Legion of Doom (hacking)

The Legion of Doom (LOD) was a hacker group founded by the hacker Lex Luthor after a rift with his previous group called the Knights of Shadow. LOD was active from the 1980s to the early 2000s, although was most active from 1984–1991 and at the time was considered to be the most capable hacking group in the world. Today, Legion of Doom ranks as one of the more influential hacking groups in the history of technology, appearing to be a reference to the antagonists of Challenge of the Super Friends.

Legion of Doom
aka LOD & LOD/H

Formation	1984[1] Recreation: 2015
Extinction	1990[1]
Purpose	Hacking
Location	United States
Origin	MUHS 9th Hour
Products	LOD Technical Journals
Affiliations	Masters of Deception MindVox Cult of the Dead Cow

At different points in the group's history, LOD was split into LOD and LOD/LOH (Legion of Doom/Legion of Hackers) for the members that were more skilled at hacking than pure phreaking.

There was a second hacking group at the time, called MOD, short for the Masters of Deception. The overall beliefs of LOD and MOD (Masters of Deception) were different, but it can be difficult to untangle the actions of the members since there was a cross-over between the two groups. Unlike the hacking group MOD, there were different opinions regarding what the Legion of Doom was. LOD published the Legion of Doom Technical Journals and contributed to the overall pool of hacking knowledge. They were not causing any direct harm to the phone systems and computer networks they took over. Still, at the time, any tampering with the phone systems was considered damaging, and many LOD members were raided and prosecuted for causing alleged damage to systems (Grant, Darden and Riggs, etc.).

History

During the summer of 1984, a year after the movie WarGames was released, an idea was formulated that would ultimately change the face of the computer underground forever. This particular summer, a huge surge of interest in computer telecommunications placed an incredibly large number of new enthusiasts on the national computer scene. This crowd of people all seeking to learn as much as possible began to put a strain on the bulletin board (FIDO) scene, as the novices stormed the phonelines in search of knowledge. From out of this chaos came a need for knowledgeable instructors to teach information to the new users.

In 1984, one of the most popular bulletin boards of the day was a system in New York state called Plover-NET, which was run by a person who called himself Quasi-Moto. This BBS was so heavily trafficked that a major long distance company began blocking all calls to its number (516-935-2481). The co-sysop of Plovernet was a person known as Lex Luthor. At the time there were a few hacking groups in existence, such as Fargo 4A and Knights of Shadow, but the Legion of Doom was considered the most technically adept. Lex joined KOS in early 1984, but after a few suggestions about new members were rejected, Lex decided to put up an invitation-only BBS and form a new group. Lex contacted those people who he had seen on BBSes such as Plover-NET and the people that he knew personally who possessed the necessary knowledge that the group he envisioned should have, starting around May 1984. After a number of Alliance Teleconferences, Lex Luthor, Karl Marx, Mark Tabas, Agrajag the Prolonged, King Blotto, Blue Archer, EBA, The Dragyn, and Unknown Soldier became the original Legion of Doom members.[1]

Members of LOD

1991 Legion of Doom T-shirt created by Chris Goggans "Erik Bloodaxe"

As of 2012 what has happened to each individual member of the Legion of Doom is unknown. A small handful of the higher-profile LOD members who are accounted for includes: "Lex Luthor", "Erik Bloodaxe", "Mark Tabas", "Karl Marx", "Agrajag the Prolonged", "Automatic Jack", "Bill From RNOC", "Lord Digital", "The Mentor", "Doctor Who", "Dead Lord", "Phiber Optik", who was a member of both LOD and Masters of Deception (MOD), and "Terminus".[2]

Alumni of the Fraternal Order of the Legion of Doom (Lambda Omega Delta)[1]
Handle	Entered	Exited	Location	Reasons for leaving
Lex Luthor	Early 84		Florida
Karl Marx	Early 84	Late 85	Colorado	Bust w/Tabas..College
Mark Tabas	Early 84	Late 85	Colorado	Too numerous to list
Agrajag the Prolonged	Early-84	Late 85	California	Loss of Interest
King Blotto	Early 84	Late 85	Ohio	College
Blue Archer	Early 84	Late 87	Texas	College
Jaan Khan	Early 84		Texas
The Dragyn	Early 84	Late 86	Minnesota	Loss of Interest
Unknown Soldier	Early 84	Early 85	Florida	Bust-Toll Fraud
Sharp Razor	Late 84	Early 86	New Jersey	Bust-Compuserve Abuse
Sir Francis Drake	Late 84	Early 86	California	Loss of Interest
Paul Muad'dib (Jeremiah Beckingham)	Late 84	Early 89	Toronto, ONT	Loss of Interest
Phucked Agent 04	Late 84	Late 87	California	College
X-Man	Late 84	Mid 85	New York	Bust-Blue Boxing
Randy Smith	Late 84	Mid 85	Missouri	Bust-Credit Fraud
Steve Dahl	Early 85	Early 86	Illinois	Bust-Credit Fraud
The Warlock	Early 85	Early 86	Florida	Loss of Interest
Terminal Man	Early 85	Late 85	Massachusetts	Expelled from Group
Dr. Who	Early 85	Late 89	Massachusetts	Several Reasons
The Videosmith	Early 86	Late 87	Pennsylvania	Paranoia
Kerrang Khan	Early 86	Mid 89	"London UK"	Loss of Interest
Gary Seven	Early 86	Mid 88	Florida	Loss of Interest
The Marauder	Early 86	Mid 89	Connecticut	Loss of Interest
Silver Spy	Late 86	Late 87	Massachusetts	College
Bill from RNOC	Early 87	Late 87	New York	Bust-Hacking
The Leftist	Mid 87	Late 89	Georgia	Bust-Hacking
Phantom Phreaker	Mid 87		Illinois
Doom Prophet	Mid 87		Illinois
Jester Sluggo	Mid 87		North Dakota
Carrier Culprit	Mid 87	Mid 88	Pennsylvania	Loss of Interest
SysOp	Mid 87	Early 90	Washington	Bust-Hacking
Master of Impact	Mid 87	Mid 88	California	Loss of Interest
Thomas Covenant	Early 88	Early 90	New York	Bust-Hacking
The Mentor	Mid 88	Early 90	Texas	Retired
Necron 99	Mid 88	Late 89	Georgia	Bust-Hacking
Control C	Mid 88	Early 90	Michigan
Prime Suspect	Mid 88		New York
The Prophet	Mid 88	Late 89	Georgia	Bust-Hacking
Phiber Optik	Early 89	Early 90	New York	Bust-Hacking
CompuPhreak	Early 84	Early 87	Florida	Started a Business

Internal and external battles of LOD

LOD was against wanton destruction of computers which had been hacked. Gary Cohen "Terminal Man" was dismissed from the group for this reason. Other disagreements led to bad blood between Erik Bloodaxe and Mark Tabas. A war with MOD was undertaken, and Erik Bloodaxe led as LOD's general. While Bloodaxe was active in this regard, other LOD members were less so.

Projects of LOD

In 1992, several members of LOD came together and founded LODCOM, Inc., which collected old hacker bulletin board messages for an archive, which was to be sold. Most, if not all, of this material later ended up on textfiles.com. Marauder formed LOD.COM as a consulting company, and several ex-LOD members had accounts on the system. In the late 1990s, a root DNS server had an illicit new TLD of .LOD for over a year. The business name "LOD Communications" arose sometime in the late 80s when Frank Carson (aka Basketball Jones - one of the few "Unknown to the public" LOD Members) registered the name & applied for a CT Tax ID to enable Marauder to get on the Bellcore technical document mailing list.

See also

• Great Hacker War
• The Hacker Crackdown
• Masters of Deception

References

1. "The History of The Legion of Doom". 3 (31, 5 of 10). Phrack, Inc. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
2. Henry Weinstein (23 March 1991). "Hacker Enters Guilty Plea in Theft of Computer Data". Los Angeles Times. Business; PART-D; Financial Desk. p. 2. Retrieved 9 May 2009.

Public access legal records and transcripts

• US Government's Sentencing Memorandum, US v. Grant, Darden and Riggs, Criminal Action Number 1:90-CR-31, December 1990. (US Government v. "Legion of Doom")
• LOD Technical Manuals and source
• The Legion of Doom/Hackers Technical Journal