Simple St. Petersburg guy Vladimir Levin has long become a cult figure, the personification of the skill of Russian hackers. True, he didn't get rich on his scam, but he became famous.
It is very prestigious for a hacker to crack the computer security of a reputable organization. The most famous hacker in the world became famous for his successful attack on the Pentagon computer network, and Levin came to fame after hacking the banking program of the world's largest credit and financial institution-"City Bank of America".
This bank had a long and glorious history. It was founded back in 1812. In 1894, it became the largest bank in the United States, and in 1929-in the world. In 1994, Citibank introduced a new electronic cash management system in its divisions, which at that time was considered one of the most advanced and secure. And it must happen that a modest St. Petersburg boy, Volodya Levin, with the help of an ordinary computer of the 386th standard modification, managed to break through several lines of multi-circuit protection of this system. As a result, he siphoned off $ 10,700,952 from the accounts of large companies from Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Canada, the United States, Indonesia and New Zealand from Citibank.
With his actions, Levin scared America worse than the Russian nuclear threat. After the discovery of the theft of millions of dollars, both the bank's management and the FBI were on the alert. There is a real threat of bankruptcy of the world's largest bank. Armageddon after the collapse of Citibank, of course, would not have come, but the consequences could be very unpredictable.
Of course, Levin did not want to cause a global financial collapse, he just wanted to solve a difficult computer problem and "cut" money on it.
Vladimir Levin was born in 1967 in Leningrad. My father — a design engineer at a defense factory, and my mother, a psychotherapist, most of all wanted Volodya to study well, play sports and become a decent person. And he lived up to their expectations. Levin studied well at school, was engaged in fencing, became a discharger, served in the army, graduated with honors from the Leningrad Technological Institute. Only in the acquired profession of microbiologist, I did not work a single day, because after graduating from high school, this profession turned out to be simply unclaimed in the conditions of a rapidly growing market economy. But in these conditions, his passion for computers turned out to be very popular.
He got a job in a modest AO "Saturn", which was run by two of his friends. The firm was engaged in a wide variety of businesses, and simply tried to make money on everything that can be profitably bought and resold. For example, Monarch beer was engaged in the resale of English beer in St. Petersburg. Later, when Scotland Yard officers were investigating Levin's activities, they were surprised to learn from Russian operatives that such beer was produced in their homeland and asked the St. Petersburg police to send it to them for a sample. But Levin at Saturn tried not to be distracted by trifles on various trade and purchasing operations. He made a good income for the company on computers that he assembled from components supplied from England, and at the same time wrote software. He developed the well-known accounting program "Turbo-balance".
There are many versions as to how Vladimir Levin decided to encroach on the money of the American Citibank. According to one of them, he had a large international criminal organization behind him, and he was just a pawn in a big game. On the other hand, Levin broke into the bank's payment system using codes that were sold to him for 100 bucks by another well-known hacker, nicknamed either Megazoid, Protozoid, or Bukazoid. In any case, Levin's computer skills were sufficient to circumvent the sophisticated electronic defenses of the world's largest bank, even with someone else's help.
On the night of June 30, 1994, Vladimir made his first illegal transaction-he transferred $ 143,000 from the Philippine National Bank account in Hong Kong to the account of Carmine Properties Ltd., registered by Lyamin, an accountant at Saturn LLC in Finland. After that, Lyamin went to Helsinki, got the money in cash from the bank and brought it to St. Petersburg. The success of the first operation did not turn Levin's head. He continued to be careful, withdrawing money from Citibank's client accounts only a little at a time. It was as if he was working in test mode, testing the vigilance of the bank's employees.
But they were not up to par. The first alarm bell in Citibank was ignored. When Filipino bankers reported $ 140,000 missing to Citibank, American financiers politely rejected it. They say that our electronic banking system was developed by the best specialists and does not cause any failures. Yes, we conduct transactions for half a billion dollars in a day, and here you are climbing with trifles. Look for this money at home. Only when Uruguayan financiers filed a similar complaint about the loss of $ 384,000 with Citibank two weeks later, did the Americans sound the alarm. And some time later, the electronic security service of Citibank found traces of hacking.
Levin had been robbing Citibank's accounts for three months. By the end of this term, he had completely lost his conscience, robbing foreign businessmen of almost a million a day. And on the night of August 24, he set a record by making 11 unauthorized money transfers totaling $ 1,224,100.
Levin got burned on accomplices who cashed the money he stole. This was done by a lot of people all over the world-from homeless people and criminals to solid businessmen and even one deputy of the Leningrad Regional Legislative Assembly.
The FBI joined the search for the hacker by the police of countries where unauthorized money transfers from Citibank went. Almost simultaneously, arrests of people whose accounts received money followed in different countries. So, in Israel, Alexey Lashmanov was detained, in Amsterdam — Vladimir Voronin, in Holland-Vladimir Grachev, in the United States – Ekaterina Korolkova, who tried to get cash. All of them broke down a little during interrogations, and then in exchange for a reduced sentence, they handed over Vladimir Levin.
The Russian police also worked professionally, identifying Levin in St. Petersburg and organizing a complex of operational measures against him. However, then the Russian Criminal Code did not punish computer crimes. Levin was given the opportunity to fly to London and was arrested there as soon as he stepped off the plane.
In February 1998, Vladimir Levin was brought before the American justice system. According to the indictment, he faced a term of up to 60 years in prison. But the case did not reach the verdict. The prosecution and defense considered it possible to conclude a "pre-trial agreement". Levin was sentenced to 36 months in prison, thirty of which he has already served and 250 thousand dollars in fines. Small prison sentences were also given to his accomplices: Lashmanov, Voronin, Grachev and the Korolkovs, who went to receive money in different countries of the world. Almost all the money stolen by Levin – more than $ 10 million-was returned to Citibank. With the ends left only about 400 thousand dollars.
After a brief stint in Ottisville Prison, Levin was transferred to an immigration detention facility in Manhattan for extradition to his homeland. However, probably for the Americans, the whole of Eastern Europe is smeared with one world, so instead of a plane in Russia, the Yankees put Levin on a plane to the Czech Republic, where they say he still lives and does not seek to popularize his personality.
(c) Oleg Loginov
