One just one short week ago computer experts warned people across the nation to change every password they use on the Internet or on any devise connected to the Internet. The ominous warning came following the revelation that the “heartbleed” bug could defeat all of the encryption used to protect online activity.
E-mail, bank accounts and a host of other areas where users rely on passwords are now vulnerable.
In the same week the MTA advised riders of the Long Island Rail Road who use ticket vending machines to check their accounts for unauthorized withdrawals. MTA police said they are looking for Vasile Ovidiu Haidau, a 35-year-old Romanian national who police say has ties to a gang of credit card thieves in California.
Although this crook got away, a husband and wife team from Romania pleaded guilty to felony charges of helping steal bank account and credit card information from thousands of MTA users by bugging Long Island Railroad stations. The husband will be sentenced for two to six years in prison and his wife will get nine months.
These thieves are disrupting the lives of honest Long Islanders. Every time consumers use an ATM or debit card or make a purchase online, they have to worry who might be watching. Before long this kind of thievery may seriously damage the American economy.
The new high-tech criminals are clever and often hard to catch.
They need to know that there are serious consequences if and when they do get caught.
Nine months or even two-to-six years in prison doesn’t send the right message.
The punishment doesn’t fit the crime. Not even close.
