Warm ups

Internet bank robbery plan foiled

Task 11

Police have prevented a huge online bank robbery attempt from taking place over the Internet. Thieves planned to steal $534million from a London branch of Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui bank. The robbers planned to send the money electronically to 10 different bank accounts around the world. They used special hacking software that could record the sequence of keystrokes that computer users made on their keyboards. This made it easy for the gang to find bank account numbers, passwords, and other confidential information to find out which customers had the most money. One member of the gang supposedly worked at Sumitomo and installed the keystroke-reading software onto the bank’s computers.

A public relations officer from the Tokyo branch of the bank said no money had been stolen. He said the bank’s IT security staff told British police last October that they suspected they were under attack. Detectives from Britain’s National Hi-Tech Crime Unit then started investigating. They arrested a 32-year-old Israeli man yesterday in connection with the planned robbery. Police are questioning him now in Tel Aviv and expect to make more arrests. They have warned all banks and businesses to take extra care of their computer security, as cyber criminals are becoming more and more skilled.

1. CHAT: Talk in pairs or groups about banks / bank robberies / bank robbers / computer hackers / bank accounts / PIN numbers / passwords / Internet security / cyber crime…

2. INTERNET BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘Internet’. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. BANKING: In pairs/groups, talk about banking. Do you trust banks? Do you have confidence in Internet banking? Is your PIN number easy to guess? Do you worry about the safety of your credit card? Is Internet banking a good thing? Write down three questions each about banks. Ask them to your partner/group.

4. BANK OPINIONS: In pairs/groups, discuss whether you agree or disagree with the following opinions:

a. Internet banking is very dangerous. I can’t trust my information being sent online.

b. Computer hackers will always beat bank security systems.

c. Who cares? If someone steals your money, the bank has to give it back to you.

d. Keeping your money under the bed is best.

e. Keeping your money in banks is safer than keeping it in your wallet or purse.

f. Internet shopping and using your credit card is 100% safe and secure.

g. PIN numbers are too short. They are easy to guess because many people use their own birthdays!

h. There will be big problems when cash disappears and everything is e-money.

i. All big banks have been robbed online. They never tell their customers because it’s bad PR.

j. Hackers will one day erase all of the data from banks’ computers. Money will disappear.

Дата добавления: 2015-01-03