Salami slicing
Encyclopedia
Salami slicing is a series of many minor actions, often performed by clandestine means, that together results in a larger action that would be difficult or illegal to perform at once. The term is typically used pejoratively.
An example of salami
slicing, also known as penny shaving, is the fraud
ulent practice of stealing money repeatedly in extremely small quantities, usually by taking advantage of rounding
to the nearest cent (or other monetary unit) in financial transactions. It would be done by always rounding down, and putting the fractions of a cent into another account. The idea is to make the change small enough that any single transaction will go undetected.
In information security
, a salami attack is a series of minor attacks that together results in a larger attack. Computers are ideally suited to automating this type of attack.
In politics, the term salami tactics
has been used since the 1940s to refer to a divide and conquer
process of threats and alliances used to overcome opposition.
In academia, salami slicing refers to the practice of creating several publications out of material that could have been published in a single journal or review. (See also least publishable unit
).
In Los Angeles, in October 1998, district attorneys charged four men with fraud for allegedly installing computer chips in gasoline pumps that cheated consumers by overstating the amounts pumped.
In 2008, a man was arrested for fraudulently creating 58,000 accounts which he used to collect money through verification deposits from online brokerage firms a few cents at a time. While opening the accounts and retaining the funds may not have been illegal by themselves, the authorities charged that the individual opened the accounts using false names (including those of cartoon characters), addresses, and social security numbers, thus violating the laws against mail fraud, wire fraud
, and bank fraud
.
Historically, actual physical "penny shaving
" may be considered a form of salami slicing. The edges of coin
s made of precious metals have been clipped or shaved by individuals in order to procure small quantities of said metals at a time with the intention that the coin would still retain its nominal value.
, a 1976 episode called "Tomorrow Man", of a man rounding up percentage points and putting the difference in his own account (totaling two million dollars), using a computer. Other films include Superman III
, Hackers
, Entrapment
, Web of Lies, The Shawshank Redemption, and Office Space (one of whose characters mentions the scheme's earlier use in Superman III). In Office Space, Peter Gibbons, Michael Bolton, and Samir Nagheenanajar decide to divert the supposedly "rounded-off" portions of banking interest deposits after Michael and Samir learn that they will be laid off. However, they end up taking much more than the fractions of a cent because of a misplaced decimal point.
In a 1972 episode of the TV series M*A*S*H, Radar attempts to ship an entire Jeep
home from Korea one piece at a time. Hawkeye commented that his mailman "would have a retroactive hernia" if he found out.
In the anime series Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG
, terrorist Hideo Kuze
uses salami slicing in order to finance his actions, eventually stealing enough money to buy plutonium
from a Russian smuggler.
song "The Ballad of Silicon Slim" by John Forster
. A non-digital variant of the practice is described in the 1976 Johnny Cash
song, "One Piece at a Time
", in which the protagonist, an automobile factory worker, steals individual parts to build a complete car over a period of decades.
's Stainless Steel Rat series. The revolutionaries
in Robert A. Heinlein
's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
use the technique to fund their war for independence. Thomas Whiteside
's 1978
book, Computer Capers, documents how a programmer at a mail-order company
diverted money from rounded-down sales commissions into a phony account for three years before he was caught.
An example of salami
Salami
Salami is cured sausage, fermented and air-dried meat, originating from one of a variety of animals. Historically, salami has been popular among Southern European peasants because it can be stored at room temperature for periods of up to 10 years, supplementing a possibly meager or inconsistent...
slicing, also known as penny shaving, is the fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
ulent practice of stealing money repeatedly in extremely small quantities, usually by taking advantage of rounding
Rounding
Rounding a numerical value means replacing it by another value that is approximately equal but has a shorter, simpler, or more explicit representation; for example, replacing $23.4476 with $23.45, or the fraction 312/937 with 1/3, or the expression √2 with 1.414.Rounding is often done on purpose to...
to the nearest cent (or other monetary unit) in financial transactions. It would be done by always rounding down, and putting the fractions of a cent into another account. The idea is to make the change small enough that any single transaction will go undetected.
In information security
Information security
Information security means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction....
, a salami attack is a series of minor attacks that together results in a larger attack. Computers are ideally suited to automating this type of attack.
In politics, the term salami tactics
Salami tactics
Salami tactics, also known as the salami-slice strategy, is a divide and conquer process of threats and alliances used to overcome opposition. With it, an aggressor can influence and eventually dominate a landscape, typically political, piece by piece. In this fashion, the opposition is eliminated...
has been used since the 1940s to refer to a divide and conquer
Divide and conquer
Divide and conquer may refer to:* Divide and rule, in politics, sociology and economics, a strategy to gain or maintain power...
process of threats and alliances used to overcome opposition.
In academia, salami slicing refers to the practice of creating several publications out of material that could have been published in a single journal or review. (See also least publishable unit
Least publishable unit
In academic publishing, the least publishable unit , also smallest publishable unit or minimum publishable unit , colloquially "publon" - the smallest measurable quantum of publication, is the minimum amount of information that can generate a publication in a peer-reviewed journal...
).
Salami slicing attacks
In January 1993, four executives of a rental-car franchise in Florida were charged with defrauding at least 47,000 customers using a salami technique.In Los Angeles, in October 1998, district attorneys charged four men with fraud for allegedly installing computer chips in gasoline pumps that cheated consumers by overstating the amounts pumped.
In 2008, a man was arrested for fraudulently creating 58,000 accounts which he used to collect money through verification deposits from online brokerage firms a few cents at a time. While opening the accounts and retaining the funds may not have been illegal by themselves, the authorities charged that the individual opened the accounts using false names (including those of cartoon characters), addresses, and social security numbers, thus violating the laws against mail fraud, wire fraud
Wire fraud
Mail and wire fraud is a federal crime in the United States. Together, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343, and 1346 reach any fraudulent scheme or artifice to intentionally deprive another of property or honest services with a nexus to mail or wire communication....
, and bank fraud
Bank fraud
Bank fraud is the use of fraudulent means to obtain money, assets, or other property owned or held by a financial institution, or to obtain money from depositors by fraudulently representing to be a bank or financial institution. In many instances, bank fraud is a criminal offense...
.
Historically, actual physical "penny shaving
Coin clipping
Coin debasement is the act of decreasing the amount of precious metal in a coin, while continuing to circulate it at face value. This was frequently done by governments in order to inflate the amount of currency in circulation; typically, some of the precious metal was replaced by a cheaper metal...
" may be considered a form of salami slicing. The edges of coin
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
s made of precious metals have been clipped or shaved by individuals in order to procure small quantities of said metals at a time with the intention that the coin would still retain its nominal value.
Film and television
Salami slicing has played a key role in the plots of several films. The earliest mention of this practice was in the UK TV series The SweeneyThe Sweeney
The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...
, a 1976 episode called "Tomorrow Man", of a man rounding up percentage points and putting the difference in his own account (totaling two million dollars), using a computer. Other films include Superman III
Superman III
Superman III is a 1983 superhero film and the third film in the Superman film series based upon the long-running DC Comics superhero. Christopher Reeve, Jackie Cooper, Marc McClure and Margot Kidder are joined by new cast members Annette O'Toole, Annie Ross, Pamela Stephenson, Robert Vaughn and...
, Hackers
Hackers (film)
Hackers is a 1995 American thriller film directed by Iain Softley and starring Angelina Jolie, Jonny Lee Miller, Renoly Santiago, Matthew Lillard, Lorraine Bracco and Fisher Stevens...
, Entrapment
Entrapment (film)
Entrapment is a 1999 American caper film directed by Jon Amiel and starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones.-Plot:Virginia "Gin" Baker is an investigator for Waverly Insurance. Robert "Mac" MacDougal is an international art thief. A priceless Rembrandt painting is stolen from an office one...
, Web of Lies, The Shawshank Redemption, and Office Space (one of whose characters mentions the scheme's earlier use in Superman III). In Office Space, Peter Gibbons, Michael Bolton, and Samir Nagheenanajar decide to divert the supposedly "rounded-off" portions of banking interest deposits after Michael and Samir learn that they will be laid off. However, they end up taking much more than the fractions of a cent because of a misplaced decimal point.
In a 1972 episode of the TV series M*A*S*H, Radar attempts to ship an entire Jeep
Jeep
Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...
home from Korea one piece at a time. Hawkeye commented that his mailman "would have a retroactive hernia" if he found out.
In the anime series Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG
Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG
is the second season of the anime series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, based on Masamune Shirow's manga Ghost in the Shell. It was written and directed by Kenji Kamiyama, with original character design by Hajime Shimomura and a soundtrack by Yoko Kanno...
, terrorist Hideo Kuze
Hideo Kuze
is a fictional character in Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell anime series Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG. Kuze is a full cyborg and is a main suspect in Section 9's investigation of the Individual Eleven. He is unusual among prostheticized individuals since he has chosen to have a sculpted face,...
uses salami slicing in order to finance his actions, eventually stealing enough money to buy plutonium
Plutonium
Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
from a Russian smuggler.
Music
The term is referred to, but not used by name, in the countryCountry music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
song "The Ballad of Silicon Slim" by John Forster
John Forster
John Forster , was an English biographer and critic and a friend of author Charles Dickens.-Life:He was born at Newcastle upon Tyne. His father, a Unitarian who belonged to the junior branch of a Northumberland family, was a cattle-dealer...
. A non-digital variant of the practice is described in the 1976 Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
song, "One Piece at a Time
One Piece at a Time
"One Piece at a Time" is a humorous rockabilly song written by Wayne Kemp and recorded by Johnny Cash in 1976. It would be the last song performed by Cash to reach number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.-Chart performance:-Plot:...
", in which the protagonist, an automobile factory worker, steals individual parts to build a complete car over a period of decades.
Literature
An example of salami slicing also appears in a volume of Harry HarrisonHarry Harrison
Harry Harrison is an American science fiction author best known for his character the Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! , the basis for the film Soylent Green...
's Stainless Steel Rat series. The revolutionaries
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.-Definition:...
in Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is a 1966 science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, about a lunar colony's revolt against rule from Earth....
use the technique to fund their war for independence. Thomas Whiteside
Thomas Whiteside
Thomas Whiteside was an American journalist.Born in Berwick-Upon-Tweed, Whiteside studied at the University of Chicago. During World War II, he worked for the Office of War Propaganda, compiling reports on Axis propaganda. His work appeared in the Newsweek, The New Republic, and The New Yorker...
's 1978
1978 in literature
The year 1978 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, a humorous award given annually to books with unusual titles is created. The first winner was Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude...
book, Computer Capers, documents how a programmer at a mail-order company
Company
A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...
diverted money from rounded-down sales commissions into a phony account for three years before he was caught.
External links
- How computers enable salami slicing to occur
- A Network World article discussing salami fraud, with several examples