Press Release
Chaos Computer Club e.V.
24.10.1998

A member of the Chaos Computer Club, known as TRON, became the victim of homicide. His dead body was discovered in a park in Neukölln, Berlin, Germany. Police sources presume that his death was suicide. We cannot share this opinion at all.

Tron was one the brightest heads among hackers in Europe. He presented possibilities of building counterfeit cards for public telephones. He developed and built the first of the so-called "miracle cards" the German press wrote about. Driven by an urge to research and explore everything technical, he then crossed the limits of the law and was sentenced on probation.

After this experience he felt the need to draw the line here and contacted the Chaos Computer Club. He then used his creative energy and potential on projects that would not cause him legal problems anymore. In his recently finished CS thesis, he wrote on the use of modern encryption systems in telecommunications. The device he developed and presented therein, a low-cost scrambler using cryptographic methods for secure phone talks on ISDN lines, set new standards due to its simplicity and compact size.

TRON was also among those who presented a way to clone GSM smart cards in Germany. His enormous knowledge and creativity played a leading part in the success of the project.

At this moment, police is investigating various possibilities. However, the circumstances under which he disappeared and his extraordinary capabilities lead us to the conclusion that he became a homicide victim, although we currently do not have any information about who could possibly be responsible for such a crime. TRON always had a very open and direct character and never kept problems to himself. We cannot see any reasons for him to commit suicide and we hope to get further information from police investigations.

We are sad and shocked by TRON's death, the death of a friend. We will therefore not participate in speculations and ask journalists to acquire further information on the investigations from spokesmen of the Berlin police if needed. The Chaos Computer Club will not give further statements, as this might interfere with police work.

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