Overview of Source and Authors: For obvious reasons, the author, Agent Steal, is anonymous in this documentation on how to illegally tap a phone line. The journal in which the article was published is Phrack, an underground electronic magazine since the early 80s that has served as a place for hackers and phreakers to exchange information.

Summary of Major Points in Work: In this "cookbook" on how to steal voice and data transmissions, the author provides information on which equipment is needed and vaguely describes how to make it work. The tools one needs are an audio tape recorder, a device called a "Telephone Recording Control," and various "alligator" clips; all these tools are available at a standard Radio Shack. To implement, the phreaker connects the device to the victims telephone line and leaves. The tape recorder will automatically record the transmissions, be they voice or data. If they are data, they can be translated to readable characters with a standard modem.

Value of Work to My Project: My thesis states there is a pronounced need for data encryption, due to the little knowledge and equipment it takes to eavesdrop or steal data, as demonstrated by this article. If the victim is able to use an encryption device, Agent Steal's "recipe" would not work.

Relation to other materials: "Agent Steal's" remarks are supported by those of another article from Phrack by Ric Blackmon [16]. Testimony before congress will show how easy it is to eavesdrop on a cellular phone [22]. Other examples of hacking and phreaking appear in [2], [5] and [6].