Two Kuwaitis, Egyptian held for hacking telecom firm’s account, stealing money
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KUWAIT CITY, Oct 10: Personnel from the Criminal Investigations Department have arrested a three-man gang of Internet hackers (two Kuwaitis and an Egyptian) a gang of three internet hackers in connection with the hacking of a telecom company account, reports Al-Jarida daily quoting informed sources.
The same sources said the suspects were arrested after a complaint was filed by a local company that the hacking operation took place when the company was transferring money to one of the major local telecom companies and the hackers managed to steal about KD 80,000 from the telecom company.
The sources added with coordination between the Financial Investigation Unit, and in cooperation with the Criminal Investigation Department (cybercrime department) the gang was identified and taken into custody before they could spend the money.
The sources pointed out, the men during interrogations have admitted to the charge and said they began the operations by breaking into the account of one of the telecommunications companies and robbed small amounts to pay for bills, until they hacked the company’s account and stole money exceeding 120 thousand dinars by changing the path of remittances.
The gang used what is known as electronic piracy to penetrate the data of the telecommunications company, and then initiated transactions with customers of these companies, and change the course of funds in the context of mutual transactions, and transferred to other account numbers with the names of other individuals, and then re-transferred the money to the accounts of one member of the gang.
The sources stressed the arrest of this gang prevented the hacking operations of a large number of institutions and companies which they had planned to do.
The sources said that the protection measures for electronic banking systems in Kuwait are among the best in place, noting that Kuwaiti banks allocate large amounts of money in order to ensure the highest degree of protection for their banks and hire experts from around the world to combat the latest types of piracy used by fraudsters in the world.
The banks are also updating their protection systems periodically to apply the highest standards of protection in force globally. The Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) seeks to tackle banking piracy through various awarenessraising activities on the one hand and issuing instructions to banks on the development of banking protection methods on the other. The governor of the CBK Dr Muhammad Al-Hashel, recently stressed on the importance of fi- nancial and banking institutions investing in advanced technology to ensure the security of information and protect them from any attempts of piracy.
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