Domination 08 Hack - Phreak 2
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* Hack + Phreak *
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Welcome back once again reader to the illegal section
of the Domination magazine.
Due to popular demand, this chapter is back on a
regular basis, many emails and personal notes have
reassured me of the scene's interest in this chapter.
In particular, i've recieved various mails wanting
information on 'Boxing', what is it, what it does and what
types of 'Boxing' there is, so in this issue i will write a
bit about it, along with some other goodies at the end.
Also for the inquisitive reader, supplied within the
main code of this magazine outfit is three virgin at+t
cards, they are genuine, so try find them and be the
lucky first to use them, but be quick!
Regards;
General Editor.
BOXING - A small guide.
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Boxing, electronic boxes that avoid the paying for
telephone calls or telecommunication services.
There are many boxes designed to have various
effects, from bugging a line (Beige box), to sending
lethal voltages across telephone wires (Urine box).
The phreaker could even gain operator control on
some long distance systems.
It is widely known however, that with the advent of
newer telecom systems, phreaking and boxing is
getting harder, many of the boxes will no longer work
and others are detectable. This will vary from country
to country because different systems are used.
Today, only the experienced phreakers can
successfully phreak.
Boxes started out as concepts which became possible
when the party built the electronics required. Some
boxes are also known to possibly work in theory but
are impossible in practise.
Boxes are traditionally named after colors, but when
all the colors were used other names were adopted.
Colored boxes
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AQUA BOX
The Aqua is described as a device that allows the
phreaker to break out of a "Lock in trace", which
people like the FBI use to hold up a telephone line, not
allowing the phreaker to hang-up until the trace is
complete. The concept of a lock in trace is simple, if
you are familiar with three-way conversations then
you can say the third-party is the party tracing the
call. Once the trace is in progress the tracer sends an
electrical current down the phone line, which holds up
the connection even if the phreaker hangs-up the
phone. This device can be made by using a BEOC (Basic
Electrical Output Socket) and some component which
draws a lot of current, for example a light bulb.
Connecting this device to the phone line and it will drain
all electricity from it, leaving no current to hold up the
line.
BEIGE BOX
A Beige box is a DIY linesman's hand-set which can be
hooked up outside person's house. This device allows
you to tap into someone else's phone line. This box can
be used to do things you would not do from your own
phone line, like using other boxes to make free long
distance phone calles and to eavesdrop into another
person's phone-call.
BLACK BOX
The Black box is a device which, when connected to
your phone line, prevents the party calling you being
charged. The way it works is fairly straightforward;
when the phone rings, the voltage on the line is quite
high, typically around 40 volts, when the phone is
answered this voltage drops down to around 10 volts.
The Black box keeps the voltage on the line at 40 volts,
so while your talking on the phone, the phone company
thinks the phone is ringing therefore no charge for
the call is made, because effectively no one has
answered the call! Suspicions are aroused if the caller
makes a lengthy phone call, as who would keep a phone
ringing for half an hour? This box does not work on
several new systems.
BLAST BOX
There really isn't much to this device. It is simply an
amplifier (4-5 watts) which is connected to the
microphone of the telephone which, when activated,
makes loud noises, and if the person recieving the call
has the phone close to their ear.. well, they will not be
too pleased.
BLOTTO BOX
Although it started out as a concept and a joke, this
box is nasty in nature and can result in serious injury
to the instigator and recipient. The Blotto box works
with very high voltages and is designed to render an
entire phone network paralysed. The box emits
electrical impulses which open up all the lines for the
area code and makes every phone ring, the only way t
stop it is by cutting off the line or turning of the
supply of voltage. It is said that electrocution can
occur from someone picking up the phone which is
close to the voltage source.
BLUE BOX
This box is fairly sophisticated and requires a good
level of knowledge about telecommunication systems
and electronics to understand how it works. Put simply,
this box is designed to enable the user to act as though
they are an operator; giving operator level access to
the telephone system by seizing the trunk. This enable
the user to use special switch functions of the
operator via MF, KP and ST tones.
The usual purpose of the Blue box is to make free long
distance phone calls using the tones provided by this
box. This box is mostly obsolete because the more
modern phone systems use Out-band signalling. This
means that nothing which is sent over the voice section
of the line can control the switches. Only the older
In-band systems are vulnerable to the Blue box.
Typically in relation to this boxing has been impossible
in several countries, like America, United Kingdom,
Australia and more recently, Germany.
BROWN BOX
All that is required for this box is a slight modification
to any telephone in a household to create a party line
effect. It entails taking any two lines in the house and
connecting them together, which causes a slight
volume loss on the line.
BUD BOX
This allows a phreaker to take advantage of a
neighbour's phone lines. All that needs to be done is to
run a wire to the telecom box attached to the
neighbour's house, open the box and attach a cable to
it. then attach a phone at your end of the cable. Once
you've done this, you can make phone calls at no
expense, it also allows you to use other boxes with a
minimal chance of getting caught.
BUSY BOX
The Busy box is intended to get revenge on a neighbour
who annoys you. This device is attached to the
telephone box outside the victim's house and disables
the phone line. Once the Busy box is installed, the
victim will not get a dial tone.
CHART BOX
The Chart box is a means of using the electricity which
is present on the telephone line. Once the Chart box is
attached to the phone line 12 volts can be obtained
which can be raised by using a transformer and
adjusted to the desired voltage by using a rheostat.
CHEESE BOX
This box is named after the box the device was found
in. The Cheese box will create the effect of pay-phone
These boxes were used by bookies to call customers
without having the line traced by the police. Using the
number to the "intercept operator" found in a prefix,
the box would forward the call (using call forwarding)
to the operator. This would create the effect of
leaving the phone off the hook (which would wait for
some money to be depositied). For the money depositing
effect the Red box would be used. Then a call would be
placed to someone without much risk of being traced.
CHROME BOX
This box is based around OptoComs, which are devices
that work on traffic lights to allow emergency service
quick passage to an incident. It works on the principle
of detecting the pattern of the emergency service's
strobe lights. The Chrome box is a strobe light which
the sensors on traffic lights can detect with a
pre-set pattern and thus allowing you to skip traffic
lights.
CLEAR BOX
This deviced is based around a pay phone which waits
for the recipient to answer before requesting any
money. If you deposit money then the mouth piece is
enabled; if not, then the recipient cannot hear you.
The components necessary are an amplifier and a
telephone suction cup induction pick-up. These
components, when used correctly, will allow the caller
to communicated with the recipient. A call can last as
long as needed as the telephone will still be requesting
the money. This box doesn't work on some new phone
systems though.
COPPER BOX
This box can lead to serious consequences for anyone
who tries it. The Copper box was conceived to do
serious damage to a phone companies equipment.
Firstly, the phreaker needs to obtain an extended or
phone company port, such as an MCI or AT+T access
number. Then, with access to a computer and modem
which can autodial using tones, the phreaker dials the
long distance service and enters the code. The code is
entered again and the process continually repeated.
The tone will keep increasing in volume with every
redial until no more sounds are accepted. He or she
would keep the phone off the hook until the tone calms
down or stops and then repeats again. When the port
stops answering, then that's it! The feedback
overloads the amplifiers, these can render telephone
companies extenders damaged.
DARK BOX
The Dark box is one of the newer boxes on the scene.
It is designed to offer a safer and more interesting
way to commit telecommunications fraud. This device
does not use any attack diallers or special tones, but
is based around the ordinary DTMF tones found on
most telephones. When this box is used properly it
allows the user to dial any number regardless of
distance without being charged or traced. It can also
be used to simulate multi-line bridges, loop lines and
direct dial-ins. To utilise this box, it is plugged into
two telephone lines or one end into another box. When
incoming call is sensed, the box answers the call and
transfers it to the other line or onto the loop. Once
the call has finished the box senses the hang up and
awaits its next call.
GREEN BOX
The green box was invented because, to use a Red box,
you have to pay to start with. This is quite obviously
against the principles that phreakers stand for.
This box generates tones which represent coin
collect, coin return and ring back, each of which have
a different frequency.
Green boxing can only commence when the operator
release signal is sent to alert the MF detectors at the
CO. At this stage the Green Box tones are sent to the CO
and are interpreted and send back, which either
returns or collects the coin. If the message is sent
back to collect the coin, then it must be grounded,
there are two wires involved in this process. The trick
is to stop this pulse from being grounded. This is
achieved by cutting wires. The next stage is to hang up
the phone and wait for about fifteen seconds incase
another pulse is sent, then reconnect the two wires.
INFINITY BOX
The Infinity box is a remotely activated bugging device
this is activated by a phone call which then activates
a microphone within the bug. When plugged into a phone
line this box will intercept a call and capture into the
phone, any sound which can be heard in the room.
LIGHT BOX
The idea behind this box is useful to anyone who wishes
to be sure of holding a private conversation on the
phone, without anyone listening in on an extension line.
Degradation of the line is normally quite noticable
when an extension line is picked up or a telephone
monitor activated, but if either of these events occur
at the same time as the phreaker answers the call,
nothing may be suspected. The Light box makes it easy
it easy to tell if the line is being listened into, as a light
goes on when the box detects a drop in the line's
voltage.
NEON BOX
The Neon box adds an external microphone to the
telephone. This box involves a slight modification to the
telephone's circuitry, but when done, will allow you to
send tones and incoming information directly to the
telephone without the loss and interference you get
from the telephone's own microphone. The design is
also extended to allow the phreaker to record a
conversation and the touch tones of the numbers
being entered. Many phreakers set up such devices at
public telephones at Airports, where they can record
calling card and credit card details of tourists or
business people.
RED BOX
This box is related to the Green box. The red box
simulates the coin tone to allow the pay-phone to fool
the operators computer automated coin toll system
into thinking that money has been deposited, when in
fact it has not. Whenever a coin is deposited in a pay
phone the phone indicates what coin has been put in by
combinations of tone burst. Each burst has different
value. This device outputs tone bursts through a
speaker which is placed against the telephones mouth
piece. For some pay-phones a coin has to be deposited
to open up the microphone to start with.
The Red box will not work on Customer Owned Coin
Operated Telephones, because the telephone itself
determines what coins have been deposited.
SILVER BOX
A standard tone telephone has twelve tones usually in
the configuration (left to right)
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,*,0,#. Each tone has a different
sound/frequency to signify the nuber or operation to
be used. The Silver box makes an alteration to the
phone which creates an extra four tones, these are
DTMF tones A,B,C and D, which replace the 3,6,9,#
column on your phone. A,B,C and D create a different
set of tones, although it is not sure as to the purpose
of A,B,C and D buttons, it is supposed to create an
interesting effect when used with older telephone
exchanges. These buttons are also reputed to have
had military purposes.
TRON BOX
The Tron box is designed to reverse the phase of
power to your house which could slow down the
electricity meter or even reverse it. Anyone without
a clear understanding of what they are doing should
not try it, because of serious risk of electrocution.
There are many other box types also, but i have no
information on them yet. Anyone of you ever called
the net and seen people writing differently, using
numbers as letters and other characters?
This is called the K-RAD ALPHABET, it originated from a
form of phreaker jargon found on irc #hack on the
internet.
On the following page is a typical K-RAD "Kilo-Radical"
alphabet, but there are many other variations.
K-RAD ALPHABETIC K-RAD ALPHABETIC
4 A 5 S
8 B + T
[ C L U
I) D V V
3 E W W
I= F x X
G G y Y
I-I H 7 Z
1 I
I J This semi-coded alphabet is
I< K often used on the internet, but
1 L also has been seen within the
M M scene and on the boards.
N N
0 O
P P
Q Q
R R
A small but fitting conclusion to this editions Hack and
Phreak chapter.
Next edition we will be venturing into Cellular Phone
Phreaking (mobile phones) different forms of
tracing and manipulation someone over the phone.
Any comments can be emailed to:
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
# - alphazer0
I trust you've enjoyed this issues h/p contributions
and I look forward to seeing you in the next edition.
Regards;
General Editor
