http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=212645 Dispatch Online June 13 2008 THE Eastern Cape government is under attack from a syndicate of cyberspace hackers who have already swindled millions of rands from its provincial coffers. An attempt by the syndicate using cyber spyware to steal R15million from the Housing, Local Government and Traditional Affairs in Bhisho was foiled just two days ago. Details of the attempted hi- tech computer scam emerged yesterday, a day after government revealed it had identified at least 26 cases of a syndicate swindling government departments in four provinces, including the Eastern Cape, of over R199m in the past three years. Provincial Treasury spokesperson Cecile Greyling confirmed that someone had hacked into the system and tried to transfer funds from the Housing Department’s basic account system. The Daily Dispatch has learnt that the scam involved channelling payments to existing suppliers into bogus accounts. The attempted theft was stopped in time by an alert computer systems controller. Greyling said all payments were immediately stopped. “ Systems have been put in place to pick up any unauthorised activity,” said Greyling. The hacking is now being investigated by the SA Police Service’s Commercial Crime Unit. “The investigation is in an early and very sensitive stage,” said Captain Lionel Hughes. On Tuesday, KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Finance and Economic Development Dr Zweli Mkhize said the u nit had made 32 arrests for 86 counts of fraud in Durban and Pietermaritzburg. Bhisho asked local computer forensic expert Leon Nel to investigate after the syndicate targeted government departments. Nel did not want to identify the departments. But the Dispatch has been told that late last year hackers managed to access the bank accounts of at least 900 Health Department officials. Details of the bank accounts were changed and payments to all the officials’ accounts were transferred to other accounts. After a forensic analysis, the trail led investigators to the department’s Mthatha office where a female employee was identified as a possible suspect. This case is also under investigation. Similar attempts to access social pension payments in the Department of Social Development were also discovered. The Public Works Department has also been targeted by the hackers. One official has since left the department and the case is also under investigation. Nel said while following the hackers’ trail at the end of last year he discovered a similar modus operandi in place at a Kokstad hospital, which falls under the KwaZulu-Natal Health Department. Following his investigation, a suspect handed himself over to the police. Nel said to prevent successful thefts by hackers , the responsible employees, in particular the systems controller, should be subjected to polygraph tests every six months. He said it was also important that departments did background checks on employees who were in charge of the computer systems. “Staff should also be trained to detect cyber spyware and the department should see to it that anti-virus devices are in place,” he added. _______________________________________________ Attend Black Hat USA, August 2-7 in Las Vegas, the world's premier technical event for ICT security experts. Featuring 40 hands-on training courses and 80 Briefings presentations with lots of new content and new tools. Network with 4,000 delegates from 50 nations. Visit product displays by 30 top sponsors in a relaxed setting. http://www.blackhat.com
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