http://news.yahoo.com/rush-put-death-records-online-lets-anyone-killed-074408319.html
Las Vegas (AFP) - Hackers at an infamous annual Def Con gathering in Las Vegas
got schooled in how to be online killers.A rush to go digital with the process
of registering deaths has made it simple for maliciously minded folks to have
someone who is alive declared dead by the authorities."This is a global
problem," Australian computer security specialist Chris Rock said as he
launched a presentation titled "I Will Kill You."The process of having someone
officially stamped dead by getting a death certificate issued typically
involves a doctor filling out one form and a funeral home filling out another,
according to Rock's research.Once forms are submitted online, certificates
declaring the listed person legally dead are generated.A fatal flaw in the
system is that people can easily pose as real doctors and funeral directors,
Rock demonstrated to a rapt audience.Doctors practising general medicine often
don't bother setting up accounts at online portals for filling out information
for death certificates.An aspiring online assassin can step into that void, and
borrow the identity of a doctor.Setting up accounts requires a doctor's name,
address, and medical license number. A basic Internet search will turn up that
information, which is publicly available for the well-intended purpose of
letting people check that physicians are legitimate before seeking care.Drop
down boxes containing illness categories and online guides are available for
filling in "doctor speak" on forms and avoiding medical causes or circumstances
that might trigger needs for autopsies or investigations, Rock's demonstration
showed.- No one off limits -Borrowing a funeral director's identity to
establish an online account for death certificate purposes was shown to be
simple as well. Required information about legitimate funeral directors is
posted on the Internet, and one could even claim to work at a funeral home.In
Rock's case, he made a website for a bogus funeral home and used that to back
his application for an account as director. He got an automated call days later
saying he was approved.With both online accounts in place, deaths can be
registered in the real world."You could kill anyone you want," Rock told AFP
after the presentation. "No one is off limits."A humor-infused list of
scenarios included killing oneself off to get life insurance cash or going
after others for vengeance.Someone targeted might not even know they were
declared dead until doing something official like trying to renew a passport or
driving license.Rock began digging into the death industry a year ago after an
Australian hospital accidentally declared 200 patients dead.- Virtual babies
-Getting birth certificates for virtual babies was demonstrated to be even
easier than killing off people in the digital world, because registering births
online only involves doctors and parents."Once you log on as a doctor, not only
can you kill someone, you can actually birth someone," Rock said.Given the time
it takes for even a make-believe baby to grow into adulthood, he saw that as
more tempting to crime gangs who could invest in the future by creating legions
of virtual people for shady doings involving loans, stock trading, imports or
other activities."You could even make fake identities for your children, so
when they grow up they have burner identities," Rock said.He dove into virtual
birth and death in his book titled "The Baby Harvest: How virtual babies become
the future of terrorist financing and money laundering."
