COMPUTER THEFT NEWS

Chip crime plague continues

S emiconductors are big business and inevitably this has attracted the unscrupulous to cash in on the billion-dollar bonanza. Recently, Police in Europe and Asia took action against groups of alleged counterfeiters. The crime in

question was 're-marking' of Pentium microprocessors. In other words, the criminals have been duplicating the special security code markings on the chips. In this way lower performance devices were being sold as top of the range at the correspondingly higher prices. At a time of short supply these command high prices. The customer would be unaware of the switch until he or she attempted to operate the device at full speed. Each chip contains a 'governor' software code which limits performance.

As many as 2000 re-marked Pentiums were seized in a coordinated series of police raids in Belgium, France, Germany and Italy. Further raids had been made in Singapore and police report that the devices originated from stolen PCs which had been disassembled and their chips re-marked in Hong Kong. Personal luggage was used to get the chips into Europe undetected by customs.

North America has not been secure from such chip crime either. During 1996 the distributor American IC Exchange's warehouse was broken into twice by 'ram raiders' getting away with over $100 000 of products. New security measures include a time-locked vault that needs two people to open which cost over $25 000. The threat of further break-ins means it now has a policy to stack high value products in random locations or locking them in the vault like gold bullion.

This company is not alone in installing ID control and CCTV plus more security guards to protect its premises. There is an atmosphere of great worry in the Silicon Valley area that the stakes will just get higher. As a result a number of companies have adopted a much lower profile in order to not to attract attention of the wrong kind. In Massachusetts two were charged with buying and re-marking certain types of memory modules then re-selling them with fraudulent IBM logos and part numbers. The case involved the sale of no less than $2 million of counterfeit products.

Though the degree and nature of chip crime are expected to recede somewhat as a result of the drop in memory prices, it is unlikely to stop where microprocessors are concerned. These products are very much in demand as users seek to upgrade the performance of their PCs. If they wittingly or unwittingly buy the 're-marked' product then they may find they have achieved no upgrade at all. Worse still, some victims of the chip crime have found to their disgust that the Pentium upgrades they bought were inferior to the original!

Roy Szweda

PC security products to foil thieves

R S Components has introduced a range of PC security products in an attempt to prevent the theft of computer equipment from offices. The product range includes clamp plates and cable kits, screw-on kits, notebook lock kits,

security locks for computer peripherals and base locks. The products are supplied with industrial-quality cables, industrial-strength adhesive and padlocks, and have been designed to help prevent opportunist 'hit and run' theft of computer equipment. The Screw-on kits help prevent unauthorized access to the internal components of a PC, inhibiting chip theft and deterring swapping out elements for items of lower value. A notebook lock kit secures portable computers while they are not in use.

For further inf?~rmation, contact Robin Brown, RS Components Ltd on." +44 1536 405808;.fax." +44 1536 405678.

Computer Fraud & Security March 1997 © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd