
Malware robbery
A Bank of America computer specialist has admitted
hacking into the company's ATM machines.
Rodney Reed Caverly, of Charlotte, North Carolina who was
a company techie apparently worked out a wizard wheeze that involved getting
the bank's ATMs to dispense cash without making a record of the transaction.
He was charged with one count of computer fraud for
allegedly writing a malware program that ran on Bank of America's computers and
ATMs. Court documents do not give the bank's total losses, but
do indicate that Caverly took more than the statutory minimum of $5,000.
It is not the first time that techies with inside
knowledge of banking practices have worked out ways to fleese the system. About
ten years ago there was an ATM model which shipped with a flaw that voided a
transaction if you failed to take a receipt. That was exploited by several bank
techies who found out about it. However this appears to be the first time that
an insider has placed code inside an ATM. (They'll probably make him CEO once he gets out. sub.ed.)