Episode
20 January 2026 Official episode · Official transcript
cybercrime
The episode traces the formation of Masters of Deception, its conflict with the Legion of Doom, the resulting investigations and prosecutions, and the legal and political backlash surrounding early U.S. computer hacking cases.
Topics: Telephone-network intrusion, Dialed-number recording and call metadata, Remote access through telephone-company dial hubs, Telephone switches and DMS 100 systems, Tymnet centralized network architecture, Backdoors and privileged network access, VAX and PDP-10 systems, Bulletin board systems and early online communities, Phone phreaking and blue boxes, Credential interception through fake login prompts, Social engineering, Denial-of-service through repeated telephone calls, Wiretaps and computer-communication data taps, Man-in-the-middle monitoring, Hacker collectives and underground culture, Computer-crime prosecution under the CFAA, Operation Sundevil, E911 technical-document prosecution, Software failure causing the AT&T outage, Digital-rights advocacy and the EFF
Links published on the Darknet Diaries episode page. Not LLM output.
Qualified statements from this episode, not graph facts.
Tom Keiser MEMBER_OF New York Telephone Company
Tom Keiser worked for the New York Telephone Company and oversaw its phone network security operations.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“There were two guys who worked there that were in charge of securing the system, Tom Keiser and Fred Staples.”
Fred Staples MEMBER_OF New York Telephone Company
Fred Staples worked for the New York Telephone Company and engineered its phone network infrastructure.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“There were two guys who worked there that were in charge of securing the system, Tom Keiser and Fred Staples.”
Tom Keiser USES Dialed-number recorder
Tom used a dialed-number recorder to monitor connection metadata associated with the Technician's activity.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“So, Tom turned to a nifty device that he had which was called the dialed-number recorder, DNR.”
Fred Staples USES Dialed-number recorder
Fred and Tom used DNR phone-monitoring tools to track the hacker's calls.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“So, Fred and Tom were able to use this DNR phone-monitoring tool without any red tape.”
Stewart Brand AUTHORED Whole Earth Catalog
Stewart Brand created the Whole Earth Catalog.
Explicit Confidence 98% · Steve Jobs EP 169 Details
“It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand”
The WELL DEVELOPED_BY Stewart Brand
Stewart Brand created and operated a BBS called the WELL, meaning Whole Earth Electronic Link.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“He spun up his own BBS called the WELL, which stood for Whole Earth Electronic Link.”
John Perry Barlow AUTHORED Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace
John Perry Barlow published the Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“He did, in fact, go and publish a Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace.”
Mark Abene MEMBER_OF Legion of Doom
Mark Abene, known as Phiber Optik, was voted into the Legion of Doom, although he was later kicked out.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“A few weeks later, Mark was officially voted in.”
“That’s how Mark, AKA Phiber Optik, got kicked out of the Legion of Doom”
Erik Bloodaxe MEMBER_OF Legion of Doom
Erik Bloodaxe was a member of the Legion of Doom.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“Bloodaxe was a member of the LoD”
Mark Abene MEMBER_OF Masters of Deception
Mark was one of the founders and members of the Masters of Deception.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“There was Mark, AKA Phiber Optik, Eli, which was going by Acid Freak, Paul, who was Scorpion, John Lee, who was Corrupt, and Julio, who called himself Outlaw.”
Eli MEMBER_OF Masters of Deception
Eli, known as Acid Freak, was a member and co-founder of the Masters of Deception.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“There was Mark, AKA Phiber Optik, Eli, which was going by Acid Freak, Paul, who was Scorpion”
Paul MEMBER_OF Masters of Deception
Paul, known as Scorpion, was a member and co-founder of the Masters of Deception.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“Paul, who was Scorpion, John Lee, who was Corrupt, and Julio, who called himself Outlaw.”
John Lee MEMBER_OF Masters of Deception
John Lee, known as Corrupt, was a member of the Masters of Deception.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“John Lee, who was Corrupt, and Julio, who called himself Outlaw.”
Julio MEMBER_OF Masters of Deception
Julio, known as Outlaw, was a member of the Masters of Deception.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“John Lee, who was Corrupt, and Julio, who called himself Outlaw.”
Eli USES Man-in-the-middle
Eli described a technique in which the hackers disconnected an existing user, impersonated the system, and captured the user's login credentials.
Derived Confidence 93% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“Then we’d knock them off while they were connected, and then sit there watching them. In other words, put us in their place”
Masters of Deception USES denial-of-service attack
The Masters of Deception-associated hackers used a denial-of-service attack by flooding Comsec's phone lines with calls.
Explicit Confidence 96% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“It was a denial-of-service attack, if you will, which tied up the phone lines and made it so nobody could ever get through to Comsec.”
Masters of Deception USES Tymnet
The Masters of Deception used Jason's backdoor access to reach the core of Tymnet and access connected networks.
Derived Confidence 95% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“Where Tymnet’s staff might only be able to see what’s relevant to their jobs and Tymnet users could only see what’s on their own networks, the Masters of Deception could see it all and access it all, too.”
Jason Snitker USES Tymnet
Jason obtained supervisor-level access to Tymnet through a backdoor and accessed its source code.
Explicit Confidence 98% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“It would get you into the lowest, most inner core of Tymnet.”
“he stole Tymnet’s source code, which was proprietary at the time.”
Mark Abene USES Tymnet
Mark used the Tymnet access obtained through Jason's backdoor to explore and access connected computers and networks.
Derived Confidence 94% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“Mark had a whole new system to explore, a whole new network to explore, and so many computers were on this.”
Comsec Data Security DEVELOPED_BY Erik Bloodaxe
Erik Bloodaxe started Comsec Data Security as a hacking-advisory business.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“Bloodaxe started a company called Comsec Data Security.”
AT&T outage of 1990 INVOLVES Software bug
The AT&T outage was caused by a bug in AT&T's own software, specifically a misplaced 'break' statement.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“AT&T admitted very publicly that the outage was caused by a bug in their own software.”
“One of their programmers put in the word ‘break’ in a wrong part of the code”
AT&T outage of 1990 ATTRIBUTED_TO Legion of Doom
The Legion of Doom was an initial suspect in the AT&T outage, but the episode later says the outage was caused by AT&T's own software bug.
Uncertain Confidence 98% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“LoD was their initial suspect”
AT&T outage of 1990 ATTRIBUTED_TO Masters of Deception
The episode raises, but does not establish, the possibility that the Masters of Deception were involved in the AT&T outage; the later account attributes it to AT&T's software bug.
Uncertain Confidence 93% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“but maybe this new group MoD had something to do with it too, right?”
Operation Sundevil TARGETS United States
Operation Sundevil was a nationwide crackdown involving raids on hackers across the United States.
Explicit Confidence 98% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“Operation Sundevil, which resulted in twenty-seven warrants for hackers spread across fourteen cities.”
Electronic Frontier Foundation DEVELOPED_BY John Perry Barlow
John Perry Barlow helped start the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“together — the two of them got together and said, let’s do something here, and they started the EFF”
Electronic Frontier Foundation DEVELOPED_BY Mitch Kapor
Mitch Kapor helped start the Electronic Frontier Foundation with John Perry Barlow.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“He met with Mitch Kapor. This guy was on the WELL, too, and Kapor was known for inventing the spreadsheet program called Lotus 1-2-3. They both lived in San Francisco, which is where the WELL was hosted, too, and together — the two of them got together and said, let’s do something here, and they started the EFF”
Jack Rhysider REFERENCES Hacker Crackdown
Jack cited Hacker Crackdown as a book that helped research and write the episode.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“There’s Hacker Crackdown by Bruce Sterling”
Jack Rhysider REFERENCES Masters of Deception
Jack cited Masters of Deception by Michelle Slatalla and Joshua Quittner as a source for the episode.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“and Masters of Deception by Michelle Slatalla and Joshua Quittner.”
Jack Rhysider REFERENCES Cuckoo’s Egg
Jack recommended Cuckoo’s Egg as another book about hacking in the 1980s.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 169 Details
“check out the book Cuckoo’s Egg, which is a classic hacker story.”
Works mentioned in the transcript. Distinct from show-note sources.
Model gpt-5.6-luna · prompt 1.5.19 · schema 1.5.19 · 2026-09-13T08:53:06.962884+00:00