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HomeGovernmentHOW BANKS FIGHT ATM CRIME AND CORRUPTION
BPI incident: No hacking. No money lost. Error due to poor judgement of a programmer
July 12, 2017 BizNewsAsia Government, News, Spotlight 0
(The following is an edited version of the transcript of the Senate Banking Committee hearing on June 21, 2017, looking into the so-called hacking of BPI. Certain Tagalog words were translated into English whenever possible and as appropriate.):
BPI President Cezar P. Consing explains the internal data processing error on June 6, 2017
The data processing error caused mis-postings in the account of about 1.5 million of our eight million clients. These mispostings were in amounts much, much smaller than some of the figures that were circulating prominently in social and other media.
To fix the problem, we had to take down our electronic channels—services related to our ATM cards, internet banking, mobile banking, for a total of 26 hours spread, over a period of 37 hours.
This inconvenienced an even greater number of clients, many of whom are your (the senators') constituents. As a bank that has prided itself in bringing convenience to clients over and above basic banking services, we deeply regret the inconvenience caused by this time gap.
Human error, not a hack
We have a robust system that handles an average of 3.5 million transaction per day. Our investigation revealed that ours was a case of human error and not a hacking. There was no breach of data privacy.
We shared with the regulators the actions we took to make things right, from the correction of the mis-postings to the reversals or waivers of penalties and charges to the longer banking hours, to the continuous stream of client advisories.
BPI's Ramon Jocson elaborates on what happened
The bank's processes are fully automated or nearly all are automated. We do batch processing. Every night we have an end of day processing. At 8 pm we process all transactions. By 10 pm are our central data base do the updates. The central server automatically updates all the balances.
And then what we do is we take a copy, a flash copy of that database at that point in time and then we open all electronic channels. It's fast. In 15 minutes, we do the downloading and then the switching.
This is a closed system. It is not connected to anything external. It is not connected to the internet. Its only connection is our mainframe computers, each running on servers and these have their own network.
All other transactions we have are just passed on as batch files. There is no direct connection to the internet. That is what we mean by a closed system.
On June 6, we had to reconcile a report. What happens is we have depositors who go abroad and then they use the ATM machines abroad to withdraw money. We needed to reconcile a report from May 26 to May 29 (from) one of our correspondent banks.
That was the request given by our shared operations group, this was then given to one of our lead technical persons for the system. There are only 12 people who are trained in this system. Out of the 12, only two have access to the system. The specialist in question is one of the two. So she was assigned to extract a report and she was instructed to take it from the backup files.
To get it from the backup files, she had to route a request and inform her superior that she's going to do something in the backup environment. What she did was, because maybe of expediency, since she already has access to the production file and since she knows that it can be done more expediently in the production file, the temptation was there and in order to rush the report, she said, "I can do it in production." So she generated the report in production and extracted the file. Now the file contained instead of May 26 to May 29, she entered in the online system the dates of April 27 to May 2.
In effect, na-extract lahat ng transactions of April 27 to May 2 and it created a file in the "IST". That's the name of the system. The file was automatically named using the systems naming convention. It gave the date, June 6, 2017. So, in effect, this was submitted at around 3 p.m. and it concluded at around 6 p.m., and she left the file there.
At around 8 p.m., the batch extraction took place, but since there was already a file created, it created another file called "point one."
In Windows, that would be called Copy One.
We are using Unix, here the convention is point one. So it doesn't replace the file but instead just renames it to another file. It is given an extension called .1 (point one).
At around 10 p.m., the extracted April 27 to May 2 file was used by the system, instead of the June 6 (file). So in effect, the balances were updated using transactions from April 27 to May 2, instead of June 6.
This covered only transactions in our own ATMs, our point of sale systems, and our cash acceptance machines. You can only withdraw money from ATMs. You deposit money through our cash acceptance machines.
An illustrative example: If a client's balance was padded, it could happen if you had P10,000. However, if you withdrew cash of 5,000, 3,500, and 4,000, respectively on April 27, 28, and 29, you would suddenly notice that your balance would be P2,500 because these transactions were re-posted.
No crossing of transactions to other clients
The transactions re-posted were your own transactions but they were at a certain point in time in the past. Never did transactions from other clients cross to other clients. So, these were all your transactions in the past. They were simply re-posted.
Now for a credit example, if you deposited in our cash acceptance machine, say P100,000 on April 29, and another P6,000 on April 29, suddenly you will see that your balance would be P116,000.
The average debit, when we looked at it, out of the 1.5 million clients which Mr. Consing mentioned, was around an average debit of P7,700; average credit was P7,200.
Impossible to post billions
There were people saying that they had P12 billion, right? For you to reach P1 billion for the five days, you would have had to deposit P200 million per day. Now, with our cash acceptance machine, the highest bill you can feed is P1,000. You feed it every two seconds. So, theoretically, in one minute, you can feed around P30,000 times 60 minutes. In one hour, P1.8 million. In order for you to do P200 million a day, you would have to do it across five machines, non-stop for 24 hours, feeding P1,000 (bills). That is quite impossible. Our cassettes get filled at P4 million (maximum). So those people claiming they posted P12 billion, P8 billion, P1 billion – they are all false. The documents that they presented to the public and to the TV stations, radio stations were all doctored and faked.
As Mr. Consing mentioned, we did recovery over a span of 37 hours. There were lapses during that time, so the downtime in our channels was 24 hours. What we did was to re-post back.
Avoiding occurrence
What will we do to prevent a recurrence? During that day, we had in our ATM system transactions that surged from an average of P2 billion to P10 billion, because of the five days. Instead of one day it became five days.
So, what we have imposed now, is an automatic circuit breaker, whenever transactions reach P10 billion or more than one million transactions. It will disable the production system and ask, is this enough or not?
The second thing that we're doing is addressing our mean time to recover. Why did it take so long to restore the system. Because, we had to post back five days worth of transactions and one day of valid transaction. So, six days worth of transactions ginawa namin in one day kaya natagalan.
We're gonna put in more restore points. Ang importante with any complex system is to have the ability to recover. In the future, we will avoid this recurrence but this also gives us something to think about that maybe what we need to do is to put in more restore points. So, at least every step maka-recover kami kaagad.
Now, the third thing that we need to do, and are doing already, is go 24/7. We are upgrading our deposit systems to go 24/7. We intend to optimize the memo posting capability as we upgrade.
So, by the end of this year, our deposit system will be 24/7. Meaning to say, we do not have to put down the online systems while we are running batch runs. We are now optimizing the system.
Why didn't BPI catch it early?
The last thing that we need to do, and probably this is the question that you will ask, bakit hindi namin nahuli ng mas maaga? In fact, the warning flags came from our clients asking questions about their balances. And we learned about this at around, maybe 6:30.
There is a process that we do, which is called reconciliation. Before the branches open at around 8:00 a.m., our shared services group takes a look at cash on hand kasi kailangan mag-deliver kami ng cash sa different branches. Kailangan magbalanse ang ledger namin. And then kailangan we deliver cash to the branches that need cash. We fill up ATMs to those ATMs that need cash. We could have seen that in the report, kasi makikita na 10 billion ang withdrawal, hindi balance. So, what we're gonna do, instead of 8:00 a.m. we're gonna move that up to 4 a.m.
The moment it's free, we stop our batch run, we do the check first before we open up our channels.
Because of an error in judgment of one of our programmers where the programmer in question thought that maybe this is a faster way of doing it in delivering the assignment that I was tasked to do. Because of that there was an unscheduled file generation which then caused us to post wrong entries which we were able to then reverse. And these are the remedial actions that we're doing to prevent a recurrence.
Joseph Albert Gotuaco explains how BPI coped with the situation
In BPI, we serve about eight million customers. The most basic of the services are what you call deposit, withdrawal and the lending transaction.
And those services are provided in the most basic of channels which we call our branches. At BPI, we call it the branch of account where you can do all the basic services. We then extended these services to add convenience to our customers. And these convenience services are added transactions such as fund transfers, remittance, payments of bills.
We also have what we call an inter-branch transaction. At BPI, we call this "Bank Anywhere," which means to say, if you open your account at one branch, you should be able to transact at another branch where you did not open that account for free, for no extra charge. So, that is added convenience to our customers. In addition to that, for our customers who do not wish to bank in the branch, we also offer services that they can do at home, where you can bank online. When you are stuck in traffic, you can bank using our mobile platforms. We also have ATMs which is the most used electronic channel, and POS machines for your credit and debit cards.
BPI branches process 850,000 transactions per day
Now, let me describe the branch. All our branches look the same but it's important to make some distinctions here.
First of all, we have 827 branches in BPI across our parent bank and our subsidiaries. Those branches are generally open between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., seven to seven and a half hours a day. That may change. If it's in a mall, it might slide but generally, seven to seven and a half hours a day.
And the systems that we have in the branch are such that we can process transactions at a speed of about 850,000 transactions per day and this is our primary channel for all our banking services.
If this is the bank also where you opened your account, where a BPI customer opened an account, this is where all your primary balances are kept. It is a procedure in this branch that every day, before they open, certain printouts are made. While we open at 9, employees typically come in at 7:30 and 8.
It's interesting to note, one of the things that they print are the account balances of all their customers so that if on any given day, there's an error of the balance, they can always revert to printouts.
These are hard copies of customer data from the prior day. And that's why the branch of account is critical in an emergency situation because if it goes offline, there's certain data that's protected.
And this branch network is particularly important, because on the days of June 7th and June 8th when we knew that the electronic channels were down, this was the system on which we felt we could rely on to service our customers for all their banking needs.
Channels affected
Let me describe to you the alternative channels that were affected on June 7 and June 8. So the first one was the automatic teller machine—ATM network. This is the most used convenience channel that we have outside of the branches. BPI has about 2,300 of these machines with 4.6 million users and it processes about 400,000 transactions a day, approximately.
The next channel is our cash acceptance machines. It's the exact opposite of an ATM. Instead of dispensing cash, it takes in cash, particularly for clients who do not wish to come into the branch or want to bank off-hours. It is a relatively newer machine that's been in service since only 2011 or so. We only have 800 of them, about only one million users and we process basically 5% of transactions on CAMS as we do on ATMs.
BPI Express Online
The next channel is our online. It's branded "BPI Express Online." This is used on a computer or a laptop. We have 1.2 million active users doing 40,000 transactions per day.
And finally, we have our mobile application system. It's called "express mobile," 1.1 million users, 70,000 transactions a day.
So if I could put this into perspective, when you combine the transactional history of these four channels that were affected by the June 7 and June 8 incident, you're looking at approximately half a million or between 500,000 to 600,000 transactions per day that were impaired during the event.
When we described the branch banking system, our branches have a capacity to do 850,000 transactions. So knowing that our electronic channels were down, we immediately mobilized to extend banking hours to allow our customers to come to their branch banking network to fulfill their financial transactions.
When the event also broke out, when we found out about it on June 7th, it was very important for us to understand from talking to Mr. Jocson's team what was going on because we were very urgently in a position, very pressed to provide to our customers also an idea of what was going on—give them comfort on what the root cause was and give them an outlook.
What was also very important was to communicate,,, to our branch network because it was them who would had to remedy the situation and deal with customers. Particularly important here, was knowledge of the fact of the mispostings because remember, that was what would allow them to use their backup data to service their customers for their banking needs.
We boosted our customer care systems. We don't just serve customers through our branches on June 7 and June 8, we also have our telephonic and our social media customer service infrastructure and they were boosted during the events of June 7 and 8 and thereafter. And obviously, for our customers affected by this and unable to make payments, we reversed fees, particularly in relation to BPI-related services when they were impacted by delayed payments.
We extended banking hours. Our branches typically close at 4:30. So we created three additional hours of banking time of processing capacity in our branches on Wednesday, June 7; Thursday, June 8; and Friday, June 9.
And in addition to that, just for extra measure, 200 of our 800 branches, or 237 to be precise, were opened on Saturday for additional banking for a full day.
What this does in terms of providing relief to our customers. If you take the combined impact of extending to 7:30 for three days and the opening of the Saturday, what we've effectively done is create the capacity for 1.7 million monetary transactions.
That is well in excess of the 540,000 or the 600,000 transactions that was foregone on the 26 hours or so that we lost electronic channels. And so, while this is a rather simple calculation. it does illustrate the thinking behind the team when we mobilized to open branches and create capacity for our customers.
(May I illustrate) the intensity of our communications during the five-day period—June 7 through June 13.
We issued a total 17 public advisories. It was pretty rapid-fire during June 7th. In one instance, one announcement following another in 45 minutes but we sustained it for five days.
And once we were in recovery mode, the relationship with our customers, we were trying to make a little bit more personal and we began issuing letters and contacting them one by one.
And obviously, the channels we used were our online social media and any avenues we had through print and broadcast.
You can see the intensity of the communications was as high as on June 7th and June 8th and it died down as we went into normalcy on Friday, June 9.
And finally, we mobilized our call center personnel. We have 400 of these personnel. We boosted by 25 headcount during the peak hours of the incident to make sure that we could field our calls and ensure there was no backlogs.
Committee Chairman Escudero wants guarantee what happened was not hacking
Escudero: Can you say 100% definite, it was not a hack.
Ramon Jocson. 100% definite it was not a hack. This was reported to me at 7 a.m. and by 7:30 a.m., I concluded that this was not a hack.
BPI has a cyber security operation center. That cyber security operation center tracks 20,000 events per second: withdraw ka sa ATM, log on ka sa online, may tellering system, those are events.
Those 20,000 events per second. We basically use tools to look for aberrant behavior. Meaning to say, mayroon bang nag-escalate ng privileges, may pumapasok ba?
During that time, noong nakita ko na ganito ang nangyari, ibig sabihin niyan mayroon nang leakage palabas. Ibig sabihin siguro kung na-hack kami, mayroon traffic palabas. So tiningnan ko kaagad, iyong traffic. Kasi we have that in our CSOC reports traffic for the last three days especially for the last two hours, there was none.
The second thing that I did, was to call up our service providers. We have two service providers, FireEye Mandiant and IBM.
FireEye Mandiant does threat analytics for us. Meaning to say, aside from monitoring the system, they also look out for messages at the dark web, anything, any noise if you were hacked. So negative on that area.
IBM manages our security operation center for us. I also asked them for any other reports outside of those that were given me and there were none. So by that time, I concluded that given that this was a closed system, walang connection sa Internet, the only possible thing na pwedeng pumasok was that somebody was in control of a work station and pounding out commands but I saw from the network wala namang pumapasok.
Then I concluded, that it was not a hack. Plus, this was verified by our service providers, IBM and FireEye.
THE CHAIRMAN (SEN. ESCUDERO). You mentioned a circuit breaker to avoid future occurrences, what would be the practical effect of that, may delay ba sa posting? Ano ang epekto noon from the point of view of the depositor?
Jocson: Ibig sabihin lang niyan sa aming automated processing, instead of straight-through, mayroon kaming gap na dadagdag na 10 minutes. So, let's say, kapag nakita na, let's say, the transaction volume was extraordinary, mag-stop iyong automated production at that time and then it will ask the operator, yes or no to proceed. So, that basically means that he needs to look at the reason why the volume ballooned to that size. If everything is okay, all that person needs to do is say yes then it will proceed, probably, 10 minutes delay. If abnormal, then, we go to—to take a look at what the root cause was.
Escudero: Marami ng mga kumpanyang gumagamit ng ATM para sa payroll nila, what was the situation with respect to payrolls that needed to be made during the time or period affected? Has everything been resolved by now?
JOSEPH ALBERT Gotuaco: Yes, we have automated payment system, that were affected by the downtime particularly on Friday as we were recovering—as you could imagine one to 26 hours loss of processing time. But ultimately, the payrolls were affected. We had some delays but most of our customers or a great majority of our customers were finally settled in terms of payroll by the time the week ended.
Escudero: Of the 540 transactions that you saw may have been affected, not necessarily all, because if they did not make a transaction during that period, walang galawan sa account nila?
Gotuaco: Wala po. Yes, that's correct.
Escudero: So of the 540 transactions, lahat na ba ng claim na-settle na ng BPI as of today?
Gotuaco: In fact, it is difficult to know what the totality of claims is at this point because we are still early since the incident. But all claims that are brought to our knowledge, we have engaged customers. We, in fact, have invested quite a bit of time in understanding how they were affected by bounced checks, by delayed payments of interests and principal, by premium payments on insurance contracts that may have been due and where we have identified those situations. In fact, we have reversed fees already such many of our customers may not even have known they were impacted by the incident.
Escudero: As a process, kung may complaint ang isang depositor na nalaman niya next week, next month na maaaring naapektuhan sila, ano iyong prosesong pagdadaanan niya para gumawa ng claim sa BPI?
Gotuaco: Marami ho tayong proseso. In fact, even during the incident, I wish to emphasize that our branches were always open. So that would have been your first line of defense, so to speak, if you are a customer. The branches were open and they were open for extended hours and they were open on Saturday.
If that's just the first option, there are other ways that we have reached out to customers. Many of our customers have branch managers and relationships managers that know them. We initiated call-outs to our customers once normalcy occurred to reach out to make sure that they are comfortable that they haven't been affected.
Escudero: Just to clarify. There is no prescriptive period for this. Meaning, if you discover it a year from now, they can still go to you and point it out and prove their claim, if at all?
Gotuaco: What we do is I wish to assure you that every single customer case, not just with respect to the June 7 and June 8 incident, is important to us. And BPI will make every effort to consider the merits of each case to make sure that our customers are comfortable and satisfied.
Escudero: What if the payment or the premium that needed to be paid is with respect to a third party corporation and as a result of which, fees or penalties or interest was imposed on the depositor? Meaning, it's not a BPI-affiliated company.
Gotuaco: Yes, po.
Escudero: How do you go through the process of "reversing" whatever such penalties or interest rates?
Gotuaco: That's correct. It is very easy for us to understand, the fees as it relates to our own services. I think you are asking how does it relate to other third parties.
And what we have done for all our customers, we have reached out to them and if they do have a case of that third party merchant, we would like to engage them on the facts and circumstances of their inconvenience and we will—I assure you and our customers that we will do our best to make sure that they are taken care of.
Escudero: Finally, with respect to the specialist that committed the error whether through negligence or because, as you said, Mon, she was in a rush, what action has been taken, if any, insofar as she is concerned by the bank?
Jocson: The investigations have been pointed that this particular person is to blame. This particular person has also owned up to committing the mistake. In terms of the investigation, it's still ongoing because, what we're looking at now are certain processes and protocols that we need to strengthen so that this will not happen again. But as of the moment until this is concluded, the said person, has been reassigned to another area and all access rights to our systems have been taken out.
Sen. franklin Drilon: It is clear that it was an error in judgment of a programmer?
Jocson: Yes. And if I may answer the question in a different way. I was a programmer once, I was young once and sometimes—you make mistakes.
And this particular person, has been three years with us. She topped her programming class. So there is always the zeal to be able to do things faster. So I attribute this, to a lapse in judgment.
Not malicious, nothing to gain at all.
Drilon: Yes. Now, there were some talks about unauthorized access to your clients deposits, no such thing happened here?
Jocson: No such thing. I can categorically say, that all the clients saw with their own postings or their own transactions which were done a month ago, but other than that, they would not be able to see other information outside of theirs.
As far as the bank is concerned, the data that was affected, this transaction file is anonymized. It only contains transaction codes, transaction amounts. Not names. No money was lost.
Drilon: So none of your clients lost money?
Jocson: Yes. No money was lost.
Drilon: Well, you have done corrective measures and I assume that you can assure the public that—I don't know if you can assure the public that such innocent errors in judgment in the future will not happen. Whatever was created by human beings is subject to frailties and, in this particular case, I don't know what other assurances you can give the public having done everything that you have described.
Jocson: These are complex systems that we are working with, a combination of process, people and technology. You need trusted people to be able to further the process. What's important to a bank like us and to an organization like us is the ability to recover, the ability to recover, the ability to preserve the integrity of the data at any time such that we can go back and then recover.
So I think that from a risk management focus, that's what we are doing. You cannot avoid having complex systems, because banking uses advanced technologies. But my assurance to the public, is, we are investing to ensure that our mean time to recover will be faster. But there will be no doubt that we will be able to recover should any other similar incident occur in the future.
Escudero: I'd like to distinguish and have a dichotomy in our discussions with respect to BPI and BDO, that's why if you will bear with me, sir, we'll just finish up with them, BPI, before proceeding with the incidents relating to BDO.
May I address my questions to Assistant deputy Governor Fonacier?
Ma'am, the BSP as the regulator of banks in general, BPI more specifically, did its own investigation on the matter. And may I get your input insofar as the perspective of the BSP is regard to this incident, as the regulators of BPI.
CHUCHI FONACIER. Good morning.
Actually, on the side of the BSP, we also conducted our own investigation but we haven't really completed yet the full investigation. But we can say at this point is that, there was really no hacking nor a computer glitch. It seems really a human error, but the concern of the BSP in this case—the situation of BPI in that particular situation is, the internal controls in that—why the internal control failed to detect right away the mistake or the errors, so that's basically it.
Escudero: Insofar as liabilities under existing regulation is concerned, what, if any, are there?
Fonecier: We haven't completed, as I mentioned, the investigation but it would seem from the initial investigation that we've done is that, in the case of BPI, this situation is, there was no loss to any client. But our emphasis is that, client should be guided by BPI on how to go about—if they have some concerns on their accounts. So I think basically, that's what the bank should do – be very clear to clients in addressing complaints related to this particular situation.
Escudero: Without preempting the results of your final investigation, how was thus far BPI been able to perform insofar as rectifying the incident. In 37 hours, Mr. Consing, is that correct?
CEZAR Consing: Yes, 37 hours from start to finish.
Escudero: What's the benchmark with respect to this or similar situations, iyong rectification procedure, good batting average? Kumbaga sa good, better, best, is that good?
Fonecier: I think, it's too difficult to make a judgment at this point because we haven't really completed yet the investigation. So maybe we'll leave it at that but the call really is for BPI to be very clear about handling the effects of such a situation, especially to the clients.
Escudero: Now, quite frankly, Assistant Governor Fonacier, at 540,000 transactions involving approximately 1.7 million—how many depositors?
Consing: There were actually—the 540,000 is a daily count. The transactions involved here were 2.9 million transactions.
Escudero: Involving how many depositors?
Consing: Involving 1.5 million depositors.
Escudero: At 2.9 million transactions, basic time and motion, 2.9 million transactions involving 1.5 million depositors, and the matter being addressed—in 37.
Consing: From point to point, 37 hours, we kept our electronic systems down for a total of 26 hours.
Escudero: Based on past experiences—the fact that they went out of their way by extending banking hours is up to them. Commendable, to say the least that they did that. But the response time, that's my concern. Is that fast? Because by my standards that's fast? But I don't know by the standards of BSP, again, given the volume of transactions involved, and given the volume of depositors involved.
Anyone, Deputy Director Melchor Plabasan.
MELCHOR PLABASAN. So essentially, this type of incidents, I mean, this seldom happens. So it's really difficult to benchmark. So even in other economies, these incidents happen and there are very limited information as to—I mean, the effort being undertaken. But we feel, I mean, given the gravity of the situation given, it's fairly acceptable.
Escudero: Pending your official report?
Plabasan: Pending the official report because we still have to perform certain detailed audit procedures.
Escudero: And when will you wind up, coming up with the final report? And what, if any, should BPI still be doing in connections with this, moving forward?
Plabasan: Yes. Basically, as committed by the incoming governor, we have started the investigation but the first few days were really devoted to preliminary discussions— preliminary walk through of different processes.
Because at that time, we could not start with the detailed procedures because we do not want to interfere with the remediation efforts and then come Monday, it's June 12. So essentially, we need a few more days….
Plabasan: … we need a few more days to conclude the investigation.
Escudero: Level of confidence with respect to what BPI has done to rectify the situation, as the regulators, Assistant Governor Fonacier or Director Tayag?
PIA BERNADETTE TAYAG: Good morning, Mr. Chair. Good morning, Senator Drilon:
Basically, the perspective that I will come from is really on consumer protection because there were consumers affected. And in terms of benchmark, what we want to ensure is that our supervised entities: number one, if there is an incident, communicate clearly to their customers; if there is service disruptions, what are the alternatives that are provided; and if there is any loss or any complaints, that they are adequately heard and there is mechanism for redress.
So, basically, in situations like these, those are the things that we look at. Without giving any—pending the final findings in this area as what was already presented without giving any additional information, I think our resource persons presented their advisories, the schedule of their advisories, the additional measures that they put in place. I'm just reiterating what has already been shown and juxtaposing that with the things that we require our supervised institutions to do.
In terms of process, we expect our supervised institutions to have a mechanism for customers to let them know if they have complaints or in this case, since it was represented that no funds were lost, in case there are other related complaints due to the service disruptions, to approach their bank.
If they are not satisfied, the Bangko Sentral puts in place also a consumer assistance mechanism where they can come to the bank, come to the BSP and we can further facilitate this discussion.
Escudero: Director Tayag, you are talking of a grievance procedure that the bank should set in place which we discussed earlier. The first line of defense, as Mr. Gotuaco said, would be through the branch.
Gotuaco. Yes, sir.
Escudero: So, sa sinumang maaaring apektado nito, akala nila apektado sila, o baka nakalimutan nila nag-withdraw, nagdeposit sila, they can go to any branch?
Escudero: And to clarify, Director Tayag, there is no prescriptive period for this? Meaning, the depositor can be made aware of it, baka naalala niya o biglang nangailangan kaya tiningnan, there's no prescriptive period?
Tayag: No prescriptive period because the customer might not be aware. But once they are made aware, we really encourage them to go to the bank kasi sila po ang makakasagot nang madalian kasi sila iyong may alam ng client information and transactions. Pero kung hindi po sila satisfied, puwede silang pumunta sa Bangko Sentral and we refer it back to the bank. Doon po mayroon nang turnaround time. We require the bank to respond to the BSP and to the client within seven banking days.
Escudero: Now, in this situation, when reversals are made, everything is borne by the bank, all the costs are borne by the bank. Iyong extra hours, hindi ba, hindi naman iyan pass-on. Am I correct, Mr. Consing?
Consing: That is correct. All costs are borne by the bank.
Escudero: So, reversals from within the bank's affiliated firms are borne by the bank?
Consing: Everything within the bank is borne by the bank, all extra costs related to the extra hours, extra overtime, et cetera, is borne by the bank. The cost of communication is borne by the bank.
Escudero: Also borne by the bank?
Consing: Yes.
Escudero: Yes, Mr. Gotuaco?
Gotuaco. I concur, Mr. Chairman.
Escudero: So, it's borne by the bank?
Consing: Yes, sir.
Escudero: Now, in theory, what if someone makes a claim? Sinabi niya, "Ay, nabawasan ako ng P20,000." It's difficult to prove from my end as the depositor. How will the bank now proceed to address such a claim by a depositor? Meaning, ano iyong pagbabanggain ninyong data to prove or disprove whatever claim a depositor may have with respect to a debit or a credit?
Gotuaco. Yes. That is—the fortunate circumstance here is that we know very precisely the nature of the mispostings. We know what cause balances to be too high or too low where ATM-related transactions had occurred between April 27 and May 2 that were posted on June 6.
In fact, sir, that's why you could always go back to the main branch or your branch to transact on June 7 and June 8 because our branch personnel knew the proper balances of our clients as of the day prior and we were also able to determine on June 6 what were those errant transactions, those errant postings from April 27 to May 2 that were posted on that day. Kaya po, you could come and bank and do all your transactions at the branch on June 7 and June 8.
Escudero: So, kung nakalimutan man niya o may gustong magsamantala, what will you show him or her as proof na "Oo nga, nabawasan ka. Sorry, baka nakalimutan niyo na nag-withdraw kayo."
Gotuaco. Yes. And so, even after the incident, if the client wanted to ascertain kung ano ho iyong tamang balance niya sa account niya, it's very easy even after the incident to come to the branch, talk to your relationship manager, call our call center, and you will see that no money has been lost. Your account is intact.
Jocson: Your Honor, may I add to what Mr. Gotuaco mentioned?
We have had some cases, but we have our reconciliation process in the bank. When you withdraw from the ATM, there are snapshots. We have CCTVs, there are transaction logs. So, there are clients coming back and saying, "Hindi, sobra ang bawas mo." We showed them the tape–kasi ho natural lang, April 27-28, makakalimutan mo. And then we showed them the transaction logs.
"At 6:00 p.m., that day, April 26, you withdrew this money and ito iyong screen captured, ito iyong CCTV." So, we were able to address that. So, factually, the reconciliation process goes, we look at the logs, we look at, you know, what were the facts behind the claim, right, and pag legal and factually it's proven na ganoon, we make good.
Escudero: How long before you can do that?
Jocson: Three days, Your Honor.
Escudero: Maximum of three days?
Jocson: Yes, Your Honor.
Escudero: Now, the CCTV footages with respect to ATM banks of BPI?
Jocson: ATM banks of BPI, Your Honor.
Escudero: ATM machines of BPI?
Jocson: ATM machines of BPI. But also, we have the transaction logs of when, let's say, the switch—if they withdraw from another bank, there's a switch message, that's passed to us so we were able to confirm,
Escudero: But no more CCTV?
Jocson: No more CCTV, but at least we can show when it was withdrawn and there's collaboration from the other bank, because it was transacted there.
Drilon: Just to emphasize, by personally appearing in any of the branches, a depositor could have immediately verified the accuracy of any entry or posting in his or in her account?
Jocson: Yes. I will also refer to Mr. Gotuaco if he need to add anything to this.
Gotuaco. Yes. That's correct. And you could have done that on June 7 and June 8 and obviously on any given day, sir.
Escudero: Up to today.
Gotuaco. Yes, sir. Up to today.
Escudero: Before proceeding to BDO, any other additional statements, Mr. Consing?
Consing: Mr. Chairman, Your Honors, our focus has been on making sure we do right by our clients. Our focus has been 90% making sure that no one loses money. There had been double credits here but that has not been our focus, okay. We'll sort out the double credits in good time, the amounts are small. Our focus has been almost exclusively on making sure that everyone is kept whole.
Escudero: The debits?
Consing: The debits, sir. So, if there's anyone out there still outstanding, please come to us. We will fix this.
Escudero: Iyong credits?
Consing: We will do that in our good time.
Escudero: Paano pag na-withdraw na?
Consing: But the focus has been on the debit side.
Escudero: On the debit side?
Escudero: So far, has anyone filed an action or complaint against BPI from the point of view of any of the depositors of BPI as a result of this incident?
Consing: Not that I am aware of, Your Honor.
Escudero: Thank you, sir.
Drilon: Just curious. Would the Central Bank be aware of any similar incident abroad? Let's say, in the most sophisticated, I mean, economies, do these things happen too or even in a more or the most sophisticated system?
Escudero: Deputy Director Plabasan, sir?
Plabasan: Yeah. Even in Europe and Singapore, these incidents really happen as previously mentioned.
Escudero: So, we are not unique, in a sense?
Plabasan: Yes, sir.
Escudero: In a bad way, we are not unique?. . .
Plabasan: Yes.
Drilon: And it is because human intervention could always cause something that is not intended to be. Is that correct?
Drilon: Thank you. But the important thing is the ability to respond immediately.
Plabasan: And to recover.
Drilon: And to recover.
Skimming or cloning hit 7 of 3,700 BDO ATMs; less than 100 of 15,000 ATMs targeted
(Present at the BDO hearing were: Ricardo Martin, EVP and head, Information Technology Group, BDO Unibank, Inc.; Edwin Romualdo Reyes, EVP and head, Transaction Banking Group, BDO; Alvin Go, legal adviser, BDO; Peter Magdame, vice president, Transaction Banking Group, BDO; and Tomas Victor Mendoza, senior vice president, Transaction Banking Group, BDO)
Escudero: Moving forward, may I now move to the BDO—I'll call it an incident or a situation. And who is the designated hitter on the part of BDO?
Mr. Reyes.
Sir, ulitin ko po yung sinabi ko kanina. Briefly, in layman's terms, can you discuss to us what happened? What the current situation is? What has been done to rectify and correct? And what will be done to avoid the occurrence in the future of a similar incident?
You may proceed, Mr. Reyes.
Edwin Reyes, EVP and Head, Transaction Banking Group, BDO
First of all, we also would like to thank you for the opportunity to present BDO's case and share with you in details on exactly what happened, what we have done to date and what we will do going forward to help improve the service that we provide to our clients.
I also like to introduce the team from BDO with me here, starting from Mr. Alvin Go, our legal adviser; we have Ricky Martin who is head of our Information Technology Group; Mr. Tovi Mendoza who heads the Product Management Team of which the ATM management is a part of; and then, of course, we have Peter Magdame also from Transaction Banking Group who, among many other functions, is in charge of the Fraud Management Unit of BDO.
As a general comment, as we talked about the data processing issue with BPI, we wish to state that any systems environment will always require some degree of human intervention. Intervention is required for a step requiring human judgement or a quality control, maintenance or upgrade that is best performed by a person, not a machine. Given this fact, human error is inevitable. Automation is only an accepted means to minimize human error and its impact on a business or an operation.
All systems environments have potential points of failure. The key to mitigating risk is to identify where these points of failure exist and have the requisite recovery procedures in place to kick in whenever failure occurs. All banks were dependent on technology heavily for the successful delivery of services to its clients.
As a result, banks are always careful and geared towards addressing and resolving problems quickly whenever there is a failure. Key functions include tight documentation and recordkeeping, timely balance reconciliations and the like. BDO adheres to the basic principles of quality control, ensuring a maker-checker arrangement for all transactions at any time. Going back to BDO's case which concerns recent purported incidents of ATM skimming fraud, the bank assures the public that there is no cause for worry. ATM skimming fraud is common and affects ATMs and the cardholders of many banks.
Three fraud events
The recent events are related to three recent separate fraud events that have reasonably come to the bank's attention and they affected seven ATMs. The seven ATMs are from three locations. The number of cases so far filed and we've reviewed and handled, there are about 95 cases and as a result, we have also disabled cards that we know have been compromised. The investigation of these cases are presently ongoing and the numbers we've provided are subject to change. In addition, the data refers to complaints and issues validly filed through the bank channels. As a general process we validate all complaints received and begin the process of rectification immediately once validated. To put this incident in its perspective, the recent fraud events involved seven ATMs out of a total of 3,700 for BDO and that is 0.2 percent of the ATM population.
Now, let me talk a little bit about skimming, Your Honor. Skimming is the unauthorized copying of the magnetic stripe information of ATM cards, the thin black stripe at the back of your cards which source the details of your card and is necessary for ATM transactions. Skimming is done through illegal devices that read or skim the magnetic stripe as transactions are being done. A second device is usually present to obtain the ATM PIN. In the Philippines, this is often a small pinhole camera that records the entry of a PIN during a transaction. The skimmed card details are then used to create fake cards which is paired to the recorded PIN and used to perform unauthorized withdrawals or purchases.
Skimming has been going on for a quite a number of years already. The magnetic stripe is a 50-year old technology and attempts to fraud it are as old. However, new technology makes skimming and in-camera devices very cheap, easy to produce and obtain.
Fraud Services also do a lot of research and development. New methods of attacks such as what we'll show later. Deep insert skimmers which are very thin, small and hard to detect, arrived on a constant basis and often attempt to thwart whatever security measures we have implemented.
The three incidents above are related to the new type of skimming device, as I said, called the deep insert. Once this insert is in the machine, once resting there, they can read cards virtually undetected, and will not be visible through conventional anti-skimming protection modules. More importantly, they are also very easily installed and removed, with the process very similar to actions made by a client inserting an ATM card into the ATM machine.
This new insert device is coupled with newer upgraded versions of the pinhole camera with strong magnets that are capable of attaching to the PIN pad shield.
Just with the extent of compromised ATMs, the number is very small. In a recent study of the Philippine Banking Industry in a formal study in the first quarter of 2017, there were less than 100 ATMs hit out of the 15,000 ATMs nationwide, around 0.5 percent of total ATMs in the country. While there is admittedly a general upward trend in the numbers–we have seen that recent fraud attempts in May and June– generally ATMs are safe to transact in.
Now, Your Honor, what have we done? BDO continues to employ a number of measures. Some unique to us, of course, some—I am sure, the other banks are doing to secure our cardholders' transaction.
Firstly, the bank will reimburse all clients affected by unauthorized withdrawals by said point of compromises (POCs) subject to existing investigation or reimbursement processes. It is worth noting that this requires the customers file their disputes through the proper bank channels. Social media post and activities will not be actionable from the bank's side without a formal filing. And of course, card replacement will be free.
Secondly, for customers proactively blocked, these cardholders may proceed to their branch of account for a free card replacement.
Thirdly, on preventing deep insert skimmers, BDO is presently deploying an upgrade to its ATM machines.
We have the solution, that's probably the one thing that maybe we would like to be careful in terms of sharing it, maybe later in a closed door session.
BDO upgrades 1,000 ATMs
But as of writing, over 1,000 of the bank's ATMs including the seven point of compromises we've mentioned have been upgraded. The target implementation of the rest of the bank's ATM fleet is the fourth quarter of this year. It takes time to do this in backlashing machine. And then additionally, the bank also deploys the following to protect its cardholders on what we call "this is business as usual" basis: No. 1, live real time fraud system to track our customer's transactions and determine suspicious or off-pattern withdrawals and purchases.
Peter here is in-charge of that unit, fraud management unit.
Fully-staffed, 24/7 fraud team that does the monitoring of the system and also investigates cases that are filed with BDO. The fraud team can also anticipate a potential skimming attack and block cards pro-actively so that the fraudster will have no access to cardholder funds.
No. 3, physical and software security measures such as sensors to detect traditional skimming devices that are being attached on card readers, PIN pad covers to hide the PIN as customers transact; No. 4, security personnel both in the branches and in off-site ATM locations to check our ATMs for suspicious devices attached to the machine, as well as people who act so suspiciously around the machine; No. 5, regular ATM security reminders in traditional and social media with the focus on skimming; and lastly, the migration to EMV. We are not being talked about—BDO has been migrating customers to the newer EMV as early as 2016. But the bank is on track to its 2018 timeline for the migration.
That said, any bank card which uses magnetic stripe to transact—which covers all banks in the Philippines, by the way, and most of the world—is still vulnerable to this type of threat. Even this, BDO would like to reiterate that these purported skimming cases are isolated in nature and that the handling of customer issues is a business as usual process by the bank. The action points mentioned demonstrate BDO's commitment to protect their customers and their transactions.
Incidents expected to happen
As a final message, I would like to say as well that having a broad network of ATMs provides benefits to banking clients— convenience, access options alternative to physical brick and mortar branches. Skimming and similar compromised incidents were expected to happen. It is nothing out of the ordinary, it's BAU. That is the price we pay for providing the above benefits, conveniences to our clients.
We would like to reiterate what we already said to the public. There is no cause for worries. Skimming accidents can happen but are generally a small percent of total transactions. Banks, the BSP and the authorities are well-aware of these incidents and have all taken measures and continue to take measures to arrest said cases from happening—detected as they happen, and investigate the fraud events immediately.
And while we would like to reassure the public that all efforts are being done by banks to protect its cardholders and their transactions, cardholders can do their part by being vigilant when performing their transactions and reporting cases of suspicious devices and people around the ATM machines that they transact in.
Escudero: Sir, sisimplehan ko, skimming is theft. Gumamit ng teknolohiya para nakawan ng pera iyong isang depositor gamit ang ATM machine. Is that an accurate way of describing it?
Mr. Magdame, yes.
PETER MAGDAME: Yes, Your Honor.
Escudero: Now, if it's theft, so nanakawan iyong depositor gamit itong scheme na ito, may paraan ba para malaman ng bangko kung ang ginamit iyong deep insert o ginamit niya iyong card niya? Ang pinupunto ko po ay ito, kung gumawa ng claim iyong isang depositor, can the bank actually find out and detect if it was the depositor himself using his card that made the transaction or the skimming device?
Anyone can answer, please.
TOMAS VICTOR MENDOZA: Your Honor, currently we do have what you call a point of compromise. This is when a lot of people complain, at the same time, of a particular transaction or particular point of time. So if, for example, a customer complained that I have not withdrawn in this particular ATM, we look back and trace all his transactions; and there is another customer from another bank, for example, complains of the same unauthorized withdrawal, we now have a matrix to pinpoint which is the point of compromise.
Which ATM was used as a point of compromise of the data of the cards, so that is how we look at it. At the same time, we have a system in BDO which has active monitoring of suspicious transactions.
For example, sir, if a particular customer does not withdraw abroad, it triggers already a flag to us na, "Oops, why is this suddenly, this customer has a transaction abroad?" And we will call the customer, "Have you done a transaction in the US?" So that is one of the things that we actually do.
Escudero: But, sir, that's circumstantial. My question is, from the technological point of view, from the bank's point of view, is there a way by which you can determine that it's a skimmed device or a card that was used or the actual depositor's card?
Because if I am the depositor that was skimmed, that is now circumstantial. What if I behaved extraordinarily for that day and made an additional out of character withdrawal or deposit? Meaning—may ganoon naman. How do you address that?
Magdame. Your Honor, skimming is actually a way of, in essence, cloning the card of a customer. So from the perspective of the bank, it would recognize that as a valid card. We would like to emphasize that the magstripe is actually a 50-year old technology. It is a bit dated. That this particular, shall we say, a peculiarity of the technology is something that Europay MasterCard Visa (EMV) can actually overcome.
Because for EMV, every transaction would be unique and every card, in essence, would be unique. So even if you attempt to clone it, the bank systems would recognize it as a skimmed card and will not be able to post your transaction.
Escudero: If it's EMV already?
Magdame. Yes, sir. Yes.
Escudero: But right now, hindi pa?
Magdame. Sir, right now, we are actually doing the migration. The entire industry is moving to EMV already. And the bank has actually been complying to the said standard.
Drilon: With your permission, when can we complete the migration to the EMV system? When?
Magdame. The bank is on track with its 2018 target, sir.
Escudero: Correct me if am wrong, in previous discussions with the BSP, the BSP has already issued directives for all banks to migrate to EMV. The first deadline was supposedly January of 2017.
But given the volume, especially the bigger banks—I think the smaller banks have been able to comply—but the bigger banks are taking more time to migrate. Now, the deadline was extended to June 30 of 2018.
But in the meantime, Manong Frank, and this is where I am heading towards, there is also a regulation to the effect that if the bank has not yet migrated and given that this is old technology already, by BSP regulation, liabilities would fall on the bank for any loss that may be suffered—correct me, if I am wrong—by any depositor as a result of skimming, because this is theft, nanakawan iyong depositor. Kung nanakawan iyong depositor dahil doon, the depositor will not bear the loss. Is that a correct understanding?
Mendoza: Yes, sir. As earlier stated, after investigation and we found out that there is really a theft, we reimburse.
Escudero: At the cost of the bank.
Mendoza: At the cost of the bank.
Maybe, Your Honor, for you to appreciate how skimming is being done—
Escudero: May sample ka?
Mendoza: We are ready. So we brought a little show and tell of how technology has evolved.
So previously, when people try to steal cards, they have what you call skimming devices. This is one of the earlier generation skimming devices.
Escudero: Teka, tinuturuan ba natin yung nanonood kung paano gawin o–
Mendoza: Actually, sir, this is public information but at least we can show how is the impact. That's it.
Escudero: Hindi naman tayo nagtuturo kung paano gawin ngayon, huh?
Mendoza: Hindi naman po.
Escudero: Okay.
EDWIN REYES. We will not show the solution.
Mendoza: Ipapakita ko kung paano–
Mendoza: [Demonstrating] So this is how a skimming device looks like. And if you remember an ATM, this is what you call an overlay. So what they do is that they add this. Pag nakakabit na, hindi mo na nakita.
Escudero: Ah, sinisingit sa labi.
Mendoza: Sa throat ng ATM. But you require two things. Your track data from the mag stripe, this one, and the pin. So paano nila kinukuha yung pin?
Previously what they do is what you call "shoulder surfing." Yung may tao sa likod, sinisilip kung ano ang pin mo. Kaya ang ginawa natin, naglagay tayo ng mga mirror sa ATM. Mapapansin ninyo may mga salamin para makita mo kung may sumisilip.
Escudero: May rear-view mirror.
Mendoza: Plus the regulators have mandated to put what you call a "PIN pad shield" para nakatakip yung PIN. So iyong nasa makina po, ayan dito ho iyong PIN pad.
Escudero: Nakatago.
Mendoza: Oho. So ang ginawang solution ng fraudster, dahil may takip, gumawa po sila ng ganito. Ang tawag dito "PIN pad overlay." So pinapatong ito sa taas ng PIN pad, sa loob nito, so maski na may takip, naka-capture pa rin nila yung data.
Escudero: Iyan yung camera?
Mendoza: Hindi po. Hindi pa po ito camera.
Escudero: Hindi pa iyan ang camera?
Mendoza: Ang ginagawa po nila dito, pag pumipindot po, kina-capture yung PINs.
Escudero: Pero bago niya mailagay iyan, kailangan niyang baklasin yung keypad noong ATM.
Mendoza: Actually po hindi, pinapatong lang, parang may glue lang po siya sa likod, heto po.
Escudero: Mukha siyang keypad.
Mendoza: Mukha siyang keypad po. So ang tawag dito is a PIN pad overlay. So nilalagay po nila doon.
Drilon: That will not be noticed by the user of the ATM?
Mendoza: Actually, sir, a lot of the users have been able to identify but unfortunately some did not. Kasi pag nagmamadali ka, madilim. So the enhancement of the overlays transaction came about. Because of the efforts of all the banks and the regulators to help us with the EMV—a lot of people now, what you do is they try to identify nga kung may overlay. So medyo nahuhuli na po yung overlay, napapansin na. So they started coming out with pinhole cameras because of the technology. So the original technologies that they were using was using either a camera on the machine or at the back of the machine and trying to get the PIN.
Escudero: Question. This one is hooked up to them or they have to retrieve this again in order to get the data?
Mendoza: Sir, you need to retrieve it.
Escudero: So nandito yung data?
Mendoza: Nandiyan po.
Escudero: Hindi ito online sa kanila?
Mendoza: Hindi po.
Escudero: Wala pa silang Internet.
Mendoza: Wala pa silang koneksiyon sa network, so talaga pong nakahiwalay po talaga siya.
Escudero: So yung data maiipon lang dito?
Mendoza: Opo.
Escudero: And they have to retrieve this in order to use it.
Mendoza: Yes, sir.
Drilon: Now, wouldn't your CCTV be able to capture who would try to recover this?
Mendoza: Yes, sir, actually we do. Unfortunately, sometimes it's after the fact.
Drilon: Obviously, after the fact kasi they will remove this after–
Mendoza: Kasi kung minsan, sir, mabilisan, ilang hours lang kinukuha na nila agad. So kukuha lang, magha-harvest sila ng kaunti—
Drilon: So did you say that there were eight incidents–
Escudero: Seven ATMs.
Mendoza: Seven ATMs, sir.
Escudero: In three locations.
Mendoza: Three locations recently.
Okay. Just to continue, sir. Well technology has evolved, medyo huli na yung mga tao, they started building what you call "pinhole cameras." Ang pinhole camera, yung iba—this is just one example—was to use the same PIN pad cover, and if you notice, they have attached a camera here which is at the back. So what they do now is they capture the pins through the cameras.
chiz escudero
consing
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text:
French Radicals Sabotage Prison Project
by Os Cangaceiros
Fifth Estate # 336, Spring, 1991
[Translator's note: Recently, a voluminous dossier began to circulate in France. The dossier, sent by Os Cangaceiros, included stolen prison plans and documents and a chronology outlining Os Cangaceiros's campaign of sabotage against the "13,000 project" (new maximum security penitentiaries with room for 13,000 prisoners), as well as reproductions of communiques sent to those who were targeted. Interestingly, the police and companies which were attacked have been very discreet about this campaign, apparently wishing to give it as little publicity as possible. The following excerpts from the dossier have been translated from Mordicus, B.P. 11, 75622 Paris cedex 13, France, and Le Monde Libertaire, 145 rue Amelot, 75011 Paris, France].
The sabotage operation undertaken against different companies involved in the construction of the new prisons began at the end of April 1989. Whoever accepted to participate in this construction project found themselves, as a result, exposed to a number of our reprisals….
From the end of April until the end of June, we enter different sites (Aixles-Milles, Tarascon, Villeneuve-les-Maguelonne, Pontoise, Maubeuge, Bapaume), where we sabotage the cement intended for the sites using a procedure which is childishly simple. Sugar mixed with cement, in effect, in a proportion of one to one thousand (in other words, one kilo per ton), prevents the cement from hardening….
On May 1, in Tulle, we turn our attention to the case of BRUGEAUD. This public works company engaged in the construction of the Neuvic-sur-Isle and d'Uzerche prisons is kind enough to furnish us with a portion of the plans (measured in metres) and a sizeable bookkeeping dossier concerning the d'Uzerche site. After this break-in, the premises, files and offices are perfumed with ammonia.
On May 14, the Saint-Gely-du-Fesc branch of GTM is nicely vandalized….As well, we carry off precious booty from this expedition: detailed information about the participants in this venture, the plans of the Villeneuve-les-Maguelonne prison, along with technical documents concerning prison security….
On November 25, we take an interest in SCBTP of Pontoise, whose offense is performing a subcontracting job, doing the cleanup of the d'Osny prison for the Spie Batignolles company. Their building for pickup trucks and trucks goes up in smoke.
On January 25, 1990, we inflict irremediable damage on the electronic console of the cement factory in Salonde-Provence. The BETON DE FRANCE Company furnishes cement to the sites in the southern region. As well, acid is used to empty two cement mixers.
In a Bordeaux suburb, during the night of February 11 and the morning of the 12th, it is the FORCLUM Company's turn to be set ablaze and seriously damaged. This company, it should be noted, is in charge of furnishing anti-breakout devices for all of the western region, for which it provides prisons with alarms and video cameras and takes care of installing PCIs. [1]
On February 23, in Paris, the architect Christian Demonchy is ambushed on the route he usually takes to get to work. Two of us give him a drubbing while passersby look on. Already responsible, among other projects, for a Club Med in Morocco and, in the framework of the Badinter program, for the Mauzac prison, this faceless individual is working in the office of Janet-Demonchy on planning prisons in the northern region within the framework of the Chalandon program. Shortly afterwards, by mail, we inform the other people in charge of planning the project of the price they might have to pay for such activity, so that it can no longer be pretended that they are unaware of it.
On February 21, in Vincennes, we sprinkle concentrated tear gas in the offices of the ASTRON Company, causing activity to come to a temporary halt. This company, which carries out research, takes care of everything concerning prison workshops.
In mid-April in Laon, as the ORSA cement mixers are going back and forth continuously to deliver cement to the site, it is the electronic console of the ORSA cement factory's turn to be destroyed.
Beginning more than twenty years ago, a growing number of prisoners no longer accept being punished. Just as they reject the rules of the social game outside the walls, on the inside they refuse the penance and the sacrifice which, for almost two centuries, have constituted the prison morality whose goal has been to keep them trampled down. Today, the prisoners of democracy are not only clearly contesting the prison policies of one government or another, but are openly challenging the principle of detention itself. To deal with this unprecedented wave of protest, the Ministry of Justice has implemented a program of prison updating and modernization which is without precedent as well….
Using a proven technique and strategy, the sinister "13,000 Program" is above all a response to this situation of endemic revolt inside the walls. In the same manner that the state is restructuring the industrial apparatus, it is constructing "new norm" prisons, closing down certain prisons and renovating others. Ancient, crumbling prisons from which people have escaped are being replaced in the same way that the towers of subsidized housing projects, where people were revolting ten years ago, are being dynamited. To domesticate the rebelliousness of the people being dumped into new areas in the suburbs, these areas have been renovated in a police fashion and redone in the style of the day. Here, among the same misery, the attributes of every advanced society can be found: the police and the democratic lie.
For the first time in the 20th century, the prison administration possesses a new tool, one which is adequate to apply the strategy of its choice on a large scale, rather than reacting to events one at a time. Up till now, the administration had only been losing ground by gradually liberalizing the prison system. Now, the 13,000 cells constitute a margin of manoeuvre which will allow prisoners as a whole to be more effectively administered. Since more or less systematic incarceration is the general policy, one can imagine the frantic use to which this surplus of places will be put by the judges. (It should be remembered that 100,000 prison sentences with no option for parole have been meted out). This program allows the Ministry of Justice to anticipate future prison policies. The scope of the means which were studied, if they cannot be prevented, to rapidly contain any uprising or collective movement, has reached such a point that it is claimed that even the idea of an escape will be snuffed out. [2] The prison administration has profited from studies inside its institutions, notably those which were carried out during the Badinter period. Gigantic prisons, Loos-Les-Lille, Baumettes, Fleury, etc., are often the first to rise up. The tense atmosphere which reigns in these prisons and the high number of prisoners reveal in what sense the "overpopulation problem" is ultimately only a relationship of power. It is a question, therefore, of systematically isolating the prisoners from each other….
The responsibility which is constantly invoked in order to force individuals to submit to the rationality of work is also invoked in order to subject prisoners to the rationality of prisons and to induce them to participate in the administration of their own sentences.
The new look [in English in the text] prisons are in line with the demands of the end of the century. One is obliged to state an apparent paradox: it is now the prisons which resemble factories. Not only does the layout of the premises impose rules of functioning which are those of the new techniques of organizing work, but everything is minutely thought out in order to hinder, if not prevent, all possible collusion. A sophisticated system grips the prisoner in a dense network of electronic surveillance, monitoring all of his or her movements, relayed at times by a system of magnetic badges. One would think oneself in the Forum des Halles [3] or in a head office of La Defense….Curiously, these techniques were tested out in the work sphere, then made common everywhere else before being imported into the prison universe. But if executives have completely internalized these restrictions, to the point of turning them into something rewarding, prisoners, like non-management workers, immediately feel their completely oppressive nature. These techniques form the first line of approach to smoothing the explosive relations between the screws and prisoners, in order to make them as impersonal as possible. Just as the functional nature of the buildings attempts to eliminate ' points of friction, it throws the prisoner into an impersonal environment. Oppression becomes of the most abstract sort. Besides, it is less a question of meting out iron discipline to an undifferentiated mass of prisoners than of managing their incarceration down to the smallest detail. Since it forms the intrinsic backdrop to the prison universe, the repressive mode cannot disappear—rather it tends to dress itself in the cold and impersonal managing that characterizes our time so well.
The construction of the new institutions comes at a propitious moment to flesh out the arm of a justice system which is complaining about the poverty of the means at its disposal. Also, judicial institutions function according to the value of example. For an example to be effective, exceptions must not be allowed. This is what lays the basis for the all-powerfulness of the law. Thus, cells are specially reserved for the handicapped and there are special wings for drug addicts so that no one escapes incarceration. One can see in what way the antiseptic design of these "old people's homes" allows the judges broader possibilities of imprisonment. In a more general sense, no one must escape the all-powerfulness of this world. Whereas society has limited every human perspective to the logic of money—beyond which nothing else is conceivable—the modern prison necessarily seems like a hermetic universe from which there is no way to escape. Everywhere, triumphant capitalism has lent credence to the idea of an inescapable world. Within the walls, the same sentiment of fatality must reign.
The new fortresses are constructed in such a way that, concerning alternatives, the slim pickings are impressed upon everyone. It is either putting up with orders or undergoing the rigors of being excluded—through a profusion of technological means which are to be taken as unbeatable; through wings in which any contact with anyone else is almost impossible. With the principle of solitary and punishment areas reinforced, the prison administration at their leisure will be able to use the 22 new isolation areas to shuffle around the prisoners who do not buckle under. Everything has been devised so that the occupants, on the one hand, cannot look at what is immediately outside or at the rest of the prison, but also so that nothing can be heard filtering in. These areas are generally located on the upper floor of the building, level with barred courtyards which are assigned to them. The high transom windows of the cells make any view impossible.
These prisons have no reason to be jealous of their big sisters, the American high-security prisons. To the muscled arbitrariness of the screws is added an antiseptic terror. In making strenuous efforts to refine the abolition of the idea of any outlet except sports, studying, and work, [4] the planners of this project have as their real goal the limiting of the mental universe of the prisoners. Pushing isolation and the loss of any reference point even further by standardizing detention in the prisons according to the standards of high-security penitentiaries—this is the humanizing concern which is announced.
The high walls in the heart of the cities loomed as an advertisement, a call to order, but at times they allowed curiosity and support from passersby if unrest occurred. It is far away from friendly voices, without witnesses, and outside the city walls that prison power now manifests itself.
All of this arsenal of technology has not prevented the Villeneuve, Tarascon, Neuvic, and Saint-Mihiel prisons from experiencing protest movements already, in the first weeks after they began functioning, and even before they were totally occupied. In spite of the mechanisms deployed to prevent them from gaining access to the roofs, the prisoners in revolt made it up. From the outset, prisoners attacked the most modern aspects of their incarceration: monitoring with magnetic cards; the increase in prices and rationing resulting from the privatization of the distribution of meals and of the canteen; individual cells. It is obviously no more human to be alone in a cell than to be piled up in one. The silence to which many people in society have resigned themselves enhances the dignity of the prisoners in revolt all the more. In spite of the risks, they have known how to make themselves heard with enough force to trouble everyone who governs by blows and scorn. With every food strike, every refusal to return to their cells after exercise periods, every time the institutions are smashed up, every time there is a revolt, the demands which are advanced are always the same: the elimination of isolation areas, the hole and of holding cells; automatic granting of parole; permission for prison leave and conditional liberation; minimum wages for prisoners who are working; visiting rooms in which people can be intimate; and amnesty for all prisoners refusing to submit who have been punished or sentenced. It was our wish to render to them the homage they merit by making public the plans and technical documents concerning some of the new prisons to which they risk being transferred (without neglecting the possibility of having these plans reach the prisoners by appropriate means). We salute the spirit of revolt which animates them.
1. Computerized Security Post
2. The repugnant demagogy concerning this consists of going on and on about so-called lax conditions of detention which favor repeated escapes. The reality, unfortunately, is something else entirely. The escape rate is an average of 0.08% per year for the 48,000 prisoners as a whole. In passing, let us salute the 60 escaped prisoners who recently thumbed their noses at the screws.
3. Forum des Halles: an area in downtown Paris which was razed and now contains expensive boutiques and offices.
4. Also included in this list is the word "fiole" (which I learned means sleeping pill or tranquilizer).
Newspaper Raided by Police
FE Note: As we were laying out the above article, the translator of it received the following communique from the Mordicus editorial collective. Our thanks to Michael and Tom in Montreal for translating and typesetting both pieces.
"13 people, including several involved with Mordicus and people in our milieu, were arrested in Paris the morning of January 23 by police. The film necessary for publication of Mordicus No. 2 was seized. This sweep occurred in the context of an inquiry concerning the Os Cangaceiros group which is fighting against the prison system. A number of other French journals published excerpts from the "13,000 Project" dossier of which 10,000 copies were distributed by Os Canaceiros of our December issue.
It is clear that the goal of this police operation is to prevent the regular appearance of a journal with a print run of 30,000. At the hour of the sacred union, the rare voices which object to the consensus must be silenced. If there is already a state of emergency, let them say so!
The Mordicus Editorial Collective
Letter to an Architect
Subject: Ambush
Are your wounds well healed, architect? Did you figure out why?
Shamelessly, with no discretion of any kind, centimetre by centimetre, you have conceived these cages in which even the handicapped will be locked up. Inside the walls which you have designed, individuals who are worth more than you will be beaten up on a regular basis. It is good that you have received an appetizer of what thousands of prisoners will have to endure to the nth degree.
To be sure, architect, this is not your company's first infamy. Considering what you build to house normal citizens, one can guess your competence to shut away delinquents. One moves easily from the tower blocks of the 13th arrondisement [an area of Paris] to prison cells.
Scum, looking at your mug, we were able to note from your tired face how deeply you involve yourself in your projects.
Before you were building walls, now you're going to knock them down.
Os Cangaceiros Lyon, 29/03/90

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
How old was Elizabeth Banks in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire?
Elizabeth Banks was 38 in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire when she played the character 'Effie Trinket'.
Today she is 45, and has starred in 62 movies in total, 20 since The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was released.
How old do you think she looks in the movie?
In The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, I think Elizabeth Banks looks:
👵🏼 Older than 38
👩🏼 About 38
👧🏼 Younger than 38
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire scores 7.4 out of 10 on The Movie Database.
Elizabeth Banks' first acting role was as 'Blair' in Hollywood Palms, released in 2000 when she was 26.
Find DVDs, posters and memorabilia about The Hunger Games: Catching Fire on Amazon.
Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street
Also in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
How old was Josh Hutcherson in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire?
How old was Woody Harrelson in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire?
How old was Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire?
How old was Liam Hemsworth in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire?
Elizabeth Banks in other movies
How old was Elizabeth Banks in The Hunger Games?
How old was Elizabeth Banks in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2?
How old was Elizabeth Banks in The Lego Movie?
How old was Elizabeth Banks in The Next Three Days?
How old was Elizabeth Banks in Man on a Ledge?
How old was Elizabeth Banks in Zack and Miri Make a Porno?
How old was Elizabeth Banks in Pitch Perfect 3?
How old was Elizabeth Banks in Definitely, Maybe?
How old was Elizabeth Banks in What to Expect When You're Expecting?
How old was Elizabeth Banks in Role Models?
How old was Elizabeth Banks in Meet Dave?
How old was Elizabeth Banks in Our Idiot Brother?
How old was Elizabeth Banks in Invincible?
How old was Elizabeth Banks in Love & Mercy?
How old was Elizabeth Banks in Seabiscuit?
How old was Elizabeth Banks in Hollywood Palms?


text:
Q: OpenCV program crash when modifying array? I'm trying to find the boundary of a sequence of nonzeroes in a row matrix starting from the maximum point and then setting the values outside the boundary to zero.
for(int i=maxloc.x; i < 280 ; i++){
    if(!foundBound && sum_r.at<uchar>(0,i) == 0){
        foundBound=true;
        bb.rightEdge = i;
    }
    else if(foundBound){
        cout << i << endl;
        sum_r.at<uchar>(0,i) = 0;     <--- offending line
    }
}

But the program crashes when I run it. If I comment out sum_r.at<uchar>(0,i) = 0; then the program runs fine until the end. I also got a insufficent memory error once but I can't replicate it. Is there also a better way of accessing the individual elements of a Mat?

A: The program crash indicates that you are probably going outside the boundaries of your matrix. Check the following:

*

*maxloc.x < 280

*sum_r.cols == 280

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Redruth (/rəˈdruːθ/ rə-DROOTH, Cornish: Resrudh) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The population of Redruth was 14,018 at the 2011 census. In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, which also includes Carn Brea, Illogan and several satellite villages, stood at 55,400 making it the largest conurbation in Cornwall. Redruth lies approximately at the junction of the A393 and A3047 roads, on the route of the old London to Land's End trunk road (now the A30), and is approximately 9 miles (14 km) west of Truro, 12 miles (19 km) east of St Ives, 18 miles (29 km) north east of Penzance and 11 miles (18 km) north west of Falmouth. Camborne and Redruth together form the largest urban area in Cornwall and before local government reorganisation were an urban district.


text:
BRISTOL, TENNESSEE - SEPTEMBER 17: Sheldon Creed, driver of the #2 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics at Bristol Motor Speedway on September 17, 2020 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) | Getty Images
#2 GMS Racing NCWTS #21 GMS Racing NCWTS #23 GMS Racing NCWTS #24 GMS Racing NCWTS #26 GMS Racing NCWTS All News Truck Series News
GMS Racing announces 2021 crew chief lineup
As the beginning of the season draws near, GMS Racing is excited to announce its crew chief lineup for the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) and ARCA Menards Series seasons. Familiar pairings and new partnerships highlight the lineup. Most notably, GMS now has all four 2020 NCWTS Championship 4 crew chiefs on its roster with the addition of Jeff Hensley as crew chief while Chad Norris moves to competition director for the 2021 season.
No. 2 NCWTS Team - Jeff Stankiewicz returns for his second full-time season with Sheldon Creed. The 2020 Championship winning crew chief reunited with Creed mid-season in 2019 after winning the 2018 ARCA Menards Series championship together. Stankiewicz has seven NCWTS wins as a crew chief including five in 2020 en route to the series championship.
No. 21 NCWTS Team - Kevin "Bono" Manion returns for Zane Smith's sophomore season. The pair racked up two wins and 13 top-10 finishes in 2020 en route to a second-place finish in the championship standings. Manion has six NCWTS wins, 17 NASCAR Xfinity Series wins and five NASCAR Cup Series wins in 19 years as a crew chief in the sport.
No. 23 NCWTS Team - Jeff Hensley rejoins the organization as the crew chief for Chase Purdy and the No. 23 team. Hensley has 18 NCWTS wins in 395 races atop the pit box through 17 seasons in the series. Hensley was previously with GMS in 2016 and served as crew chief for Spencer Gallagher.
No. 24 NCWTS Team - Chad Walter shifts to the No. 24 Silverado to crew chief for Raphael Lessard in 2021. Walter has five wins in 208 NXS starts as crew chief and led Tyler Ankrum's team to a playoff berth in 2020 in his first season as a NCWTS crew chief.
No. 26 NCWTS Team - Charles Denike moves to captain the No. 26 crew for Tyler Ankrum in the 2021 season. 2020 marked Denike's first full-time season as crew chief and produced two memorable wins, with Chase Elliott at Charlotte in May 2020 as well as Sam Mayer's commanding win of Bristol in September.
No. 21 ARCA Team – Chad Bryant joins GMS as crew chief for the No. 21 ARCA entry piloted by Jack Wood. Bryant has been a fixture in the ARCA Series for the last eight years and has two wins in 41 starts as crew chief in that time.
Competition Director - Chad Norris will move to take over the role of Competition Director. Norris has one NCWTS win at Kansas in October of 2020 and four NXS wins and over 15 years of experience in the sport.
"We are excited to have our crew chiefs return for the 2021 season with the addition of crew chief, Jeff Hensley," said Mike Beam, President of GMS Racing. "Hensley returning to GMS will bring more veteran knowledge to our powerhouse crew chief line up. Chad Norris fulfilling the Competition Director role will be a great addition to our management team. Norris will work along-side Technical Director, Tom Ackerman, to elevate our truck program and to make it more competitive. We are also happy to welcome Chad Bryant to our ARCA program. Bryant brings a wealth of knowledge and also has a passion to develop young talent that will make our Drivers Edge Program thrive. I have great faith in each one of these individuals and I can't wait to see what the 2021 season has in store."
— GMS Racing —


I'm a huge fan of Scott Kelby's digital photography book series. They're not so much technical guides as they are practical how-to and tip guides. The 4th volume just came out a few weeks ago, and early reviews seem to be quite positive. You can order a paperback copy for less than $15, and a Kindle copy for less than $10.
Yes, these books have been overhyped over the past few years, but they're still good reads. I look forward to picking up a copy of the 4th edition to round out the set.
The other books in the series are also available via Amazon.


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The Modern Man's Guide to Naked Girls Reading
June 25, 2018 June 9, 2015 by Anthony Marcusa
It's all in the title: it tells you who's doing what, and how they are doing it, but even so, despite this simplicity, it's still mysterious and strange. Naked Girls Reading is a group, an event, an idea; it's exactly what it sounds like and has found success and support across the States, spreading from its inception in Chicago in 2009 to Canada and throughout the world.
An offshoot of burlesque, Naked Girls Reading is still quite different (we teased it in our introduction to burlesque some months back). Founded by noted burlesque performer Michelle L'Amour, the event came to Toronto a couple years ago, and springs up every few months for an evening of sexy literature, of entertainment, and intrigue.
In late April, I attended for the first time. The sun was still shining in the early evening, and food and alcohol was being served at this intimate club in Kensington Market where tables and couches were set up in front of a small, whimsically decorated stage—the theme after all was Fantastic Beasts.
It's easy to be unsure though about what is going to happen if you've never been. In what was described as a rather frequent occurrence, one man inquiring about what was happening at the bar that night reacted with shock, confusion, and excitement. He was immediately disarmed, especially when talking to one of the performers working the door who was moments away from stripping down.
The event began. "Welcome to Naked Girls Reading," announced Red Herring as she and her four collaborators disrobed on stage. Indeed, there are no pasties or G-strings here, and there is no slow reveal or tease. The audience, a few dozen or so, applauded, and so began a two-hour show that educated and titillated, combining two everyday things in a manner equal parts casual and bizarre.
"It's an inherently absurd thing," says Lisbon Maginot. "It's a bunch of women on stage, hair and makeup done, with jewelry and beautiful shoes; everything to the nines. And then no clothes. There is something inherently weird about that."
Lisbon, who has been performing burlesque for a few years now, took part in the inaugural Naked Girls Reading in Toronto and has been to all but one since. She sat down following the most recent iteration, which she and Red featured alongside performers Taliya Cohen, Beaver Galore, and Queenie FoxHound. It saw a recitation of Tolkien, an academic reading about the myth of the Chupacabra, and a passage from what could be generously described as unicorn erotica.
"There is something about both aspects that will appeal to you," says Lisbon referring to the literature and the nudity. It's a balance between "sexy and silly," she explains, adding, "I feel like the audience members, even if they think they are coming for just one aspect, end up enjoying both."
As opposed to burlesque, where the performer is moving around on stage and feeding off the energy of the audience, NGR is something more static. Each reader takes turns presenting a selection, then there's intermission, and then they go at it again. The readings reflect the user, and range from the informative to the strange, and tend to involve very little participation from others, save for laughter or gasps.
"I usually have one completely outrageous, ridiculous, over-the-top, pushing-the-boundaries-as-much-as-I-can porn reading. That always the goal," Lisbon says. "I always try to have one of those, but also try to pick a classic."
Each show is a little different, she admits, and it's harder with NGR than burlesque to read the audience. Often people will approach the performers after and say how they enjoyed it, but only though audible reactions do the performers really know how the night is going.
"I usually end up gravely insulting at least one person at every show; I'm terrible because I like that," she says laughing in an amused way. "I like anything that twists people's expectations around."
Lisbon admits to a nerdy side and a love for the classics, but simultaneously seeks out that which will push the boundaries. Her initial foray into burlesque, and later NGR, was to challenge her own hesitations and do something out of her comfort zone. Lisbon confesses that she, along with everyone else at that first show, were nervous, but since it has become second nature. What struck them, and what happens to the audience as well, is that by the second half, everyone sort of forgets the naked part—or at least it becomes completely natural.
Lisbon is resigned to the fact that what she and others are doing won't really change the world; that is, those who are coming to the show aren't the ones who need their attitudes or perspectives towards women altered. At the same time, Lisbon and others are there to entertain, not exorcise or present some sort of catharsis. They're not therapists, and aren't too interested in hearing about transformative experiences or sexual emotions.
"It's mostly just fun," says Lisbon. "It is weird, and I like pushing buttons, and as a performer I love to entertain people and hear people laughing."
For those who have yet to experience Naked Girls Reading, it is surely worth checking out. The next event in Toronto takes place in June 20, the theme of which is Island Pirates. That means there will be a lot of jokes about booty.
"Right now I'm going through pirate romance novels," explains Lisbon of her preparation. "I usually go through the romance section even though it's all really porn. So far I haven't found anything that is sufficiently awful, yet. To my standards of awfulness."
"There is one about vampire pirates," she teases. "So there is some real potential."
Anthony Marcusa is a Toronto-based freelance journalist whose writing dabbles in film, TV, music, sports, and relationships – though not necessarily in that order. He's simultaneously youthfully idealistic and curmudgeonly cynical. You can follow him on Twitter @MrAnthonyWrites.
Photography courtesy of Angela McConnell.
Categories WomenTags Beaver Galore, burlesque, lisbon maginot, michelle l'amour, naked girls reading, original, Queenie FoxHound, red herring, Taliya Cohen	Post navigation
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King's Crown Giveaway


text:
Asta, Sara
Baughman, Shari
Bickel, Sandy
Giannelli, Rosa
Heiss, Jordan
Lugo, Stephanie
Partyka, Brenda
Pettey, Lori
Riordan, Heather
ShermanWells, Pamela
Sieczka, Aimee
Sobczak, Tamara
VanLaningham, Sheryl
Westermann, Nicole
Open Elgin to Feature U-46 School, Observatory
School District U-46 will participate in the 3rd annual Open Elgin event Saturday afternoon by showcasing two of its buildings. The District sites will be among nearly 30 unique spaces and places available for free tours during Open Elgin, a city-wide event celebrating the architecture and history of "The City in the Suburbs."
Channing Memorial Elementary School will be open for tours from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. It celebrated its 50th birthday in November 2018, but is marking the 2018-19 school year as its 50th year of serving students. Located at 63 S. Channing St. in Elgin, the school was built on the northwest corner of a former cemetery.
Channing is known for how it blends both functionally and aesthetically with its wooded hillside location. Because of the sloping site, each of its three levels has its own ground entrance for easy access. Students will lead the tours of the school on Saturday and there will be a presentation in the multi-purpose room, plus a craft activity for children.
Also open for tours from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. will be the U-46 Planetarium and Observatory; the Observatory was built and opened by the Elgin National Watch Company in 1910 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
A number of U-46 students will be serving as volunteers on Saturday, including about 30 members of the Larkin High School baseball team.
"Open Elgin is a unique event, and U-46 is pleased to be able to showcase some of our rich history by participating again this year," said CEO Tony Sanders.
The Elgin Area Chamber and the Enhancing Elgin Committee of the Elgin Development Group have organized Open Elgin for the past three years. Among the other churches, museums, and historic buildings that will be open for self-guided tours on Saturday are the Congregation Kneseth Israel, the third site of the Elgin synagogue; the Professional Building, Elgin's oldest skyscraper; the 1846 Nancy Kimball Cobblestone House; and the Elgin Fire Barn Museum, built in 1903. The complete list of nearly 30 spaces and places on the tour, along with individual building tour times, is available at www.OpenElgin.com.
The Enhancing Elgin Committee developed the inaugural Open Elgin event. The committee consists of representatives the City of Elgin, School District U-46, Judson University, Elgin Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, Downtown Neighborhood Association, Elgin History Museum, and Gail Borden Public Library District.
Fax: 630-213-6236 Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
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