[Infowarrior] - FUD Alert: Spies Worry Hackers Could Fuel Financial Panic

[Richard Forno]

Spies Worry Hackers Could Fuel Financial Panic
By Noah Shachtman EmailOctober 17, 2008 | 12:00:00 PMCategories: Info  
War

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/10/spies-worry-hac.html

We all laughed and pointed our fingers at Chuck Norris, when he  
floated the idea earlier this week that the current crisis on Wall  
Street is the result of "economic terrorism." Some of the nation's  
counterintelligence officials aren't smiling, however.

No, they don't believe Chuck's thesis about some mysterious  
"manipulation of the marketplace" that's causing us all to lose our  
life savings. But some spooks are concerned that hackers could send  
already-frazzled "stock markets into one more panicked frenzy, by  
covertly manipulating data and spreading false information," Shane  
Harris reports in the latest edition of National Journal.

As evidence, spooks point to the recent hits to Apple's and United  
Airlines' stock prices, based on misinformation. And they cite the  
example of Jerome Kerviel, a hacker and trader at the French financial  
firm Societe Generale. In January, Kerviel caused a worldwide  
financial panic, basically by himself.

First, he made all kinds of bogus, risky trades. Then Kerviel hacked  
his employer's networks, to cover up his tracks. He "disabled an  
automatic-alert mechanism that should have flagged his reckless  
transactions. And he stole passwords that gave him access to  
accounting records, which he falsified to cover his tracks. He even  
constructed fake e-mails about fictitious trades to make his  
activities seem real."

The bank's losses "totaled more than $7 billion." But, more  
importantly, it started a stampede in the futures market, and a dip in  
the world's stock markets. It got so bad that Federal Reserve Board  
Chairman Ben Bernanke had to make an emergency cut of the interest  
rate that the Fed charges banks for overnight loans.

Last month, hackers in another case were sentenced to two years in  
prison for rigging stock prices. Is the intel officers' worry -- that  
a Kerviel-on-steroids could trigger an even wider panic -- legit?  
Well, these spooks are professional worrywarts. They're paid to come  
up with nightmare scenarios -- and think of ways to counter it. Hell,  
some of 'em are even biting their nails about terrorists in World of  
Warcraft. But this seems a little more legit. Even if it does sound  
vaguely reminiscent of a Chuck Norris freak-out.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/10/spies-worry-hac.html