Hackers steal 2 million tonnes of EU carbon credits

Yahoo ^ | 1/20/11 | AFP

[NormsRevenge]

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Hackers stole two million tonnes of polluting rights in a five-day raid this week on the European Union's carbon emissions trading system, an EU source said on Thursday.

The volume of carbon credits stolen in online action, which a European Commission spokeswoman was "possibly concerted", represents just a fraction of global industrial greenhouse gas permits, but is potentially worth many millions of euros.

The scale of the theft, which involved five unnamed EU states, was revealed a day after Brussels shut all 27 national trading registries for a week, citing inadequate online protection.

Credits stolen just from the Czech Republic were worth seven million euros.

Fourteen of the 27 European Union states need to boost their online security to minimum standards, the spokeswoman said.

The EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) is the largest multinational, greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme in the world, but has repeatedly suffered security breaches.

[NormsRevenge]

EU P U .. This smells.

[dead]

Somebody stole my secret wishes and lofty ideals!

[pissant]

LOL. Surely this is the Onion?

[Mr. K]

Why don’t INDIVIDUALS have carbon credits? I would like to sell mine.

Let’s all get together and flood their market (Do a Cloward-Piven on this scheme to sell indulgences)

[WOBBLY BOB]

I have them in my imaginary lock box I stole from Algore.

[Delta 21]

I can get you just under 2 million credits,if the price is right.

[NormsRevenge]

All the usual suspects are being interviewed..

[Made In The USA]

I think the theft ocurred when these fools surrendered their euros towards this bogus commodity.

[Minn]

I wonder how many unicorns and vials of magic pixie dust those bastards absconded with.

[DuncanWaring]

Sounds like something you would write.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

Great. Counterfeit carbon credits. And the agencies that detect and verify them.

[bkepley]

Probably Mr. Burns.

[La Lydia]

How does one fence stolen carbon credits? Why would anyone acquire stolen carbon credits? Seems to me like they would be immediately traceable, because they only exist on paper, no wait, scratch paper, they only exist as electrons.

[dead]

If caught, these guys will have to spend years in an imaginary prison, like mimes.

[GeronL]

Vegentarians will have to buy carbon credits because they fart all the time.

[MNDude]

along with million dollars in monopoly money

[Red Badger]

Pssst! Hey buddy! I’ll trade ya for a million in Bellagio Casino Chips...........pass it on.............

[SERKIT]

Were they looking to trade carbon credits for unicorn pelts?

[kevinm13]

That and 2 bucks will get you a coffee at most Starbucks.

[ReverendJames]

Some peoples stole something that doesn’t exist?