– News about Quincy Massachusetts from Quincy Quarry News with commentary added.

The happy hacker!
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Quincy Quarry News Weekly Fish Wrap: Quincy whacked for $3.5 million by a phishing hack attack.

Just when the denizens in Quincy Quarry’s newsroom thought that they had seen it all, the Koch Maladministration takes things to a new level.

Actually, more like multiple new lows.

First up, it would clearly appear that the successful phishing attack upon the City of Quincy employees’ pension fund was not only all but assuredly the biggest bank heist in Quincy history, this cyber heist was likely amenable to ready, if not wicked easy, thwarting via but adhering to merely but very low-tech steps to confirm a wire transfer request. 

Slipping a shiv to the Q
Image via Outside Bozeman

For example, simply confirming any and all funds transfer requests with a third party at the Quincy Retirement Board.

Unfortunately, this and other sorts of ultimately basic standard operating procedures do not appear to have been set in place as standard operating procedures at the time of the crime. 

In turn, if such was – in fact, – the case, such would all but assuredly make it the Quincy Retirement Board’s bad as its investment manager surely knows how things should be done, has all manner of cyber security expertise duly in place as well as faces potential liability for any mistakes it might make.

At the same time, this investment manager can only do so much to insist that one of its many clients ups its security game.

Koched-up minions at work …
An Illumination Entertainment/Universal Pictures image

And then even lower on the scale, it took city officials an as-yet-undisclosed amount of time to figure out that the money was gone. 

WTQ?

The lowest yet, however, was how the Koch Machine then did not publicly disclose this surely record-setting local heist until a year after it happened. 

Granted, investigations were said to be underway at the time when this way late in the game-breaking badly bad news© announcement was made; even so, merely acknowledging the theft sooner all but assuredly would not have hindered the investigations. 

Soon to be in the feds’ crosshairs?
A Quincy Quarry News file photo

Rather, long keeping the heist under wraps pretty much only covered tukas in City Hall and the head boob’s posterior in particular.

Additionally, one can only assume that the City of Quincy could be facing some trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission over what looks to be at least a sloppy due diligence acknowledgment of the $3.5 million pension fund heist as regards the city’s issuance of a $475 million pension obligation bond offering shortly before last Christmas. 

After all, a but highly limited disclosure of the theft was only made several days before this bond offering went to market after PERAC, the Commonwealth of Masscusheets’ public employee pension oversight board insisted upon it poses all manner of understanding questioning, if not also grilling.

Follow the money. ALWAYS follow the money
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Then again, what is the theft of $3.5 million as compared to $475 million needed to bail out what has long been one of the worst-off public employees’ pension funds in Massachusetts? 

The T happens …
A Boston Fire Department image

How bad off was the Quincy retirement fund?   Per the most recent annual reports, the MBTA’s pension fund was in better shape.  Way better shape. 

The freakin’ T!

In any event, in the meanwhile, Quincy’s peerless mayor is doing all he can to distance himself from any role in it all. 

For example, noting that the Quincy Retirement Board is wholly independent of the City of Quincy. 

.

Their liege lord
Quincy Quarry News Photo Shop Phun Team meme

Granted, such is technically correct; at the same time, however, the board’s staffing has a long history of being seriously koched-up with loyal minions, and as is the case with essentially all such local boards and commissions.

And then there is the $475 million problem that the recent pension bond offering was issued with the guarantee of the full faith and credit of the City of Quincy per the mayor’s signature, meaning that local taxpayers are on the hook for the 475 large as opposed to seeing our peerless mayor ending up stuck covering the nut should things go south, not that his stones might end up eventually squeezed in other ways.

Needless to say, Quincy Quarry’s ever-growing legions of loyal readers to follow this still-breaking as well as badly story until its conclusion.

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