At Computerworld's Storage Networking World conference in Grapevine, Texas,
Thursday, Frank Abagnale gave a keynote presentation on his life as an imposter
and fraudster, a story that was told in the book and subsequent Steven Spielberg
movie, Catch Me If You Can. Prior to his presentation, Abagnale -- now
a lecturer and consultant who works extensively with the FBI and other clients
-- spoke with Computerworld about ethics, computer crime and security risks
faced by IT professionals.

Excerpts from that interview follow:

Suppose you'd been born in 1980. How much of what you got away with 40 years
ago do you think you'd be able to get away with as a 17-year-old today?
It would be 4,000 times easier to do today, what I did 40 years ago, and I probably
wouldn't go to prison for it. Technology breeds crime -- it always has, it always
will. When I forged checks 40 years ago, it required a $1 million printing press
that required three journeymen printers to operate. I had to build scaffolding
on the side of it so I could operate it by myself. There were color separations,
negatives, plates, typesetting chemicals.

Today, I sit down at a laptop, pick any company I want, go to their Web site,
capture their logo, like American Airlines. I put it up on a check with a 747
in the background taking off. Fifteen minutes later, I have the most beautiful
American Airlines check you've ever seen -- probably 10 times better than the
check American Airlines uses.

Forty years ago, I wouldn't know who signs American's checks; I wouldn't know
where American Airlines keeps its accounts payable account. Today, I would just
call their accounts receivable, ask them for their wiring instructions. They'd
tell me where they bank, on what street in what city, what their account number
is. I call back and ask for a copy of their annual report, and on page three
will be the signature of their chairman of the board, the CEO, the CFO, the
treasurer. I scan it onto glossy white paper, with camera-ready art -- and I
have the check. A world of too much information and the technology make it very
easy to do today what I did 40 years ago.

Do you think there's much similarity between what drove you and whatever
it is that drives a 17-year-old hacker today? No, mine was strictly a matter
of survival. I was a kid who ran away from home at 16 and ended up in New York.
A lot of people back then got into Haight-Ashbury, the hippie scene, the drug
scene. No one was going to hire a 16-year-old, so I

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