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Software Spotlighted Spitzer Shenanigans
David Utter
Staff Writer
2008-03-19
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The US Government hates money laundering and anything that might indicate someone trying to evade taxes, or worse, fund terrorist activity.
 | | Software Spotlighted Spitzer Shenanigans |  |
Banks receive motivation from the government to crack down on these activities, something that the banks manage with a combination of software and human observation. The automated software process gets the first crack at pulling up details a human should review.
In the report from Technology Review, we learn how three separate wire transfers of $5,000 each out of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's personal account triggered an alert.
Banks also have self-motivation to protect their customers from fraud. As a prominent politician, one who had been whispered as a possible Presidential candidate, Spitzer's name likely stood out in the process, and moved into the human review area.
At some point, someone decided to pass Spitzer's activity along to federal investigators. The report cited anti-money laundering software maker Actimize's Ido Ophir, who said banks wouldn't send in transactions that lacked suspicious merits.
As security pros understand, the greatest threat to the integrity of their operations comes more from internal staffers than external threats. For an investigator working in a conservative banking industry that has been a regular target of a former attorney general turned governor, perhaps Spitzer's name provided greater motivation to bring him to the attention of authorities.
Paranoia is stock in trade when it comes to security matters. Did some anonymous investigator think Mr. Law & Order, Governor Spitzer, wanted to avoid taxes or fund an al-Qaeda cell? It turned out the money had been used for an illicit purpose, one that was probably best revealed.
An interesting perspective on the Spitzer kerfuffle came from Greg Palast, whose take on the drama suggests Spitzer's indiscretion provided a window of opportunity for his banking enemies to remove him as a threat to their more predatory practices.
If that is the case, banking anti-money laundering software may have saved the industry from the cleansing glow of sunlight on its more predatory mortgage lending practices. Whoever provided the software to Spitzer's bank probably received thank you notes from across Wall Street.
View All Articles by David Utter
About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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