yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu (Brian Yamauchi) (09/17/90)
In article <44708@apple.Apple.COM> iceman@Apple.COM (Ice) writes: > >a) The secret service must surely know that the main threat of computer > crime does not come from the 18-year-olds but from the professional > crackers who get paid loads of money to raid corporate information > systems, I'm curious whether there is any evidence that these professional intercorporate crackers even exist. Unfortunately, this is one of these areas (like political assassination) where if it is done right, there won't be any evidence. Of course, if they don't exist, they probably will soon -- teenagers don't stay teenagers forever... _______________________________________________________________________________ Brian Yamauchi University of Rochester yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu Computer Science Department _______________________________________________________________________________
bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein) (09/17/90)
>I'm curious whether there is any evidence that these professional >intercorporate crackers even exist. Unfortunately, this is one of >these areas (like political assassination) where if it is done right, >there won't be any evidence. Isn't there a criminal case going on right now involving a Republican party official breaking into a Democratic computer in (New Jersey?) Ah, here it is... TRENTON, N.J. (UPI) -- Assembly Speaker Joseph Doria said Monday he was concerned by news that an alleged Republican break-in of Democratic computer files took place with the knowledge of the GOP's highest- ranking staff member. Doria, D-Hudson, said he had instructed all Assembly members and staff with knowledge of the ``hacking'' incident to turn their information over to Attorney General Robert Del Tufo, who is investigating the repeated break-ins. John Kohler, executive director of the GOP Assembly staff, resigned Friday admitting he had been aware of the activities of Jeffrey Land, a low-level staffer who reportedly broke into Democrats' files in the legislative computer system and discovered that Democrats had used the state-owned computer for political work. State law bars use of state equipment for political work or doing political work on state time. Previous to Kohler's resignation, however, top lawmakers had dismissed the break-ins as a computer hacker's prank. ... -- -Barry Shein Software Tool & Die | {xylogics,uunet}!world!bzs | bzs@world.std.com Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 617-739-0202 | Login: 617-739-WRLD
mnemonic@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Mike Godwin) (09/17/90)
In article <1990Sep17.032934.15238@cs.rochester.edu> yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu (Brian Yamauchi) writes: > >I'm curious whether there is any evidence that these professional >intercorporate crackers even exist. Unfortunately, this is one of >these areas (like political assassination) where if it is done right, >there won't be any evidence. I was at a bookstore on Saturday that had a $55 book called COMPUTER CRIME (it may be a textbook). In looking through the book, which is aimed at system administrators, MIS guys, and the heads of small businesses, I noticed no references at all to the kinds of young explorers we often "hackers" or "crackers." Instead, the the book seemed based on the a priori proposition that ALL of the computer crime that sysadmins would be dealing with would be of the intercorporate or disgruntled employee sort. The book's copyright date was 1989. --Mike Mike Godwin, UT Law School |"If the doors of perception were cleansed mnemonic@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu | every thing would appear to man as it is, (512) 346-4190 | infinite." | --Blake
gilham@csl.sri.com (Fred Gilham) (09/21/90)
Mike Godwin writes:
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I was at a bookstore on Saturday that had a $55 book called COMPUTER
CRIME (it may be a textbook). In looking through the book, which is
aimed at system administrators, MIS guys, and the heads of small
businesses, I noticed no references at all to the kinds of young
explorers we often "hackers" or "crackers." Instead, the the book
seemed based on the a priori proposition that ALL of the computer
crime that sysadmins would be dealing with would be of the
intercorporate or disgruntled employee sort. The book's copyright date
was 1989.
----------------------------------------
Several authors argue that the major financial impact of computer
crime comes from inside jobs. In the March 1990 Communications of the
ACM, the president's letter has the following example:
----------
Take for example the case of Harold Smith and Sammie Marshall.
Between 1976 and 1981, they embezzled $21.3 million from Wells Fargo
Bank. The fraud was nothing but standard old check kiting. Check
kiting is cashing a check on an account whose only deposit is a check
that has not cleared yet and then covering the draft on the other
account with another rubber check from the first bank, which is
covered by a rubber check from the second bank, etc. etc. This can go
on indefinitely. It is a game that anyone can play. A major national
brokerage house was recently fined by the federal government for doing
the same thing on a massive scale. Smith and Marshall played the game
from inside the bank. Instead of using ordinary checks, they used the
bank's branch settlement system to keep a steadily growing mountain of
fraud in circulation within the branch settlement system.
----------
You'd have to make a lot of free phone calls to match that.
--
Fred Gilham gilham@csl.sri.com
``Man was meant to lead with his chin. He is only worth knowing with
his guard down, his head up, and his heart rampant on his sleeve.''
-- Robert Farrar Capon