[SLi 23/12/94] _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ Welcome _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. Welcome to the X-Mas edition of SLi MAG. This is issue `III'. A 3 or 4 month delay between issues is what we are now working for. Oh, before I forget, READ SLi 1 and 2 if you dont understand some terms used in this. .. INDEX ... ~~~~~ . Welcome .............................. Eon . The Rules ............................ Eon Hacking - A Plan of Attack ........... Eon . Primes ............................... Siggy Credit Cards ......................... CyntaxEra Books 2 Read ......................... CyntaxEra / Eon Gun Control .......................... Thorium Smyte List ........................... SLi . KMnO4 ................................ Thorium Cryptography ......................... Siggy SLi .................................. Eon/CyntaxEra Fun with REDOX ....................... Thorium [In]Famous Quotes .................... Eon Muzik ................................ Thorium Aunty Cyntax'Z nutty noteZ ........... CyntaxEra Movies 2 See ......................... CyntaxEra Fucking Telcos........................ Compiled by Eon Linux ................................ Siggy New Generation Pipe Bomb ............. Thorium Official SLi members ................. CyntaxEra Flame Thrower ........................ Eon Editorz knotez ....................... Eon _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ The _/ \_ Rules _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. Ok here are the rules about this mag. (1) If you are working for a bisness that has some intrest in the information contained in this mag you must send WRITTEN notification that you are in possesion of this to the following adress SLi-Comp PO Box 3030 Onekawa Napier New Zealand Inclose your name your comps name,adress,phone/fax number. If you send a ibm formated 720 disk and a SASE we will send you the next SLi mag . a donation of $5 is asked for however! as YOU can aford it unlike SOME of our readers. (2) This mag may not be edited and no SINGULAR part may be quoted in any way! However the ENTIRE mag may be reproduced a charge of $1000 NZ will be expected to be payed to the following BEFORE any such reprodution. This EXCLUDES electronic reprodution or reprodution of ONE hard copy. SLi-Payment PO Box 3030 Onekawa Napier New Zealand Inclose your name your comps name,adress,phone/fax number. The fee must be payed in CASH. I resurve the right to revoke your rights to reproduce this Mag at ANY time. (3) This Mag may NOT me sold except after express written permission from the chairman of SLi. _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ Hacking - A Plan _/ \_ of Attack _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. Well we've talked about trashing, social enginering, and other stuff, but what if none of it works? Well ..... Call up the company... You> Hello is this [the company name]? Them> Yes, it is. You> Yeah, umm, look. I'm doing a school project about [what the company sells or the service it provides]. Them> Oh well, umm, I'll put you through to our PR people. You> Thanks. [Click bleep ring etc..] You> Hello? Them> [Company Name], Public Relations. How can I help? You> Ahh, yes, hi. I'm doing a school project and was wondering if it's possible to have a look around your company. Them> Well, we are happy to show you around, but you need a group of at least five people. You> Cool, thanks. Them> Glad to help. [Give them the information they want and go see them] Once you're in the company building, have a look around. Study their en- vironment and the people. If there's a computer around, stare at it and you will soon get a demonstration from one of the people standing around. Try to get there password or at least the way their user names are defined on the system. Note down what type of computer and what type of operating system they are using. _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ PRIMES _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. PRIMAL SCREAM: an interesting way to find prime numbers. There are many numbers in the world. Some of them are special; some of them are hard to find. One such class of numbers are known as "prime." A prime number has the quality of being indivisible by any other number but for itself, and one. Thus 5 is an example of a prime number; 15 is not, because it is divisible by both 5 and 3. 15 is instead an example of a "composite" number, one that can be expressed as the product of prime factors. All numbers not prime are composite. On average, there are very many more composite numbers than there are prime. Prime numbers are increasingly hard to find as they themselves increase. There are 25 primes under 100; if you were to choose any number under 100, there'd be a 1 in 4 chance that the number you choose would be prime. But once in the thousands of millions, the likelihood of picking a prime declines to less than 1 in 20. If they are so hard to find, why bother finding them? For one thing, they have very broad applications in computer science, and more generally, information science. In the case of computer science, prime numbers can be used in the construction of hash-functions; ways of indexing data so that they may be stored and retrieved with rapidity. They also have everyday applications in error-checking - cheque and credit card numbers, bar codes - wherever there is scope for data-entry error. Small prime numbers are useful for quickly computing functions that will catch such errors. Perhaps the most arresting applications of prime number theory are in cryptography. Cryptography, by nature, requires functions that are relatively easy to compute in one direction given a key, but are far too hard to reverse without the key, even if we should have available limitless computing resources. Presently, it is difficult to reduce a large number into its prime factors - so, several much relied-upon modern cryptosystems use this to their advantage. Some public-key systems are of the latter. I became seriously interested in cryptography in mid-1990, when I read an article from the then-current Encyclopedia Brittainica, describing in vague conceptual terms the class of German Second World War cipher machines known as Enigma. Much of the conclusions drawn of cryptanalysis of this group of machines remains classified by the British government, at least, directly; puzzling, considering the age of the material - until you consider that present-day cryptography has its roots in that broken ground. In late-1990, I implemented variously Enigma machines in software, and set about determining their weaknesses. Briefly, I felt I was able to demonstrate that, given certain assumptions about the way the machines were wired - attributable to laziness of the part of German cipher clerks - large amounts of plain text were recoverable from the cipher text, even if the key was not nearly correct. I was able to write a simple, heuristic "Enigma-breaker" that given enough time was able to recover enough key fragments to completely recover the entire cipher text. I was to later learn that this function was executed by "bombes," electromechanical symbol-manipulators, built from telephone switching equipment and operated during the War by the Allies. It was after the War that the computational arms-race had begun; the Allies having a head start by designing cryptosystems that relied upon for their security prime number theory. The American M-209 cipher machine was an operational prototype of the type of technology we were to see emerge. From then until now, cryptographic research has tended toward double-edged research; in one direction, to find functions that are difficult to reverse, and in the other, to find faster ways of reversing or just computing existing functions. A fast way of finding prime numbers would go quite a way toward breaking some modern cryptosystems. The editor of this magazine remarked such to me; I was helpless to resist - I was hooked. Within a few days I was working on finding my own method to improve upon the ones I had discovered in the computer science and mathematics text I had access to. The simplest methods I found for finding primes consisted mainly of division; numbers under test were variously divided, the more efficient methods involving less division, since division is computationally expensive. I was most dissatisfied with these methods for two reasons; one, their reliance upon such time-consuming things as division, and two, their lack of an ability to use the considerable storage resources of the modern computer. I was more greatly attracted to sieving methods, particularly the simple Sieve of Erastothenes. Though fast, particularly the latter method required inordinate storage, precluding sieves for any great distance. The method I eventually came up with is a dynamic-extension of the canonical Sieve of Erastothenes - Primal Scream. It involves no arithmetic but for addition, and simple addition at that; having a machine with a coprocessor makes very little difference to the speed of the program. Also, Primal Scream makes the assumption that most computers worth playing with today have quite a few hundred kilobytes of storage, preferably memory, available - so why shouldn't it be used to speed our purpose? Specifically, Primal Scream's memory requirements are in a direct relationship with the number of primes under the square root of the highest number to be considered. For instance, when sieving to one million, the number of nodes allocated in the algorithm's search tree is (the number of primes under the square root of one million, which is one thousand), just 168. This relative conservation improves with a square-root relationship as the upper limit increases, making long sieves with even quite modest computers practical. Memory is dynamically-allocated as needed, and is recycled as much as possible - there are no significant algorithmic restrictions that would preclude its implementation on any common operating system. It makes no assumptions about the speed that memory can be allocated, nor does it place any reliance on the speed that difficult calculations may be made; these two aspects making the only real limit the speed of the processor. As an example, the production version that I have written (which collects quite a few interesting statistics in the course of its run), can exhaust a 32-bit unsigned integer of candidates within a day on a 486DX-40 running Linux. That is, all the primes almost up to 4500 million. By way of example, here is an extract from the log file of one of the later versions: Fri Dec 2 16:49:57 1994 DONE 98.0 completed Fri Dec 2 16:49:57 1994 HIGH highest prime so far 4209067897 Fri Dec 2 16:49:57 1994 LAST 3877719 found since last report Fri Dec 2 16:49:57 1994 HITS 4.514 of those since last report prime Fri Dec 2 16:49:57 1994 TOTL 199405845 found so far Fri Dec 2 16:49:57 1994 AGGR 4.738 of so far prime Fri Dec 2 16:49:57 1994 ITIM 1662.8 seconds since last report Fri Dec 2 16:49:57 1994 IPPS 2332.0 primes per second since last report Fri Dec 2 16:49:57 1994 TTIM 80449.3 seconds so far Fri Dec 2 16:49:57 1994 TPPS 2478.7 primes per second so far Fri Dec 2 16:49:57 1994 DUMP dumping sieve at 4209067905 Fri Dec 2 16:49:58 1994 FLAT 99.7 sieve structure optimality Note particularly the "primes per second value;" this does not decline much in the course of most long sieves - meaning that the number of numbers considered per second does not decrease significantly either. Primal Scream's runtime is thus quite stable and has a very strong linear component. Primal Scream may not be the fastest, nor the best, but I believe the implementation to be unique and my approach to be interesting. I would be happy to talk with anyone else interested in the program or in its obvious applications - I will consider distributing it to anyone who should ask, and naturally any comments are welcome, though of course the algorithm itself is copyrighted by me - unless it has as I suspect it has been innumerably reinvented. Please direct your inquiries to: Siggy of SLi PO Box 3030 Onekawa Napier New Zealand inet: josh@tutor.co.nz Enjoy your Christmas; I know I will. - "Siggy." _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ Credit _/ \_ Cards _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. CaRDz ===== Okay, I noticed that we received a few complaints about the carding and stuff so I thought I'd go about writing a more detailed article for those of whom aren't yet experienced enough as of late. Firstly, I'd like to say - this is for INFORMATIONAL purposes ONLY and I, nor any part of Southern Lights inc. takes ANY responsibility for anything which may happen in conjunction with you using this information for anything other than what it was designed for. For starters - checking back on the past couple of issues - we didn't quite explain what to do once you had possession of the cards you may have acquired, ie. we never explained in detail what you COULD do. ... hopefully, this may be of interest to you. ****** Okay, you've gone trashing, used your social-engineering skills or found a card just sitting somewhere (I'd feel sorry for the poor (hehehe, if you're reading this, the person will definitely become poor in no time if I explain it right - I'm not saying that you SHOULD use the card... It's all up to you! =) ) bugger who the card belongs to .. ;) ) Step One: Find a card-phone and say to the operator that you'd like to place a credit card call ; to make sure the card works. Step Two: Give the operator the number of the local Pizza Hut rest- aurant - I, personally, prefer Pizza Hut as there aren't too many pizza parlors out in the Wellington region which accept credit cards over the phone without seeing the piece of plastic when the pizzas arrive (well, sometimes they'll ask to see the card, but the pizza deliverers get paid for how long it takes for the consumer to receive the pizza/s so you probably wont need to worry about it). Step Three: After quoting the Pizza Hut number, the operator will ask for the card number and expiry date. Tell him/her the card type (if the card starts with: 3 - American Express (Amex), 4 - Visa, 5 - MasterCard and 6 - Discover.) [NB: This can be done with any number, whatsoever, not only just Pizza Hut, so take y'pick.] Step Four: Okay, you're listening to the ringing tone as your call to Pizza Hut is being placed.. One of the Pizza Hut employees picks up the telephone. Conversation w/ employee should go SOMETHING like this: THEM: Hi, Pizza Hut. YOU: Hi, I was wondering whether you do Pizza Deliveries. [Knowing full well they do - you gotta appear to be at least a little ignorant (not too ignorant tho', mind you)..] THEM: Where are you wanting the pizzas to be delivered to? YOU: Karori thanks. [or wherever you're planning on picking 'em up from.] THEM: Yup, we deliver there - just gotta check because we can't deliver to some places. YOU: Yeah, I know what ya mean. THEM: Uh, how are you paying for your order? YOU: Credit card okay? THEM: Yup, that's fine. What type of credit card? YOU: Visa. (or Mastercard, American Express.. etc) THEM: Yup, we take Visas. What's your card number and expiration date? YOU: 4732-7492-7122-9237. Expiration date, 09/95. [That's not a valid number (unless I'm extremely lucky, and that's definatly one thing I'm not...) so you'll have to find one y'self.] THEM: Now, what's the name of the cardholder? YOU: [Some fake name which doesn't sound too unbelievable - Joe Bloggs isn't ranked amongst the best ones to use.] THEM: Okay, thanks. What would you like to order? YOU: [Make your order - Don't forget to be polite and friendly.. =) Oh, and don't OVERSPEND! Be realistic.] THEM: Now, what address would you like the pizzas to be sent to? YOU: [Give them some address which isn't too far away - walkwise - but not too close or, if someone knows what you do, you may be picked out (or up, depending on the circumstances. ;) ). Also, if possible, make it somewhere with a long drive so you can just wait at the bottom of the drive so not to "cause the pizza deliverer any problems".] THEM: Okay, is there any time you'd prefer us dropping it in, other- wise we'll be there in about 30 minutes. YOU: [If you live a distance from your drop site, or if your tele- phone is a distance from the drop site (depending on where you are at the time) then it's advisable to allow yourself time to get there, but once you've got the pizzas, get the hell outta there!] THEM: Okay, we'll be right there. YOU: Thanks. [You gotta be polite! ;)] Step Five: Now that you've made the call, you're about halfway there - all ya gotta do now is the hardest part of it all..... Waiting for the pizzas to arrive to the drop site. Now, it's not a good idea to hover around the drop site looking suspicious as it would be likely that the neighbors will get a bit anxious as to what you're actually doing there - especially if the house is owned by an elderly couple and there are a bunch of people who aren't usually there hangin' about. Step Six: Okay, you see the pizza delivery car drive up - hopefully you have managed to get that far. The likelyhood of a cops car comin' around to check up on it is pretty dim, although, you shouldn't always think that it's never going to happen, or maybe it just might. The pizza deliverer jumps out and asks you if you're, say, Michael Jones (The name you gave the person who answered your call earlier). At this point, it's advisable, if you're the one who was planning on signing for it, you say some- thing along the lines of a "yes". The person delivering the pizzas should hand you a slip of paper and ask you to sign your name next to the X. You sign the paper and take off with the pizzas and make your way up this long drive - maybe stay and chat for a bit if you really want to, just don't make yourself look suspicious. Get the hell out of there as soon as the pizza delivery car is out of sight. Step Seven: Eat pizza. (Not too hard, is it?) ... oh, and destroy the docket - y'never know when/if the copz come snooping.. =) Any queries/questions - you know where to send it... =) *********** _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ Books _/ \_ 2 _/ \_ Read _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. Oh no! Yet MORE books/mags to read!! The Wasp Factory ----------- Iaan Banks Cobra, Cobra Bargin, Cobra Strike ----------- Timothy Zahn Islands in the Net ----------- Bruce Sterling Queen of Angels ----------- Greg Bear Neuromancer ----------- William Gibson Max Headroom ----------- Steve Roberts Earth ----------- ??? The Amiga ROM Kernal Manuals ----------- Commodore =) [S.P.O.T (excuse the pun) the Amiga user.. ;)] _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ Gun Control _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Gun Control By "Susej, son of Lucifer", with bits by "Thorium". A member of SLi has had a few problems with the law lately (who hasn't? hehe) but this is a little different. It makes for a good story, so why don't ya take a read... It all started during Calculus a long time ago... About 6 months anyway. Well, there's this real lame shit who is in the same class as this SLi member, and so the SLi member and his mates hassled the crap out of this lamer (whose sexuality is questionable). Well, one time hassles as usual, the transcript follows. We shall call the lamer "Herbert" and the member "Thorium"... < General Hassles > Herbert: "Ya wanna step outside for five minutes then?" (trying to be tough) Thorium: "What, so you can shove your dick up my arse?" Herbert: "No, so I can shove my fist up your arse!" (again trying to be tough) Thorium, to whole class: "Herbert just said he wants to shove his fist up my arse!!! Faggot Alert!" < Herbert then looks real stupid and lame, whole class laughs at him etc. Teacher walks back in, then leaves again 5 mins later. > < General Hassles > Herbert: "One more comment about me being a homo and I'll fucking deal to you!" (still trying to be tough) Thorium: "Whatever, faggot." Herbert: "O.k. then, in the car park after school" < More General Hassles, class ends without much more of interest > < In the carpark > Thorium: "Hey, Faggot! You forgetting something?" Herbert: "Oh, I'd like to go somewhere more private..." (lamely looking to get out of it) < Herbert gets into his car and drives off > Now Thorium and his friend have a most excellent idea! Thorium's brother has a totally real looking _FAKE_ UZI replica, which they decide to go home and get, then wait outside Herb's place. They wait in the car for about five minutes then Herbert arrives, with one of his lameshit friends in his car, and 2 (fairly fat) girls (about 2 years younger than Herb and his mate). < Herbert sees Thorium and his mate in their car, gets out and starts walking over tough like > < Thorium gets out of car with UZI behind him > Thorium: "You want it Herb" Herbert: "Yup!" (fists across his chest, looking tough to impress these slags) < Thorium pulls out the UZI, extends the stock and cocks it, which looks really excellently real > Thorium: "Well fucking come and get it then!!!" Herbert: "...eeehehnn..." (Really funny high-pitched sound) Thorium: "C'mon, you wanted a fight!" < now here comes the classic all-time stupid thing to say to a psychopath with a gun > Herbert: "Well shoot me then" Thorium: "I won't shoot you unless it's in self defense. I get less time that way" Herbert: "." Thorium: "Well, if you're not man enough to fight, don't ask for it faggot." < Thorium gets into the car with his friend, drive off. NB: One of these fat chicks made the second worst comment to a psychopath with a gun: "Dick" > Another day goes past, Herbert comes to school in the morning after Thorium and his mate had just told the whole class about the previous day's happenings. Herbert walks into class, the whole class (well about 3/4 of them) all simultaneously say "Dit Dit Dit Dit" - Herbert looks a complete Herbert. This appeared to be the end of this until that Friday night (3 days later) when mister policeman turns up on Thorium's doorstep with a search warrant. "Humm.." thinks Thorium - is this for phreaking, hacking, or bomb making? Thorium sees Mr. Policeman while he is talking to Thorium's (VERY surprised) mother - Thorium splits for a few mins and stashes all his gear and backups, then starts the HPA partition of his HDD on formatting. Then goes back... Mr Policeman then totally surprises Thorium when he shows him a "search and seizure" notice for an "UZI semi or fully automatic pistol". A train of thought goes very quickly through Thoriums mind, something like "One of the neighbors saw it? Naah, no-one did. He can't have narked. Could he? Is he lame enough? Fuckwit, he probably is!" Of course Mr. Policeman knows what he's looking for, so there's no point in bullshit, besides which Thorium's mother has already said it's his brothers gun. Thorium goes and gets it, hands it over. Mr. Policeman tells Thorium to come down to the police station the next morning (it could be worse - Mr. Policeman could have arrested Thorium then and there...) Thorium gets a huge massive lecture from his old lady, the goes back to his room and finds that OH SHIT it was formatting! Aaah well, good job those backups were only about 2 weeks old... Some time early the next morning recovery is complete... Meanwhile Thorium has to explain the fact that big brother's UZI just walked out the door with a policeman attached when big brother gets home... The next morning (Saturday) Thorium goes down to the station, and has a videotaped interview with Mr. Policeman. This takes about an hour of otherwise perfectly good hacking time. Apparently according to New Zealand law, a firearm is ANY OBJECT WHICH CAN FIRE, OR CAN BE MADE TO FIRE THROUGH THE ADDITION, REMOVAL OR FIXING OF PARTS, AND BULLET, MISSILE OR PROJECTILE - which means a pound of butter could be a firearm - all you have to do is add the guts of a pistol... Thorium gets home again (to another lecture etc). Things are fine for the rest of the weekend... On Monday Thorium tells quite a few people about Herbert calling the cops on a FAKE gun in a REAL SMALL argument... Herb comes to school, and most people point out to him what a fuckwit he is. Anyway, as yet there has been no further action (the police still have the UZI replica) but the case has been handed up to Mr. Policemans "Superiours" and Thorium will eventually be sent a summons or whatever. Herbert is thought of as even more of a fuckwit than usual. That's about it. As a result of this: Thorium will probably never be able to own a firearm. Not a problem however, as he regularly makes his own guns and bombs in preparation for when "They" come (naah, only for fun really...). He will also probably end up with a few hundred hours community service, and if he ever gets busted (even slightly) for HPA stuff, then he will probably be classed as a repeat offender and go to prison for a stay at "Her Majesty's Pleasure". The morals of this are: 1) The police get almost as upset about fake guns as real ones, stupid as it may seem. 2) Never assume a fuckwit won't go to the police even for a small illegality. He thought it'd get Thorium back, but all it did is make Herbert look even more of a fuckwit than usual. However, Thorium will now probably have to do community service and pay fines, none of which help Herbert, but certainly fuck Thorium right off. [Editors Note: "Herbert" in this article is actually "Jason Collins" who's vital info will be disclosed (I requested it from Thorium) so you may do as you wish with it. Thorium consents to all persons hassling Herbert.] _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ Smyte List _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. Here it is again. Another list of people that have fucked SLi off: Name Info Reason ---------------------+-------------------------+----------------------- Jason Collins +64-6-844-4848 Refer: "Gun Control" 7 Lowther Place Taradale Napier NEW ZEALAND [Note: We apologize for the lack of people on the hit list in this issue as not too many people have got in our way lately... =) ] _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ KMnO4 _/ \_ Starters _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. Potassium Permanginate Starters: Most anarchists know the Potassium Permanginate lighter, but for those who don't, here it is: Potassium Permanginate (Condyes Chrystals) are a strong oxidising agent, and when mixed with glycerine (normal cooking glycerine is suitable) it will spontaneously combust. Depending on the ambient temperature and the ratios, there may be a delay of a couple of seconds to several minutes before combustion occurs. If a _SMALL_ amount of water is mixed with the glycerine, the time will increase. This way you can almost "set" a specified time for detonation of any other flammable substance (or wick or whatever). To speed up the reaction, change the temperature (a little change does a _LOT_ - what takes 5 secs in summer can take a minute in winter - so, you can make a LONG time delayed mix, then put this somewhere it will heat up at a given time (like to body temp or a bit above) then this will set it off. VERY handy! Potassium Permanginate is available from most chemical supply companies, and is not a restricted substance in New Zealand, but if asked what you want it for say "REDOX (ree-dox) Titrations" - it might help to give the name of a local high-school or university . Glycerine is available from almost all supermarkets as "Cooking Glycerine" and is used in baking. _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ Cryptogrography _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. CRYPTOGRAPHY: A terribly brief introduction. There are quite a few ways of notating information so that its meaning is not immediately obvious. Some of the more interesting ways require altering surprisingly few aspects of the information to be described. I will describe one simple method I used for the first time in the fourth-form at College. I experimented with the two main classes of substitution ciphers, both monoalphabetic and polyalphabetic. Monoalphabetic ciphers are functions in which each symbol in the plaintext is replaced with only one other cipher equivalent; "a" might always encipher to "z," for instance. Polyalphabetic ciphers can be quite a bit more complex - "a" might encipher to any other symbol depending on your arbitrary method. The most well-known monoalphabetic substitution cipher is called the "Caesar" cipher. Its first use has been connected to the Roman Empire. In this cipher, each letter of the alphabet is shifted along an arbitrary distance. For instance, you might decide to pick the letter following your plaintext one by three places - you would write "a" as "d," for example, when enciphering. When deciphering, you would write an "a" when you saw a "d" in the ciphertext. Such ciphers are regarded today as childish and uninteresting. However, combined with some transposition, they can be made quite fun to play with. In the cipher we used, which I believe was suggested by a friend of mine (and I suspect the cipher was not originally from him), we did just monoalphabetic substitution on vowels. So if we saw an "a," or an "e," for instance, we'd write them down as "b," or "f," respectively. All the other letters we left unchanged. However, we introduced a transposition twist; spaces between words were replaced by the unenciphered form of the last vowel used. Say the last vowel we enciphered was an "a," which we would've written as a "b." The space between that word and the next we would've then replaced with an "a." Throughout the ciphertext, we scattered spaces at random, since spaces no longer had any significance. So, wherever there is a vowel in ciphertext, there is really a space, and spaces as written in the ciphertext have absolutely no meaning whatsoever. An example, then. Take the plaintext, "My name is Siggy." Here's the enciphered version: Myan bmfejs iSjgg y. My n ame is Sigg y. Notice how the random spacing serves to confuse the issue. Note also how I have replaced every space with the vowel last used; for the first space, since I had not yet enciphered a vowel, I just arbitrarily picked an "a." With only a little practice this cipher can be read and written as fluently as normal English. There is point of particular importance, in writing a program to implement this cipher; it is impossible to say, without knowing the correct deciphered version of a word, whether a letter following a vowel is a vowel or really only the letter as it appears. For instance, a program has no easy way of telling whether the "j" in "Sjggy" is really an "i," or if it is really just a "j." To the human eye the correct translation is obvious in context, anyway. In closing, I should say that this sort of cipher really drives teachers and people with IQs less than room temperature up the wall with alacrity. Perhaps in another issue I will discuss other pieces of cryptography that are both interesting and simple - I suppose this will really depend on how strongly the world in general dislikes my articles, hint, hint. Hbvfef vn,u bndad pn'to brf bkab nythjn giJIw pvln't. - "Siggy." [CE: Wow, even _I_ managed to figure out the last sentence after reading the article, so I can't see how anyone else wouldn't be able to after a little read.. =)] _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ S L i _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. What is SLi? Well, SLi stands for Southern Lights incorporated. We are a Hack/Phreak/Anarchy (H/P/A) group. Nick : [Members Nick] Location : [Where the Member is] Personal Code of Ethics : [Their Ethics] Outlook on Life : [Outlook on Life] Goals : [Personal Goals] Plans : [Personal Plans] Position in Group : [READ BELOW] History of their H/P/A Life : [Short H/P/A History] Other Nicks : [Other Nicks Member has] [Position in group: Although SLi has no REAL group positions, some members are special in some way.] ------------------- Nick : Eon Location : Wellington, NZ Personal Code of Ethics : I believe EVERYONE has rights and that as long as another person does not break someone else rights anything is okay. Outlook on Life : Lets make sure people remember me. Goals : Live to see the year 2001 and look after my gf (girlfriend). Plans : Party, make a mess of those that stand in my way. Position in Group : Founding member and head of SLi. History of their H/P/A Life : Started H/P/A in 1990, done a few hacks, some phreaking and nearly burned down my house with /A stuff. :) Other nicks : Switch Blade, Aztex, R-A-D --------- Nick : CyntaxEra Location : Wellington, NZ Personal Code of Ethics : I will stand up for anyone/anything who can't fend for themselves, depending on the circum- stances. I can't STAND demoralization of ANYone...not even of my worst enemies. Well, sometimes anyway.... ;) I don't like to see discrimination, and will do all that I can to decrease the cases. =) Outlook on Life : Maybe I'm manic-depressive [ED: maybe she's just manic] nahhh... hmmm, well, maybe... sometimes people think I'm too optimistic... other times they keep sayin' I'm too pessimistic.. I wish they'd make up their minds.. =) Would like to see world peace, but that's pretty much impossible.. oh well.. I can still wish.. Goals : Argh! I hate questions like this.. uh, I guess... to be success- ful, like everyone else - I just haven't decided on what I want to be successful at.. oh well.. maybe I'll figure that out for next years issue... (Just a word of warning: check out my col- umn - it might end up in there .. perhaps... All these in- decisions.. I guess I'll have to figure 'em out, huh?) ... oh, and I'm gonna try not to get hit by parked cars..... =) Plans : I plan not to die from a nuclear explosion tomorrow...or the next day for that matter.. nah, seriously.. (well, yeah.. I don't want to die from the nukes, but that's not the point.....) Seriously, I guess I just want to live a nice, boring life.. =) ... with SEX, parties, drugs, fast cars, money..... ;) Position in Group : Co-Chairperson, Peace-Maker/Trouble-Maker, to give a female perspective on different topics... can't be sexist now, can we? That would be discrimination.. History of their H/P/A Life : Hmmmm.... I've only been around a couple of years, but that's long enough to see the sights and taste the tastes of life in the H/P scene.. I've hacked, phreaked and blown things up... what more do you want? Other Nicks : Mad Max, Eternity ------------ Nick : BT Location : Planet Tatou, NZ Personal Code of Ethics : My word is final! but everthing else is worth crap! Outlook on Life : Sex, Drugs, Rock'in roll not nesiclary in that order Goals : CNE, ECNE, Lotsa dosh! Plans : Be a rich dude when I die and always party hard! Position in Group : Retired Chairperson , but still ready to fight for SLi History of their H/P/A Life : Was around when Eon was, and started H/P/A with him. Helped him nearly blow up his house, got busted with him while trashing. Me and Eon have looked after one another and watched each others back. Other Nicks : [This information is unavailable at this time] -------------- Nick : Thorium Location : Hawkes-Bay Personal Code of Ethics : No Ethics. Outlook on Life : Death is inevitable. So have fun! Goals : To destroy the world (Only Kidding... Or am I?) Plans : See above Position in group : Head of HB cell of SLi History of their H/P/A Life : Pulled a UZI on someone Hacked , Phreaked and done a lot of Anarchy Other Nicks : Not many worth mentioning --------------- Nick : Digital Omega Location : Wellington, NZ Personal Code of Ethics : Dont watch your back till you fucked me off Outlook on Life : Why get bored - PARTY! Goals : Live for the moment Plans : Make friends not enemies and destory the latter Position in Group : H/P History of their H/P/A Life:[This information is unavailable at this time] Other Nicks : [This information is unavailable at this time] ----------- Nick : Siggy Location : Wellington, NZ Personal Code of Ethics : Pain looks good on other people that what they're for. Outlook on Life : Chlor-promazine really sucks. Goals : To find a brand of dye that doesn't wash out of my hair; To learn to play any other chord but G on the guitar. Plans : To get to work on time today. To figure out how to beat anyone at air hockey. [ED: Cheat??] Position in Group : Eon's Technical advisor. History of their H/P/A Life : "That information is not available" Other Nicks : [This information is unavailable at this time] [ED: Can we see a patern evolving here? You think he don't want you to know what he has done/who he is? :)] ------------ Nick : Grasshopper Location : Wellington, NZ Personal Code of Ethics : Dont piss people off they will return the favor than have fun Outlook on Life : life is for living and having heaps of fun not a slave to the system Goals : To do as little work as possable and get the best result Plans : Cause little troubble to people but have fun and to live a fucking long time Position in Group : Runs support BBS at the moment History of their H/P/A Life : Blown to many things up ? Other Nicks : [This information is unavailable at this time] --------- Nick : Cardinal Location : Wellington NZ Personal Code of Ethics : One goes down. Not all go down. Outlook on Life : Sucks Goals : none Plans : N/A Position in Group : Coda History of their H/P/A Life : Was a key member of SLi when we first started, Speciality - Coading, BBS nuking asshole if you piss me off Other Nicks : S-A-M ---------- Nick : Gwythion Location : Wellington, NZ Personal Code of Ethics : Putting YOURSELF first. You only have x amount of years to get it right. Outlook on Life : Pessimist. But believes anything is possible. Motto: "Watch your back." Motto2: "Bad to worse, worse to worst." Goals : To overshadow Ludwig van Beethoven, and be remembered for it. Plans : To become someone. Position in Group : Phreak History of their H/P/A Life : Cant bother typping it Other Nicks : N/A ---------- So there's an indepth look at the people in SLi. We have only a few members because we only use the best, and my people are that (or close to to it). They are all friends and comrades. We fight for freedom, and the right to live how we want. We fight for information and we fight against corps that think they can control us.... or anyone. _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ Fun with _/ \_ REDOX _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. Things to do with Redox Bombs: Thorium As a follow up to my article in the last mag on "Redoxon Bombs" (a type of fairly safe pipebomb for those who missed it), here is a number of fun uses I have put them to: 1) Exhaust poppers. The Redoxon Tubes are just the right size to put down someones exhaust with some space for the gas to escape. So, here's a fun activity: Read the article on Potassium Permanginate Starters. Right, now you know how to get something to go off when it gets hot. All you have to do it sit the Redoxon Bomb inside the exhaust tube of your opponents car, and place a small amount of your "Infinate Time" Pot. Permanginate mix over the wick. When you opponents car is going for a while it will go off, and either scare the hell out of them, or split the exhaust pipe open! Note - My friends and I tried this on an old car that a mate was taking to the wreckers, and the bomb split the exhaust, but I think this was only because it was quite old and rusty. You may wish to do similar stuff with bigger bombs, it's up to you. 2) Bomb Fishing. The Redoxon Bombs are made of metal and plastic, and therefore are pretty waterproof, except for the small hole for the wick. The wick itself is the wick off some old firework, I find those REAL cheap mini-skyrocket wicks best. The green wick from most Chinese fireworks will actually burn underwater. So, get a length of this wick (About 5cm is in the mini skyrockets) and use this. Put vasaline, wax or whatever over the hole. Now go to your favorite fishing spot (Ponds in Public Parks are GREAT) and light it and chuck it in. BOOM. SPLASH. You have just send a huge shockwave through the water. Like in a depthcharge, the air inside anything underwater is compressed and expands with the shock, and ruptures weak containers. Fish have oxygen in their blood, as well as many soft body parts, so after about 2 minutes, they all start floating to the surface on their backs (Dead of course). Now, if you feel like it you can collect your catch, or just wait till some mother and kid go to feed 'em! "Mummy, why are all the fish upside down?" A group of my friends and I got into the local paper with this trick by doing all the fish ponds in a park in one night. The article said they thought it was pollution... HEHEHEHE... _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ [In]Famous _/ \_ Quotes _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. Here are some MORE quotes from people we have bumped into at some stage: "You have taught me more this year ----------------- My Computer Teacher than I have taught you (I think)." - He was Cool. Helllp ive fallen down and ----------------- Brain Dead ? I cant get up "It has been an interesting year. ----------------- My other Computer I hope you get a positive Teacher - He was direction for yourself." Weird but Cool "Alcohol and firearms don't mix. ----------------- Thorium They compliment each other!" "Fuck....FUCK..........FUCK!!!!" ----------------- BT and I just found the log of our hacks. "Pain looks good on other people; ----------------- Siggy thats what it's for." "I wonder if you can get nailed for ----------------- Thorium being 'under the influence' of computers..." what would john lennon be doing ----------------- Siggy if her were alife right now?? Calwing like crazy at the lid of his coffin...... _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ Muzik _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. How to Rip Off Music Stores - Thorium Sick of paying $20 for a tape??? Feel like just copying it, but find that the copy isn't even close in quality? Try this, but not too often: Got to your music shop and buy that tape you want. (You can afford CDs? well you can afford to pay.) Since you can't do this too often, it would be a good idea to buy a double or tripple album and do this to it. Also, for reasons that become clear below, make sure you and a friend both want it. You each pay half of the cost of the tape and a blank of the same length - poor quality, of course... Now buy a blank tape of the same length, and copy side A of your tape. Wait till the source has fully unwound. Now cut the destination tape there. Undo the destination tape, and chuck out any remaining tape. Now open the SOURCE tape, and take it off it's spool, and put it aside. Open the spool of the destination tape and attach this to the original tape end. Now attach the original spool to the copied tape. You have now swapped 1 spool, and cut the copied tape to the correct length. Record side B and then swap spools as described above. Now swap the COPIED tape with ORIGINAL spools into the ORIGINAL case and the ORIGINAL tape with COPIED spools into the COPIED case. Do them both up again. Now take the "original" tape back to the shop as complain that the tape has a lot of hiss. The will play it and find that there is, because all copies have this. Ask for a replacement copy, which you first "Test" to see if it is different, which it is. Take the replacement copy home, and keep it. Give the "copy" which is actually the original MEDIA to your friend, since you did all the hard work. Don't do this too often because they may catch on. However it is most effective if a group of you that all want the same tape pair off and do it (with a reasonable amount of time between so as not to arouse suspicion). That way the store thinks it's a semi-dud batch... Have fun, and half-price tapes! _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ Aunty Cyntax'Z _/ \_ nutty notes _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. Hey there yet again! Yup, you guessed it..... time for me to spill my guts to you all - gotta talk to someone, so it may as well be EVERYONE... ;) This magazine has been a bit of a rush, but, as per usual, it doesn't take me long to spill my life story out onto a computer - what is there to say? =) I don't think I'll include my big 'hi's coz I'll most prolly miss out on some people, and I wouldn't want that now, would I? =) Okay... what's happened lately that's worth talking about... hmm.. not a lot really.. Hmm, from word through the grapevine, it appears that Actrix has had a bit of a hacker problem as of late.. well, maybe I should rephrase that to, "Actrix's hacker problem seems to be rising rapidly".. =) Now, it seems, "Mr SysOp" is using 'Crack', or some form of password cracker to check up on any any accounts which have easily guessable passwords, and take the account down until the user telephones him and changes the password to some- thing less guessable. Well, that's what I've heard anyway. Telecom has been busy over the past few months, and we, SLi, have had a few run-ins with them - not any which have prompted us to pay any fine, or such, but they've been interesting. A few members have had a few MORE run-ins than others, but that's a different story. It seems that Telecom has been stocking up li'l things they've had the pleasure of finding out - ie. names, numbers, events.. etc.. - and had only been using those to their advantage over the past few months. One of the main reasons we haven't got around to doing much in the phreaking scene (other than carding 'n' stuff) as of late. They've managed to figure out that there have been a few people trashing in their bins over the past year or so, and have supposedly done something to change that - from what I hear, they've removed the bins altogether... instead of simply chaining and locking them. But, then again, I haven't been there in a while, so I might go find out for m'self. Wait just a minute... I feel a deep and meaningful thought come on... Hmm, maybe I should change this to being the 'Gossip Column'... okay.. so I never said it was important, or intellegent, just deep and meaningful.. =) Hmm, well, other than all that, there really isn't all that much going on of any interest.. well, there isn't anything which I can say which wont get me into loads of trouble, so I guess I'd better signout... =) *** Signoff: CyntaxEra (Error 0) ***VMS**IRC**1.7.6******(INS)**/HELP**CyntaxEra**#phreak***********19:03** /quit Error 0 bash$ logout _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ Movies _/ \_ to _/ \_ See _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. Here is a list of movies worth seing! Tron Max Headroom Cherry 2000 Natural Born Killers Sneakers - Comedy ;) Hellraiser I,II and III Nightmare on Elm Street I-VI War Games - Comedy =( Blade Runner The Omen series Fortress Meet The Feebles _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ Fucking _/ \_ Telco's _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. Fucking telcos bust yet another young and innocent man here is a letter from the prick trying to nail the guy. November 16, 1994 Corbin T Volluz, Prosecutor Skagit County Prosecuting Attorney's Office Courthouse Annex 605 South 3rd Street Mount Vernon, WA 98273 Re: [REMOVED] Mr. [REMOVED] AT&T respectfully requests your consideration of the following issues related to the criminal acts committed by [REMOVED]. AT&T and its customers are among the many victims of [REMOVED]. We have obtained copies of physical evidence and computer files seized during his arrest. A preliminary review of the material has revealed extensive lists of contraband (e.g. Visa, Master Card, Calling Card account numbers and associated proprietary customer information) as well as additional details of unlawful acts committed by [REMOVED]. Considering the sheer volume of material, it may take several weeks to conduct a thorough examination. It is anticipated that other victims and losses will be identified and additional criminal charges filed. Accurate quantification of losses can only be conducted at the completion of the review. A detailed report should be read by Friday, December 16, 1994. In the interim, it is critical that no handwritten files, notes, computer equipment (hardware, software, peripherals, etc...) be returned to [REMOVED]. The computer was the "weapon" that allowed [REMOVED] to commit the crime. Returning any or all of the above-referenced items could be likened to returning a handgun to a convicted armed robber. In light of the damages estimated to be in excess of $40,000 it may be appropirate to consider [REMOVED] computer assets as partial restitution. I welcome your comments and suggestions regarding this matter. Please call me at [REMOVED]. Respectfully, Matt Connolly Investigations Manager cc: Doug Liddle, Detective - Anacortes P.D. Ron Schag, AT&T Corporate Security [Dont that just make you vomit !!!!] Now for more laughter here is a news-paper artical. POLICE PULL PLUG ON PHONE SCHEME [FRONT PAGE] When scott policeman Edward Pivick and Robert Zimmerman arrived on the scene, the trail was still warm and talking. Responding to a womans call about voices in the woods near her home, the officers discovered 100 feet of cable leading into the woods from an open telephone junction box outside her apartment building. At the other end of the cable, they found a metal folding chair and a phone, chattering with what sounded like four teenagers talking. Since that discovery Aug. 6 police and Bell Atlantic security officials have been trying to find out who used the illegal tap in to make hours long conference calls to people around the United States and the world and bill them to Scott residents' private lines. In a month or two, participants racked ypu more than 60 hours and thousands of dollars worth of calls to New Zealand, Israel, Germany, Florida, New Jersey, Texas and Colorado. Bell Atlantic workers have sealed and buried the junction box at the 270-unit Kings Grant Condominiums off Cochran Road and plan to bury another one. The Boxes usually stand about 3 feet above the ground and join undergrond phones lines. Police have yet to make any arrests. "At one point, I heard one of the males say, "The cops came, but I don't think they saw me,'" said Povirk, who listened to the Aug. 6 conversation for about 20 minutes. Povick said he beleives the person who broke into the box and made the illegal tap-in ran home after seeing patrolmen in the area. Since then, Bell Atlantic and AT&T security officials have been matching condominuim residents' phone bills against phone records to try to find where the calls went. One resident's phone bill last month was more than $4,000. On it was a 293 minute call to New Zealand costing $306 and a 110 minute call to Germany costing $86. So far, only one local number has been identified as a conference call participant. That number is assigned to a residence in Ross that has several phone lines and a computer. No one there has been charged, but the calls could constitute a felony because they were valued at more than $2,000. Stephen Capp, senior investigator for Bell Atlantic Security in Pittsburgh, said the investigation would continue. "We'll exhaust every possibility. We're not giving up," Capp said yesterday. [Ed's Note ^ra^ ???] The Scott case is more sophisticated than most cases of phone service theft, Capp said. "They opened up the box and used something like alligator clips to clip onto the phone [line] itself." Capp said all calls were made during the middle of the night, when most people are asleep and their phones are not in use. He said Bell Atlantic had received several complaints from people in the Kings Grant Area about erroneous phone charges prior to Aug. 6. He said calls were placed in July and possibly June. Kevin Montaque of AT&T corporate security in Bridgewater, N.J., said AT&T routinely monitors its lines for unusual activity and had picked up excessive usuage on at least two Kings Grant residents, including the woman who reported the voices. Though Capp said no reports of phone fraud had been reported since Aug 6, Argall Management Inc., which operates the condominiums, said a resident yesterday reported receiving a bill for calls to 900 number sex lines. Capp said some of the conference calls could have been to 900 numbers but most were not. [You see fucking telcos just wont learn they think beige boxing is sofistikated ] Well here is SLi's first night on TV all those years ago hope you have a laugh i did .... [News Presentor] A new computer service in Wellington is causing considrable consern, the sevice provides instions on terrisum and sabotage tequneques some of it taken from a book banned by the indecent publications tribunal david jamerson reports... [Dave] This would be the last place many would expect to find advice on terrist tequneques but its here , in homes across the country computer operators are talking to eachother via buliten bords they are programs that allow users to exchange information and some of the information on this new buliten board has computer users here worried scared of reprisals they wanted to remain anonimous. [Mike] I could start utilising this information tomorrow if i wish yes so its very serious [Dave] Well we made a printout of some of the information thats avalible on this buliten board now heres an example of the sort of stuff you can find out for example building a flame thrower umm how to make a working letter bomb firebombs , napalm , matchhead bomb , fuse ignition fire bomb , how to make a phone tap and how to make tear gas the list just goes on and on... How to knock out a phone exchange and an entire citys telephones is even described. [Telco Lamer] We take active mesures to makesure our network remains intact thats got essintual services like 111 involved patantly safeguarding the integraty of our network is inportant. [Dave] Much of the information has been lifted from the poormans james bond a home made terrosum type book banned by the indecent publications tribunal But the operators of the buliten board are quite open in shearing the information.. [Mike] Chat .. here we go look were chatting to him. [Dave] Infact as we were filming we started talking live to the person who runs the service there replies are in yellow they told us how another buliten board member had be busted for hacking then boasted that the cops would never catch them. David Jamerson one network news. [News Presentor] Tonight police say there extreemly consurned that this type of information is avalible. and the new clasification of films, videos and publications bill now before paliment aims to make spreding milicious information by computer illegal. Comming up .. [Now thats FUNNY !!!] VMB's Well humm hers something that has JUST happened Telco person came knocking on my, and my Girls door's Now eather she didnt want us to see her car or was just finding a park on an empty street but she parks like down the other end of my GF's road and walks to her house BUT shes not home shes at my house so thinking she will kill two phreaks with one talk she comes to my place BUT im not home so a little later .. after I call her and shit we get talking and WOOOP she SAYS you dont roll over on your /P buddies we will have no choice but to nail those we know. and they are you and your GF! WELL that pissed me off.. now after a bit more of a chat she plays a tape of "me" abusing a VMB but it wasnt me infact it was someone my GF 3-wayed. But it sounded kinda like me and fuck i couldnt rember it my memories pritty fucked anyway's but after thinking about it. i know it WASNT me but they think it was... humm well anyways the moral of this story.. dont 3-way people ??? nahhh lame morle umm fuck its a story ther is no moral... :) ill tell you of the outcome in the next issue :) _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ Linux _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. LINUX: a short and opinionated review. Linux is a multitasking, multiuser, unix-like operating system intended to become POSIX-compliant. Since most of the technical details are better left to the FAQ, I'll omit them here. Briefly, Linux will run on any common 386 PC or better, having at least 2 MB of memory (the theoretical minimum). Ports are currently being developed for several other processors, including the DEC Alpha. Linux supports practically any common hardware combination that any other PC OS would support, excepting particularly machines with an MCA bus. Linux was originally written by Linus Torvalds, a computer scientist from Finland. It is currently being written by, to quote the FAQ, "a loosely-knit team of hackers around the net." Linus has placed his OS under the GNU Public License, meaning that it can be distributed freely, along with its source code. Linux supports most any software available for any other Unix system; I personally have and use copies of such programs as emacs-19.5 and gcc 2.6.2, and the GNU shell, bash. I am able to run the DOS emulator that has been developed for Linux, which is more precisely a DOS-machine emulator - you still have to provide a bootable copy of DOS, though you can run DOS and DOS programs within a virtualised machine whilst Linux runs alongside. I have found the emulator to be quite stable, though at version 0.53 there seems still much work to be done on it. Also available is a Windows emulator that will eventually make it possible to run Windows programs completely independently from a real copy of Windows. Linux has convenient support for other operating systems sharing the same disk; it can access the files on DOS, OS/2 HPFS (currently read-only), System V, Minix, among others. Though Linux can share a disk with another operating system, it is a complete system in its own right - you do not need to have any other OS installed on your system at all. For many months I ran Linux as the only software on my system, though recently I added a DOS-partition to run DOS as is occasionally demanded by my job. For this there is a multi-boot loader, LILO, which can let you choose an operating system to boot when you start your computer. I have been running Linux for some months now, and I have not missed any part of DOS - being free of TSR and memory-management hassles alone has been worth the change. I often while using other DOS machines have absent-mindedly tried to switch consoles, and I have become increasingly frustrated with single-tasking. For those wanting the X-windows system, implementations are available, and most name-brand video cards are supported. There is an extensive range of software for communications and networking - fax/modems, network cards - and most of the paraphernalia demanded by multimedia - CDROM drives, scanners, sound cards (including the Gravis Ultrasound and the ubiquitous Sound Blaster family). I myself use a Hercules video card and monitor, with which I am more than satisfied, though this point of view is seen a little extreme by my local computing community. My machine is a 486DX/40, with 8MB of RAM, which seems to run Linux admirably. From the programmer's perspective, Linux is a wonderful environment to program in. Being a "protected-mode" OS, it is quite difficult to crash - and, in fact, I have never had Linux crash on me in all the months I have been running it. Much of the programming I do is in C, and that with quite heavy pointer algebra; the occasions where I have used a pointer incorrectly Linux has always shut the program down cleanly. One of my more recent projects required writing a background daemon, and the signal and exception handling made available by Linux was a dream to work with. My daemon can handle sensibly most any common situation, and can even help debug pointer problems in itself. I have also occasionally used the GNU Pascal compiler, GPC, and the GNU Pascal-to-C translator to compile some of my earlier work - the Pascal compiler is reasonably complete, so if your main language isn't C you won't be stuck without one. The games I have on my machine are Linux-ported versions of the Lost Treasures of Infocom, of which I have a DOS copy. I was able to obtain the C source for an Infocom interpreter, and with only a little work on the code I can now play some of my favourite Zorks and Spellcasters. For those of you who think that a repetitive collection of sound and graphics effects constitutes a game, Doom for Linux and X-windows is provisionally available and will read DOS Doom's .WAD files. Purportedly it is possible to play it over the Internet as well, but I hope most people realise what a waste of network resources that would be. World-wide several hundred-thousand people run Linux as their primary OS - this number is healthily growing. With an OS that offers as much as Linux, with the source as freely available, it is little wonder that it is enjoying such success. Now would be a good time to get rid of DOS and run a sensible OS - I think your choice of that sensible OS should be Linux. - "Siggy." [Editors note ! YES !! this OS rox all REAL people should run it !! ] _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ New _/ \_ Generation _/ \_ Pipe Bomb _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. The Old Pipe-Bomb - Modernized The pipe bomb has been the ol' faithful for anarchists since it's invention. The main reason for this is that it is EASY to make. There are, however, two major problems with it: - People tend to blow their hands off making them - People tend to get suspicious when you walk into a hardware shop asking for 20 endcaps each week... So, for both of these problems, I have a solution. It takes a little more work than making the origional, but as you will see, it can be A LOT more useful. The basic idea is two tubes, each with one totally secured end, which can slide inside eachother. See diagram. V Strong End V _________________ | | || || ***************** <- High tensile rod || || || || || || || || || : <- Hole for wick || || || || || || || || || || ***************** <- High tensile rod || || | | ---------------- ^ Strong End ^ Right, basically we have the two tubes, which slide inside eachother, this should be an interference fit (may need oiling even, the tighter the better). The two tubes should be of the same length (about 15cm dows well) and quite thick (I use 3mm steel, however this may be overdoing it). The bases should be welded on the ends REALLY TIGHT, and make sure it's a REALLY GOOD weld. If these come undone you won't have a bomb, and they have to be stronger than the sheer required to break high tensile steel. A local engineering firm will be able to do this for you as long as you don't say what you're gonna use them for. Have a large plate as the end of at least the outside tube, see why later. Now that you have the two tubes made, place them together, but not quite all the way together (leave about 5mm or so each end, excluding the weld). Now get a drill press and place a hole about 5-8mm diameter through both sides. MAKE SURE THEY ARE HELD REALLY WELL otherwise they might slip off a straight line, which destroys your bomb... PS - it is slightly stronger if the two holes are at 90 degrees to each other, ie: End on view: ____ / \ / I \ | _I__ | _/ Drill one here | I | \ \ I / \____/ ^ and one through here. You should be able to fit a piece of high tensile rod (which you bought earlier, right?) through each hole, and sticking about 1cm out each side. With these in you can't pull your two ends apart. Can you guess how it works yet? Now, with these together, drill a very small (1mm or less) diameter through the middle, at 45 degrees to each of your rods (in the center). This only goes through one side. Now take this to bits, and on the outside one drill this same hole with a larger bit (about 5mm) - this is so when you put it together there is some room for slip. This hole is for the wick. Now drill a small hole in the corner of each base that is sticking out. This is just to attach some wire to keep hold of it when she blows. Ok, now to actually make the bomb. Use your favorite low explosive (I use the "Sweet Powder" from the last issue) and fill some sort of plastic bag that will fit inside the center tube. A condom works well. Seal the end of it (to stop getting powder everywhere) then put this to the side. Low explosive is one that expands "slowly" like gunpowder, as opposed to something like C4 which goes all at once. Put a pin in the bottom hole of the inside tube, then a small ball of paper on top of that. Then put your bag of explosive in, and then enough paper balls in to fill it to the bottom of the top pin hole. Take out the bottom pin with the tube on it's side (so the paper don't fall down and block the hole). Now put the two tubes together slide in your high tensile pins, and you almost have a bomb. You may wish to stick these pins against the side of the case with tape or sommit, so they don't drop out if you made it too loose. When you are ready for action (because you have the explosive inside a fairly waterproof bag this can be a fair while later) you puncture the bag through the small wick hole, then insert your wick. Place the bomb with the ends pointing in "safe" directions, light the wick and run like hell. The explosive expands, putting pressure on all sides and ends. Because the sides of the tubes are double thickness, it will take a fuck of a lot of pressure to break these, so all the presure is really trying to force the ends open. This is why you neded such good welding on the ends. What happens is that the pins will eventually get so much pressure between these layers of steel that they will be sliced appart like string cut with scisors, and the ends will fly appart with much speed. If you look at the remaining bits of steel from the pins, you will see how cleanly they are cut. If this makes a little more bang than you want, you could use brass or copper rod, which will slice easier. Right, we not have a bomb that required no direct friction on the powder (99% of the cause for losing ones hands with conventional pipe bombs) and if you can find them, the ends are totally reusable. Don't bother trying to tie them to anything yet to keep hold of them - it will just break. The only "Combustable" appart from your explosive are these lengths of high tensile steel - and noone will ask questions about that. Creative uses for the new modem pipe bomb: You will realise that for the bomb to actually release pressure, not only does it have to slice two pins, but the ends have to come appart. This means almost twice it's length. The blast will be all against these ends. This is VERY USEFUL. 1) - Have both tubes with fairly small ends, and place inside letterboxes - the sides are both knocked out totally, leaving little evidence! 2) - Have both tubes with large flat ends, and place this under a car chassis. I have done this on a firends farm with an old car body, not a real car. As long as you have it fairly well up under the chassis when it goes off the car lifts about 30cm in the air - a LONG way if you were in it. I havent got up the guts (or would that be stupidity) to actually sit in it while this happens, but I think it may be very unhealthy for occupants. 3) - Have both tubes with large flat ends, with holes drilled in the corner. Attach about 6 - 10 meters of heavy fishing line to each, then take your bomb down to the port, light and chuck it in. Silence. The whole warf shakes though! (Water dissipates the shock since it goes off about 6m down, so you can't hear it.) About 2 secs later a large ball of gas reaches the surface (what actually did the work) and about 2 more seconds later a whole bunch of dead fish start floating to the surface in about a 4 meter radius of your bomb! The reason your parts didn't fly off the line and you can pull them back up is that water is much more dense than air, and the large flat ends create a lot of friction in the water. You may find that you have to get waterproof wick for this (I use normal wick with petrolium jelly on it). The bag for the explosive should be well sealed, and I find pouring liquid petrolium jelly over the whole thing leads to far lower failure rates. 4) - Armor piercing bullets. You have the outside tube with a large flat end, and the inside tube with a small end with a steel ball beering about 1cm diameter welded on (TIGHT). You could go for pointy ends and that sord of thing, but in my expreience they just blunten after a few uses anyway. Now put the base agains something large, like a tree, and aim at your target. Again, I did this (Many times - it's real fun) at my friend's farm with this old car body. The inside tube went STRAIGHT THROUGH 2 layers of sheet steel on one side door, and hit the other side door, breaking the first sheet of steel and denting the other side about 10cm out! - With more improvement or stronger or bigger pins, it may be able to go all the way through. However this is not a particularly suttle way of doing someone's car, however fun, so I wouldn't advise it. ********************************************************************** IF IT DON'T GO OFF, WAIT AT LEAST 2 MINUTES BEFORE APPROACHING, AND IF IT'S ON LAND, APPROACH FROM THE SIDE. ********************************************************************** _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ Official _/ \_ SLi _/ \_ Members _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. Okay, as of late, I've discovered that there seems to be a lack of con- fidence over who exactly is a part of Southern Lights inc. At no point has there been a total recount over who exactly exists in the group and I thought I'd go about finding out for myself - even though I'm a co- chaiperson (I guess that's what I could be called... ;) .. I decided to come up with an idea (which was wholly supported by Eon, so I guess it must be okay.. =) ) of how to figure out who is definatly in SLi and who isn't... Firstly, I'd like to go about listing the current members as of December, 1994. Founding Members: Eon and BT Chairpersons: Eon, CyntaxEra, BT Original Logo Designed by: C.F. Eon's Personal Advisor: BT Eon's Technical Advisor: Siggy Other Members: Cardinal, Thorium [Forgotten Memory], Digital Omega, Grasshopper Gwythion At present, that's about all I'm comfortable in saying are part of SLi - seeming that we're all still a bit unsure as to who's in and who's not.. We've decided upon asking for new, fresh blood of all you H/P/A guys/gals reading this mag - you've got to pass standards tho' so only the best need apply =) ... If you're interested, just send the attatched form below with a SASE (Self Addressed Stamped Envelope) to: Southern Lights inc. PO Box 3030 Onekawa Napier New Zealand For information on SLi, send any questions you may have to any of the following e-mail addresses (or if you do not currently have an e-mail address, send your queries to the previously mentioned snail mail ad- dress ). HACKER_M@ix.wcc.govt.nz - Eon TELCO_T@ix.wcc.govt.nz - CyntaxEra rad@trad.pc.cc.cmu.edu - Eon jbolger@govthouse.govt.nz - Yeah, right! ----------------------------------------------------->8------------------ CUT HERE Southern Lights inc. Application Form PART ONE: Major Statistics Nick and/or Name: ............................................... Age: ...... Sex: ......... Occupation: ..................... References: ..................................................... ................................................................. Major Interests (ie. hacking, phreaking...): .................... ................................................................. Systems Familiar With: .......................................... ................................................................. Hacking/Phreaking groups you have been involved with: ................................................................. ................................................................. PART TWO: Questionnaire Please answer the following questions without use of any files, manuals or any other forms of information which is not contained as information already know by yourself. SOME questions are ment to be answered wrong Q1. The Legion of Doom was... a. A hacking group b. A phreaking group c. All of the above d. A takeaway store Q2. The UNIX command "su" is used to... a. delete users b. change to a user c. snoop on a user d. none of the above Q3. TNO stands for... a. The New Order b. Telix Network Organisation c. Teletype Network Operations d. Two New Organisations Q4. Novell is... a. A badly spelt book b. A network package c. A type of RAM d. A program used to hack UNIX passwords Q5. A PABX is... a. a telephone b. an exchange system c. a computer system DataBank uses d. non-existant Q6. What is a Mercury Delay Line? ............................................................. Q7. What are the standard C5 Blue Box trunking tones and lengths? ............................................................. Q8. List five different Operating Systems ............................................................. ............................................................. ............................................................. Q9. What does SLi stand for? (DO NOT LOOK THIS UP) ............................................................. Q10. Explain your personal morals on hacking/phreaking ............................................................. ............................................................. ............................................................. ............................................................. ............................................................. ............................................................. ............................................................. PART THREE: Your Views What will you plan to do if you are accepted into SLi? ............................................................. ............................................................. ............................................................. ............................................................. ............................................................. ............................................................. What do you think being an SLi member involves? ............................................................. ............................................................. ............................................................. ............................................................. ............................................................. What improvements would you make on the group which you think should be made? ............................................................. ............................................................. ............................................................. ............................................................. ............................................................. PART FOUR: Contact Please fill in appropriatly to how you would like to be contacted: E-Mail .......................................................... VMB ............................................................. Phone Number .................................................... BBS [Number] .................................................... [Contact Name] .............................................. IRC Nick ........................................................ Snail Mail (Seperate with commas) ............................... ................................................................. ................................................................. Other (Please Specify): ......................................... Signature: ............................................. ----------------------------------------->8--------------------------------- _ _/ \_ _/ \_ ___/ S L i \___ ___/_________________\___ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ Flame Thrower _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_ _/ \_/ Southern Lights inc. Ok umm how to build a few Easy: Get a fly spray can and a lighter hold lighter infront of spray and light liquid comming out of can. Better: Get one of them charge bottles fill it with petrol get a glass tube block one end put string down the tube fill the tube with petrol tape tube to charge bottle so the flame from the tube is a cm or so infornt of the nozle bit on the charge bottle pull triger and boom flamez !!! The best! : Get a water blaster Hummm ohh its 6:30 in the morning how elite Oh here is our Snail mail adress again SLi PO-BOX 3030 Onekawa Napier New Zealand Send comments, articals , questions to the above or on the internet Hacker_m@ix.wcc.govt.nz If you send a legal sized SASE I will attempt to send you the next SLi issue or atleast inform you when its been releced oh if ya send a 720 k 3 1/2 inch disk with that SASE ill send you all the SLi mags and a few misc files if you tell me what Computer/OS you have Why is there a binana skin in my room ? hummm Weird Fuck there a a LOT of computer bits in here anyone want a fullheight 10 meg MFM drive ? its QUIET PGP : humm well if you wanna know what i think ... GET it DONT use 2.6 > rsa lib cause the us-govt has indorced it... ie . fucked with it so they can break it !! use 2.3 OR get get PGP 2.6 UI its x compatable ... UI might be only amiga tho so go look round but if you can USE 2.3 its SAFE !! Well here we go its time to say bye ! well take care all and have a good X-Mas and new year and dont get to pissed Stoned or anything else ! Above all have fun and watch your back. Ill be seing you around march april or so thats the date for our next relece Eon. May we live our lives with pride. May we face our death with dignity.