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back to article IT exec accused of $10m backup tape theft

A former IT executive for a Canadian marketing firm has been accused of taking a computer backup tape containing personal information of 3.2 million customers that could net as much as $10m on the black market, according to court records. Nick Belmonte, who earned $150,000 as vice president of IT for Vancouver-based C-W …

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  1. jon
    Pirate

    maybe

    it was the employee dropping off the tapes... or the cleaners or the office dog. I hope they have a stronger case than that.

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  2. Colin Miller
    Unhappy

    Copy tapes twice?

    So why didn't he just copy the tapes twice - once to the official copy, and again to his own tapes? His employees would be none the wiser until the banks determine which companies all the victims have in common.

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  3. Kilham
    Pirate

    Backup?

    That doesn't make sense - why steal a physical tape when it would have been easier just to make an extra copy?.

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  4. theotherone
    Paris Hilton

    um...

    um...why would he want to steal the actual tape which someone would notice is missing(duh), and so get found out, and have to go into hiding forever after an international arrest warrant is issued, when he could have just make a copy of it and no one would have known??????? something smells fishy here....

    paris cause....that fishy smell again......

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    I think you've all missed the vital clue...

    Mr Belmonte is an IT exec and hence completely clueless when it comes down to such tecnicalities as duplicating data on a tape.

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  6. Moss Icely Spaceport
    Happy

    No problem

    The lost tape was found under a seat of a commuter train.

    It was with some misplaced top secret anti-terrah files.....

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  7. Dave
    Heart

    Location

    Simple answer - he accidentally used one of the originals as the target for one of the copies. It's not missing, just overwritten, and sent off with the other copies.

    Never attribute to malice that which can be better explained by stupidity.

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  8. Neil

    Presumption

    "presumably similar laws exist in Canada as well"

    Short answer ... No such law for us Canadians

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  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Data loss was not North American

    C-W Agencies has not provided direct marketing in Canada or the USA for several years now. Most of the clients in the database are European.

    C-W Agencies ran afoul of U.S. law in 1998. The firm pleaded guilty to criminal charges, was fined $500,000 (US), and was ordered to "cease all marketing of lottery products to United States residents."

    B.C. consumer protection legislation, proclaimed in August 2001, made it illegal to resell lottery tickets without authorization or special licensing. And no individuals or companies have been licensed.

    Other than their Senior Management troubles, C-W Agencies/European Lottery Guild/Continental Mail Processing BV run a legitimate enterprise.

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