Written by Nkululeko Goqo
19
September 2013
A short original
case related study (phantom story-line) created for Information Technology
Auditing deliberations.
Damn!!!
Yelled Sbongiseni Mbambo, as he heard the sirens shrieks from afar
after he was tipped that the ‘now’ disbanded scorpions were on his trail,
gasping, pacing up and down is his dilapidated condominium. He swung himself
across the room, like a pendulum, grabbing his latest MacBook Pro that boasts a
Retina display built entirely around flash architecture, dumping it in boiling
water to save his skin.
Earlier
that day, Zakhele Madida had written a song with Unleash Records, aimed at addressing
the issues surrounding social exclusion and social inequalities. He had hoped
that folks would heed his call and put a screeching end to their technological
crimes, a sound that would echo so loud catching all of them in a slipstream
and would be plucked to better living.
Zakhele understood that social inequality is linked to racial inequality, gender inequality, and wealth inequality. It refers to the processes in society that have the effect of limiting or harming a group’s social class, social statuses, that even extend to prohibiting access to basic needs, like education and others.
“We are tired of our brothers
becoming embroiled in crimes, becoming the hood-rats that have mastered the
sewerage pipes of Westville Prison. Inequalities have created crime monsters, a
world that indicates the survival of the fittest, every man for himself”,
proclaimed an unnamed poet from Durban, South Africa.
Sbongiseni’s
love for old portable Frequency Modulation radios taught him a lot about
microchips, semiconductors, broadly electronics. He later puts his itchy hands
on computers and telephony systems. He was adorned by Kevin Mitnick, the “America’s
most wanted computer outlaw”. Mr. Mbambo was fascinated by Kevin’s exploits as
a cyber-desperado and fugitive forming one of the most exhaustive FBI manhunts
in history and spawned dozens of books, articles and computer security case
studies.
A hard
knock banged on the door repeatedly as Sbongiseni froze with bated breath. He
drifted off into oblivion, only to wake up in a cold cell. What has actually
transpired before the activities leading to Sbongiseni’s arrest; was the
release of a broadcast citing the following:
Cyber
criminals targeted SA Post Office and stolen more than 42 million user details financial institution Postbank. The theft
occurred between 1 and 3 January, and was allegedly committed by a syndicate
with knowledge of the post office's information technology (IT) system,
confirmed by Department of state security spokesman Brian Dube.
The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has launched a high-level probe after this
data breach. According to NIA spokesman "When
a government institution is compromised, the NIA will be involved and will
offer its assistance" Postbank currently holds over 4-billion in
deposits, and processes millions of rands in social grants throughout the year.
The bank told that none of its customers were affected by the hacking, but
declined to comment further.
Over the next three days, automated teller
machines (ATMs) in Gauteng, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal were used to withdraw
cash from the accounts. The incident comes three years after Postbank spent
over $15-million to upgrade its
fraud-detection service. But that investment seems zero valuation. An unnamed
security expert told that "The
Postbank network and security systems are shocking and desperate need of an
overhaul. This was always going to be a real possibility".
Sbongiseni and his clique better known as the McGezas have been
hard at work experimenting with different technologies and techniques including
war-dialing. War-dialing is a technique of using a modem to automatically scan a list of telephone numbers, usually dialing every number in
a local area
code to search for computers, bulletin board
systems and fax machines.
Hackers use the resulting lists for various
purposes, hobbyists for exploration, and crackers - malicious hackers who specialize in
computer security: for guessing user accounts (by capturing voicemail
greetings); or locating modems that might provide an entry-point into computer
or other electronic systems. It may also be used by security personnel: for
example, to detect unauthorized devices, such as modems or faxes, on a
company's telephone network.
It has also emerged that one
member of the McGezas clique, Zukiswa Manciya, works for the Posbank and it is
alleged that she is privy to very confidential information, system intricacies,
operations and the entire organization’s workflow. The following confusing (as
the link was not vividly seen) articles that had nothing to do with what
Zukiswa is deployed at her post for were seized from her posh upmarket
apartment in Sandton. It appeared to be a research that reads as follows:
Exhibit 1.1
Technological
convergence is
the tendency for different technological systems to evolve toward performing
similar tasks. Convergence can refer to previously separate technologies such
as voice (and telephony features), data (and productivity applications), and
video that now share resources and interact with each other synergistically. Telecommunications convergence, network convergence or
simply convergence are
broad terms used to describe emerging telecommunications technologies, and network architecture used to migrate
multiple communications services into a single network. Specifically this involves the
converging of previously distinct media such as telephony and data
communications into common
interfaces on single devices.
The rise of digital communication
in the late 20th century has made it possible for media organizations (or
individuals) to deliver text, audio, and video material over the same wired,
wireless, or fiber-optic connections. At the same time, it inspired some media
organizations to explore multimedia delivery of information. This digital
convergence of news media, in particular, was called "Mediamorphosis"
by researcher Roger Fidler, in his 1997 book by that name. Today, we are
surrounded by a multi-level convergent media world where all modes of
communication and information are continually reforming to adapt to the
enduring demands of technologies, "changing the way we create, consume,
learn and interact with each other".
Convergence in this instance is
defined as the interlinking of computing and other information technologies,
media content, and communication networks that has arisen as the result of the
evolution and popularization of the Internet as well as the activities,
products and services that have emerged in the digital media space. Many
experts view this as simply being the tip of the iceberg, as all facets of
institutional activity and social life such as business, government, art,
journalism, health, and education are increasingly being carried out in these
digital media spaces across a growing network of information and communication
technology devices. Also included
in this topic is the basis of computer networks, wherein many different
operating systems are able to communicate via different protocols. This could be a prelude to artificial intelligence networks on the Internet eventually
leading to a powerful super-intelligence via a technological singularity.
Exhibit 1.2
Privacy and Electronic
Shopping – Securing Company Information
Traditionally, the term
“privacy” has meant at least two different (but related) things: The right to
close the door behind us and thus be left alone and The freedom to determine
with whom we share personal details of our lives or personal information.
The question of privacy is
as old as mankind, but with the increasing operation of computers and computer
networks it has become an urgent issue. As electronic commerce evolves,
information about a person’s shopping behavior becomes more and more valuable and,
at the same time, easier to acquire. Large databases facilitate access to
information and it is becoming easier to trace activities in electronic media.
Formerly, it was feasible to track the activities of one or two people
(accessing paper files usually meant phoning and traveling a lot), but it would
have been impossible to track thousands of people on a routine basis.
The possibility of
automation--of mighty electronic “robots” which comb the Internet for consumer
habits or credit card information--really makes privacy an issue. One
possibility of protecting ourselves against loss of privacy is not to participate in the Electronic
World. This approach corresponds to closing the door behind ourselves. But what
if there are big opportunities--special bargains, exiting new products--on the
Web which we do not want to miss? What is the information that we believe is too
private to be handed over to a merchant?
When it comes to a business
transaction it is usually not possible for the customer to stay anonymous. Some
personal information must be revealed. In the case of a physical product that
would eventually require to be couriered, for example.
There are so many lose ends
that still need to be tied-up and fresh reports are hitting our screens day by
day as we wait to see what will happen next. The community is divided between
two plots; are the McGezas guilty or are they saved by technology?
Written
by Nkululeko Goqo
19
September 2013
REFERENCES:
1.
POSBANK R42
Million news
2.
Kevin Mitnick
Articles
3.
Computer Related
articles
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