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  • Computing Fraud and Sabotage

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  • Computing Fraud and Sabotage
  • Awake!—1987
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Awake!—1987
g87 9/8 p. 27

Computing Fraud and Sabotage

HOW could crooks crack a bank’s computer code and so easily siphon off over $600,000 of its reserve funds? Britain’s Fraud Squad at Scotland Yard is having a hard time finding out. “There is no evidence of staff involvement,” says the bank’s head office. Who, then, are the culprits? Thieves who illegally programmed the bank’s computer system. “The extraction had been cleverly disguised,” reports London’s Daily Mail of August 22, 1986. There was a real panic at the bank.

Computer fraud is not new to Britain. Every year, tens of millions of pounds are stolen this way. Nor is it just a national problem. One investigation concerns some $20 million that disappeared in a transaction from a New York bank. In fact, computer crime may well be the world’s biggest growth industry.

As serious as such illegal computer manipulation is, it obviously took a more sinister turn in the summer of 1986​—that of sabotage. The Times of London, August 7, 1986, reported that disgruntled employees program illicit commands that “are triggered [to function] at a particular time or when a set of circumstances occur.” The effects can be devastating, with losses that are incalculable. Of the 15 big sabotage incidents examined in Britain last year, one third put companies out of business. These crimes now have their own name​—“logic time bombs.” By means of them, valuable lists of clients, sales invoicing, and other fundamental information essential in running a modern business, are irretrievably lost.

Even more alarming is the so-called computer virus, reported to be active in the United States. Here the computer is programmed with illicit instructions that are also self-generating. As each set of directions is acted upon, further damage is perpetrated. Imagine the consequences of all this self-destructive action.

What, then, can a company do to prevent this fraud and sabotage? The answer lies initially in contracting with reliable and trustworthy firms in installing a computing system and then employing an honest, reliable staff to operate it. But this is not always easy. And who is to say that an employee may not later become disgruntled?

Yet another problem outlined by The Times of London relates to “cynical self-employed maintenance programmers and analysts, who ensure a computer system hiccups frequently and generates work for them in the process.” Fraud, sabotage, and deceit​—it seems as if companies seeking to keep up with modern technology cannot win. Laments the Daily Mail: “Computers, hailed as the miracle force of the twentieth century have as much potential for harm as good.” Or is man’s dishonesty really to blame?

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