Once described as ‘Britain’s greatest online
fraudster’, reformed Tony Sales has been hired by West Midlands Police in the
UK to help tackle cybercrime. Mr. Sales, who stole over $43 million over a
six-year period, started life as a scammer at the age of 13, going onto make a
name for himself as a leading figure in Britain’s largest network of ‘online
gangsters’.
Since his days as an underground fraudster, Mr.
Sales has completely turned his life around. He now helps some of the biggest
names in UK banking, retail and insurance to safeguard themselves against
online fraud. The turnaround came about after he was put in touch
with the UK Home Office while serving a 12-month prison sentence back in 2010. “Only if you see the world through the eyes of a
criminal can you anticipate their next move,” the expert recently explained.“Testing and breaking the security of businesses
that think they are bulletproof is very rewarding.“
So respected is Mr. Sales’s knowledge on
cybercrime, that David Jamieson, crime commissioner for West Midlands Police,
as invited him to give the keynote speech at his annual business summit in Birmingham
on January 18th.Mr. Jamieson added: “Senior officers from West
Midlands Police who specialize in cybercrime will outline how the force works
with the public and private sector to come up with solutions.”Previously, in an interview with the
BBC, Mr. Sales highlighted the cyber shortcomings of companies,
stating that many often dismiss a data breach as an “acceptable loss”.
Some even choose not to act, despite him having
identified obvious weaknesses within their security system. However, by and
large, his analysis is acted on, especially by larger enterprises that actively
seek his know-how. As he told the broadcaster last year: “I’m given a
week to go into a big corporate company … and at the end of the week I go into
a board room with a CEO or the head of loss prevention, and we show them what
we’ve found throughout our week’s work. “Normally by the end of the presentation, they’re
breathless and with their jaw dropped on the table, saying ‘wow, we never saw
that’.”
While it is not unprecedented for law enforcement
to tap reformed con artists, perhpas most famously in the case of Frank
Abagnale, nobody should even consider this as a career path says ESET security
researcher Stephen Cobb, who says “Breaking the law is not a smart way to
pursue a career in security, it’s a very long shot with a lot of downsides,
including prison time.”
According to Cobb, who grew up in the area of
England now known as the West Midlands, the decision by commissioner Jamieson
to utilize Sales may well serve to improve police response to cybercrine, and
every felon who serves their time deserves a second chance. “What is
unfortunate,” says Cobb, “is if young people see this as condoning criminal
behavior … they don’t realize that the road back from crime to a job as a
trusted security professional is either impossible or at best long and
painful.”