Data security chief of large credit company suspected of computer hacking and fraud
Police say neighbour’s WLAN used for illegal transfer of over EUR 200,000
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The head of data security of a large international credit company is suspected of transferring more than EUR 200,000 of his company’s money to the wrong bank account.
Helsinki Criminal Police have questioned a 26-year-old Helsinki man suspected of computer hacking and aggravated fraud. Police say that the crimes took place in the company’s offices and in an apartment in Helsinki’s Kallio district in early June.
The man was held under remand for several weeks. Two others are also suspected of having been involved in the caper.
The case demonstrates how easily unprotected wireless local area network (WLAN) connections can be used for criminal purposes without the knowledge of the subscriber. The case could be the first in Finland in which a WLAN connection was used for criminal purposes.
The preliminary police investigation is in its final stages, and prosecutors will soon take the actions of the three suspects under consideration for the possible filing of charges. The three have been released from remand, but two of them are under orders not to travel, pending a possible trial.
The police were approached by the credit company and asked to see if any crime had been committed. The company is not giving any further comments while the investigation is still going on.
Police suspect that the data security chief had copied the company’s banking software and passwords onto a laptop that he borrowed from the company.
The laptop was then taken to the apartment where the bank was accessed over the Internet. The connection was made via a WLAN network in a nearby apartment without the knowledge of the subscriber.
The money was then transferred in a few transactions onto an account of a company that had been set up a short time before.
Suspicion first fell on the owner of the WLAN connection, but he was cleared after a police search of his home. Police were able to trace the transactions to the laptop owned by the company. It was then established that the computer had been used by the data security chief at the time of the shady transactions.
The data security chief said during interrogation that he had been forced into the crimes by one of the other suspects, a 43-year-old man with a criminal background. The latter denies everything.
The third suspect, believed to have been used to withdraw the money, has said almost nothing during interrogation.
The data security chief claimed that unknown men had forced him to bring the company’s laptop to a certain video store in Helsinki a few days before the transaction. He said that pressure had also been put on his family.
The other suspects have denied the allegations. During the investigation it was also revealed that the data security chief had been in contact with one of the other suspects several times in the months before the event.
The man used for withdrawing money from the bank account was arrested a couple of days after the others, as he was withdrawing EUR 5,000 from the bank account. The more than EUR 200,000 that were left on the account have been confiscated.
The head of the investigation, Jukkapekka Risu of the Helsinki Criminal Police, urges all owners of wireless local-area networks to secure their WLAN connections with a password, for instance.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 16.8.2005 - TODAY |
 Data security chief of large credit company suspected of computer hacking and fraud
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