Can He Save The World

Teen hacker turned terrorist-hunter, Kim Schmitz, thinks he can hack into Osama bin Laden's money supply. Trouble is, he's not sure if he can stay alive long enough to do it. By Angus Batey

'What I am doing here is very risky," explains 27-year-old, 23-stone, six-and-a-half foot German computer hacker-turned-businessman Kim Schmitz. "I'm not only risking my freedom, but also my life. I've had threats from several sources. If one fanatic thinks he would do a favour to somebody who doesn't like me in the Islamic world, it's the easiest thing just to come by and give me a bullet."
Schmitz is speaking both about his posting of a $10m reward for information leading to the capture of Osama bin Laden, and the perceived reaction to Yihat - Young Intelligent Hackers Against Terrorism - a guerrilla army of computer programmers he has assembled to stifle funding to terror groups worldwide.

Yihat targets financial institutions it believes handle terrorists' money, breaks into their servers, traces suspicious transactions, and passes the information it gleans to the FBI. Set up in the wake of the September 11 attacks, in which two of Schmitz's friends died, Yihat is claiming two successful "operations" to date - hacks of the Al-Shamal and Arab National banks have yielded what Schmitz claims is clear evidence of terrorist financial transactions.

"The FBI released a list of 22 terrorists," Schmitz says, "and two of the names on the list had bank accounts at the Arab National Bank, with the same birthdays. So there is a very big chance that these guys have accounts there. One of the employees of the bank informed us that people potentially involved in this crime [September 11 attacks] have accounts there, and this was verified. We forwarded all this information to the FBI."

Quite how much difference this will make is not clear. The FBI's head office in Washington claims no knowledge of Schmitz or Yihat, and its online terrorist information tip website has so far received more than 130,000 leads. The Arab National Bank's London office says they "do not discuss such matters with journalists", when contacted by the Guardian about the hack.

And yet, as unlikely as his claims may seem, Kiel-born, Munich-resident Schmitz has the track record to back them up. He began his computer scamming career in his teens, graduating from pirating video games to selling under the counter software that enabled computer users to obtain free phone time. Soon he was breaking into secure systems and websites, leaving a skull and crossbones logo and his Fugitive-inspired nom-de-hack, Kimble.

Other hackers rubbish his more lurid claims - which include skimming cents off millions of Citibank accounts then depositing more than $20m with Greenpeace, and getting into the Pentagon's systems during the Gulf war - but it is a matter of record that Kimble's activities landed him in prison in 1996.

On his release, the poacher turned gamekeeper and set up a computer security consultancy, Dataprotect. He made his fortune both during the hi-tech stocks boom and on selling 80% of Dataprotect last year. Estimating his own worth at around 1bn euros (£620m), Schmitz now runs investment operation Kimvestor, and is behind Megacar, a company that kits out high-end motors with broadband internet access.

Schmitz is well-known in the German media, and his website, www.kimble.org, catalogues his flamboyant lifestyle and gung-ho adventures. The site even includes an animated film in which a cartoon Kimble takes on espionage missions. One detractor from the hacking community has claimed on an internet message board that: "The only things Herr Schmitz needs to land the role as the next James Bond villain are an eye-patch, a wheelchair and a cat."

But whether this is a case of a rampant ego running out of control or not, Schmitz's Yihat project has, he believes, a vital role to play in the battle against terrorism. "The best weapons, I think, are intelligent weapons," he argues. "Looking at what we were able to achieve, which I cannot tell you about in full detail, I'm very happy that I've started this whole thing.

"For example, the German sleepers around Mohammed Atta that have been involved in the plane crash - they have been financed by a Sudanese carpet dealer. This is a matter of public record. He received his money from bank accounts in the Arabic region. We know which bank that is, and from which accounts it was coming, and so we are looking at every money transaction that has been done in the past two years. And we are very confident we will be able to find potential sleepers, or at least the supporters and financial backers of those people."

Initially making Yihat public on a website, www.kill.org, Schmitz and his team have been forced back underground since the site's popularity spiralled. Yihat's stated aim of running "the online equivalent of a terrorist training camp" to teach hackers advanced techniques has also been abandoned.

"In the end we made a political decision not to start training sessions for hackers outside the core group, because you never know who you're training, what monsters you may generate," he says. "The guys that are involved in the core team don't need training - they are security experts from around the world working for the biggest security companies." The core team now numbers 48, with Schmitz as its public face.

Although he has been accused of using Yihat as PR to fuel his business, Schmitz says the opposite is in fact the case: "I'm losing money here, I'm losing customers and partners. People don't want to deal with me because they think I'm going to be dead soon. My staff are very concerned, especially because of this whole anthrax stuff. Our secretaries really fear to open letters. They say: 'How can you put us all into the line of fire?' And they are completely right. I didn't think about that at the beginning.

"So, yes, there are risks involved. But the question is, in the end, will it pay off or not? I think every terrorist or every terrorist organisation could get busted because of our activities, so to me it's worth the obvious risks."

I get the feeling that the FBI must be overwhelmed with information.

I think you're probably right. I personally notified them of mysterious white powders three different times last week. </sarcasm>

Other hackers rubbish his more lurid claims - which include skimming cents off millions of Citibank accounts then depositing more than $20m with Greenpeace, and getting into the Pentagon's systems during the Gulf war - but it is a matter of record that Kimble's activities landed him in prison in 1996.

Yep, an old trick.

I knew someone in the Houston area that tried that for about eight days. Tried to harvest millionths of a cent (in interest rate calcs) and deposit them in an account. Lasted a little more than a week before caught...

Oh well, live and learn. Banks look out for such things. They assume you have done it for much longer than you have. And prosecute accordingly.

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