Lesley Stones
12 December 2003
Johannesburg — A MAN caught installing an interception device on a Standard Bank internet terminal to gain access to customer accounts has been found guilty and fined R20000.
The case is the first victory for prosecutors under the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, which defines new offences in legislation in the electronic age.
Innocent Madlala was convicted of the new crime of possessing a device designed to breach security measures used to protect data, with the intention of using data for unlawful purposes.
The fine handed down by the Johannesburg Commercial Crime Court was the maximum penalty that could be imposed.
Madlala was arrested by a security guard after being caught at the Cresta branch trying to fit key logging hardware onto a computer linked to the internet.
Key loggers can be fitted to a keyboard cable to log the details of every stroke that the computer user types. By analysing that information, a thief can work out the user's confidential details, including password and personal identification number. The thief can then enter the same information to access their accounts.
Madlala was seen acting suspiciously at the bank's internet terminals . Initially he told a security guard that he was trying to use the internet facilities, but the guard saw that the computers had been removed from their casings. Madlala then fled the bank, but was caught and arrested .
Investigators found a key logger attached to one computer. Police analysed the key logger and established that no data had been recorded.
Since the incident in June, the bank has swept all its branches for key loggers and instructed its staff to conduct daily inspections on internet facilities.
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