“Go where the money is, and go there often”–Willie Sutton, professional bank robber

Hackers can work their way into Google’s (GOOG) mail servers in China and government computers with sensitive date. But, the real reward for comprising data stored by nations and large companies is to steal money.

HSBC’s private bank in Switzerland says that someone “walked off” with data on 15,000 clients. It is unlikely that the thief, who may be a bank employee, carried the information out of the bank in printed form. The theft must have been digital.  “We deeply regret this situation and unreservedly apologize to our clients for this threat to their privacy,” Alexandre Zeller, chief executive of the Swiss unit, told reporters.

It is a hollow expression of regret.

The HSBC news reinforces the theory that almost no data is safe if it is stored on computers no matter how sophisticated the software is that protects them. The HSBC robber may have only downloaded an encrypted file for which he had the password on a disk. If so, it is amazing that the bank had no measures for preventing that.

The most talented hackers in the world commit the biggest breaches of security.   Governments and large companies are recruiting experts on breaking into secure data, men and women who could perform the crimes themselves, to create counter-measures that protect sensitive information. On the other side of the battle is a growing number of programmers who break into systems for fun, money, or political reasons.

For the time being, banks may have to go back to taking paper deposits through teller windows and keeping their ledgers on paper. If they do, at least security guards can watch for employees who try to carry big packages out the door.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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