Modem Hacker Charged With ‘Aiding Computer Intrusion’

I’m not taking a side in this argument or arguing the merits of the case, I am merely pointing out the fact that this guy shouldn’t be surprised the feds came knocking on his door. Hell, I’m actually amazed it took as long as it did.

An Oregon hardware hacker and author has been hit with federal criminal charges arising from his longstanding business of selling unlocked cable modems that can be used to steal extra speed from a broadband provider, or obtain free service.

Yeah, i bet his view was "its only illegal if you get caught"

Guess what. . . . . .he got caught lol

This guy is the very definition of amoral. He claims he is just like a gun dealer and it is not his problem what his customers do with his products. Sure there could be legitimate uses for use products but when 99% of his customers use his hacked products to break the law, you have to admit there is something wrong with his business model.

I'm sorry. But are we going to start charging gun shop owners for aiding criminal activity the next time someone in murdered with a guns sold from their shop?

My younger brother about 10+ years ago started selling pirated discs. movies, games, anything and everything and ... he got caught and since he had already served time in prison prior to that for selling drugs and being in possession of a firearm, he went back to prison.

I tried to tell him, his buddies that ... whatever money they made illegally was never going to be more than what he could make at a normal job earning a fair wage over a short period of 2 - 3 years. Maybe even less. Steady legit incomes always beat anything a small time crook can make.

What does this have to do with this guy and this story? Same difference, it's just not worth doing something illegal or borderline illegal to make a few extra dollars. The funny thing is, in the end, whatever speed his modem was set from the home office of isp, in the end would have provided him with more data than anything illegal he was doing. Kinda like the turtle and the hare story.

In the end, your really not getting over on the system.

Do some people REALLY beat the system, sure they do, but those guys are few and far between and their stories usually end up having a movie made about them.

i seem to remember there being a pretty lengthy discussion considering the morality of overclocking intel and amd processors when the celeron 350a came out... Just because modifying an athlon XP with a pencil is easier than modifying a motorola sufboard with a usb cable doesn't make the act of modification illegal.

to actual steal the cable modem service required sniffing the cable modem network from a working cable modem MAC; spoofing that person's MAC address when they weren't online, and downloading the configuration file from their modem to use when they weren't present, or you were willing to DoS attack them off the Node. NOTHING he sold or did allowed this, the only thing he gave, was the ability to unlock the administrative features of the cablemodem you purchased.

He could have created a firmware which automated many of the functions i described previously, but didn't specifically because it was illegal. He heavily moderated his forums, banned anyone immediately after posting anything remotely resembling any illegal content, and only sold/allowed those who guaranteed that they wouldn't be using the firmware or the information in the forums for illegal purposes.

in short, his firmware unlocked cable modems, just like your pencil trick unlocked amd processors.

Now there were definitely some unscrupulous vendors who sold overclocked systems with heatsinks GLUED to the processors and bios's modified to show a faster processor than was revealed after an official bios update. Are the people who posted the information about the pencil trick responsible for their actions?

Is the person who showed you how to unlock your cable modem responsible for the kid who used that information to DoS attack people off the internet?

Is the person who invented the taser responsible for those who misuse the taser?

personally, i see a clear difference between DerEngel who saw it as his job to moderate those forums day and night for illegal information, and those who make and distribute modified xbox firmware for *wink wink, nudge nuge* authorized backup copies ONLY... There are guide about how to create and burn backup copies of DRM protected games on the xbox hacking sites, DerEngel had no such similar information, to find out how to STEAL cable modem internet services requires a lot more searching via google, or piratebay type sites.

Unambiguition, i'm a Network engineer and PEN tester, i see it as my responsibility to know how these type off attacks work on specific networks; i've read DerEngel's book "hacking the cable modem", and i've read Bunnie's book "Hacking the Xbox: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering". Neither decribe the persuit of criminal activities in relation to defeat poorly thought out and designed computer systems...

This is a witch hunt, plain and simple. Perhaps if Ryan Harris was given the benefit of a tution to MIT, it would have proceeded like it did for Andrew Huang.

Andrew "Bunnie" Huang enable the complete defeat of all protected systems on your Xbox. And was given a tour of microsofts HPC labs and supercomputing centers around the world.

Ryan Harris enabled the ability to upload your own configuration files to your cable modem. And is facing federal prison.

Originally Posted by vengence

I'm sorry. But are we going to start charging gun shop owners for aiding criminal activity the next time someone in murdered with a guns sold from their shop?

The way I see it, it's like a gun dealer selling illegal and hot guns to people without a license or doing a background check.

The difference is bunnie went to Microsoft, provided them with insider information and asked to be allowed to continue publicly hacking the console provided that he publish all of his findings and how to stop the hacks with revisions.

Originally Posted by xaustinx

i seem to remember there being a pretty lengthy discussion considering the morality of overclocking intel and amd processors when the celeron 350a came out... Just because modifying an athlon XP with a pencil is easier than modifying a motorola sufboard with a usb cable doesn't make the act of modification illegal.

to actual steal the cable modem service required sniffing the cable modem network from a working cable modem MAC; spoofing that person's MAC address when they weren't online, and downloading the configuration file from their modem to use when they weren't present, or you were willing to DoS attack them off the Node. NOTHING he sold or did allowed this, the only thing he gave, was the ability to unlock the administrative features of the cablemodem you purchased.

He could have created a firmware which automated many of the functions i described previously, but didn't specifically because it was illegal. He heavily moderated his forums, banned anyone immediately after posting anything remotely resembling any illegal content, and only sold/allowed those who guaranteed that they wouldn't be using the firmware or the information in the forums for illegal purposes.

in short, his firmware unlocked cable modems, just like your pencil trick unlocked amd processors.

Now there were definitely some unscrupulous vendors who sold overclocked systems with heatsinks GLUED to the processors and bios's modified to show a faster processor than was revealed after an official bios update. Are the people who posted the information about the pencil trick responsible for their actions?

Is the person who showed you how to unlock your cable modem responsible for the kid who used that information to DoS attack people off the internet?

Is the person who invented the taser responsible for those who misuse the taser?

personally, i see a clear difference between DerEngel who saw it as his job to moderate those forums day and night for illegal information, and those who make and distribute modified xbox firmware for *wink wink, nudge nuge* authorized backup copies ONLY... There are guide about how to create and burn backup copies of DRM protected games on the xbox hacking sites, DerEngel had no such similar information, to find out how to STEAL cable modem internet services requires a lot more searching via google, or piratebay type sites.

Unambiguition, i'm a Network engineer and PEN tester, i see it as my responsibility to know how these type off attacks work on specific networks; i've read DerEngel's book "hacking the cable modem", and i've read Bunnie's book "Hacking the Xbox: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering". Neither decribe the persuit of criminal activities in relation to defeat poorly thought out and designed computer systems...

This is a witch hunt, plain and simple. Perhaps if Ryan Harris was given the benefit of a tution to MIT, it would have proceeded like it did for Andrew Huang.

Andrew "Bunnie" Huang enable the complete defeat of all protected systems on your Xbox. And was given a tour of microsofts HPC labs and supercomputing centers around the world.

Ryan Harris enabled the ability to upload your own configuration files to your cable modem. And is facing federal prison.

agree 100% unfortunately there are way too many tech illiterate people that think they have power over what they do not understand. Without people reverse engineering and tinkering we would not have things like the internet. What's next, are speed shops going to get shut down and raided when somebody using their services speeds or run from the police? Are small computer shops going to be shut down after they add a writable optical drive to a customers brand name computer?

Originally Posted by Azhar

The way I see it, it's like a gun dealer selling illegal and hot guns to people without a license or doing a background check.

writing your own firmware(and selling it) is illegal now? We better also arrest whoever was involved in writing Linux firmware for linksys routers.

The FBI is moving on his request for Arizona based MAC addressing, which indicates he uses his product for illegal means. You can thank the Patriot Act for their ability to act on such limited info as "threat of hacking" is now classified as a possible terrorist act meriting Federal intervention. Normally they would have to get a warrant for search & seizure first, which would be denied on the basis of one sentence, but because of the Patriot Act they can obtain more evidence to then ensure a warrant that will pass through a Judge.

Welcome to what signing away your right to Privacy has created. So, if you don't like this, then lobby your representatives on how you dislike the Patriot Act.

I’m sure there are nuances of this matter I am missing, such as how the FBI buying two units allows them to arrest him.

Originally Posted by OCgamer666

writing your own firmware(and selling it) is illegal now? We better also arrest whoever was involved in writing Linux firmware for linksys routers.

Way to take things out of context.

"selling unlocked cable modems that can be used to steal extra speed from a broadband provider, or obtain free service."

That was the purpose of his re-flashed cablemodem, just as it's not illegal to write a virus, but to write it and send it out into circulation is.

Originally Posted by Azhar

Way to take things out of context.

"selling unlocked cable modems that can be used to steal extra speed from a broadband provider, or obtain free service."

That was the purpose of his re-flashed cablemodem, just as it's not illegal to write a virus, but to write it and send it out into circulation is.

I can buy an optical drive that is capable of illegally copying software and media
I can by a router that will allow me to copy my computers mac address. I would not blame anybody who uses one to get a little extra speed out the isp that advertises XX megabits but only delivers in short bursts and intentionally throttles you down when you have a large download going. I don't see it as illlegal maybe a violation of TOS with the ISP but nothing more.

Writing a virus isn't illegial... Executing it's attack script is. So, what malicious code writers do is host the virus for others to willingly download, who then execute it on their machines and begin the infection process.

It's called "Cable" theft... What your ethical standards sees as ok, does not make it so.

Originally Posted by Bansin

It's called "Cable" theft... What your ethical standards sees as ok, does not make it so.

if you are paying for the line you are not stealing, I end up giving Comcast over $100 a month for service and rarely(never when I need it) see the advertised bandwidth I pay extra for. It's not stealing if you are just making sure you get what you are paying for.

Originally Posted by OCgamer666

if you are paying for the line you are not stealing, I end up giving Comcast over $100 a month for service and rarely(never when I need it) see the advertised bandwidth I pay extra for. It's not stealing if you are just making sure you get what you are paying for.

The problem is proving that is what your doing

Remember, quility until proven innocent

Originally Posted by OCgamer666

if you are paying for the line you are not stealing, I end up giving Comcast over $100 a month for service and rarely(never when I need it) see the advertised bandwidth I pay extra for. It's not stealing if you are just making sure you get what you are paying for.

Do you even read anything people say before you? The unlocked modem goes beyond what you paid for. You buy a 3mbps Comcast connection, that modem would get you 25mbps.

Go on, tell us how that's not stealing.

Originally Posted by Bansin

It's called "Cable" theft... What your ethical standards sees as ok, does not make it so.

There is no evidence that DerEngel committed any cable theft... So what the heck are you talking about?

Then take legal action against them. Of course you don't have the income most likely to do so, so gather a group of people with proof... Or stop paying for their service because they are not providing high enough quality or meeting their promises. You don't tap your electricity to "loosen" how much your meter claims your drawing do you? And if you do and find that ok as well; morale issues indeed.