February 09, 1998, Il Gazzettino, Venezia: Sherlock Homes Enters the Net

Sherlock Holmes va in rete - Nel mirina spionaggio industriale, <<pirato>> e truffatori on line
Sherlock Homes Enters the Net - Sets his sights on industrial espionage, hackers and frauds online

By Elisio Trevisan

Information technology. The first private investigation agency for discovering Internet crimes was born by the experience of a young computer programmer from Mestre.

In his sights are industrial spying, hackers and online frauds.

Maybe he has a tamagotchi instead of a cat. And by night, instead of returning back home very tired and feeding his cat, maybe he disconnects himself from the Net and takes a look at his virtual pet.

Marlow’s heir has been born, the first computer investigator, the first person who will watch over computer networks and the Internet.

All around the world there are lots of investigative agencies, and some of them include work against computer crimes. But the Internet keeps growing; if on the one hand it facilitates information exchange between companies and peoples all over the world, on the other hand it has increased risks exponentially (data privacy, frauds and so on). For the moment there are only a few people able to avoid these risks, so data theft and other online crimes are far too numerous and well hidden.

Roberto Capodieci is a born software developer, one of those persons who spend their nights on a keyboard inventing new routines. He is from Mestre, Italy, near Venice, a little older than 20 and he has been mad about computers since he was 5 years old. He created, with his friends, a computer partnership, Lapsus, to offer customized products for people working with computers (music and visual art inside business computer applications and other kinds of software). He worked for some years as a computer consultant for the Italian police; he uncovered an Internet pedophile network; and inside the network of the networks, he even found and vanquished a fraudulent site in the USA, for which President Clinton sent him a message of thanks.

Put all this together and you get his latest innovation. He went through all the necessary bureaucratic hoops, and in the end obtained a license from the government: he became a Private Investigator - “Of computers,” he adds.

For the moment he has yet to risk his life like the fictional policewoman and main character of Luccarelli’s latest thriller, Almost Blue, hunting a serial killer of people contacted through chat lines (i.e. lines of conversation between multiple internet users).

What can he do with this PI license?

“There is a big field of action: for example, I work with companies to discover instances of industrial spying. A normal computer operator would never be able to discover intrusions and to follow the trail in the local network or on the Internet, of the hacker who puts viruses in the network, and blackmails the company. I can eliminate the viruses and find traces of guilt”.

Traces. There are no bloodstains, footprints or scents. “No, but for a computer investigator every person who uses a computer leaves a trace. The important thing is finding that trace and following it as a sleuth”.

Other crimes? “Internet frauds, such as thefts or copying of credit cards, illegal copies of software, data system cleaning, information leaks, disappeared person research, sexual abuse that happens through Internet enticements, employee inspections”.

Employee inspections?

“Yes, if somebody spends too much time playing computer games we can catch him”.

Then you can even discover network betrayals?

“Betrayals via the Internet are not so rare”.