Thieves breach Sarkozy's bank account

By | October 21, 2008, 8:27am PDT

Summary: Just how insecure is online banking? In what looks like an attack aimed more at publicity then francs, thieves have broken into French President Nicholas Sarkozy’s bank account and withdrawn several small amounts, the Guardian reports. “The swindlers will be punished,” Luc Chatel, secretary of state for consumer affairs, told French radio. He said more work [...]

Just how insecure is online banking? In what looks like an attack aimed more at publicity then francs, thieves have broken into French President Nicholas Sarkozy’s bank account and withdrawn several small amounts, the Guardian reports.

“The swindlers will be punished,” Luc Chatel, secretary of state for consumer affairs, told French radio. He said more work needed to be done to tighten internet banking security in France, which, according to the national crime agency, has seen a 9% rise in offences this year.

“[This] proves the system of internet checking [of bank accounts] is not infallible,” Chatel said. “These cases are sufficiently rare that we haven’t had to really organise ourselves, but [they are] sufficiently serious for us to reflect on how to improve the system.”

The Journal du Dimanche newspaper broke the story, saying the thieves did not appear to be amateurs.

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Richard Koman

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Biography

Richard Koman

Richard Koman is an attorney admitted to practice in California. As a technology writer since the mid-1980s, Richard Koman has documented the role of computing in the transformation of the graphic arts, the growth of the Web and the birth of the peer-to-peer phenomenon. He worked as a book and web editor for O'Reilly Media throughout the 1990s, editing several influential websites and numerous best-sellers. As a lawyer, as well as a tech writer, he brings a unique perspective to the blog's intersection of law, government and technology.

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RE: Thieves breach Sarkozy's bank account
jeretad 26th Oct 2008
Before you place any financial information into a banking
Web site, you should look for a number of visual clues, to
make sure that you are on the actual Web page that you think
you are. If you're US bank customer check if your bank
accounts are insured. http://www.mybanktracker.com
provides all information about your bank and bank products.
0 Votes
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I could say that he was probably running windows.. but that really doesnt matter. If the user isnt up on the basic "do not do" list.. then built in security is more of a door stop than a useful tool.

Probably password complexity and some bad porn sites are to blame.
Lol...bad porn sites
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Sarah Palin is French? (nt)
MichP 22nd Oct 2008
wink
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I guess he probably did a "Palin" - that is to make his security information so relaxed, anyone with a bit of digging can get in.

I think every politician needs a good course on computer security.
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Well yes everyone should be a little more vigelent in their network security. But if we start cutting off the fingers that press the enter key and work inward from there we might see a reduction in this kind of activity. Let's put the mafia in charge of security!
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RE: Thieves breach Sarkozy's bank account
StPatrick56 22nd Oct 2008
What I would like to know (that neither this story nor the one linked to address) is was this a breach of the bank's database to get to the account or was it a matter of knowing where his account was held/the account number & then guessing/hacking the password?

Each scenario gives a different cause for alarm & different reaction. If the bank's db was hacked, investigate their security. If the account was already known & the password hacked/cracked, educate the Pres. about internet best practices (Safe Net).

Of course, education doesn't always work. I tell the customers about threats, what to use, what to stay away from. A few weeks later, I'll get an hysterical call about pop ups telling them they have 3,000 trojans in the machine & CLICK HERE to fix. They bring the machine back, it's got Limewire, porn, cutsie-poo screensavers, etc. Oh, well - more money for me.
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RE: Thieves breach Sarkozy's bank account
michael.patrick@... 22nd Oct 2008
It's all billable! Ignorance is income for the rest of us.
Did they "hack" his account by guessing his password?
Did they install a keylogger on his computer?
Did they use social engineering to gain access to his office?
Did they hold a gun to someone's head and threaten to kill them if they didn't grant access?

Making broad sweeping statements about whose fault it is, or why it happened, without having a single fact to go on, is both arrogant AND stupid at the same time.
0 Votes
+ -
Before you place any financial information into a banking
Web site, you should look for a number of visual clues, to
make sure that you are on the actual Web page that you think
you are. If you're US bank customer check if your bank
accounts are insured. http://www.mybanktracker.com
provides all information about your bank and bank products.

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