IP: Sudan Bank Hacked, Bin Laden Info Found

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/170588.html
>
> Sudan Bank Hacked, Bin Laden Info Found - Hacker
>
> E-Mail This Article
> Printer-Friendly Version
> By Ned Stafford, Newsbytes
> MUNICH, GERMANY,
> 27 Sep 2001, 2:46 PM CST
>  A group of U.K.-based hackers has cracked computers at the AlShamal
> Islamic Bank in Sudan and collected data on the accounts of the Al Qaeda
> terrorist organization and its leader Osama bin Laden, Kim Schmitz, a
> flamboyant German hacker/businessman, has claimed.
>
> Schmitz, who has offered a $10 million reward for the capture of bin Laden,
> told Newsbytes that the information has been turned over to the FBI. Bin
> Laden, a millionaire Saudi exile whose base is now Afghanistan, is
> suspected of being the driving force behind the deadly Sept. 11 attacks on
> the World Trade Center and the Pentagon with hijacked planes.
>
> Newsbytes could not confirm Schmitz's claim. An FBI spokesman in Washington
> declined to confirm or deny the story, saying that the agency's policy is
> not to comment on information and leads it is receiving.
>
> "We have received a lot of information on this case," he told Newsbytes.
> "Of course we appreciate the leads we are receiving from the public, but we
> cannot confirm what specific information has been provided to us or by
> whom."
>
> Schmitz, 27, a former teen hacking prodigy who spent time behind bars
> before starting a successful data security business, has been accused of
> being press hungry. He says his recent strong anti-terrorism pronouncements
> are not a PR prank, but stem from his strong desire to wipe out terrorism.
> He says he has received death threats from the Middle East.
>
> The bank Schmitz claimed was hacked was mentioned Wednesday by Sen. Carl
> Levin, D-Mich. during a Senate Banking Committee hearing. According to CNN,
> Levin referred to a 1996 State Department report that said bin Laden had
> provided the AlShamal Islamic Bank with $50 million in start-up capital.
>
> Schmitz told Newsbytes that he could not provide details about what hackers
> found in AlShamal Islamic Bank's computers or about the hackers themselves.



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