_________ SWAT MAGAZINE ISSUE NINETEEN: JULY 1999 __________ / \___________________________________________/ \ / The Beginners Guide to Phreaking \ / By =The-Doh-Boy= \ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Recently I had the pleasure of introducing some "newbies" to the art of phreaking through the articles in SWAT. One of these newbies was just an average dad whose teenage daughter spent a little too much time on the phone!!! So its OK if your not a hard right anarchist. With this in mind I thought I would write a kind of set text on the art of phreaking. A Defenition Of Phreaking. So what is phreaking? I hear you ask. Well a while back I came to the idea that most phreaking methods follow the same kind of principle: "Phreaking is a method used to allow a person (or computer dialler) to make a telephone call whilst separating the voice signals from the control and charging signals" (Put really simply "To make free calls") This principle might seem a bit opaque just now, but I aim to explain it throughout a series of articles. The principle itself can easily be demonstrated with the easiest phreaking method, and the subject of this article, red boxing. Specifications For A Red Box. You might think I've gone mad rabbiting on about coloured boxes, but I'm not (too) mad. The reason a red box is called a red box is a historical one dating back to the first box. The first (I think) box to come out was the "black box" (This doen't work anymore so I won't bore you with it!) The reason they called it a black box was because a black box usually meant "box of tricks", and thats really what this was. It was a box of tricks to get free calls. The second box on the scene came begging for a name, and to differentiate this box of tricks from the other, they called it a "blue box" (more of which later in the series) So ever since then boxes have been given coloured names. A red box can comprise anything that can play sounds, and preferably can fit in your pocket. All you need is the correct tones: 1000 Hz for 200 ms X 1 = 10p 1000 Hz for 200 ms X 2 = 20p 1000 Hz for 350 ms X 1 = 50p 1000 Hz for 350 ms X 2 = £1 (1000 Hz for 500 ms X 1 = £2) If you can't work out how to generate these tones, then there are plenty of programs available. There is the excellent CyberPhreak in the SWAT file library. Or you could go down market and get my really small program called RedBox which is also in the SWAT file library. Anyways, get these recorded and head out to a payphone, you are ready for your first phreak. The Method. Once you get to the phone you want to pick up and dial 100 (for a national call) or 155 (for an international call) and tell the operator that the 0 key is not working on the phone, and could they connect a call for you. They should ask for the number (which you give them) and connect you. Once connected they will ask you to insert some money. Give them the appropriate tones down the mouthpiece rather than put any money in. They will hear these tones and think that it is actually money going into the phone (the payphone makes these tones when you do) they will then connect the two voice lines and you can chat away to your friend for free. Summing Up. How does this relate to the principle mentioned above. Well you'll notice that the payphone doesn't cut you off when your chatting to your friend, this is because the payphone does not get the charging signal, this is due to the fact that the operator dialled the call and then connects your voice signal to the line dialled out on. So as you can see you have succesfully manages to get rid of the charging for your call but still talk at the same time.