First computer hacker gives business advice

Twenty years on Robert Schifreen is an acknowledged computer expert whose job it is to help others be secure and safe from crime.

These days he works as a journalist and consultant; his insider knowledge was much in demand recently when millions of recipients of Child Benefit found their personal details had been lost, and Robert spent a day rushing from studio to studio to discuss the disastrous lapse in security.

His fascination for computers goes right back to his early teens, when, he admits, he was a computer geek waiting to happen.

He was just 13 when he first started using the family computer, which was an Ohio Superboard II, around 1979, followed by standard types such as the Sinclair Spectrum and BBC.

"I guess I am the sort of person that computers were invented for - but I didn't know until I discovered them.

"I needed that level of involvement and obsession to interest me.

"I was a computer geek that needed computers ... when I found them everything fell into place."

He also began using the computer at school and the passion steadily grew.

He had fun seeing what worked with the computer. In the same way he enjoyed taking apart items such as televisions, radios and even bathroom scales, and putting them back together again.

"Sometimes when you do that, you end up with too many bits. But computers let me delve into things on that level of detail without having to get my hands dirty. There is not too much to go wrong - if it does, you just keep pressing buttons until it is right again. It is hard to blow things up or cause permanent damage."

Computers did eventually cause problems for Robert but not from lack of expertise.

In 1985 he was arrested when it was discovered he had gained entry into other people's systems. There was no legislation at that time for the very new crime of computer hacking, so he was later charged with forgery.

He was then a 20-year-old working in London on the Prestel magazine for computer buffs when he discovered the same company was producing the Micronet system in the basement of the same building.

He began working for Micronet also, and one day was on the office modem when he stumbled on to new possibilities.

"Prestel was asking for user name and password. Because what I was doing was testing the modem, I just pushed the number two key 14 times. Prestel said - Good Morning, Mr G. Reynolds, welcome to Prestel."

Robert was intrigued and wanted to see if he could get into other people's passwords, and what he might achieve.

"It developed into a challenge, to find as many people's user names and passwords as I could."

"There was never any intention or desire to do any damage. It was a bit like electronic train spotting. I would find the user name, write it down in my little blue book and go on to the next one - just like a train spotter."

He even managed to hack into Prince Philip's account, but claims: "I never made any effort to keep it secret. I didn't think it was particularly illegal.

"But it came to the attention of the newly formed computer crime unit at the Metropolitan Police, and I was arrested by the head of the unit in March 1985."

Subsequent prosecution meant Robert was the first person to face a jury trial for this type of offence, but charged under the laws relating to the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act of 1981. Having been found guilty and fined on five specific counts, he went to High Court and won his appeal in front of the Lord Chief Justice.

The decision was then upheld in the House of Lords, where Robert was finally acquitted because it was judged typing in someone else's password was not the same as forging a signature.

Robert said: "The whole point of the story is the Computer Misuse Act of 1990 makes hacking illegal - the reason that exists is because of my acquittal. Computer hacking is now illegal ... but it was not when I was doing it."

Another result of the case was that Robert was now recognised within the computer industry. He worked for computer magazines, and spent time at Epsom printers where he wrote manuals.

He went on to become a freelance journalist and consultant, advising people about security by attending seminars and giving consultations, but also talking to potential computer users about protecting individual systems.

"I enjoy it a lot," said Robert, who lives in Cooden Drive, Bexhill.

"It found me. Once my name got in the papers, people started realising that I could give them some useful information, I suppose."

These days he is also called on to pass comment whenever security problems are in the news, such as the Child Benefit fiasco, the mislaying of confidential data by DVLA in Swansea, or a hospital losing patient information stored on a USB stick.

"With the Child Benefit breach, all the advice you need on how to stop that happening is 25 years old ... firstly if you are going to send confidential information in the post, you should encrypt it, and secondly, don't write a computer system that allows a staff member to save all 25 million records to a CD."

Having been at the sharp end himself, it would be natural for Robert to be concerned about computer security, but he is happy to use internet banking and even shops on-line.

"The vast majority of on-line banking fraud happens because people don't take adequate care .. I try very hard to make sure I do it properly.

"We are all paranoid about handing out credit card details over the internet, yet you will walk into a shop and give them your card and your details as well.

"We need to get the on-line thing into perspective. But the main reason on-line crime is so prevalent at the moment is because of Chip And Pin. Chip and Pin means it is very difficult for someone to misuse a stolen credit card in a shop...that area of fraud stopped overnight when Chip And Pin came in. But the fraudsters didn't pack up and go home - they moved on-line. As soon as Chip And Pin started, there was a huge increase in on-line fraud which the industry fully expected, and had not done anything about. Only now is it starting to address that."

This might be his job, but computers remain a hobby too, as Robert says: "I still sit and play when I should be working. But it is such a fast changing industry I have to keep up with it for my work. If I did something else...deep down I would always be thinking about computers and wanting to come back to it.

"I am lucky to be paid for doing something I enjoy doing."