By Edi Gal
[September 8, 1991 | Posted June 2, 2026]
Derry Shribman, 18, the computer genius from Carmiel who is suspected of breaking into databases in the United States, admitted in his interrogation that during the Gulf War he also broke into the Pentagon computer and viewed programs connected to the Patriot missiles.
The affair was uncovered when a resident of Quebec, Canada, entered the room of his two sons, aged 14, and saw them playing with a huge pile of money. According to them, Shribman had passed them data from the databases of credit-card companies: names of credit-card holders, card numbers, and their credit limits. Using these, the boys withdrew cash from bank accounts and purchased expensive goods by telephone. They then sold the goods. The value of their thefts is estimated at about $100,000.
The boys said that in return they sent Shribman computer programs, games, and disks, but no share of their profits. The police are checking whether, under U.S. law, he is suspected of obtaining something by fraud. Under Israeli law, it appears that the only offense Shribman allegedly committed is a violation of the Bezeq laws. This is a misdemeanor-type offense, whose punishment is light.
According to one estimate, the value of Shribman’s overseas communications using the computer was more than $10,000.
Shribman deposited his passport and was released on bail of 10,000 shekels. On Friday he arrived at the Carmiel police station, and in front of the investigators, a computer expert, and the security officer of Visa, he connected his computer system and the electronic box with which he bypassed Bezeq’s meter to the telephone line.
Altogether, 350 diskettes were found in Shribman’s possession, containing data he had copied from various databases. They included the names of more than a thousand credit-card holders, and they will be transferred to the United States.
Shribman’s friends are not surprised. In the yearbook of ORT, under his picture, there is a caricature: a creature sitting in front of a computer, a telephone line connecting him to the American continent, and above his head, a dollar sign.
He was a regular student, his friends say — he hung out with everyone, went on trips, and his grades, apart from computer studies, were not especially high. Already in ninth grade, he received special permission from the Ministry of Education to study computers at the Open University. When he had difficulty getting computer time, he connected to a computer at Oxford University.
At the school’s request, he wrote a computer program for assigning students, and developed a sensor that made it possible to operate a robot by voice command.
The principal of ORT, Eli Teicher, said: “He is an exceptionally talented young man, and the Ministry of Education, in a rare step, allowed him to take matriculation exams without a school grade. He used his talents in an unsuccessful direction. It was known that he was connecting all over the world, but for him, entering databases was a professional challenge and not because of greed.”
Shribman will spend the holiday with relatives in Netanya. His parents are on assignment in the United States. They have been informed of the arrest, but for now they will not return to Israel.
Photo caption:
Shribman in the ORT yearbook. He developed a computer program for assigning students.
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