[Asterisk-Users] Fwd: [ISN] Voice Over IP Can Be Vulnerable To Hackers, Too

[Michael Welter]

What ever happened to Draper (Capt. Krunch)?

Simon Dorfman wrote:

> On 5/14/04 9:02 PM, "tpanton at attglobal.net" <tpanton at attglobal.net> wrote:
> 
> 
>>Folks seem to have forgotten that
>>the original hackers were hacking
>>"stable and secure" traditional PBXs
>>with captain crunch whistles!
>>
>>Mitnik ran wild through PBX's and mobille networks.
>>
>>Let's work to set up secure VOIP, but
>>don't let anyone kid you about the golden days when telephones were secure!
>>
>>
>>(for extra points, why's the hacker mag called 2600?)
> 
> 
> Extra points please:  because 2600Hertz is the frequency of the tone
> required on the old phone system to get free calls.  There was a whistle
> that came in a captain crunch box that happened to produce this exact
> frequency.  Or something like that.  I'm too young to know this stuff first
> hand... I suppose I could look it up...
> 
> Ah yes, google reveals this:
> http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci211496,00.html
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  2600 is the frequency in hertz (cycles per second) that AT&T formerly put
> as a steady signal on any long-distance telephone line that was not
> currently in use. Prior to widespread use of out-of-band signaling, AT&T
> used in-band signaling, meaning that signals about telephone connections
> were transmitted on the same line as the voice conversations. Since no
> signal at all on a line could indicate a pause in a voice conversation, some
> other way was needed for the phone company to know when a line was free for
> use. So AT&T put a steady 2600 hertz signal on all free lines. Knowing this,
> certain people developed a way to use a whistle or other device to generate
> a 2600 hertz tone on a line that was already in use, making it possible to
> call anywhere in the world on the line without anyone being charged.
> Cracking the phone system became a hobby for some in the mostly under-20 set
> who came to be known as phreaks.
> 
>  In the 1960s, a breakfast cereal named Captain Crunch included a free
> premium: a small whistle that generated a 2600 hertz signal. By dialing a
> number and then blowing the whistle, you could fool the phone company into
> thinking the line was not being used while, in fact, you were now free to
> make a call to any destination in the world.
> 
>  Today, long-distance companies use Signaling System 7, which puts all
> channel signals on a separate signaling channel, making it more difficult to
> break into the phone system.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Simon in New Orleans
> 
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-- 
Michael Welter
Introspect Telephony Corp.
Denver, Colorado
+1 303 674 2575
mike at introspect.com
www.introspect.com