Part 53 (1/2)

If you've done nothing wrong, why not come forward?

NOT EVERYONE BELIEVES WHAT WE DO IS HARMLESS NEITHER DO YOU

YET MIGHT BE BAD FOR MY HEALTH

What time is it?

WON'T WORK GUY TIME ZONES I UNDERSTAND ONE THING IF YOU'RE INTERESTED, I CAN ARRANGE A TRIP THOUGH THE FIRST TRUST BANK COMPUTERS,

Arrange a trip? Travel agent on the side

IN A WAY WE ARE ALL TRAVEL AGENTS JUST THOUGHT YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED

Let's say I am

JUST CALL 212-555-9796 USE THE PassWORD MONEYMAN AND THE ID IS 9796 LOOK AROUND ALL YOU WANT USE F1 FOR HELP I'LL CALL YOU IN A COUPLE OF DAYS LEAVE YOUR COMPUTER ON

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Chapter 13

Wednesday, November 25

HACKERS HAMPER HOLIDAY hellO'S By Scott Mason

As most of my readers know by now, I have an inherent suspicion of la If any of you were unable todistance phone call yesterday, you weren't alone

AT&T, the long distance carrier that provides the best telephone service in the world, handles in excess of 100,000,000 calls daily Yesterday, less than 25 got through Why? There are two possible answers: AT&T's official response and another, equally plausible and certainly more sinister reason thatto an AT&T spokesperson froe, New Jersey office, ”In my 20 years with AT&T, I have not seen a crisis so dramatic that it nearly shut down operations nation- wide” According to insiders, AT&T ca for Federal assistance

Airlines and hotel reservation services reported that phone traffic was down between 65-90! Teleanizations said that sales were off by over 80

Perhaps an understanding of what goes on behind the scenes of a phone call is in order

When you pick up your phone, you hear a dial tone that is provid- ed by the Local Exchange Company, or as more commonly called, a Baby Bell The LEC handles all local calls within certain dial- ing ranges A long distance call is switched by the LEC to the 4ESS, a miracle of modern com Syste offices across the country (A few rural areas still use relays and mechanical switches over 40 years old When it rains, the relays get sticky and so does the call)

Now here's the invisible beauty There are 14 direct connects between each of the 114 4ESS's and every other 4ESS, each capable of handling thousands of call at once So, rarely do we ever get a long distance busy signal The systems automatically reroute thenal Transfer Point within an SS7 network The SS7 network deterinated and its destination (More about that later!) It sends out an IAM, Initial Address Message, to the destination 4ESS switch and determines if a line is available to complete the call The SS7 is so powerful it can actually create up to 7 additional virtual paths for the heaviest traffic 800 numbers, Dial a porn 900 numbers and other specially coded phone nuh the NCP( Network Control Point) and routed separately Whew! Had enough? So have I

The point is, massive computer switches all across our nations auto for each call A call froh 4ESS's in Dallas, Los Angeles and Chicago before reaching its ultimate destination