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Mysteries of the Las Vegas Telecom System

Posted by michael on from the your-call-cannot-be-completed-as-dialed dept.

Reverend Raven writes "This is from Security Focus and deals with how some people believe a group of uber-hackers controls the Vegas telecom system. Interesting read, indeed." A follow-up to this old story. The case seems to be still winding its way through the bureaucracy.

4 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. no unauthorised call forwarding.. by martin · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The gaunt and grizzled Hill is a former NYPD captain, and he testifies like a pro, giving short quick answers and volunteering little. "I remember investigating many cases of this nature," Hill says. "We would generally check to see that all the programming on the complainant's line was in order... We determined in every case that there was no unauthorized call-forwarding."

    so what was the 'authorised' call forwarding then?

    Anyway as a previous poster says..

    Sounds like the hotel's PABX's where hacked not Sprint's as it only effects calls from hotels not cell or other land lines..

  2. Interesting testamony by chrisos · · Score: 2, Insightful
    "To my knowledge there's no way that a computer hacker could get into our systems," says Hill.

    Is it just me, or is it not surprising, that an ex-cop with no technical skills, knows of no way to hack into his ex-employer's network?

    If on the other hand, they had purchased some white hat experience for a week or two and the hat said the same thing, I might just think the same statement carried some weight.

    I wonder, if his car has never been stolen, does he belive that his car is un-stealable?

    I for one, have never cut my legs off, but I still do believe that it is possible.
    --
    If nature abhors a vacuum, why isn't there more dust in the world?
  3. Re:No - the switch has been hacked. by phaze3000 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I hadn't considered this possibility, but from what I know of telecoms systems (I don't write telephony software, but I have some knowledge of the domain) what you say certainly sounds possible.

    Without further evidence it's impossible to say, but either explanation could be correct.
    Also, if it were the hotels that were compromised, it could be not a group of 'uber-hackers', but instead just an old-fashioned case of bribery and corruption, with hotels paid/forced to alter their exchanges by the mob.

    --
    Blaming GW Bush for the Iraq war is like blaming Ronald McDonald for the poor quality of food.
  4. Re:Why hackers? by King_TJ · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is exactly the conclusion I came to.
    This smacks of an inside job.... How in the world could they know that test calls were being carried out for several days, and make sure those test calls went through fine? Well, gee... if you're one of the employees, you'd know about it, wouldn't you?

    It's pretty smart on the part of the Sprint employees involved, too. If you pit these shady businesses against each other, ultimately, who is going to care enough to get you in trouble for it? They're probably counting on the majority of people saying "My heart bleeds for you... You can't make millions off of your porn anymore because someone's keeping some of your calls from going through. Cry me a river...." Meanwhile, they're getting a nice kick-back off the top of all those big profits - plus keeping a respectable day job.