The Art of Intrusion: The Real Stories Behind the Exploits of Hackers, Intruders and Deceivers

Chapter 7

Of Course Your Bank Is Secure–Right ?

If you try to make your systems foolproof, there is always one more fool who is more inventive than you.

–Juhan

Even if other organizations don’t measure up in their security practices to bar the door to hackers, at least we’d like to think that our money is safe, that no one can obtain our financial information or even, nightmare of nightmares, get to our bank accounts and issue commands that put our money into their pockets.

The bad news is that the security at many banks and financial institutions is not as good as the people responsible for it imagine it is. The following stories illustrate the point.

IN FARAWAY ESTONIA

This story illustrates that sometimes even a guy who isn’t a hacker can successfully hack into a bank. That’s not good news for the banks, or for any of us.

I have never visited Estonia, and may never get there. The name conjures up images of ancient castles surrounded by dark woods and superstitious peasants — the sort of place a stranger doesn’t want to go wandering about without an ample stash of wooden stakes and silver bullets. This ignorant stereotype (helped along by corny low-budget horror flicks set in Eastern European woods, hamlets, and castles) turns out to be more than a little inaccurate.

The facts turn out to be quite different. Estonia is a good deal more modern than I pictured, as I learned from a hacker named Juhan who lives there. Twenty-three-year-old Juhan lives alone in a spacious four-room ...