Phreak toolkits

[metatron]

DigAlert 360 Butt Set

AT8K AdapToner Modular Breakout Tone Generator

Fluke 867B Multimeter

Locking Nut Wrench

Can wrench

Multi head screwdriver/ socket set

Multi tool

Cobalt knife.

Small Maglite

Wire stripper, pliers, wire cutters, jacket remover

Dual Purpose Crimping Tool

Hex key set

Pick set (Peterson's "Government Elite III")

Electrical tape

Cable ties and self-adhesive anchor points

Nylon terminal blocks

Small adjustable spanner

9V, AA, AAA batteries

Marker pen

Olympus VN-480PC + small external Microphone

Old mobile phone

New York SWAT vest

+ miscellaneous other things.

What's in yours?

[jang]

You mean people actually still know about phreaking?

I thought that, nowadays, anything that isn't related to software or computer cases was long lost along with the knowledge that old school geeks had and didn't pass on. I mean my generation doesn't even solder chips to consoles because they don't know how. :o

Actually my father had lot's of tools related to phreaking but to this day never taught me.

nice shopping list though. :D

And of Topic, your security setup is great! as in a geek view of technology.

[VaKo]

How about some phreaking advice/anecdote/storys then? I remeber trying some stuff as a kid, but the text files i grabbed from the net never seemed to work on the UK phones, just got me angry calls from the operator.

[Duelus]

I recently made my first beige box w/ some linemen's alligator clips I got from eBay for 5.50$ :) haven't had the oppertunity to use it yet.

[metatron]

Yeah, the US telephone system is outdated and has a lot of holes that are not present in the UK system but Beige boxing is still very much alive and working in the UK but a big part of what the UK Phone Phreaker has to deal with today is Social engineering to get things done.

This is a good source for British Phreaker's to see what boxes work and which are bull shit.

In the UK most of the new wiring cabinets (also known as PCPs) are locked with reasonably good locks so it is well worth investing some money on a set of picks (you can pick a small set up for £12) and learing how to pick locks.

A good set of picks will last you a life time so if you can spend more it is worth the layout.

BT Wiring Cabinets Guide

[Darren Kitchen]

http://www.hak5.org/aardwolf/phreak/

These are some txts I authored between the mid and late 90's when I was active in the phreak scene. One of them led to my eventual bust. If you ever see my tipsy on IRC one night I'd be down wish sharing stories but not here.

I started out as a field phreak, running confs for a few groups on dalnet. Then I got really turned onto switching systems and test units. Harris Dracon support was a wealth of information. So were friendly linemen who got started with the bluebox and didn't mind tossing you a manual.

My biggest fascination before the bust was Pulse Amplitude Modulation, Pulse Code Modulation, Time Division Multiplexing, and D1 Framing.

[Darren Kitchen]

This is a story I always liked from the scene by a friend DelphianQ:

There is a moon out tonight, a full moon. It's hanging low in the sky, barely above the mountain tops. One night that same moon will rise full and bright as ever, but something will be different. One night the moon will rise and the last analog trunk will be replaced. One night the moon will rise and give light to all those in the night, but that night there will be no more blue boxes.

The world is totally unjust, but I don't know what to do about it. Somewhere, at some point, something went terribly wrong I think. Things are not as they should be.

Once upon a time I read a small story that was contained in the bits of a text file. I don't know how many times those bits had been copied. I don't know who's computer system they had passed through before mine. The story was titled the secrets of the little blue box. I was completely fascinated.

Do you like to stare up into the stars at night when its cold; when the wind is blowing softly. Does it make you feel on the outside as you do on the inside. 3am and in the middle of a large, almost empty parking lot. Lights that create large circles around the base of their poles that fade slowly into darkness over the asphalt. All the stores around the shopping center are empty. There are payphones of course. A few of them anyway. But that's not what holds the attention. It's the cold. The cold and the quiet blackness that surrounds. It is wonderful. Does looking up into the stars make you feel important... romantic... phone phreak...

Once upon a time there was a man and a woman in the most wonderful garden on earth. There were no telephones. There was no technology. There was a tree, and on the tree a fruit, and in the fruit knowledge.

What makes you better. What makes you important. Is it what you know? All our life we learn, and learn, and learn. Facts, figures, statistics, properties. Telephone systems. 100 years ago man kind could not even fly, my how far we have come. Look at how great we are. Look what we have done. Look what we can do. Look what we know. So why is it so cold?

How can what you love so much leave you so cold and empty? Trunks made of light, yet give no warmth. Why doesn't my knowledge comfort me?

One night the moon will rise full and bright and the wind will blow softly. But that night won't be like others, that night you will understand that all you have learned, all you have been taught, all the knowledge you have sought after with a passion, is totally worthless.

--DelphianQ, 1997

[metatron]

Phreaking as a whole has started to disappear in the UK and has been sine the mid 90’s as the phone system has improved and the cost of services have decreased.

I have been going to DefCon for a number of years and the phreaking scene seems to be very much alive in the US, although a lot of the focus on it have gone away from it.

I originally learned Phreaking because I had a Commodore 64 and a modem and it cost a lot to dial into computer systems in Europe and the US and as a 14 year old I didn’t have a job or any money.

Even today the skills come in useful such as you tapping your friends phone for fun or the ability to pick a lock if you lose your house keys.

(I like the story)

[Darren Kitchen]

Agreed. For me phreaking has become another survival skill.

[VaKo]

Great story. I think love of the night is the main thing that has bound witches/inventors/phreakers & hackers across time. Only time we feel like we can get any real work done. Kinda feel like I missed something by not being into phreaking, but then again, I bet when we're old we talk about the real internet, the old fashioned internet where it was freedom, not money that drove us.

[Technologique]

Great story. I think love of the night is the main thing that has bound witches/inventors/phreakers & hackers across time. Only time we feel like we can get any real work done.

Amen to that, I don't think there's a geek amongst us who's not pulled an allnighter after getting started on a project when inspiration hit late at night.

[Bigbro69]

http://www.bsodtv.org/ - Shameless plug.

But yeah, in the first ep Foxx goes through an introduction to phreaking if you don't know anything about it ;)

[degoba]

^^ Thats not a shameless plug. Foxx definitely knows his shit. I learned more in his segment on phone phreaking than I have in some classes at school.

[cooper]

Trying to access that site without much success so far, so maybe someone could explain to me what phone phreaking will allow you to do?

Is it just a matter of placing a call for free/at someone else's expense (and the skill required to do it properly without getting caught) or is there more to it?

[Darren Kitchen]

Trying to access that site without much success so far, so maybe someone could explain to me what phone phreaking will allow you to do?

Is it just a matter of placing a call for free/at someone else's expense (and the skill required to do it properly without getting caught) or is there more to it?

It depends on who you ask. If you ask me phreaking is not about placing free phone calls or stealing from the telcos, however that may be involved to a certain degree.

For me phone phreaking is much like hacking in the sense that much of it is exploring and learning. The PSTN is a beautiful system and understanding is my goal. Sure the glamour of red boxing, beige boxing and what not are there at first which pulls you in, but once you start to realize how all of these systems work it's hard not to get sucked in and thirst for more.

I credit much of where I am today to my early phreaking career. It's what eventually put me in network administration, which is a wonderful area to explore and learn in itself.

But the phone system isnt as easy to grok when much of it is kept secret. Borrowed manuals and printouts from dumpsters behind switches aid in the hunt. It's really much like a real life game, with real consequences as I found out in the summer of '99.

The community is as vast and intricate as the telephone system itself. If your really that interested I recommend starting with something like the CCITT Blue Book rather than box plans. Understanding how an exploit works is far more fulfilling than performing it.

Another fun activity is to wardial NPA-PRE-99XX. You'll be amazed how many interesting systems are behind those numbers. Strange messages, tones, clicks. Once you find them and can recognize what one is it's hard not to wonder what's really on the other end, and once you know what piece of equipment your really talking to is you'll want to know what makes it tick.

555-XXXX is a good area too. There are so many areas you really just have to dive in and see what interests you. The scene that I was a part of had many members versed in many aspects of phreaking whether is be in the field, wireless, IP telephony, switching, routing, payphones, satelite. The list goes on and on and it really becomes acronmy soup after a while.

ACTS, NPA, ANAC, ANI, TNI, RBOC, PSTN, PCM, PAM, TDM, E1/T1.

While the system is much more complex now with everything going IP, the playing field should have leveled out with things like wikis.

But then again I'm just "oldschool". If you want to learn aspects of phreaking to rip off the telco be my guest, but don't call yourself a phone phreak or expect respect from others.

D

[metatron]

Phone phreaking is not just about free calls it is about the exploration and understanding of the phone system and services and it gives you the knowledge of basic electronics and social engineering.

I will admit that in most cases including my own the reason they got in to phreaking was to get free phone calls but along the way you learn and get interested in electronics and other things like the ability to shutdown someone's telephone line.

[Darren Kitchen]

Oh and just to add to the field phreaking kit part of this thread, mine was much like metatrons, though not quite as extensive.

Some items I used that were not listed include:

100 foot RJ11 on a spool - great for running a line from a can into the woods

Vice Grip - Great for keeping pin alarms in place when opening the more interesting cans

Bandages - you will get hurt field phreaking. The first time I had to cover a wound with paper and electric tape I decided that gause and medical tape needed to be in my backpack.

An alibi - if your field phreaking with a friend make sure you both have the same one. this is EXTREMELY important. Trust me, it comes from experience.

[Darren Kitchen]

Phone phreaking is not just about free calls it is about the exploration and understanding of the phone system and services and it gives you the knowledge of basic electronics and social engineering.

I will admit that in most cases including my own the reason they got in to phreaking was to get free phone calls but along the way you learn and get interested in electronics and other things like the ability to shutdown someone's telephone line.

What he said. Sorry, I rambled. Metatron pretty much summed up what I said. And yes, for the record I did get started because I thought beige boxing was cool, but once you start to understand the system. It.. It just clicks.

Social Engineering is key as well. Don't bother with operators though, at least in my experience they've never been useful. I know a guy that was successful extracting information from Harris Dracon technical support though ;)

[metatron]

When I originally got into it I had maybe £40 worth of equipment and most of it I made myself but as time passes and you make some money you buy better equipment

Much like aardwolf, I put a lot to where I am today into phreaking as it got me interested in electronics and was one of the big factors to why I did electrical engineering at university and now work in that field .

[Darren Kitchen]

Exactly and thats why I encourage anyone with the right ethics and a will to learn to get into phreaking. It can really take you places. Just be careful.

[PoyBoy]

cool, list, but the swap vest has to be overkill!!!

[metatron]

cool, list, but the swap vest has to be overkill!!!

The swap vest is great as it’s near indestructible, can carry most of my tools and it’s comfortable to run in.

[moonlit]

cool, list, but the swap vest has to be overkill!!!

if you wear it for looks, it would be but with all of those pockets it's got a crapload of storage which is essential when on any adventure out in the field... :)

...just wish I had the high-tech kit to fill one ;)

I think love of the night is the main thing that has bound witches/inventors/phreakers & hackers across time. Only time we feel like we can get any real work done.

Oh you're damn right... those of us who see life in the night all feel the same sweet air of midnight whoever we are, wherever we are and whatever we do. May we all continue to feel the same in the night as we have done in the passed decades.

*bows head slightly*

One night that same moon will rise full and bright as ever, but something will be different.

I am afraid though, despite what we feel now it will not last as it feels it should... it is being repeatedly hit every time the sun rises and those of the day seem to ooze a feeling of contempt for us of the night... they REALLY don't like how they live...

[metatron]

This is the one I have.

[Darren Kitchen]

I bet you get strange looks walking into a shop with that on.