One question, how did they know which specific servers to take? That would've required some interesting research / espionage ahead of time, but the article didn't mention that part of the job.
It’s kind of a fun story but it doesn’t make sense. Was that the only data in a data center in the world that’s not backed up elsewhere? Did I miss that part?
> The bankers “were involved in prime mortgages” and had “circumnavigated” certain regulations.
> Ellis’s assignment was to break into the data center and steal around 80 servers that hosted the incriminating files
The hit was contracted by the bankers who broke the law. Why would they need a copy of the evidence?
If the goal was to know what the prosecution has on them they took the worst route. Hiring petty criminals to steal the damn servers and giving them more details than they need to know is a stupid idea. Instead of hacking the data out of the servers (which would have been even easier in 2007), you now have a trail of inconvenient witnesses who can't wait to spill the secrets for a lighter sentence. He might have been just a decoy for something bigger.
The story smells like a book promotion and a petty criminal further bolstering a high profile (but stupid) robbery.
They stole about 5 milion dollars worth of computer equipment, which depending on how it's purchased is either a single cabinet of storage or a few cabinets of compute, which is largely worthless on the resale market, or if you believe the criminals, they were stealing evidence of illegal activities of the "bankers".
Bit dubious about how some of this hangs together. One detail that stood out to me:
> They removed mounting screws, disconnected the servers and put them in laundry bags — 20 bags in all, each large enough to hold four or five servers.
That's like 100kg or more of servers in each bag? I guess that is not totally impossible but it doesn't seem like a particularly easy way to move them around. It's not like putting five laptops in a bag and walking out with it over your shoulder.
Anyone who has ever seen or handled a simple 1U server knows this is absolute bullshit. And laundry bags have to be absolutely the worst possible way to transport something like this.
And they stole 80 of them? So basically a truckload? Sure.
Maybe they mean the rolling laundry carts that one puts such bags in. Not sure what one's excuse for pushing a bunch of them around a data center would be though.
Data centers are huge and barely staffed. It's a really rich target for thieves in terms of IT hardware and scrap metal. There are literally tons of copper in there per acre. All the cameras in the world won't save you if you only have 4 guys in a 20 acre building.
This story is making my bullshit detector go haywire. I’m guessing it was more mundane than what they claim. How much does it cost to buy one or several security guards? It’s a hell of a lot more likely than the movie script story the article contains.
Did this guy sign a book or movie deal? The only fact I believe is that they stole stuff from the data center.
One question, how did they know which specific servers to take? That would've required some interesting research / espionage ahead of time, but the article didn't mention that part of the job.
It’s kind of a fun story but it doesn’t make sense. Was that the only data in a data center in the world that’s not backed up elsewhere? Did I miss that part?
Your confusion doesn't make any sense. The point was to steal a copy of the data, not prevent the original owners from having the data any more.
> The bankers “were involved in prime mortgages” and had “circumnavigated” certain regulations.
> Ellis’s assignment was to break into the data center and steal around 80 servers that hosted the incriminating files
The hit was contracted by the bankers who broke the law. Why would they need a copy of the evidence?
If the goal was to know what the prosecution has on them they took the worst route. Hiring petty criminals to steal the damn servers and giving them more details than they need to know is a stupid idea. Instead of hacking the data out of the servers (which would have been even easier in 2007), you now have a trail of inconvenient witnesses who can't wait to spill the secrets for a lighter sentence. He might have been just a decoy for something bigger.
The story smells like a book promotion and a petty criminal further bolstering a high profile (but stupid) robbery.
Ok good point.
Nope. THe story doesn't make any sense at all.
They stole about 5 milion dollars worth of computer equipment, which depending on how it's purchased is either a single cabinet of storage or a few cabinets of compute, which is largely worthless on the resale market, or if you believe the criminals, they were stealing evidence of illegal activities of the "bankers".
The story is way too sexed up and hollywood'd
Sounds like a really awful attempt at writing a Mr Robot sequel.
And we are to believe they don't have FDE on their application servers?
> Nathaniel Rich. I am a novelist, […]
See Cloudthief here https://nathanielrich.com/books/
Bit dubious about how some of this hangs together. One detail that stood out to me:
> They removed mounting screws, disconnected the servers and put them in laundry bags — 20 bags in all, each large enough to hold four or five servers.
That's like 100kg or more of servers in each bag? I guess that is not totally impossible but it doesn't seem like a particularly easy way to move them around. It's not like putting five laptops in a bag and walking out with it over your shoulder.
Anyone who has ever seen or handled a simple 1U server knows this is absolute bullshit. And laundry bags have to be absolutely the worst possible way to transport something like this.
And they stole 80 of them? So basically a truckload? Sure.
Maybe they mean the rolling laundry carts that one puts such bags in. Not sure what one's excuse for pushing a bunch of them around a data center would be though.
I agree the details don't smell right though.
https://archive.is/QUHSw
thanks. It is my first time knowing the way to break paywall.
Data centers are huge and barely staffed. It's a really rich target for thieves in terms of IT hardware and scrap metal. There are literally tons of copper in there per acre. All the cameras in the world won't save you if you only have 4 guys in a 20 acre building.
I was hoping for a story where they took all the bank loan data and the backups.
That is part of the plot of the TV show "Mr. Robot". Not just the loans, but balances too!
This story is making my bullshit detector go haywire. I’m guessing it was more mundane than what they claim. How much does it cost to buy one or several security guards? It’s a hell of a lot more likely than the movie script story the article contains.
Did this guy sign a book or movie deal? The only fact I believe is that they stole stuff from the data center.