Phreaks, Confs, and Jail

Presented at The Last HOPE (2008), July 19, 2008, 8 p.m. (60 minutes).

In the mid to late 90s, phreaks spent a lot of time on teleconferences (known as "confs,") created a lot of mischief, and more than a few went to jail. Fast forward a decade and phreaks still spend a lot of time on confs, create even more mischief, and still occasionally go to jail. Join TProphet for a walk down memory lane and into the present day, where practically any security can still be defeated by a smooth-talking social engineer. More importantly, learn how new technologies such as VoIP can impact the trustworthiness of the telephone system (even including critical infrastructure such as 911).


Presenters:

  • TProphet
    TProphet aka The Telecom Informer is both a well-known phreak and a regular columnist for 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. When he's not writing about telecommunications, TProphet enjoys visiting unusual places (ask him about North Korea) and DJing at underground electronic music events. He works as a systems engineer and lives in the Seattle area.

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