back to article Prisoners built two PCs from parts, hid them in ceiling, connected to the state's network and did cybershenanigans

We are impressed by five prisoners in the US who built two personal computers from parts, hid them behind a plywood board in the ceiling of a closet, and then connected those computers to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction's (ODRC) network to engage in cybershenanigans. Compliments are less forthcoming from …

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        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: The Shawshank Connection

          I'm looking forward to the names of their prison memoirs:

          "Hard Timesharing"

          "Intel Inside"

      1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

        Re: Re: The Shawshank Connection

        * Escape From Alcatel

        * Jailhouse NoC

        * Man In The Iron Subnet Mask

        * Con Air Gap

        * O Brother Printer, Where Art Tho?

        C.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: The Shawshank Connection

          The count of Monte Cisco.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: The Shawshank Connection

          Jailhouse Hack

          Escape LAN

          Auschwitch

          LAN served over the convicts nest.

          Harry Potter and the Prisoner with ExtraLAN.

          1. Sgt_Oddball
            Devil

            Re: The Shawshank Connection

            Escape from LA(N)

            Prisoner memory block H

            Cool SPAM Luke

            Old bit

            Ok I'm done...

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Go

              Re: The Shawshank Connection

              The Rowcount of Monte Cristo should also be acceptable

        3. Shovel

          Re: The Shawshank Connection

          You ain't kidding about Alcatel. I ended up with one by misfortune, worst smart phone ever.

          1. Sir Runcible Spoon

            Re: The Shawshank Connection

            Perl Harbor

            Server Blade Runner

            50 First Data

            StarTrek: Into DarkNet

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: The Shawshank Connection

              @Runcible Spoon

              I think we want IT-themed bastardizations of well-known prison movies though.

              Is there an IT-themed version that someone can suggest for "Caged Heat"?

              1. Chris 244

                Re: Marketing Hack / Caged Heat

                How about:

                Faraday Caged Heat

    1. Chemical Bob
      Devil

      Re: The Shawshank Connection

      I'm surprised no one already submitted this:

      The Cisco Kid

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The Shawshank Connection

        Because I can't resist revisiting this thread to see the bad puns and this one came to mind:

        NAPillion

    2. Adam 1

      Re: The Shawshank Connection

      The Dot Matrix

      1. Adam 1

        Re: The Shawshank Connection

        Edward SCSIhands

        The FireWire

        The Li Ion King

        The Switch

        The Terminal

        Frozen

  1. Your alien overlord - fear me

    Did they need "screws" to put the computers together?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      No but they did need roof level priviliges.

    2. David 132 Silver badge
      Coat

      Did they need "screws" to put the computers together?

      Dunno, but what tipped off the IT department was finding a lag on the network.

      1. David 132 Silver badge
        Facepalm

        Oops, I see others had already made the "lag" pun on page 2 of this thread - that'll teach me to be slow. Don't upvote me, spend it on people who are more original instead :(

        1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

          "that'll teach me to be slow."

          You were lagging.

  2. Natalie Gritpants

    Odd that there were network ports available inside the secure area

    WiFi I could understand as it is hard to block completely but any ethernet ports should not be there or be routed only to the CCTV recording machines.

    1. Goldmember

      Re: Odd that there were network ports available inside the secure area

      The quote from the report:

      "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."

      So it wasn't simply a port; they managed to run a cable directly from a switch somewhere. Maybe a comms cab in a cupboard, locked door but accessible from the ceiling? I've not had time to read the report yet but will later to see if there's clarification.

      One thing I'm wondering though; how did they manage to sneak out an entire monitor or 2 on which to use said PCs? You can cobble together the other parts and sneak them in pockets (with the exception of the mainboard, but that is thin so can fit down pants). You don't need a case for the PC to run. But how did they get a screen out?

      1. TRT Silver badge

        Re: Odd that there were network ports available inside the secure area

        And the switches weren't on 802.1X? Or were they and they had some stolen credentials?

      2. VanguardG

        Re: Odd that there were network ports available inside the secure area

        The closet was in a training room - perhaps the training used isolated computers? Convince someone the monitor was "bad", get a replacement from the recycling place, and quietly shift the "bad" monitor up into the hidden site, and convince the guards that it'd been removed already. Guards would see one working monitor per computer, no extra gear laying around, and conclude that the information was valid. Schedule it for a shift change and the guard near end of shift would see the monitor come in, but, hey, its almost time to go home, he wouldn't follow the prisoner to ensure the bad one was swapped out properly..he'd tell his replacement. Replacement comes on duty, and he's told "we took the bad one out already, you must've still been at your shift briefing", with some forged documents...they know the guard isn't going to follow up - what use would a monitor be without a computer, after all?

        1. keith_w

          Re: Odd that there were network ports available inside the secure area

          it was mentioned that the parts were obtained from the computer recycling business that was operating in the prison. Perhaps the monitor(s) were obtained from that supply.

        2. bombastic bob Silver badge
          Pirate

          Re: Odd that there were network ports available inside the secure area

          don't need to schedule for guard shift changes. just have something to blackmail the guard with.

          I worked with a guy who was an X prison guard once. He told me about the kinds of stuff prisoners will do to the guards. One example, a prisoner begs a guard to mail something to his nephew, like a birthday card, "I want to get it to my nephew before his birthday and the prison mail system is too slow." The guard is suckered in, does a one-time favor, and mails it outside the prison. Just a simple birthday card, right? Well, it got a cancellation mark from OUTSIDE the prison on it during the mailing, and it was quietly sent BACK to the same prisoner, who now has PROOF that the guard did something that could get him fired... and the next request is "get me some booze" or "get me some drugs" or "look the other way while we XXX" because it's the guard's F'ing JOB on the line, now...

          so yeah, how do prisoners get away with this stuff? Well, it's like *THAT*

      3. jeffdyer

        Re: Odd that there were network ports available inside the secure area

        Remote desktop access from a mobile?

      4. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: Odd that there were network ports available inside the secure area

        "You can cobble together the other parts and sneak them in pockets"

        Is that a PSU in your pocket or are you pleased to see me?

      5. Anonymous Coward
        Happy

        ...But how did they get a screen out?

        It's thought that prisoners spent six or so months smuggling out pixels in their underwear.

      6. Stoneshop
        Pirate

        Re: Odd that there were network ports available inside the secure area

        One thing I'm wondering though; how did they manage to sneak out an entire monitor or 2 on which to use said PCs?

        Headless systems that they could connect to from the inmate area? The systems were in a false ceiling, not a place where you would usually be able to go and sit to view a monitor. For the system in the inmate area they would initially probably needed just Putty to get to their hidden systems. And apparently they had found some of the tools they needed on disks of systems they were taking apart, so that they could bootstrap their toolkit.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Odd that there were network ports available inside the secure area

          Thank you, Stoneshop. Indeed, why would you park a monitor in the ceiling when you would have to sit on a ladder, or get into the ceiling, to use it?! Far more likely the remote access, or a mobe, but also consider a secret KVM cable drop from the illicit host and you use it from the keyboard, screen, and mouse of the nearby "legit" system? Guard coming, switch to the safe host, once clear, switch back. So easy and cheap.

          And as to the network connection; if those are home runs from a router, then you can piggyback any number of extra hosts on that wire, no problem, other than having your MAC addr and traffic view-able from any monitoring of it, or if the connections are individually secured. It also would have been safer to host a WiFi hotspot in the overhead, with remote power or a timer to keep it offline while not in use. If not, then you could hijack two spare pairs of wires in an Ethernet run (many have four pair, but only use two), and have it double back several times in another area so you can have time to spot anyone searching for your rig via the wiring. Still, what a great hack!

      7. razorfishsl

        Re: Odd that there were network ports available inside the secure area

        LCD monitor & clowns pocket comes to mind.

  3. Anonymous Noel Coward
    Coat

    The hard part was fitting the parts into the condoms...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "The hard part was fitting the parts into the condoms..."

      I would have thought the hard part was what came *after* putting the parts in the condoms?

      1. Stevie

        Yes, that was implied in the original post.

        Why do the cleverati feel the need to spell everything out? Is it because they assume no-one else sees the joke, or is it OCD- driven behavior?

        1. JetSetJim
          Coat

          > is it OCD- driven behavior?

          where "OCD" is "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder", naturally...

          1. Stevie
            Pint

            Have a beer JetSetJim. Ooh, is that the new Doctor hailing a cab? [points, and as JetSetJim turns for a gander, drops palmed Alka-Seltzer tab into beer]. No. My mistake. Drink up!

  4. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    What next?

    A rehabilitation programme that involves taking old guns to pieces for recycling?

    1. Patched Out

      Re: What next?

      Well they certainly can't have them taking computers apart anymore, so you have to give them something to do....

    2. Dagg Silver badge
      Trollface

      Re: What next?

      Nah, the next rehabilitation program will be the stripping and recycling of nuclear weapons....

  5. PNGuinn
    Trollface

    Computers hidden in the ceiling void ...

    So, difficult to access.

    3 guesses what os they were not using ....

    I wonder where they hid the keyboard and mouse? OUCH.

    1. Roland6 Silver badge

      Re: Computers hidden in the ceiling void ...

      >I wonder where they hid the keyboard and mouse? OUCH.

      Cortana...

  6. ElReg!comments!Pierre

    2 PC's what?

    So, they hire greengrocers as PR people now?

    I should of none anywho, 'uge savings there, the 'ugest.

    1. wheelybird

      Re: 2 PC's what?

      At school I was taught to use an apostrophe to pluralise initialisms. I suppose it came from the now near outmoded practise of using an apostrophe to abbreviate words (although some examples are in common use, e.g. "it's" as in "it's hot today").

      I'm not saying it's correct, it's just that that's what we were taught to do back then, so I have a lot of tolerance for that type of apostrophe usage.

      1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: 2 PC's what?

        "I'm not saying it's correct, it's just that that's what we were taught to do back then,"

        O'T'O'H' we don't write P'C's.

        1. Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese Silver badge

          Re: 2 PC's what?

          Glad to hear somebody else who was taught about using apostrophes when pluralising capitalisations. I was taught this at school, but none of the youngsters here seem to have heard of that.

          I was also taught to use full stops after each letter in an abbreviation, but this seems to be almost universally outmoded practice nowadays.

          Nowadays, I would just write "PCs in the ceiling", but when I was at school I would have written "P.C.'s in the ceiling" (and then the teacher would have asked me what a PC was, because they weren't even a thing when I was at school)

          1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

            Re: 2 PC's what?

            "Glad to hear somebody else who was taught about using apostrophes when pluralising capitalisations."

            We were also taught that a billion was a million million. There are things that we're better off for having left behind.

            1. VanguardG

              Re: 2 PC's what?

              Lovely...here in the states, a "Billion" is actually 1,000 million...or 1 to the 9th. On the other side of El Pondo, its 1 to the 12th, which to Americans, is a trillion...but, a trillion in the UK is..1 to the 18th, putting us further out of sync. As if we don't already argue over "color" versus "colour"?

              1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

                Re: 2 PC's what?

                "Lovely...here in the states, a "Billion" is actually 1,000 million...or 1 to the 9th. On the other side of El Pondo, its 1 to the 12th, which to Americans, is a trillion...but, a trillion in the UK is..1 to the 18th,"

                Cough. 1 to the 9th, 1 to the 12th & 1 to the 18th are all 1.

                1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

                  Re: 2 PC's what?

                  "Cough. 1 to the 9th, 1 to the 12th & 1 to the 18th are all 1."

                  Maybe he's taking about Trumps weekend golf achievements?

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: 2 PC's what?

            but when I was at school I would have written "P.C.'s in the ceiling"

            Incorrect. At best ambiguous - the apostrophe there is indicating the absence of the letter I.

            If per se, I know a man named Peter Chris Zumble, and he likes to be called by his initials, and he is hiding in the ceiling, then "P.C.'s in the ceiling" makes sense, otherwise it does not.

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