[ISN] China nabs first suspected cyber-bank robbers

Forwarded From: Nicholas Charles Brawn <ncb05@uow.edu.au>

China nabs first suspected cyber-bank robbers
22-10-1998 10:42 
 
    BEIJING, Oct 22 (Reuters) - China arrested its first suspected
cyber-bank robbers last week after two brothers allegedly hacked into a
bank network system and stole 260,000 yuan ($31,000) in the eastern
province of Jiangsu, the Beijing Youth Daily said. 
     The elder brother, Hao Jinglong, was an accountant at the Zhenjiang
Industrial and Commercial Bank, where he had mastered the entire computer
network. 
     The two brothers allegedly broke into the ceiling of a rural branch
of the bank in September and planted a remote control in the computer
terminal which created false accounts, the newspaper said. 
     On September 22 they allegedly electronically wired 720,000 yuan
($86,000) into false bank accounts using the remote control and then
withdrew 260,000 yuan from different branches of the bank, it said. 
     The suspects were arrested on October 13 after police traced the
number of pager account that was closed on the night of the robbery, the
newspaper said. 
     China's networks have been attacked by more than 200 cyber-criminals
in the last two years with the explosion of the Internet. 
     China's wired population is expected to jump to five million by 2000
from 620,000 at the end of last year. 
     China, alarmed by growing on-line crime, last week vowed to beef up
Internet security. State media said an estimated 500 billion yuan worth of
assets were exposed on the Internet. 
     ($1.0 - 8.3 yuan)

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