A man who tried to install a key-logging device on to a Standard Internet Banking computer has been fined R20 000, or 12 months imprisonment, in the Johannesburg Commercial Crime Court.
Standard Bank said in a statement on Thursday that Innocent Madlala was convicted under the ECT (Electronic and Communications and Transactions) Act, which makes it an offence to have any device, designed primarily to overcome security measures used for the protection of data, with the intent of using such information for unlawful purposes.
He was arrested by one of Standard Bank’s security staff at the bank’s Cresta branch on 19 June 2003 when the guard noticed suspicious activity at one of the bank’s internet banking cubicles.
Madlala was in the process of attempting to install a key logger device onto one of the computer systems in a cubicle. Key loggers are units that are installed as an extension to the keyboard cable in order to obtain confidential information entered via the keyboard, such as card numbers, passwords and pin details. They log on and record all keystrokes entered on the PC and store them within this hardware unit.
Madlala has been sentenced to the maximum sentence in terms of the ECT Act for section 86(3).
The key logger was analysed by the SAP Technical Support Unit, which established that no customer information was present on the device. Louis Lehmann, Director IT Security at Standard Bank said: “We are pleased with the sentence. Hopefully this acts as a deterrent to any other would be perpetrators. As far as we are aware this was the first case successfully prosecuted in terms of the ECT Act in the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court.”
This ACT was promulgated in August 2002.
“The significance of this case is that it demonstrates the value Standard Bank applies to the protection of customer information. We will take any actions we deem necessary to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of such information. It is crucial that when our customers transact electronically, they do so with the full knowledge that the bank’s systems are secure and trusted,” he concluded. – I-NEt Bridge