The plot to extort money from Bank Leumi’s Leumi Card failed as cyber authorities working with a number of agencies arrested eight people, including seven employees of the credit card company. While most of the employees worked in the call center, one was a unit manager. One was arrested at work. The remainder were either terminated or left on their own before police made the arrests, some fired quite some time ago. All of the suspects are currently behind bars.

A number of weeks ago, using the Blacknet computer network, which Google describes as “a computer network with restricted access that is used chiefly for illegal peer-to-peer file sharing”, the suspects began their attempted extortion. They showed Leumi Card officials that managed to make off with credit card information of two million clients.

Gad Lior, Chief Economic Correspondent for Yediot Achronot explained “they are fools if they believed they would succeed in extorting a credit card company”. He adds that what is true is that they could have begun using the credit card numbers, compelling the bank to close the two million accounts and this might have led to the collapse of the company, possibly compelled it to declare bankruptcy. However they simply proved to Leumi officials that they had the information and demanded payment to turn the data back over to the company. Lior stresses that what they lacked if the three digit security code on the rear of the card and this is why Leumi Card has been instructing all stores not to accept any transactions without that code.

Leumi Card notified the Bank of Israel, the appropriate Israel Police unit and the national cyber authority. The various agencies working together managed to get a lead on the suspects and exactly what was taking place, bringing an end to the extortion plot in under two weeks from beginning to end. The credit card company succeeded in obtaining a gag order on the case to prevent the media from leaking details which may have alerted the suspects ahead of their arrests.

Israel police even sent two policemen and an officer to Thailand when one former employee of the company was placed in handcuffs and brought back to Israel. Lior adds that cyber experts in Israel Police and the Cyber Authority also maintain a presence in Darknet for this very purpose, to expose cybercrime plots.

The suspects were remanded on motzei Shabbos the eve of 23 Marcheshvan. Leumi Card officials are reassuring subscribers that their information is safe and they do not need to be concerned.

A former employee, who worked at Leumi Card from 2008-2012 told Kol Berama Radio that he makes no effort to justify the actions of persons in jail, adding he knows who they are. He stated however that workers on that level, which included him, are treated extremely harshly and poorly by the bank and this might be a motivating factor for some willing to break the law.

He added that company executives often travel locally and internationally with their laptops and he personally has seen them working in public venues and remains astonished at the lack of security exhibited by employees. “Believe me when I tell you they open Excel files and sit there for all in the area to see and begin copying data on credit card customers. It is astonishing to see the absolute lack of security precautions taking by employees regarding use of their laptops in public areas and in the office”.

He added that shortly after beginning to work he realized with the simply stroke of a key or two, not more, he could have duplicated and made off with a great deal of sensitive information and the company simply relies on the integrity of employees without taking the necessary steps to secure this vital data. He warns credit card users from any and all companies to monitor their accounts for the companies entrusted with the most sensitive information do not appear to take the precautions they should.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)