Famous Criminal Opines that Technology Breeds Crime 243
jcatcw writes "In an interview with Computerworld's editor in chief, Don Tennant, Frank Abagnale spoke about his life of crime and crime prevention. Abagnale is a notorious criminal, whose exploits were portrayed in the movie 'Catch Me If You Can.' Abagnale claims: 'It would be 4,000 times easier to do today, what I did 40 years ago, and I probably wouldn't go to prison for it. Technology breeds crime — it always has, it always will ... I really think the more technology there is in the world, the more you have to instill character and ethics. You can build all the security systems in the world; you can build the most sophisticated technology, and all it takes is one weak link — someone who operates that technology — to bring it all down." This would seem to echo commentary in a New York Times article about the rise of Russian hackers in recent years.
Re:Tech does not "breed" crime. (Score:2, Informative)
https://www.tdcanadatrust.com/ebanking/guarantee.jsp [tdcanadatrust.com]
Re:Nature of Things (Score:3, Informative)
You have no idea who he is, do you? He really is a world class expert in this subject. It's like you just read an article about Einstein and said "this 'famous physicist' seems...".
This man managed to fake the qualifications to pass as a commercial airline pilot, and drew a paycheck for it, for several years, got certified on new planes, etc. (he was 15 when he started this). Then he did the same thing as a fake doctor, practiced medicine, got on a major hospital's board certified physicians list, and again drew his paycheck for years, and so on. All while simultaneously juggling half a dozen other scams that stole literally millions from institutions such as Wells Fargo, American Express, etc. back when millions was real money.
Your 'not actually drawn in crayon' line is exceptionally off base, as he actually synthesized the special inks used for printing 'magnetic' checks, had a complete list of sources for paper stocks used by various financial institutions (and could identify them on sight) and has demonstrated that he can duplicate all the special inks used right up to the current generation of U.S. currency. There are plastic bars running across US money now, because it's one thing he had a great deal of trouble forging with just common civil resources. He also knew every time delay in verification for checks, where the borders between different financial regions and districts were, and how to use all of it to keep himself from getting caught. Yes, he finally slipped up, but only after getting away with literally hundreds or thousands of times as much as Mitnick or Poulson.
Because he did most of his crimes as a minor, he served only a few years, and ended up being hired to show the various institutions how he did it once he got out.