Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Here's a report on a very early computer crime that affected DePaul University in September 1980, as reported by Health and Science Editor Roger Field on the 6pm edition of Channel 2 News on WBBM Channel 2. (interesting to note this was three years before the movie WarGames came out - “hacking” was in its infancy)
Includes:
Bill Kurtis previewing the story during the open, describing it as "an electronic blackmail scheme" (later known as "ransomware")
Harry Porterfield introducing the report, about two suburban 17-year-olds, Brian Catlin and Chris Adams, being arrested by a new unit of the Chicago Police Department, on charges of a computer crime: Commandeering a computer at DePaul University for five hours in September during registration week, which typed out a message from "Syscruncher" and "Vladmir," demanding DePaul fork over its mixed assembly software program, and that the university pay an undisclosed amount of money as ransom; during that period DePaul students could not use the computer.
Comments from computer chief Ellie Gillespie, who was angry but not enough to determine whether if they were just fooling around or actually committing a crime, and Lt. John Ryle of the Chicago Police Department, who estimates DePaul's loss from this to be around $22,000 and that their extortion demand in and of itself was a crime.
Roger notes that the boys commandeered the DePaul computer from a terminal at Fremd High School in neighboring Palatine, and shows how they did it; Fremd principal Tom Howard (who is also interviewed), and the boys' parents, think they were more just fooling around than acting with criminal intent, but the answer of judgment will come out when the case goes to trial on January 17th.
"The type of thing they did is an incorrect use of a computer."
UPDATE: A happy ending for at least one of the suspects, Brian Catlin, who went on to a prosperous career in computers and currently still works for Microsoft and lives in Hawaii.
This aired on local Chicago TV on Tuesday, December 2nd 1980 during the 6:00pm to 7:00pm timeframe.
About The Museum of Classic Chicago Television:
The MCCTv (FuzzyMemoriesTV) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose primary mission is the preservation and display of off-air, early home videotape recordings (70s to early 80s, mostly) recorded off of TV (in Chicago or other cities now too); things which would likely be lost if not sought out and preserved digitally. If you have any old 1970s videotapes recorded off of TV please email: tapes@fuzzy.tv Even though (mostly) short clips are displayed here, we preserve the entire broadcasts in our archives - the complete programs with breaks (or however much is present on the tape), for historical preservation. For information on how to help in our mission, to donate or lend tapes to be converted to digital, please e-mail tapes@fuzzy.tv Thank you for your help!
Here's a report on a very early computer crime that affected DePaul University in September 1980, as reported by Health and Science Editor Roger Field on the 6pm edition of Channel 2 News on WBBM Channel 2. (interesting to note this was three years before the movie WarGames came out - “hacking” was in its infancy)
Includes:
Bill Kurtis previewing the story during the open, describing it as "an electronic blackmail scheme" (later known as "ransomware")
Harry Porterfield introducing the report, about two suburban 17-year-olds, Brian Catlin and Chris Adams, being arrested by a new unit of the Chicago Police Department, on charges of a computer crime: Commandeering a computer at DePaul University for five hours in September during registration week, which typed out a message from "Syscruncher" and "Vladmir," demanding DePaul fork over its mixed assembly software program, and that the university pay an undisclosed amount of money as ransom; during that period DePaul students could not use the computer.
Comments from computer chief Ellie Gillespie, who was angry but not enough to determine whether if they were just fooling around or actually committing a crime, and Lt. John Ryle of the Chicago Police Department, who estimates DePaul's loss from this to be around $22,000 and that their extortion demand in and of itself was a crime.
Roger notes that the boys commandeered the DePaul computer from a terminal at Fremd High School in neighboring Palatine, and shows how they did it; Fremd principal Tom Howard (who is also interviewed), and the boys' parents, think they were more just fooling around than acting with criminal intent, but the answer of judgment will come out when the case goes to trial on January 17th.
"The type of thing they did is an incorrect use of a computer."
UPDATE: A happy ending for at least one of the suspects, Brian Catlin, who went on to a prosperous career in computers and currently still works for Microsoft and lives in Hawaii.
This aired on local Chicago TV on Tuesday, December 2nd 1980 during the 6:00pm to 7:00pm timeframe.
About The Museum of Classic Chicago Television:
The MCCTv (FuzzyMemoriesTV) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose primary mission is the preservation and display of off-air, early home videotape recordings (70s to early 80s, mostly) recorded off of TV (in Chicago or other cities now too); things which would likely be lost if not sought out and preserved digitally. If you have any old 1970s videotapes recorded off of TV please email: tapes@fuzzy.tv Even though (mostly) short clips are displayed here, we preserve the entire broadcasts in our archives - the complete programs with breaks (or however much is present on the tape), for historical preservation. For information on how to help in our mission, to donate or lend tapes to be converted to digital, please e-mail tapes@fuzzy.tv Thank you for your help!
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