French Skyper freed after accidentally hacking bank's phone system A Frenchman has been cleared of wrongdoing after a court accepted he accessed the Bank of France's internal telephone systems by accident. An unnamed 37-year-old Breton longed to avoid premium-rate calls while using Skype back in 2008, and set about hunting for a cheap-rate gateway number to the public networks. But he …
It wasn't the pass code.
It went like this:
Unlucky guy dials wrong number.
Wrong number (bank) picks up, but does not play any recording or anything else - unlucky guy gets just dead air.
Unlucky guy, thinking he contacted the number he intended to dial, starts trying to get some response from it. So, he starts hitting keys - 1,2,3,4,5,6.
Wrong number (bank), upon getting something that was NOT what it expected, panics and sounds the alarm.
Owners of wrong number (bank) panic "OMFG WE IZ BEING HAX0RED!" and call cops.
He wasn't unlucky, he was trying to get something for free, and hence got into trouble. More trouble than he bargained for, and for an overstated charge. Therefore he is now free. But he wasn't some dude just standing at the bus stop that the cops mistakenly picked up for something he didn't do.
How is it an arrestable offense for dialing the wrong number? Really?! REALLY?
If I was in charge of the bank, I'd shrug it off. It's akin to someone knocking on the door. Granted, he tried the number for access (similar to trying a key in the door), but as this is not a physical lock, mistakes are expected.
Unless he did try numerous times, as that does show intent to defraud/hack. But a single attempt is akin to a kid walking up to an ATM and pressing a couple of numbers, then walking away. Should we send them off to the yard?
The guy's "defense" was that he was trying to find a low cost "gateway" number so he could make expensive calls at someone else's expense.
He didn't dial a wrong number, he dialed lots of numbers and (no doubt) tried dumb passwords in lots of places before he successfully got dial-tone from bank using a dumb password.
He wasn't trying to steal data or cash, he was trying to fraudulently make calls at other peoples expense.
These hacks are very common, very expensive, and normally hit smaller companies.
Should have been jailed for attempted fraud.
If that is the case, I take back what I said. But was he trying to find a freephone contact number (entirely legit use) or trying to piggyback off a freephone number (thus fraudulent)?
If he was trying to get through someone else's phone system to chargeback to them, and call his mates, then lock him up. Without his 1 phone call too! ;)
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
