Computer Chip-Heist Crime Wave: Exclusive ELECTRONIC BUSINESS Investigation Uncovers Details, Scope of Multi-Million Dollar Crimes.

Business Editors

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 3, 2001

The chip industry is reliving a nightmare it experienced five years ago--armed chip thefts. Only this time the problem has moved out of the warehouses and onto the roads. Chip theft results in delays and higher equipment costs for both the consumer and business to business markets.

In an exclusive investigative report in its January 2001 issue, ELECTRONIC BUSINESS details the latest crime wave to hit Silicon Valley--chip hijackings. It's a problem industry titans have kept hush hush, until now. First on the scene, EB Contributing Writer Jonathan Littman interviewed dozens of federal and local law enforcement officials, prosecutors, high-tech investigators and corporate security professionals to get details on the crimes, the perpetrators, the demand and distribution of stolen chips and the security measures electronics makers are taking to try to prevent chip theft.

"Not knowing what we'd find, we set out to determine if the short supply of chips was resulting in chip thefts," commented Kathleen Doler, ELECTRONIC BUSINESS' editor-in-chief. "The result is our `Chip Heists' cover story, a lurid account of armed chip thefts and cargo hijackings on the roadways of the Bay Area. It's a multi-million dollar problem that the victims have been keeping quiet."

Littman got the low-down on how chip hijackers operate. Often working in teams of three or four, they will tailgate a truck, waiting for it to stop so they can complete a heist. If the truck doesn't stop, they'll resort to plan B, known as "The Bump," purposely bumping a truck and then when the driver pulls over they hold him up at gunpoint.

Law enforcement officers also tell Littman that they believe there's much more to this crime wave than anybody knows because they feel tech companies are only reporting a small percent of component thefts. Meanwhile hijackers are moving stolen chips on the Internet and down to buyers in Mexico and South America. As Littman states, despite falling prices, "a pound of chips is still more valuable than cocaine, less traceable than cash and not a felony to have in your possession--even millions of dollars worth of them."

Jonathan Littman is the author of the bestselling book The Fugitive Game, On-line with Kevin Mitnick, an inside account of the nationally publicized capture of the notorious computer hacker. Critically acclaimed in The New Yorker, Newsweek and L'Express, The Fugitive Game has been published in Japan, Brazil, France, Taiwan and other countries. Littman also is the author of The Watchman, the Twisted Life and Crimes of Serial Hacker, Kevin Poulsen, which has been featured in Time magazine and published in five countries.

Littman's articles on computer security, trade secrets, fraud, the Internet and high-technology have appeared in EB, Upside, Forbes, The Los Angeles Times Magazine and the San Jose Mercury News. He is a two time winner of the national Computer Press Association Award for best feature. He won the 2000 Computer Press Association Award for best feature for the ELECTRONIC BUSINESS story "And justice for all?" that ran in the September 1999 issue. He and EB Editor-in-Chief Kathleen Doler have collaborated on many stories both at EB and back when Doler was editor of Upside.

ELECTRONIC BUSINESS (http://www.eb-mag.com) is an award-winning, monthly magazine distributed to 100,000 electronics executives worldwide through its U.S., Electronic Business Asia and Electronic Business Europe editions. It provides comprehensive coverage of the electronics industry's technology trends, business strategies, market segments and leading companies. The publication has grown dramatically in the past year--doubling in size and adding new editorial features. ELECTRONIC BUSINESS is a product of Cahners Business Information (http://www.cahners.com). Cahners is a member of the Reed Elsevier Group.

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