Master of Deception

         Masters of Deception: “The Gang That Ruled Cyberspace” , the lives and pinnacle events of these individuals who formed the notorious hacking group MOD. The Masters of Deception were seemingly unstoppable. They used their modems to hack into the New York Telephone Company in their never-ending quest for a new ‘challenge’. Their intrusions steadily escalated over time, which inevitably led to run-ins with the law. Master of Deception (MOD) was a New York-based hacker group. MOD reportedly controlled all the major telephone RBOC's and X.25 networks as well as controlling large parts of the backbone of the rapidly emerging Internet. MOD's initial membership grew from meetings on Loop-Around Test Lines that led to legendary collaborations to hack RBOC phone switches and the various minicomputers and mainframes used to administer the telephone network. They successfully remained underground using alternative handles to hide even their true hacker identities. According to Lex Luthor, "I realized early on that only certain people can be trusted with certain information, and certain types of information can be trusted to no one. Giving out useful things to irresponsible people would inevitably lead to whatever thing it was being abused and no longer useful. As a result of a major nationwide investigation by a joint FBI/Secret Service task force called Operation Sundevil, five of MOD's members were indicted in 1992 in federal court. Within the next six months (in 1993), all five pleaded guilty and were sentenced to either probation or prison. The ethical issues in this case is if you an hacker or member of some kind of hacker group. You cannot deny that you are the hacker. And you cannot avoid the war between the two groups of hacker.

        Master of Deception is a group hacker that hacks the major telephone networks, the fast emerging internet and targeting US phone system. The acronym, MOD, was a jab at LOD, since M is one letter up from L in the alphabet. The MOD ranks grew quickly. The primary objective of this group is to hack phone systems. This group was being led by three boys namely, Mark Abene, also known as Phiber Optik, Eli Landopoulos or Acid Phreak, Paul Stira nicknamed Scorpion. The three teenagers recruited hackers who each had their own specialty, but the phone system remained their primary objective. Their goal was accomplished, because they are a notorious hacker and they hide their abilities of hacking the imprisonment was delayed. On January 15, 1990, AT&T's computer system crashes, leaving millions of subscribers without telephone service, and just like that, hacking is not just a game anymore. The Master of Deception didn't know it, but someone was watching. Someone in the security office at the phone company noticed their excursions into the system, and has been quietly collecting evidence for several months. That man has been in touch with the Secret Service, and they have been watching, too. Shortly after the AT&T crash, the raids begin. Their calvary started, the groups was pleaded guilty and were sentenced to either probation or prison.