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by Erik Kirschbaum,
Reuters News Agency
December 19, 2001
German computer
experts are trying to find the truth behind an unexplained surge in
financial transactions made just before two hijacked planes crashed into
New York’s World Trade Center on September 11. And they’re finding the
evidence inside the ruins of the Twin Towers themselves.
There was a sharp
rise in credit card transactions moving through some computer systems at
the WTC shortly before the planes hit the twin towers. This could be a
criminal enterprise-in which case, did they get advance warning? Or was
it only a coincidence that more than $100 million was rushed through the
computers as the disaster unfolded?
The German-based
firm Convar, a world leader in retrieving data, is trying to answer
those questions while they help credit card companies,
telecommunications firms and accountants in New York recover their
records from computer hard drives that have been partially damaged by
fire, water or fine dust.
They are using a
pioneering laser scanning technology to find data on damaged computer
hard drives and main frames found in the rubble of the World Trade
Center and other nearby collapsed buildings. So far, they have recovered
information from 32 computers that support suspicions that some of the
911 transactions were illegal.
“The suspicion is
that inside information about the attack was used to send financial
transaction commands and authorizations in the belief that amid all the
chaos the criminals would have, at the very least, a good head start,”
says Convar director Peter Henschel. “Of course it is also possible that
there were perfectly legitimate reasons for the unusual rise in business
volume. It could turn out that Americans went on an absolute shopping
binge on that Tuesday morning. But at this point there are many
transactions that cannot be accounted for. Not only the volume but the
size of the transactions was far higher than usual for a day like that.
There is a suspicion that these were possibly planned to take advantage
of the chaos.”
There are several
data retrieval companies in the United States and Europe, but Convar is
doing most of the World Trade Center work because of its laser scanning
technology. Convar developed a laser scanner two years ago that makes it
possible to retrieve data from badly damaged computers.
Inside the Convar
building in Germany, many of the doors have code-operated door locks for
security reasons. In the center of the facility is a large dust-free
“clean room” where the damaged computer drives are coaxed back to life.
The raw material they retrieve is sent immediately by satellite or
courier back to New York.
Companies pay
between $20,000 and $30,000 for each computer recovered. The high
recovery costs are one reason why only a limited number of hard drives
are being examined. “We have been quite surprised that so many of the
hard drives were in good enough shape to retrieve the data,” Henschel
says. “The contamination rate is high. The fine dust that was everywhere
in the area got pressed under high pressure into the drives. But we’ve
still been able to retrieve 100% of the data on most of the drives we’ve
received.”
Richard Wagner, a
data retrieval expert at the company, says illegal transfers of more
than $100 million might have been made immediately before and during the
disaster. “There is a suspicion that some people had advance knowledge
of the approximate time of the plane crashes in order to move out
amounts exceeding $100 million,” he says. “They thought that the records
of their transactions could not be traced after the main frames were
destroyed.”
Henschel says,
“We’re helping them find out what happened to the computers on September
11 as quickly as possible. I’m sure that one day they will know what
happened to the money.”
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