NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Mark Abene

Mark Abene (born 1972), better known by his pseudonym Phiber Optik, is a convicted hacker from New York City. Phiber Optik was once a member of the hacker groups Legion of Doom and Masters of Deception. In 1994, he served a one-year prison sentence for conspiracy and unauthorized access to computer and telephone systems. ImageMetadata File history File links Abene9_2005. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Abene9_2005. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1972 calendar). ... A pseudonym (Greek: false name) is a fictitious name used by an individual as an alternative to his or her legal name. ... A hacker is a person who creates and modifies computer software and computer hardware, including computer programming, administration, and security. ... Nickname: The Big Apple Official website: City of New York Government Counties (Boroughs) Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Geographical characteristics Area Total 468. ... Legion of Doom Masters of Deception (1989 - 1992) Chaos Computer Club Cult of the Dead Cow LØpht Phrack High Council (pHc) Team Teso w00w00 Gobbles di/kline ... For other uses, see Legion of Doom (disambiguation). ... Masters of Deception (MOD) were a New York-based hacker group. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... In law, a sentence forms the final act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. ... A computer system is an automated data-processing system that uses a programmable electronic device to store, retrieve, and process data. ... The telephone or phone (Greek: tele = far away and phone = voice) is a telecommunications device which is used to transmit and receive sound (most commonly voice and speech) across distance. ...

Phiber Optik was one of the highest-profile hackers ever in the early 1990s, appearing in The New York Times, Harper's, Esquire, in debates and on television. Phiber Optik is an important character in the 1995 non-fiction book Masters of Deception — The Gang that Ruled Cyberspace (ISBN 0060926945). The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ... The New York Times is a newspaper published in New York City by Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. ... An issue of Harpers Magazine from 1905 Another issue, from November 2004 Harpers Magazine (or simply Harpers) is a monthly magazine of politics and culture. ... Esquire is a magazine for men owned by the Hearst Corporation. ... Look up book in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Early life

Mark Abene's first contact with computers was at 10 or 11 years of age. After getting a modem, he got on CompuServe and shortly after came in contact with various BBSes. In desire to explore, he connected to various computers. A modem (a portmanteau word constructed from modulator and demodulator) is a device that modulates a carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. ... CompuServe, (in full, CompuServe Information Services, or CIS), was the first major commercial online service in the United States, dominating the field during the 1980s and remaining a major player through the mid-1990s when it was sidelined by the rise of GUI-based services such as America Online (AOL). ... A bulletin board system or BBS is a computer system running software that allows users to dial into the system over a phone line and, using a terminal program, perform functions such as downloading software and data, uploading data, playing games, reading news, and exchanging messages with other users. ...

He became affiliated with the Legion of Doom (LOD), a loosely-knit group of BBS users interested in computers, in the late eighties. Abene and other people in the LOD exchanged information about accessing others' computer systems.

At some point in 1989 or 1990, Phiber Optik's affiliations changed from the Legion of Doom to the rival group Masters of Deception as a result of a feud with LOD member Erik Bloodaxe. According to some sources (TLC, 2004), Phiber Optik was one of the founding members of MOD. However, according to the group's own history-writing (available in the form of 5 text files, see links), Phiber was not one of the initial members. Phiber joining up with Masters of Deception marked the beginning of the Great Hacker War, several years of rivalry between the MOD and the LOD. 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... For other uses, see Legion of Doom (disambiguation). ... Masters of Deception (MOD) were a New York-based hacker group. ... Chris Goggans, 2004. ... {{ ...

First arrest

In conjunction with the nation-wide AT&T telephone system crash in 1990, Abene's home was raided by the Secret Service on January 24. Secret Service agents permanently confiscated a lot of computer equipment and other belongings. According to some reports^{[citation needed]}, Phiber Optik and fellow MOD members Elias Ladopoulos ("Acid Phreak") and Paul Stira ("Scorpion"), were interrogated under the suspicion of causing the AT&T crash. Ultimately, no charges were filed along this line. AT&T also denied that hackers had anything to do with the crash, blaming a software error. However, the myth that the crash in reality was caused by MOD and LOD members was reflected in Joshua Quittner and Michelle Slatalla's Masters of Deception, and has lived on into the 21st century (Scott, 2002). AT&T Inc. ... The telephone or phone (Greek: tele = far away and phone = voice) is a telecommunications device which is used to transmit and receive sound (most commonly voice and speech) across distance. ... A crash in computing is a condition where a program (either an application or part of the operating system) stops performing its expected function and also stops responding to other parts of the system. ... This article is about the year. ... Because of both the secrecy of secret services and the controversial nature of the issues involved there is some difficulty in separating the definitions of secret service, secret police, intelligence agency etc. ... January 24 is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Confiscation, from the Latin confiscato join to the fiscus, i. ... A computer bug is an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program that prevents it from working as intended, or produces an incorrect result. ... The 21st century is the century that began on 1 January 2001 and will last to 31 December 2100. ...

In February 1991, Abene was finally arrested and charged with Computer Tampering and Computer Trespass of the first degree, New York state offenses. He was also charged with a misdemeanor theft-of-service for a free-call scam to a 900 number. Mark Abene, who was a minor at the time, pleaded "not guilty" to the first two offenses and guilty to the misdemeanor and was sentenced to 35 hours of community service. (Sterling, 1994) 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... State nickname: Empire State Other U.S. States Capital Albany Largest city New York Governor George Pataki Official languages None Area 141,205 km² (27th) - Land 122,409 km² - Water 18,795 km² (13. ... A misdemeanors (or misdemeanour), in many common law legal systems, is a lesser criminal act. ... A 1-900 telephone number, in the North American Numbering Plan, usually has the form 1-900-###-####. A call to one of these numbers can result in a high per-minute or per-call charge. ... In law, a person who is not yet a legal adult is known as a minor (known in some places as an infant or juvenile). ... Community service refers to service that a person performs for the benefit of his or her local community. ...

Second arrest and indictment

Abene and four other members of the Masters of Deception were arrested again in December 1991 and indicted by a Manhattan federal grand jury on July 8, 1992 on an 11-count charge. At first, Abene — still a minor by a month — pleaded "not guilty", but later changed his plea to guilty on two felony counts. The Chicago Police Department arrests a man A protester is arrested during a demonstration. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... In the common law legal system, an indictment is a formal charge of having committed a serious criminal offense. ... The Borough of Manhattan, highlighted in yellow, lies between the East River and the Hudson River. ... The U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1789 by a constitutional convention, sets down the basic framework of American government in its seven articles. ... A grand jury is a type of common law jury responsible for investigating alleged crimes, examining evidence, and issuing indictments if they believe that there is enough evidence for a trial to proceed. ... July 8 is the 189th day of the year (190th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 176 days remaining. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...

The indictment relied heavily on evidence collected by court-approved wire tapping of telephone conversations between MOD members. According to a quote by district attorney Obermaier, related by Newsbytes, it was the "first investigative use of court-authorized wiretaps to obtain conversations and data transmissions of computer hackers" in the US. (Such tactics had been used by the Australian Federal Police in 1990 to gain evidence for the prosecution of Nahshon Even-Chaim, Richard Jones and David Woodcock, members of an Australian elite hacker community called The Realm.) The law of evidence governs the use of testimony (eg. ... Telephone tapping or Wire tapping/ Wiretapping (in US) describes the monitoring of telephone conversations by a third party, often by covert means. ... The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the federal or Commonwealth police force of Australia. ... Nahshon Even-Chaim (b. ... Richard Jones, (a. ...

The two counts to which Abene plead guilty, were conspiracy and unauthorized access to computers of federal interest. A number of "overt acts" were described to support the counts. On count one (conspiracy), they claimed Abene responsible for receiving login information for a computer system ("overt acts" k and r, s), and giving another member information on "how to call forward telephone numbers on a certain type of phone switching computer" (p). The first overt act was attributed to all five of the defendants, and accused them of causing damage to a computer system operated by Educational Broadcasting Company, leaving a message on the screen: "Happy Thanksgiving you turkeys from all of us at MOD". Count two (Unauthorized Access to Computers) was supported by claiming that MOD had accessed federal interest computers, destroying information in the process. It also covered illegitimately accessing Southwestern Bell computer systems. MOD and "others whom they aided and abetted" allegedly performed actions causing losses of approximately $370,000. (Grand jury indictment, 1992). Look up Conspiracy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Conspiracy, as a legal term, is an agreement of two or more people either to commit a crime or to achieve a lawful end by unlawful means: see conspiracy (crime), and conspiracy (civil). ... For information on holding company Southwestern Bell Corporation, later SBC Communications, Inc. ...

Trial and sentencing

According to a July 9, 1992 newsletter from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the defendants could face a maximum term of 50 years in prison and fines of $2.5 million, if found guilty on all counts. Despite the fact that Abene was a minor at the time the crimes were allegedly committed, was only involved in a small fraction of the sub-charges, and often in a passive way, a plea arrangement resulted in by far the harshest sentence: 12 months imprisonment, three years probation and 600 hours of community service. July 9 is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 175 days remaining. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... The EFF uses the blue ribbon as symbolism for their Free Speech defense. ... Probation is the suspension of a prison or jail sentence - the criminal who is on probation has been convicted of a crime, but instead of serving prison time, has been found by the Court to be amenable to probation and will be returned to the community for a period in...

Hacker community protests

Many people inside and outside of the hacker world felt that "Phiber" was made an example of, and not judged according to earlier court standards. Mark Abene had gotten himself quite a name in the hacker sub-culture, for example appearing on the radio show Off The Hook, led by Eric Corley (a.k.a. Emmanuel Goldstein). At the time of the indictment and following trial, he was working at ECHO, a New York bulletin board system and pioneering ISP, as well as at MindVox, another ISP founded by LOD members. Off The Hook is a hacker-oriented weekly radio program hosted by Eric Corley (also known as Emmanuel Goldstein). ... Left to right: Deth Vegetable, Eric Emmanuel Goldstein Corley and Joe630 in Freedom Downtime Eric Gorden Corley is a member of the computer hacker community and goes by the name Emmanuel Goldstein, after the leader of the underground in George Orwells classic, Nineteen Eighty-Four. ... Look up echo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Echo may refer to: ECHO RULEZ THE KNOWN CB WORLD.. Echo (mythology), a nymph from Greek mythology. ... An Internet service provider (ISP, also called Internet access provider) is a business or organization that offers users access to the Internet and related services. ... MindVox was a famed early Internet Service Provider in New York City. ...

ECHO users, ECHO themselves and hackers around the nation expected Abene to get off with probation or at most a few months of jail time. Co-defendants and previous offenders charged with "hacking" offences had received rather lenient punishments, and given his new-found enthusiasm for using his knowledge to do good the general feeling was optimistic prior to the sentencing.

A statement made by U.S. attorney Otto Obermeier in conjunction with the indiction, "The message that ought to be delivered with this indictment is that such conduct will not be tolerated, irrespective of the age of the particular accused or their ostensible purpose." (Newsbytes, 1992), was interpreted by Abene's supporters to mean that MOD was made an example of, to show that the authorities could handle the perceived "hacker threat". During sentencing, Judge Stanton said that "the defendant stands as a symbol here today," and that "hacking crimes constitute a real threat to the expanding information highway.", reinforcing the view that a relatively-harmless "teacher", was judged as a symbol for all hackers (Dibbel, 1994 and Goldstein, 1993, 2001). The adolescent Internet. ...

Audio clip from radio program: Off the Hook interviews Phiber Optik. This clip is from a recording from the November 10, 1993 edition of the radio program Off The Hook. Emmanuel Goldstein (Eric Corley) and Phiber Optik (Mark Abene) express their concerns over the recent sentencing hearing. November 10 is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 51 days remaining. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Off The Hook is a hacker-oriented weekly radio program hosted by Eric Corley (also known as Emmanuel Goldstein). ...

Later life

After serving the one-year sentence at a federal prison in Schuylkill, Pennsylvania, Mark Abene was released in November 1994. After his return, a party called "Phiberphest '95" at a Manhattan nightclub was held in his honor. In TIME, Joshua Quittner called him "the first underground hero of the Information Age, the Robin Hood of cyberspace." For a time, he resumed his employment at ECHO, but later left to become system administrator of Radical Media, Inc., an up-and-coming emerging media company. After some consulting and speaking engagements on the subject of security, he was recruited by Steve Lutz at Ernst & Young, LLP as a staff consultant and with a small hand-picked group, jumpstarted E&Y's tiger team practice. After some years as a very successful security consultant, he joined forces with former Legion of Doom member Bill From RNOC aka David Buchwald and a third colleague, Andrew Brown, to create security consulting company Crossbar Security. Crossbar thrived for a number of years in that it provided the same realism in tiger teams and security reviews that had initially elevated E&Y's practice to such high demand. Crossbar provided info security services for a number of large corporations during its lifetime, during which the principles conducted business in the U.S., Japan, Brazil, and Sweden. As a result of the "dot com" bust, Crossbar ultimately went defunct in 2001, largely due to cuts in corporate security spending. Official language(s) None Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Area - Total - Width - Length - % water - Latitude - Longitude Ranked 33rd 119,283 kmÂ² 255 km 455 km 2. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... The Borough of Manhattan, highlighted in yellow, lies between the East River and the Hudson River. ... Watches are used to measure time Trying to understand time has long been a prime occupation for philosophers, scientists and artists. ... Underground culture, or just underground, is a term to describe various alternative cultures which either consider themselves different to the mainstream of society and culture, or are considered so by someone. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Robin Hood is the archetypal English folk hero; a courteous, pious and swashbuckling outlaw of the medieval era who, in modern versions of the legend, is famous for his robbing the rich to feed the poor and fighting against injustice and tyranny. ... Cyberspace, a metaphoric abstraction used in philosophy and computing, is a (virtual) reality which represents the Noosphere/World 2 both inside computers and on computer networks. ... The Hall of Doom, the Legion of Dooms headquarters. ... Bill from RNOC (also known as Dave Buchwald) was a member and leader of the Legion of Doom in the mid-1980s until the time when he was raided by the United States Secret Service in July of 1987. ... Bill from RNOC (also known as Dave Buchwald)[1] was a member and leader of the Legion of Doom in the mid-1980s until the time when he was raided by the United States Secret Service in July of 1987. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...

In September 2000, Abene briefly caused some stir in the security community, when he was turned down for employment by security firm @stake. The firm, which had merged with a company called L0pht Heavy Industries known for its many hacker employees a year earlier, asked him to join their New York office, apparently unaware of his past as a hacker. At a late stage, Mark was informed by a company representative that the offer was no longer valid, saying: "We ran a background check." This caused some debate regarding the role of convicted hackers working in the security business. (Poulsen, 2000). This article is about the year 2000. ... @stake, Inc. ... L0pht Heavy Industries (pronounced loft) was a famous hacker collective located in the Boston, Massachusetts area between 1992 and 2000. ...

Since the Crossbar days, Abene has been making a comfortable and quiet living as an independent security and sysadmin consultant.

Abene will be featured in his acting debut as The Inside Man in the upcoming film Urchin[1] due to be completed in Feb 2006.

References

January 12 is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... For the Cusco album, see 2002 (album). ... September 4 is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 9 is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 175 days remaining. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... September 4 is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Left to right: Deth Vegetable, Eric Emmanuel Goldstein Corley and Joe630 in Freedom Downtime Eric Gorden Corley is a member of the computer hacker community and goes by the name Emmanuel Goldstein, after the leader of the underground in George Orwells classic, Nineteen Eighty-Four. ... November 10 is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 51 days remaining. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Left to right: Deth Vegetable, Eric Emmanuel Goldstein Corley and Joe630 in Freedom Downtime Eric Gorden Corley is a member of the computer hacker community and goes by the name Emmanuel Goldstein, after the leader of the underground in George Orwells classic, Nineteen Eighty-Four. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Left to right: Deth Vegetable, Eric Emmanuel Golstein Corley, Joe630 on the supplementary DVD of Freedom Downtime Freedom Downtime is a 2001 documentary film sympathetic to hacker Kevin Mitnick, directed by Emmanuel Goldstein and produced by 2600 Films. ... Kevin Poulsens hacker handle was Dark Dante. He worked for SRI International by day, and hacked at night. ... September 1 is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years). ... This article is about the year 2000. ... September 4 is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 9 is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 175 days remaining. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... September 11 is the 254th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (255th in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... .net is a British Internet magazine founded in 1994 and published monthly by Future Publishing. ... May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... For the Cusco album, see 2002 (album). ... September 4 is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bruce Sterling at the Ars Electronica Festival Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his seminal work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which defined the cyberpunk genre. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier is a book written by science fiction writer Bruce Sterling in 1992. ... Project Gutenberg (often abbreviated as PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works. ... Project Gutenberg (often abbreviated as PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works. ... For the Cusco album, see 2002 (album). ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... January 23 is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Watches are used to measure time Trying to understand time has long been a prime occupation for philosophers, scientists and artists. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...

Contents

Early life

First arrest

Second arrest and indictment

Trial and sentencing

Hacker community protests

Later life

References

See also

External links

Contents

Early life GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

First arrest

Second arrest and indictment

Trial and sentencing

Hacker community protests

Later life

References

See also

External links

Early life