D.I.R.T.  in the News Codex files 20 million dollar defamation suit in
U.S.Federal Court pressrelease.txt pressrelease.doc CDSsuit.pdf
D.I.R.T.  premieres June 5, 1998 at SpookTech98 in New York City Network
World - July 1998 DIRT Bugs Strike!
By Winn Schwartau "Imagine being able to monitor and intercept data from
any PC in the world anytime you want.

Then DIRT’s for you.

DIRT stands for Data Interception by Remote Transmission, and if Codex
Data Systems in Bardonia, New York has anything to say about it, will
become the next law enforcement tool to help stop the bad guys.

The cops are having a terrifically hard time dealing with cybercrime,
and they all put on-line child pornography at the top of the list
because of the emotional response to it.  Suspected terrorists, drug
traffickers, money launderers, are also potential targets for DIRT as
are various criminal organizations which employ anonymity, remote
control and encryption to hide themselves.  DIRT represents a fabulous,
but questionably legal/ethical means of information gathering by
intelligence agencies as well as private investigators.

Thus Frank Jones and Codex Data Systems begat DIRT.  "We have to give
law enforcement the tools they need to get real criminals.  So many of
them are now using encryption, DIRT allows law enforcement to read
encrypted messages."

DIRT operates surreptitiously like a Trojan Horse.  It is transmitted
secretly to a target via email in several ways: either as a proprietary
protocol, self extracting executable, dummy segment fault, hidden ZIP
file, application specific weakness, macro, a steganographic attachment
or other methods the company’s technical wizard, Eric Schneider will not
divulge.

Once the DIRT-Bug is successfully embedded in the target machine, two
things occur.  One, all keystrokes at the keyboard are secretly captured
and when the target machine is connected on-line, it will stealthily
transmit the captured contents to a remotely located DIRT-Control
Central for analysis.  This is how encryption keys are to be discovered
and later used to develop evidence in criminal cases.

Secondly, when the target is on-line, his PC will invisibly behave like
an anonymous FTP server, giving the folks at DIRT-Control Center 100%
access to all resources.  So much for privacy!

Dave Banisar Staff Counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center
in Washington, DC.  said DIRT "Sounds like something the Stasi would
have developed." The problem is enforcement and abuse he points out.
"The only way to control this technology is after the fact, during the
trial when the police have to show how they obtained evidence."

When I first saw DIRT demonstrated in New York (June 5, 1998), I
thought, "What if this gets out to the entire Internet community… what
will happen if we no longer ever trust our email?"

The vast majority of computer crime goes unrecognized, unreported and
unprosecuted.  Despite the fact that the use of DIRT or a DIRT-like
clone developed by the computer underground violates the Computer Abuse
Act of 1984 and an assortment of other laws, the ability to control it
remains extremely slim.  And the uses for DIRT-like software stagger the
imagination.

All that someone with DIRT needs to know is your email address.
Period.  All he has to do is send you an email, with the embedded
DIRT-Trojan Horse and he’s home free, and you are a clueless victim.

Large organizations usually worry about hackers breaking and entering
their networks.  Now they have reason to worry that DIRT-Bugs could
invade their networks as well; whether launched by an investigating law
enforcement authority, international competitors or spies, or just
hackers.  The last thing in the world they want is for critical
workstations to be broadcasting passwords, encryption codes and
providing complete system access to whoever controls DIRT-Central.

Unfortunately, most firms with whom I deal have little implementation of
the minor policies they have developed.  Thus, defending against DIRT
can be difficult.  However, organizations which utilize NAT and proxies
in their firewalls achieve some degree of confidence that DIRT’s remote
access capability will not function.  Just the keyboard strokes (and
associated private information) will be broadcast to DIRT-Central.

According to the developers at Codex Data Systems, if you are a solitary
PC sitting on a dial-up or a cable modem, there is nothing – today – you
can do except don’t click on your email attachments.  Of course,
ignoring email from strangers is always a good idea.  But, if I were a
cop or a bad guy using DIRT, I would certainly go after your home PC as
well as the one at work.  It’s a whole lot easier, and I am going to
learn just as much.

With the advent of more and more powerful Trojans, such as DIRT (which
only occupies 20K), the threat to our networked systems gets clearer and
clearer.  As Frank Jones, the inventor says, "There are no more secrets
with DIRT."


TechWeek - Sept.  1998 Beware the Keystroke Cops by Sarah Ellerman
Getting DIRT on criminals "There is another powerful tool for
surreptitiously intercepting data, but it is only available to law
enforcement and the military.  Called DIRT (Data Interception and Remote
Transmission), it was released in June by Codex Data Systems, Inc.
Investigators need only know your e-mail address to secretly install the
program.  Once they do, investigators can read your documents, view your
images, download your files and intercept your encryption keys.  DIRT
was developed to assist law enforcement in pedophilia investigations,
but future uses could include drug investigations, money laundering
cases and information warfare.

How is DIRT different from Back Orifice?  The sale of DIRT is
restricted, while Back Orifice is free for the downloading.  Also, there
are already fixes available for Back Orifice, but no way yet to defend
against DIRT.  "

Most feel secure when they encrypt their data, but it’s an illusion of
comfort if a keystroke monitor is involved.  DIRT defeated Pretty Good
Privacy in a matter of minutes at a recent conference simply by stealing
the user’s key as it was typed in."


Internet & Intranet Business & Technology Report - Oct.  1998 D.I.R.T.
- The Ultimate Competitive Intelligence Tool by Deb Cameron "Codex Data
Systems, Inc.  of New York has created Data Interception for Remote
Transmission (DIRT), a surveillance tool designed for law enforcement
professionals.  DIRT is similar to BO in some respects, but it is
smaller (less than 18K versus 120K for BO) and yet more stealthy.  It
runs as a much lower level process and is virtually undetectable.  In
addition, it cannot be stopped by firewalls.

DIRT was originally developed to aid in the investigation of child
pornographers and other isolated criminals using standalone PCs.
By becoming a spy in the user's computer, the law enforcement official
can gather needed evidence to successfully prosecute a criminal case.
Frank Jones, creator of DIRT, surveyed the market for computer
surveillance tools to aid law enforcement professionals.
When he found no suitable products, he began developing DIRT, which he
continues to enhance.

DIRT logs all keystrokes on the target workstation and transmits them
the next time that system is online.  Because users type in their
encryption pass phrases at the keyboard, which are then transmitted via
DIRT, the product helps law enforcement officials decrypt documents and
provides them with substantial evidence for criminal investigations.
All DIRT communications are encrypted on their way back to the DIRT
Control Center, protecting them in case they are intercepted by a random
system administrator.

In the latest version of DIRT, the agency need not send the software as
an e-mail message at all; the law enforcement agency needs only the
e-mail address or the IP address of the target system.  (At the very
least, the variety of techniques described here should make users wary
of dismissing the idea that a third party could install software without
their knowledge.)

DIRT currently runs on Windows 95, 98, and NT systems and a Unix version
is being developed.  Only qualified law enforcement agencies can
purchase DIRT; furthermore, Codex currently sells the software only to
U.S.  law enforcement agencies.

Jones emphasizes that surreptitious surveillance tools, such as Back
Orifice and keystroke logging facilities, are illegal to develop or
possess in the United States, according to U.S.  code 2512.  These tools
are illegal even if they are used by network administrators unless each
end user explicitly agrees to the monitoring.

DIRT is legal because it is a law enforcement tool that can only be sold
to law enforcement agencies.  DIRT itself is not a threat to the average
corporate network, but the knowledge that such a tool exists should make
users consider whether their networks are secure.  Security is clearly a
relative term, and organizations ignore security issues at their own
risk."


Detailed Info & Pricing on D.I.R.T.  ?


Sale of this technology is restricted to military, government and law
enforcement agencies only...
For additional information we require a written request on official
letterhead signed by an authorized official...

Codex Data Systems, Inc.  will be happy to provide a demonstration to
any authorized agency Codex Data Systems, Inc.
167 Route 304 Bardonia, New York 10954 USA Tel: 914-627-0011 Fax: