Cracking the Cuckoo's Egg

By Greg Chartrand

In the mid-'80s, a series of computer hacks spanning the globe were performed by members and associates of the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) in Germany. This was the first major international hacking event involving espionage, resulting in arrests, convictions, and the death of Karl Koch (a.k.a. Hagbard, as referred to in this story), a young first-generation hacker. The hacking events associated with the Chaos Computer Club persisted for over two years, involving hundreds of systems across the USA, Japan, and Europe. This resulted in a daily barrage of emails, meetings, and phone calls that consumed the majority of my time and that of my staff at the Fermi National Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois.

"The Cuckoo's Egg" is a book written by Cliff Stoll that details his role in tracking and catching hacker Markus Hess and associates while Cliff was employed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL) in Berkeley, California. Cliff Stoll's book became a bestseller, and various media and publications documented his story, but his book did not include my efforts that have never been published and are significantly different from Cliff's. It primarily involves Karl Koch (a.k.a. "Hagbard"), Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) computers (rather than Unix systems), and the creation of a network "trap" that directly resulted in identifying Karl Koch as my principal hacker, where he lived, and ultimately helped identify his associates with the German police. I wrote this story as a sort of addendum to Cliff Stoll's book to fill in the missing chapter and dubbed it "Cracking the Cuckoo's Egg" (i.e., "crack it" to discover what else was inside).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Greg Chartrand
• Release date: Jun 27, 2024
• ISBN: 9798227948472

Greg Chartrand

Greg Chartrand retired in 2017 after a 50-year career with the Department of Energy (DOE) working at four National Science Laboratories, DOE Headquarters, and the FBI. He began as a self-taught electronic technician as a teenager and steadily progressed to roles such as supervisor, group manager, department head, project manager, program manager, and finally principal senior advisor. In these positions, he repaired radio systems, built, repaired, and designed digital electronic circuits, managed data acquisition computers, designed and constructed the first generation of computer networks (both LAN and WAN) that predated Ethernet and the Internet, pioneered Internet development for physics research laboratories and universities, and served as a Counterintelligence Officer/Intelligence Analyst for his last 17 years. His efforts resulted in receiving 11 laboratory Outstanding Performance Awards, three Exceptional Performance Awards from the DOE Director of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, a Special Recognition Award for career-long computer security contributions from the DOE CIO, a special commendation letter for his contributions to creating DOE's network from the DOE Director - Office of Energy Research, and two awards from the FBI, including one from the FBI Director for his performance in joint FBI/DOE investigation. Mr. Chartrand attended Tri-State College in Angola, Indiana, and has been an Amateur Radio Operator for over 60 years (W7MY). Most of his writings and publications exist as classified documents created as a member of the Intelligence Community.

Book preview

1.0 Forward

In the mid-80’s, there were a series of computer hacks spanning the globe performed by members and associates of the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) [1] in Germany. This was the first major international hacking event involving espionage, resulting in arrests, convictions, and the death of Karl Koch (a.k.a. Hagbard as referred to in this story), a young first-generation hacker. The hacking events associated with the Chaos Computer Club persisted for over two years, involving hundreds of systems across the USA, Japan, and Europe, which resulted in a daily barrage of emails, meetings, and phone calls that consumed the majority of my time and that of my staff at the Fermi National Laboratory (Fermilab) [2] in Batavia, Illinois (Figure 1.0).

The Cuckoo's Egg[3] is a book written by Cliff Stoll[4] that details his role in tracking and catching hacker Markus Hess and associates while Cliff was employed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL)[5] in Berkeley, California. Cliff Stoll's book became a best seller, and various media and publications documented his story. His book is still considered a must-read for those aspiring to work in computer security, and I certainly recommend it. I collaborated with Cliff on the hack for over two years, and in 1989, Cliff called me on the phone just as I started a new job as the Network Manager of the Superconducting Supercollider near Dallas, Texas. He told me he bought a book about writing books and started writing about the tracking of his hackers. He was really excited and informed me that he was nearly finished, and he wanted to dedicate an entire chapter to my experiences during my tenure at Fermilab.

I thought about it for a few days, called him back, and asked him to write me out of the book. Why? he inquired. As a network manager, I stated that I didn't want hackers chasing me around all my life; they would make my life and work miserable wherever I went! He said he understood and would keep me and my efforts out of his book. He kept to his word.

(Figure 1 Fermilab 1990)

As a result, my story has never been told and it is significantly different from Cliff’s. It primarily involves Karl Koch (a.k.a. Hagbard), Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)[6]  computers (rather than Unix systems), and the creation of a network trap that directly resulted in identifying Karl Koch as my principal hacker, where he lived, and ultimately helped identify his associates with the German police. I wrote this story to fill-in the missing chapter, and dubbed it Cracking the Cuckoo's Egg (i.e., crack it open to discover what else was inside). Why write it now? Firstly, the hundreds of emails and my notes from that era were preserved on Macintosh disks, allowing me to recreate the nearly 40-year-old events that I have selectively chosen to tell this story that led to the conclusion of my quest. Finally, this story is a tribute to those who helped me in my chase, particularly those who are no longer with us.

2.0 Fermilab Background

In its prime, Fermilab was the premier high-energy physics (HEP) [7] facility in the world,