-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Today's Lesson From The Collapse of Barings by Stephen Fay The difficulty was that Leeson knew no way of becoming an elite trader himself without exploiting his secret 88888 account. He was using it in a canny way to build his reputation among Barings' traders in Tokyo. They would ask Leeson to execute, on their behalf, a sell order at the prevailing price, say $99.20. Lesson would report the sale to Tokyo at $99.50, giving Tokyo an unexpected profit of 30 cents. Leeson had sold at the prevailing price ($99.20), and the subsequent 30-cent loss was absorbed by the 88888 account. Naturally, Leeson's 'skill' at executing Tokyo's orders was admired by established traders . . . As a mark of their confidence, Leeson was permitted to start trading options for clients in October 1993. That was a boon to him. By October 1993, the loss on the 88888 account was up again-- to 5.7 million British pounds . . . and by the end of the year they were 24.39 million British pounds . . . But the loss never showed up in the accounts because Leeson had written options which had sold for 30 million British pounds. This was the most hazardous transaction he had entered into so far because, if the market had moved against him, the potential loss was unlimited. But, if his deception was to continue, Leeson had no choice. Although he never received the option premiums in cash--the premium is automatically remitted to the exchange as margin for the deal--the 30 million British pounds appeared as a credit to Leeson's profit-and-loss account, balancing his real loss on the 88888 account, and hiding his trail. ===== Killer Shoes 54 Dead, 100 Injured in Minsk Stampede 42 Dead Teen Girls Blamed on High Heels MINSK, May 31, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) Fifty-four people died and more than 100 others were injured in a stampede in a passageway leading to a Minsk subway station after a rock concert, according to a first official toll Monday. Nearly all the victims were teenagers under 18 who had been to the concert on Sunday evening, Belarus government radio said . The death toll could rise as some of the injured were in serious condition, said Interior Minister Yuri Sivakov in a statement early Monday over Belarus television. The accident occurred during a sudden storm at around 9 p.m. (1800 GMT). The crowd of around 2,500 who had been at the open-air concert rushed for cover into a nearby passageway leading to an underground station, crushing those who had fallen underfoot in the stampede. Two policemen and a few adults who had been on their way out of the subway station also died after getting caught in the crowd. The interior minister said of the 54 dead, 42 were girls wearing high-heeled shoes that had apparently caused them to stumble and fall in the rush. He said many of the people at the show, billed as a "beer concert," had been drunk. Most of the victims had died of suffocation, the report said. The Belarus government was to hold an emergency meeting Monday as investigators tried to sort out how the tragedy occurred. Belarus television and radio had stopped regular programming and played classical music on Monday. Russia Today, June 1, 1999 Hacking for Jesus Hackers Threaten to Take Down All Government Web Sites Gee, wouldn't that be a tragedy... WASHINGTON (AP) -- Computer hackers vandalized two more government sites on the Internet today and left a taunting note promising to attack more federal computers because of a related FBI investigation. Hackers from different organizations defaced a Web page early Monday within the Interior Department and a site run by a federal supercomputer laboratory in Idaho Falls, Idaho, claiming ``it's our turn to hit them where it hurts.'' ``These are the perils of open government,'' said Stephanie Hanna, an Interior spokeswoman. ``We try to make as much of the materials of the Interior Department as open and available as possible. The consequence of that is, those who choose to do damaging things can do that.'' Last week, hackers claiming to be from another group defaced the Web site for the U.S. Senate, causing it to be taken offline until the weekend. The FBI also was forced to take down its own Internet site last week after hackers launched an electronic attack against it. It remained inaccessible Monday, along with the Web site for its National Infrastructure Protection Center, which helps investigate computer crimes. Messages left at the attacked sites suggest they were vandalized to retaliate against what was said to be the FBI's harassment of specific hacker groups, including the group that boasted of breaking into the White House site last month. The FBI confirmed it executed four search warrants last week in Texas related to an investigation into allegations of computer intrusion, including one search at the home of a prominent hacker in Houston. On the Interior's Web page, the hackers left this message: ``Now, it's our turn to hit them where it hurts by going after every computer on the Net with a .gov (suffix).... We'll keep hitting them until they get down on their knees and beg.'' At the site maintained by the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, a note threatened the electronic destruction of the powerful computers that ``serve'' pages on the Internet ``if the FBI doesn't stop.'' ``We could have done worse, like destroying completely all servers,'' the note said. ``We can do it if we want, but hackers are waiting for Justice.'' In an online interview, the hacker claiming responsibility for the laboratory attack warned The Associated Press that further FBI investigation would result in more severe damage. The hacker identified himself only as M1crochip, living in Portugal and part of a group calling themselves F0rpaxe. The interview was arranged through a mutually trusted third party. ``If FBI doesn't do anything and doesn't stop arresting people and making our life miserable, each member of F0rpaxe will discuss an eventual destruction of every single server,'' he said. ``If that happens, everything goes down.'' He added, ``We don't want to proceed that way,'' and called the electronic attacks the ``only resource'' of the hacker community. The FBI in Washington declined comment Monday. Earlier this month, a grand jury in northern Virginia indicted Eric Burns, 19, on three counts of computer intrusion. Burns is reportedly known on the Internet as ``Zyklon'' and is believed to be a member of the group that claimed responsibility for the attacks on the White House and Senate sites. ``Zyklon'' was one of a dozen names listed on the hacked version of the White House Web site, which was altered overnight Sunday for a few minutes before government computers automatically detected the intrusion. Burns was accused of breaking into a computer used by the U.S. Information Agency between August 1998 and January 1999. The grand jury also said Burns broke into two other computers, one owned by LaserNet of Fairfax, Va., and the other by Issue Dynamics Inc. of Washington. Associated Press, May 31, 1999 Nuclear Spying Nuke Data on the Internet, China Says Who sold China that laptop? BEIJING - With lights ablaze and news cameras rolling, a professional web surfer, Fang Nan, sat before his Chinese government-issue Compaq Presario computer on Monday afternoon, pointed his Microsoft Explorer browser to a U.S. internet address and began downloading sophisticated technical details about America's most advanced nuclear warheads. The demonstration, put on by China's State Council, or cabinet, was part of the government's most aggressive attempt to date to discredit a congressional report, made public last week, that accuses China of stealing secret nuclear data from the United States over the last two decades. The State Council's Minister of Information, Zhao Qizheng, repeated China's long-standing denial that it has ever stolen American nuclear technology. He also accused a bipartisan select committee, particularly Representative Christopher Cox, Republican of California, of racism and arrogance, saying their report was an effort to diminish the outstanding work of Chinese bomb and missile makers, who need no help from the United States. But in a new approach, Mr. Zhao told Chinese and foreign reporters that the information China is accused of stealing - including critical design information on America's top-of-the-line W-88 warhead and six others - has long been openly available in the United States. ''Moreover, in recent years, performance data about various types of nuclear warheads, ranging from the early MK-1 to the latest W-88, can easily be found on the Internet,'' he said. ''They are no longer secrets, so there is nothing to 'steal.''' Mr. Zhao relinquished the stage to Mr. Fang of the China Internet Information Center, a government body that tracks on-line developments in China. Mr. Fang logged on to the Internet and quickly linked to the web page of the Federation of Atomic Scientists, a Washington-based group concerned with weapons proliferation and other issues. The results of Mr. Fang's efforts, including a list of every U.S. nuclear weapon and its specifications, were projected on a large screen. He then searched for ''W-88.'' Up popped the explosive yield, weight, length, and diameter of the warhead, as well as a description of the specific materials used and its key design features. ''There's no need to go all the way to America to think of a way to get this data,'' Mr. Fang said. ''It's there on the net, and it's easy to find.'' Charles Ferguson, a senior research analyst at the Federation and a nuclear expert, said the information on his organization's site could be useful to China. But he disputed the Chinese suggestion that there is no difference between what is available in public and secret information, such as test data. The site provides ''a wealth of information on nuclear weapons, but we don't have a manual for how to produce them or anything like that,'' Mr. Ferguson said. ''There are thousands of parts in the most advanced nuclear weapons,'' he added. Just knowing ''the basic components, what goes into the primary part of it, what goes into the secondary part of it, is not enough to give someone the blueprint to develop these things,'' he said. International Herald Tribune, June 1, 1999 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! 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