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Mysteries of the Las Vegas Telecom System
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.
This sounds to me like systematic hacking of hotel telephone exchanges, so assuming Sprint isn't responsible for these (I don't see why it would be) I'm really not sure that this is Sprint's fault or problem.
Blaming GW Bush for the Iraq war is like blaming Ronald McDonald for the poor quality of food.
"Munoz believes that test was compromised, and the hackers cleverly arranged for him to receive the test calls, while still blocking the other hotels."
seriously, if they're that good, why don't they just hack into the FBI computer systems and invent a nice little file on him? why bother ruining his life by taking away his livelihood when they could just as easily be ruining it by sending him to jail for 20 years?
It seems likely to me that the so-called uber hackers are really the police. Look at the the people involved in this: pimps and smut sellers and Gambino's [and somehow Kevin Mitnik]. The mobsters were caught in a sting when they tried to "muscle-in" on the phone racket. They could only have been caught if the Law knew what was going on.
Last time I went to Vegas, it was much cleaned up from several years ago. Almost no porn and fewer hooker adds. Used to be you couldnt see the sidewalk for them. I say the police did it by jamming the unsavory's phones.
Prostitution in Las Vegas is illegal. Refer to Nevada State Law, Chapter 244, Counties: Government General Provisions, section 8 for more info (NRS 244,345):
8. In a county whose population is 400,000 or more, the license board shall not grant any license to a petitioner for the purpose of operating a house of ill fame or repute or any other business employing any person for the purpose of prostitution.
Since Las Vegas is in Clark County, a county that has a population that is indeed over 400k, we can plainly see that prostitution is illegal in the area. Laws won't stop the average criminal from committing crimes, so we must assume that there is a fairly profitable business in LV selling flesh for pleasure.
As far as I know, police would derive a greater benefit from simply arresting people who were breaking the law, other than jumping through some serious hoops to stealthily put people who derive their livelihood, directly or indirectly, upon the sale or aiding in the sale of illegal activities.
It's far more likely that some people with money are paying people with some knowledge to put some technological legerdemain on their competition.
Is this is some type of surprise? Hell, if I were a cop, I'd let the small fish get eaten by all the big fish, so I could catch and mount the big ones later.
...much later, it would seem.
And someone named Escobar is in charge of the Utilities Cartel. Er, commission.
I know of at least 3 major "organizations" that operate using phone hackers in LV. These 3 groups make hundreds of millions a year for escort services and provide substantial kickbacks to several regional heads and a select group if repair crews to keep it quiet. This is why Sprint never sees a problem with these small-fry operators' connections.
Unfortunately, the phreakers make VERY little compared to the top guys in this, but that will be changing very soon...
Okay folks, everyplace with a large mob influence has had it's phones tinkered with by the mob. This is old, but has not been talked about for a while, so it is a visit back to news.
Back in the day, New York City had a privat phone network for the "mob", created with "idle" equipment and bribes to phone workers. Result, FBI taps were tapping the known phone numbers and the mob guys were using the "secret" network.
Also, as far as rerouting disconnected numbers for fun and profit, lookup Poulsen's antics, plus other fun stuff.
I will have to say that it is about time that a Telco is getting called on the carpet for their lack of security, rather than just grebbing another Kevin Mitnic or whomever and blaming every problem on them, then discovering the problem still exists after you take away his access to communications.
Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
uh... no more like uber-sopranos. there have been many stories about this in the past - basically the mob has their people in the phone co - and they hijack calls to businesses (mostly call girls) from the hotels. then re-route the calls to their own call girls and take the business.
sometimes they dont even hijack the call they just tap it - then when the call girl shows up its too late and the "john" is already being serviced....
when the people who were losing out in this deal bitched to the fcc? the investigation showed that not a single call was lost. (basically the staff in the phone co were alerted to the investigation and stopped their hijacking while it was going on)
the thing was that the FCC gave the telco a WEEKS notice that they were going to investigate this... so the word got out and the mob held back.
this is BS and pisses me off. I would like to take a base-ball bat to the kneecaps of the idiots that gave the telco "notice of impending investigation"
I've lived in Vegas for 38 years off and on (mostly on). I grew up with people that now work for Sprint, and have seen first-hand how the adult industry operates here.
point 1 - Everyone in the outcall/adult business lies. A lot. About everything. The guy (don't know him) probably snorted all his cash, flaked out, and now wants to blame someone else.
point 2 - They systems guys at Sprint could easily redirect calls. They have access, and the office people / management don't know the difference. Nobody is paying attention.
point 3 - uberhackers? get real.
Could someone have phreaked the phones? -- Of course.
Did they? -- Who cares?
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