| Author: | R. Richard | ISBN: | 9780463477342 |
| Publisher: | R. Richard | Publication: | September 14, 2018 |
| Imprint: | Smashwords Edition | Language: | English |
| Author: | R. Richard |
| ISBN: | 9780463477342 |
| Publisher: | R. Richard |
| Publication: | September 14, 2018 |
| Imprint: | Smashwords Edition |
| Language: | English |
I get frog marched into an interview room.
Some government ass hole snarls at me, “Someone stole a large amount of money, from the company where you work.”
I reply, “So the rumor mill says.”
The ass hole snarls at me, “You’re a computer programmer.”
I reply, “My job title is, ‘Senior Systems Analyst.’ The title means that I program computers and that I also design computer programs, for computer programmers to work on.”
“They tell me that you’re pretty good, at programming computers.”
I reply, “Be sure to tell my upper management, before the next raise review cycle.”
The government ass hole lectures me, “When we pay your company, for government ordered work, we transfer the money electronically.”
I reply, “I’m not surprised. I get my paycheck money direct deposited to my bank account, come payday. Of course, the direct deposit is done electronically.”
The government ass hole asks me, “Do you know how that money transfer works?”
I reply, “A little bit.”
The government ass hole says, “Tell me.”
I reply, “My company has a payroll bank account, say with bank A. My company then orders bank A to transfer my net pay, to my account at bank B. Via the magic of computer transfers, my net pay is transferred from the company payroll account at bank A, say A1234, to my account, at bank B, say to account B2468.”
The government ass hole tells me, “You seem to know a lot about how the money transfer works.”
I reply, “Some time back, my company transferred my net pay from the company payroll account at bank A, to an account, at bank B, but to account B2486, not B2468, with the last two account digits reversed. I have no idea how it happened, but we had to pay the Devil to get the money back and tucked into my B2468 account.”
The government ass hole asks me, “You don’t know what bank A your company uses for their payroll account?”
I reply, “I think that I do. However, not all that long ago, the bank A that my company uses changed from one bank A to another bank A. That was right after they fired the slimy son of a bitch who used to run accounting for my company. The ladies who work at my company said that the slimy son of a bitch was diverting company funds to a blonde hooker.”
The government ass hole sneers, “You didn’t know anything about that?”
I reply, “I tried to get a nude photo of the blonde hooker, just for identification purposes, but no go.”
The government ass hole asks me, “Tell me how someone might redirect funds to other than the account intended.”
I reply, “In normal practice, the government would have a computer program set up to pay government bills. The government bank account would be the default ‘from’ account. The operator would enter the recipient bank account, including the bank ID. The identity of the recipient would normally be obtained from a pull down list. The operator would pull down the correct recipient bank account, type in the amount to be transferred, double check everything and hit the enter key.”
The government ass hole asks me, “Then you’re telling me that the theft was an inside job?”
I reply, “Not necessarily. A very clever hacker might be able to get into the government computer system, find the items in the recipient pull down list, then alter the actual recipient ID, after the correct recipient ID was displayed to the operator.”
The government ass hole then muses, “So, the operator would never know that he was sending the money to the wrong bank account.”
I reply, “It would be tough to set up, but for a million bucks, it would be doable.”
The government ass hole then asks me, “Could the hacking be done with no inside help?”
I reply, “If a hacker has inside help, the whole operation is much easier. The inside help doesn’t have to be a current employee, it could be an ex-employee, who still remembers the key information. Even without inside help, a really good and determined hacker might be able to get inside a pay program and do the evil deed.
I get frog marched into an interview room.
Some government ass hole snarls at me, “Someone stole a large amount of money, from the company where you work.”
I reply, “So the rumor mill says.”
The ass hole snarls at me, “You’re a computer programmer.”
I reply, “My job title is, ‘Senior Systems Analyst.’ The title means that I program computers and that I also design computer programs, for computer programmers to work on.”
“They tell me that you’re pretty good, at programming computers.”
I reply, “Be sure to tell my upper management, before the next raise review cycle.”
The government ass hole lectures me, “When we pay your company, for government ordered work, we transfer the money electronically.”
I reply, “I’m not surprised. I get my paycheck money direct deposited to my bank account, come payday. Of course, the direct deposit is done electronically.”
The government ass hole asks me, “Do you know how that money transfer works?”
I reply, “A little bit.”
The government ass hole says, “Tell me.”
I reply, “My company has a payroll bank account, say with bank A. My company then orders bank A to transfer my net pay, to my account at bank B. Via the magic of computer transfers, my net pay is transferred from the company payroll account at bank A, say A1234, to my account, at bank B, say to account B2468.”
The government ass hole tells me, “You seem to know a lot about how the money transfer works.”
I reply, “Some time back, my company transferred my net pay from the company payroll account at bank A, to an account, at bank B, but to account B2486, not B2468, with the last two account digits reversed. I have no idea how it happened, but we had to pay the Devil to get the money back and tucked into my B2468 account.”
The government ass hole asks me, “You don’t know what bank A your company uses for their payroll account?”
I reply, “I think that I do. However, not all that long ago, the bank A that my company uses changed from one bank A to another bank A. That was right after they fired the slimy son of a bitch who used to run accounting for my company. The ladies who work at my company said that the slimy son of a bitch was diverting company funds to a blonde hooker.”
The government ass hole sneers, “You didn’t know anything about that?”
I reply, “I tried to get a nude photo of the blonde hooker, just for identification purposes, but no go.”
The government ass hole asks me, “Tell me how someone might redirect funds to other than the account intended.”
I reply, “In normal practice, the government would have a computer program set up to pay government bills. The government bank account would be the default ‘from’ account. The operator would enter the recipient bank account, including the bank ID. The identity of the recipient would normally be obtained from a pull down list. The operator would pull down the correct recipient bank account, type in the amount to be transferred, double check everything and hit the enter key.”
The government ass hole asks me, “Then you’re telling me that the theft was an inside job?”
I reply, “Not necessarily. A very clever hacker might be able to get into the government computer system, find the items in the recipient pull down list, then alter the actual recipient ID, after the correct recipient ID was displayed to the operator.”
The government ass hole then muses, “So, the operator would never know that he was sending the money to the wrong bank account.”
I reply, “It would be tough to set up, but for a million bucks, it would be doable.”
The government ass hole then asks me, “Could the hacking be done with no inside help?”
I reply, “If a hacker has inside help, the whole operation is much easier. The inside help doesn’t have to be a current employee, it could be an ex-employee, who still remembers the key information. Even without inside help, a really good and determined hacker might be able to get inside a pay program and do the evil deed.
