CDR: Stars' bank details revealed on Internet

[R. A. Hettinga]

So, boys and girls, which do you think is safer, bearer cash and negotiable
securities stored anonymously all over the net in m-of-n hashes, or in a
single bank account -- regardless of jurisdiction, for the sake of argument
-- with web access?

See? I knew you could...


Cheers,
RAH



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CNN

Stars' bank details revealed on Internet

Roger Moore, a victim of Internet error 	 

November 9, 2000
Web posted at: 7:22 AM EST (1222 GMT)

ZURICH, Switzerland -- The bank details of several show business stars,
including former James Bond actor Roger Moore, were posted on the public
Internet for a week as a result of an error by a Swiss bank.

A technical glitch revealed the stars' secret bank account numbers, private
addresses and money transfers on a Credit Suisse Group Web site, the bank
acknowledged on Thursday.

That meant that Internet users could get a rare glimpse into account
details of such stars as Moore, Swiss entertainer DJ Bobo and German pop
star Udo Juergens.

The Swiss Blick newspaper said in a front-page story that several stars
were affected by the inadvertent publication of details of 675 money
transfers, but did not say exactly how many.

Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-largest bank, confirmed the report and
said it had shut down a test Web site where the details appeared.

'First-class scandal'

"We are investigating how exactly that could have happened and have closed
down the page," CS spokesman Georg Soentgerath told CNN.com.

"A third person put data in there which should never have gone in there.
Unfortunately it could lead to a loss of confidence in the bank."

The problem cropped up when a Swiss agency that coordinates royalty
payments sent the confidential data to Credit Suisse as a test of its
transfer system. But the numbers inexplicably appeared on the bank's
Internet banking Web site, Direct.net.

"This is a first-class scandal," Juergens told Blick. "How can I feel
secure at such an institution?"

"I am mad as hell. I am going to close my two accounts at CS," Swiss singer
Polo Hofer was quoted as saying.

Reuters contributed to this report.
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'