[Tfug] OT? Theft of service

[Bexley Hall]

Hi,

A friend-of-a-friend has effectively isolated herself out of
"fear" that she is being "hacked" by her neighbors.  Before
getting out the tinfoil and making *hats*, I want to reassure
myself that this sort of thing really is impractical, nowadays
(to the extent she claims its being done).

So, I'm inviting the pedants to nit-pick my assertions, below:

E.g., a land line can be "stolen" (shared) iff the adversary has
physical access to the wiring.  In an apartment house, dorm, etc.
this is relatively easy as there is typically a "phone panel"
*somewhere* that is "lightly protected".  Or, individual
cable distributions *to* the rooms that aren't armored.

However, in a residential neighborhood (single family, detached
homes), this is a bit harder.  You either access the main panel
(usually under lock and key) that feeds the subdivision, *or*
the small "taps" throughout the neighborhood (which usually
require a special wrench to open).

[This assumes utilities are below grade.  Overhead would be even
more problematic!]

Hacking DSL would not only require access to the physical media
but knowledge of the account name and password.  (Q:  does TPC
tie account name to actual incoming service account?  I.e., could
you access the DSL account for 555-1212 from 555-1414 if you used
the 1212's account name/password?)

Is it *practical* to snoop a DSL connection and glean this
information??

Ages ago, CATV access was governed by access to the medium.  So,
a "tap" off the feed -- or, any subscriber's "drop" -- was as
good as having your own account!  I.e., the cable company had
to physically "sniff" the neighborhood to know of theft (there
were some "active" countermeasures explored to "toast" unprotected
hookups).

With *digital* cable (is all cable "digital", now?), I assume the
media gives you *nothing* -- you need to access the output of the
cable box in order to have access to *content*.  I.e., you would
need to have a tap *inside* the victim's home (and be limited to
watching whatever *they* were watching at the time).

For cable internet, I assume the same sorts of issues as DSL would
apply:  access to the media (though this could be upstream from the
cable box) *and* a valid account name/password.

Satellite TV (Dish) would be the same as CATV (?)

Finally, is it *practical* nowadays to steal cell phone service?
E.g., it was my understanding, years ago, that you could "sniff"
the required authentication information from phones "left on"
(my ex-BinL had many "unauthorized charges" on a phone some decades
ago).  But, I would assume that this is no longer practical (at
least I don't hear the horror stories of it happening).

Bottom line: for her to be a victim of *all* of these sorts
of "attacks" (hacks), she'd have to have some really *capable*
neighbors (adversaries) *and* they'd have to be *really*
"motivated" (i.e., as if she had poisoned their cat, etc.)

I don't want to dismiss her worries only to discover these things are
*possible* -- or "likely".  OTOH, it is painful to see someone going
through life in fear of availing themselves of common services that
others take for granted...

Thanks!
--don