Technician who hacked Gautrain IT system 'to steal R800m' from it's account sentenced to 10 years
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Obakeng Israel Bosang a former Gautrain Management Agency employee who gave outsiders access into the organisation's system so they could defraud it. Picture: Boxer Ngwenya Obakeng Israel Bosang a former Gautrain Management Agency employee who gave outsiders access into the organisation's system so they could defraud it. Picture: Boxer Ngwenya
Johannesburg - The man who hacked Gautrain's IT systems and allowed outsiders to access it with the intention of siphoning R800m from it's account has been slapped with a 10-year sentence.
Obakeng Israel Busang received a 20-year sentence but 10-years have been suspended. He was sentenced at the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court on Friday.
Busang was arrested in 2014 and later found guilty of fraud after it was discovered that he had installed 38 key-loggers and programs designed to overcome security measures at Gautrain.
At the time of the incident, Busang was working on a temporary basis as Gautrain's IT technician and his contract was to end at the end of the month.
During trial, it was revealed that Busang had installed the malware in the company's systems. However, when it was first detected, it was not yet known it was him.
In order to eliminate further unauthorised access to the system, Gautrain let Busang go immediately rather than wait for the end of the month.
As he was being escorted out, Busang did not have a chance to take his laptop which was at the time plugged onto the company's system and was being operated remotely by others.
He called his uncle and asked him to get his laptop. His uncle, however, took the laptop to the asset management office thinking it was the company's.
When the asset manager opened it, he realised that he was not operating it alone and that someone was operating it remotely.
It was also found that Busang had managed to get passwords of 38 employees.
Henry Denner- Gautrain IT Secretary Specialist has testified during the trial that the Hawks and security specialists were called.
He said they were advised to upgrade their system and they spent R8.5m on that.
They spent a further R1.2m on the removal of the installed malware. They also spent R30 000 changing hard drives on their laptops and office computers.
In addition to that, the company's IT technicians had to shut down their system for a few days after the malware had been detected, resulting in R405 000 losses in revenue.
In his testimony, Busang told the court that he had met some guys at a car-wash and they promised him money if he allowed them into the system so that they could transfer money into their accounts.
In a warning statement that Busang furnished to the police immediately after his arrest in 2014, he had said it was rage that made him let outsiders gain access into Gautrain's system because he was angry at his boss and the human resources manager.
It was alleged during the trial that the syndicate wanted to defraud Gautrain of about R800 million
It's not for the first time that Busang worked with a syndicate to defraud companies.
He was alleged to have been part of the syndicate that robbed Post Bank of R42m in January 2012. The money was deposited into 103 bank accounts.
Of the money, R265 000 was placed into Busang’s account. He had allegedly increased the daily limit on his account a few days before Post Bank was defrauded.
Four people were arrested, tried and sentenced for that crime, but Busang was not among them. He was never prosecuted for the Post Office fraud.