
An Aporkriffle Tail? (The Squeal of Porchin'?)
Martin Minow THUNDR::MINOW ML3-5/U26 223-9922 <minow%thundr.DEC@decwrl.dec.com>
23 Sep 87 22:01
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 87 23:41:57 CDT Reply-To: ZEKE@ipfrcvm Sender: BITNIC LINKFAIL List <LINKFAIL@bitnic.bitnet> From: ZEKE@ipfrcvm Subject: IPFRCVM downtime To: LOCAL DISTRIBUTION <LINKFAIL-LOCAL@omnigate.clarkson.edu> IPFRCVM - Iowa Pig Farm Research Center will be down tomorrow from 20:00-23:00 for system maintenance. Since we are an end node, nobody will be affected except for us. It turns out that one of our sows got in through a hole in the wall and had her litter of piglets under our raised floor. The operator on duty got quite a scare when he heard a number of squeals. He assumed we had some massive head crashes and powered down the CPU. Since the squeals continued, we traced it to a corner under our raised floors. We will be off the air tonight so that we can power down again and get the sow and her piglets out from under the floor. Zeke - System Grunt, IPFRC [Ever litter bit counts!]
The naming of names
Dave Horsfall <munnari!astra.necisa.oz!dave@uunet.UU.NET>
22 Sep 87 08:58:18 +1000 (Tue)
I just heard a report on the radio this morning, while struggling from the
foggy depths of sleep. It was one of those filler items they use to take
up the space between adverts...
The National Health Service computer in Great Britain sent out letters
to several hundred men, inviting them to make an appointment with their
gynaecologist for a cervical examination. Apparently, the computer used
their first names as the selection basis, and got confused by "foreign"
sounding names, and "androgynous" names (their words) like "Lesley".
The real kicker is that someone actually responded...
Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU) ACSnet/CSNET: dave@astra.necisa.oz
NEC Information Systems Aust. ARPA: dave%astra.necisa.oz@uunet.uu.net
3rd Floor, 99 Nicholson St JANET: astra.necisa.oz!dave@ukc
St. Leonards 2064 AUSTRALIA UUCP: {enea,hplabs,mcvax,uunet,ukc}!\
TEL: +61 2 438-3544 FAX: 439-7036 munnari!astra.necisa.oz!dave
[I imagine there were a lot of acervic responses from insulted males,
as well as requests for appointments that never got kept. Ann Onymous]
<mcgill-vision.UUCP!uhura.ee.mcgill.ca!rob@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.ca>
To: risks@csl.sri.com
Subject: Aliases, SINs and Taxes
The Montreal Gazette reported an interesting problem over the weekend
(9/19/87). It seems that a Ms. Josee Gagnon, a 19 year old student from
Repentigny (near Montreal), had sent in her tax return and expected to get a
modest refund from a summer income of roughly $4000. Revenue Canada informed
her, however, that she owed them an additional $400 in taxes. The tax
department claimed that this was the tax owed on two additional jobs in
Matane, over 300 miles away. Apparently there is another Josee Gagnon, with
the same birthdate, living in Matane, and the government issued the two of
them the same social insurance number (SIN). A Revenue Canada spokesman says
the mixup is due to an "unlikely coincidence".
The newspaper does not identify the cause of the problem, but it appears
that the Canadian government uses name and birthdate to key social insurance
numbers. Perhaps they should think about including birthplace as well.
Rob Aitken, larry.ee.mcgill.ca!spock!rob
Risks in the Misuse of Databases
Prof Cliff Jones <@NSS.Cs.Ucl.AC.UK,@cs.ucl.ac.uk:cliff@unix.cs.man.ac.uk>
Mon, 21 Sep 87 8:14:18 BST
It might be that my paranoia comes from the title of the article:
"TV cheats uncovered"
The article (in the London Times) runs:
"The Post Office has uncovered the address of every home in Britain
without a television licence as it begins its biggest crackdown
against licence dodgers, it was disclosed yesterday.
An estimated 1.4 million people avoid paying the licence fee each year.
Until now attempts to catch licence dodgers have been hampered by
lack of precise information, but the Post Office has used a
computer system to pinpoint evaders.
A spokesman said: `For the first time the computer now has a record
of every address in Britain without a television licence. There is
no doubt we are closing in on evaders. It may well be a record year
for prosecutions' "
A (simple ?) diff operation between 2 databases and you have it: my name on
a list of potential lawbreakers! (My strange behaviour (not owning a TV)
could be used as evidence for all sorts of other oddities!) I am worried
because I think these databases were not really designed for this purpose.
Cliff Jones, Manchester
Sprint Sues Hackers
Dan Epstein <hpperf1!de@hplabs.HP.COM>
Mon, 21 Sep 87 10:26:14 pdt
I was reading notes, and I came across the following information.
I, however, can not vouch for the accuracy or authenticity.
Dan Epstein, Hewlett-Packard, {hplabs, ucbvax}!hpda!de
Relay-Version: version Notes 2.7.5 (840 Contrib) 87/2/5; site hpcupt1.HP.COM
From: gcm@mtgzz.UUCP (g.c.mccoury)
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 87 20:27:41 GMT
Date-Received: Thu, 17 Sep 87 08:58:32 GMT
Subject: Sprint sues hackers
Message-ID: <3067@mtgzz.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T, Middletown NJ
Path: hpcupt1!hpda!hplabs!sri-unix!husc6!hao!oddjob!gargoyle!ihnp4!homxb!mtuxo!mtgzz!gcm
Newsgroups: att.general,misc.headlines
From Communications Week 8/31/87:
US SPRINT SUES OVER ALLEGED THEFTS
US Sprint Communications Co., Kansas City Mo., late last week
filed federal lawsuits in three states, seeking more than $20
million in damages in connection with an alleged multistate
long distance theft ring. The suits were filed in U.S. district
courts in Kansas City, Seattle and Los Angeles. The thefts
allegedly involved hackers who used computers to identify US
Sprint authorization codes, and individuals and companies that
sold the codes and used them to place unauthorized telephone
calls. Defendants named in the lawsuits are Frederick Deneffe III
and Burton Andrews of the Portland, Ore., area; Paul Lindahl, Ralph
Purdy III and Kenneth Sheridan, all of the San Francisco area; and
Gyan Syal and Karlheinz Mueller of the Los Angeles area. Charges
previously were filed against some of the defendants by federal
authorities. The defendants allegedly did business under various
company names, including Unitel Systems Inc., California Discall Inc.,
and Hello America. US Secret Service agents, with the help of US
Sprint investigators, seized hundreds of illegally obtained US Sprint
authorization codes, along with computer equipment, in a series of
raids in Kansas, California, Washington and Texas. Bernard Bianchino,
the US Sprint attorney heading company actions against such offenders,
said the stolen codes were used to place more than $20 million worth
of long distance calls.
Grover McCoury, ATT IS/Communications Laboratories
Re: Reach out, touch someone (RISKS 5.32)
Bob English <lcc.bob@CS.UCLA.EDU>
Tue, 15 Sep 87 11:49:36 PDT
> [What will it take before inventors of technology consider > implications of their work as part of their responsibilities? MS] Individual action cannot stop these developments; it can at best slow them. Few technological applications are so remarkable that only one person could conceive of them. Even if Dr. Man avoided this line of research, someone else would take it up eventually, someone who either didn't care about, didn't notice, or sought the Big Brother applications of this new technology. This century has seen many successful totalitarian societies, and none of them needed Dr. Man's devices to function. His devices, while they may facilitate or strengthen such regimes, will not create them of themselves. The problem of totalitarianism is a human problem and requires a human solution. This is not to say that scientists have no responsibility in these matters. "Advances" such as Dr. Man's carry with them grave risks, and it is the responsibility of all people who care about such issues to make sure those risks are known, and to do what they can to prevent the risks from becoming realities. Part of that responsibility is to stem the flow of such threats by avoiding the research that develops them. By doing so, we give society extra time to learn about and to deal with these threats. But that will not win the fight. It is only a part of it. --bob--
Report problems with the web pages to the maintainer