NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Masters of Deception

Masters of Deception
Origin	New York
Country	United States
Years active	1990s
Category	Hacking/Phreaking
Founder(s)	Phiber Optik
Affiliated Group(s)	Legion of Doom Cult of the Dead Cow

The Masters of Deception (MOD) were a New York-based hacker group. The MOD successfully controlled all the major telephone RBOC's and x.25 networks as well as controlling large parts of the backbone of the rapidly emerging Internet. NY redirects here. ... Hackers are sometimes portrayed as mysterious and strange. ... Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a subculture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telephone systems, the equipment of telephone companies, and systems connected to public telephone networks. ... Mark Abene, at an undisclosed location, September 2005. ... For other uses, see Legion of Doom (disambiguation). ... CULT OF THE DEAD COW, also known as cDc, is a computer hacker and DIY media organization founded in 1984 in Lubbock, Texas. ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1613 Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area - City 1,214. ... Hackers are sometimes portrayed as mysterious and strange. ... The Regional Bell operating companies (RBOC) are the result of the United States antitrust action against AT&T in 1983. ... X.25 is an ITU-T standard protocol suite for wide area networks using the phone or ISDN system as the networking hardware. ...

1 Origin Of The Masters Of Deception
2 Members of the MoD
3 Philosophy
4 The Fall of the MoD
5 Media
6 References
7 See also

Origin Of The Masters Of Deception

Phiber Optik (Mark Abene) was the founding member of the MoD

Corrupt (John Lee) was a member of the MoD

The MOD's membership grew from skilled chance meetings on RBOC phone switches and DEC servers, rather than social chatting on bulletin boards. They stayed underground using alternative handles to hide their true identities. They were unrecognizable as the stereotypical profile or media interpretation of how a traditional hacker looks or acts. Acid Phreak founded the Masters of Deception with Scorpion and Hac. The name itself was a mockery of LOD, as 'M' is one letter down in the alphabet from 'L', although the name originally was a flexible acronym that could be used to identify membership in situations where anonymity would be the best course of action. It could stand for "Millions Of Dollars" just as easily as "Masters Of Deception." ImageMetadata File history File links Abene9_2005. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Abene9_2005. ... Image File history File links John_lee_mod. ... Image File history File links John_lee_mod. ... John Lee, a. ... The Regional Bell operating companies (RBOC) are the result of the United States antitrust action against AT&T in 1983. ... The DEC logo Digital Equipment Corporation was a pioneering American company in the computer industry. ... For other uses, see Legion of Doom (disambiguation). ...

This self-reflexive name was perfect for the ideology of the MoD, which, through deception, they would attain what they needed. Alternate handles, social engineering, embedded trojans, sneaking in or misdirection- these were the ways of Masters Of Deception.

Members of the MoD

The Masters of Deception included the founder of the MOD: Mark Abene ("Phiber Optik"), Paul Stira ("Scorpion"), Eli Ladopoulos ("Acid Phreak"), John Lee ("Corrupt," a.k.a. "Netw1z"), and Julio Fernandez ("Outlaw"). Mark Abene, at an undisclosed location, September 2005. ... John Lee, a. ... Julio M. Fernandez (born 1954 in Santiago, Chile) is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University, New York. ...

Additional members whose real names are unknown include: Supernigger (also of DPAK), HAC, Wing, Nynex Phreak, Billy_The_Kid, Crazy Eddie, The Plague, ZOD, Seeker, and Red Knight (who was also a member of Cult of the Dead Cow). CULT OF THE DEAD COW, also known as cDc, is a computer hacker and DIY media organization founded in 1984 in Lubbock, Texas. ...

Sorry people this is all lies.

Philosophy

The Masters Of Deception operated differently in many respects to previous hacking groups, although they shared information between each other, they took a dim view on sharing information externally. The information should be earned via degrees of initiation and a proven respect for the craft, rather than releasing powerful information into the wild where it could be used for nefarious purposes.

The Fall of the MoD

As a result of their participation in the Great Hacker War, five of the MoD's members were indicted in 1992 in federal court. Within the next six months (in 1993), all five pled guilty and were sentenced to either probation or prison. {{ ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... 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). ...

Media

The Masters Of Deception have appeared in many magazine and newspaper articles, and the individual members have appeared on television numerous times.

Village Voice July 24, 1990. Cover Article by Julien Dibel.

References

The Book of MOD, Vol. III [1]
Computer Underground Digest, Volume 5, Issue 87 [2]
Masters of Deception — The Gang that Ruled Cyberspace (ISBN 0-06-092694-5)
Gang War in Cyberspace Wired 2.12 [3]
Notorious M.O.D. Wired 9.06 [4]

Contents

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