UK Hacker sends ex-directory numbers via remailer ?

It looks like the remailer network is going to come under scrutiny
from the British government.

There is a story breaking on BBC TV news at the moment  (24Nov1994,
1300hr) about a hacker who has obtained the ex-directory numbers of various
dignitaries, including the Prime Minister and royal family, from the
British Telecom Customer Service System computer network.

It appears that the hacker sent  pages of secret numbers  to a reporter
on the Independent newspaper via the Internet.   The story did not
mention  'anonymous remailer' by name, but I  presume that a remailer
was used.

The story also did not mention that the numbers could have been printed
out on a second hand, untraceable, dot-matrix printer and sent via
anonymous postal mail.

How did the hacker obtain the top-secret numbers ? Simply by working as
a temporary employee for BT, and reading the top-secret CSS passwords
conveniently written on Post-it notes next to the terminals. 

It has not been a good week for BT.  On the Monday BBC TV Watchdog
program, they were slammed for invading privacy via the newly
introduced CLID system.

An update.

The ITN News at Ten program yesterday (24/11) mentioned that the email
was sent anonymously, but did not mention the Internet.  It also said
that the Independent journalist had obtained a temporary job at BT for
two months during the summer.  The journalist, Steven Fleming, was
interviewed. He had taken the job at BT after receiving the anonymous
email and he found that confidential CSS passwords were easy to obtain.
ITN also said that the Independent newspaper had received hundreds of
phone calls from BT employees concerned about CSS security. 

The previous BBC news program had made quite a play that the Internet
had been used, complete with screen shots of the Independent's
terminals.  

The BT dial-up Newsline service, intended for employees but available
to anyone who calls an 800 number, said that there is no evidence that
the CSS system had been hacked or that confidential customer
information had been passed over the Internet.  It also warned
employees that they face instant dismissal for breaching commercial
confidence.   

All employees of telecommunications companies in this country are also
covered by the Official Secrets Act even though they are not working
for a government department.  It is unlikely that Steven Fleming would
not have known this.


Quite why the Independent had thought that this rather sad story was
important enough to be their front page headline is a mystery. 

The threat of heavy-footed British security operatives descending upon
remailer operators has probably passed.