Inmates Hid Self-Built PCs in the Ceiling and Connected them to Prison Network

Zarathustra[H]

Zarathustra[H]

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Back in 2015, two prisoners at the Marion Correctional Institution in Ohio were apparently able to not only get the parts to build their own PC's, but then hide them in the ceiling of a training room, and use them to gain access to the institutions network. The two were discovered after security software started notifying IT staff that a contractors laptop kept exceeding its Internet access quota, which was particularly odd, as the contractor was off at the time the alert came through.

Looks to me like Marion Correctional Institution may need better supervision of its inmates. That and this should serve as a lesson to IT departments everywhere of how easy it is for someone to just walk in, and plug in a computer that doesn't belong.

I had been told there was a PC on our network that was being used to try and hack through the proxy servers. They narrowed the search area down to the switch in P3 and the PC was connected to port 16. I was able to follow the cable from the switch to a closet in the small training room. When I removed the ceiling tiles I found two PCs hidden in the ceiling on 2 pieces of plywood.
 
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Sounds like they should hire these guys ;). Seriously what kind of IT department just lets anyone plug in any device and go? Lock that shit down.
 
okay I laughed out loud when I read this.

It would be bad of me to say "Good for them" but I want to.

Personally I think access to the web on a regular basis including monitored email (but obviously not adult sites and encoded sites) would be a good thing. https would obviously NOT be supported. (Root certs are too easy to uninstall) It would help with inmates cat scratch/cabin fever.

Regular access to news, email from family, support groups, and educational resources could be vital to their rehabilitation.
 
DigitalGriffin said:
okay I laughed out loud when I read this.

It would be bad of me to say "Good for them" but I want to.

Personally I think access to the web on a regular basis including monitored email (but obviously not adult sites and encoded sites) would be a good thing. https would obviously NOT be supported. (Root certs are too easy to uninstall) It would help with inmates cat scratch/cabin fever.

Regular access to news, email from family, support groups, and educational resources could be vital to their rehabilitation.
Click to expand...

No time to shank someone when you have 300 emails to read.
 
Oh, come on, we all know what the prisoners, who haven't seen a woman in ages, used the internet is for...;)

In other news, this also clears up the unexplained "messes" in the training room...
 
DigitalGriffin said:
okay I laughed out loud when I read this.

It would be bad of me to say "Good for them" but I want to.

Personally I think access to the web on a regular basis including monitored email (but obviously not adult sites and encoded sites) would be a good thing. https would obviously NOT be supported. (Root certs are too easy to uninstall) It would help with inmates cat scratch/cabin fever.

Regular access to news, email from family, support groups, and educational resources could be vital to their rehabilitation.
Click to expand...

Why not adult sites? I mean they are there to be rehabilitated into society and that just seems more like a punishment than anything else...
 
Ultima99 said:
This is actually kind of impressive in an odd way.
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Hmm,
Not really. Assembling PCs now a days is monkey work. Everything modular, everything configures automatically. Not like the old days when you actually had to know something about computer to successfully build a PC project that work correctly.
 
Dr. Righteous said:
Hmm,
Not really. Assembling PCs now a days is monkey work. Everything modular, everything configures automatically. Not like the old days when you actually had to know something about computer to successfully build a PC project that work correctly.
Click to expand...

When was that?
 
Its definitely a hell of a lot easier but I dont think its quite as simple yet as you imply. The average person wont know the difference between an AMD and Intel chip. Hell I know people who dont even know that you can change the CPU, or add RAM. Even some who think if the hard drive dies its time to replace the whole unit.

Its less of a niche but still a niche.
 
doho7744 said:
XT, AT, MFM, RLL, Irq, sound blaster, Hercule. These tell the story of early pc problems.
Click to expand...

I recall a lot of PC makers reserving IRQ for certain cards so you couldn't go out and buy a soundblaster and install it and have sound. You had to buy THEIR crappy sound card if you wanted sound on your PC.
 
DigitalGriffin said:
okay I laughed out loud when I read this.

It would be bad of me to say "Good for them" but I want to.

Personally I think access to the web on a regular basis including monitored email (but obviously not adult sites and encoded sites) would be a good thing. https would obviously NOT be supported. (Root certs are too easy to uninstall) It would help with inmates cat scratch/cabin fever.

Regular access to news, email from family, support groups, and educational resources could be vital to their rehabilitation.
Click to expand...


They should only get Cspan, nat geo and other learning stuff.
 
im actually a bit surprised they had the tools to even monitor traffic, and then pin it down to where. all that requires spending money on IT
 
per the article "It’s clear, for instance, that the prisoners would have had a much more difficult time pulling off their scheme if they had not managed to ascertain the password of a legitimate contractor – albeit one who didn’t work on Fridays."

I bet password=password. GG contractor! At least the IT staff noticed and caught the anomaly.
 
Dr. Righteous said:
Hmm,
Not really. Assembling PCs now a days is monkey work. Everything modular, everything configures automatically. Not like the old days when you actually had to know something about computer to successfully build a PC project that work correctly.
Click to expand...

Sure, sure.

Try carrying all of your parts home stuck up your ass.
 
Zion Halcyon said:
Oh, come on, we all know what the prisoners, who haven't seen a woman in ages, used the internet is for...;)

In other news, this also clears up the unexplained "messes" in the training room...
Click to expand...

Well not the ONLY thing. Officials might want to check out the inmate(s) in question bank accounts. The accounts might be a bit larger then when the inmates enter the facility.

The officials might also want to double check paper records of how many inmates are supposed to be there. Depending on how good these folks were, the computer records might be covering a few missing inmates.
 
ssnyder28 said:
Because everyone would commit crimes so they could go to jail and get free internets of course
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Who said it was free?

Seriously though people need to decide if prison is for rehabilitation or punishment. Or some combination thereof.
 
kju1 said:
Why not adult sites? I mean they are there to be rehabilitated into society and that just seems more like a punishment than anything else...
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Are you serious?!?

pr0n leads to toking on the pole and increased levels of testosterone. testosterone makes men dumb. (Aggressive) Plus there's always a risk of pr0n addiction. And do you want to give sex offenders access to pr0n?
 
Dr. Righteous said:
I recall a lot of PC makers reserving IRQ for certain cards so you couldn't go out and buy a soundblaster and install it and have sound. You had to buy THEIR crappy sound card if you wanted sound on your PC.
Click to expand...

Shit, I haven't thought about IRQ numbers since the 90's I think, COM 1 and COM 2 as well for that matter.
 
Dr. Righteous said:
Hmm,
Not really. Assembling PCs now a days is monkey work. Everything modular, everything configures automatically. Not like the old days when you actually had to know something about computer to successfully build a PC project that work correctly.
Click to expand...


I think it's impressive. They did it in prison.
 
DigitalGriffin said:
Are you serious?!?

pr0n leads to toking on the pole and increased levels of testosterone. testosterone makes men dumb. (Aggressive) Plus there's always a risk of pr0n addiction. And do you want to give sex offenders access to pr0n?
Click to expand...

Are you Serious? honestly I cannot tell.

In my opinion it is a viable therapeutic tool. Sexuality is an important aspect of being human, our problem is we teach stupid shit based on ancient ideologies instead of modern health and science.
 
Aireoth said:
Are you Serious? honestly I cannot tell.

In my opinion it is a viable therapeutic tool. Sexuality is an important aspect of being human, our problem is we teach stupid shit based on ancient ideologies instead of modern health and science.
Click to expand...

Yes I am. There is healthy sexuality and then unhealthy sexuality. If you have nothing to do but toke off then it can lead to addiction issues. Quite simply looking at pr0n does nothing to improve your mental status in prison and does in fact increase the likelihood of increased violence. You don't need pr0n to survive or improve yourself. And besides do you want your roommate in the bunk above you constantly jerking the meat 24/7?
 
DigitalGriffin said:
Yes I am. There is healthy sexuality and then unhealthy sexuality. If you have nothing to do but toke off then it can lead to addiction issues. Quite simply looking at pr0n does nothing to improve your mental status in prison and does in fact increase the likelihood of increased violence. You don't need pr0n to survive or improve yourself. And besides do you want your roommate in the bunk above you constantly jerking the meat 24/7?
Click to expand...

When you say fact would you mind showing the studies? I've also heard the reverse where sexual repression increases likelihood of disturbing acts of violence or just plain nasty shit.

This isn't a "Prove it" question, more just an interested in reading the research for facts request.
 
DigitalGriffin said:
And besides do you want your roommate in the bunk above you constantly jerking the meat 24/7?
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A pal of mine is a prison guard. What makes you think the guy in the top bunk isn't jerking his meat 24/7 already? That's literally ALL most prisoners do when locked down.
 
Actually, hats off for detecting the unusual activity in the first place.
 
DigitalGriffin said:
Yes I am. There is healthy sexuality and then unhealthy sexuality. If you have nothing to do but toke off then it can lead to addiction issues. Quite simply looking at pr0n does nothing to improve your mental status in prison and does in fact increase the likelihood of increased violence. You don't need pr0n to survive or improve yourself. And besides do you want your roommate in the bunk above you constantly jerking the meat 24/7?
Click to expand...

I know you and I are talking about two very different scenarios.
 
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