Industrial Espionage Negates Reinventing the Wheel
• The global security chief for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. revealed an intellectual property theft. Seems a couple of engineers from another tire company tricked their way into Goodyear, distracted their escort, took cell phone photos of special manufacturing equipment and emailed them to their headquarters.
The information was used to make similar machinery for a Chinese tire manufacturer. That contract was worth about $1.2 million.
The alleged spy guys? Wyko Tire Technology Ltd., West Midlands, UK.
Conclusion: No business safe from industrial espionage. The more your information is worth, the more it will be targeted. The method of theft used here was preventable. Good counterespionage consultants know how. All a business has to do is ask.
Boardroom Bug Hides in Plain Sight
• Our spybusters found a Boardroom speakerphone this month which allowed eavesdropping. We routinely check speakerphone feature settings to see if the auto-answer feature is active. If it is, eavesdropping is easy. Simply dial the Boardroom number when it is is vacant, stay on the line and wait for the meeting to begin. This is a surprisingly well-known (and used) eavesdropping trick.
Solutions: Only connect the Boardroom speakerphone to the outside line when it is actually needed. Next best... Deactivate the auto-answer feature permanently. If permanent deactivation is not possible, program it off. Your countermeasures team will re-inspect it for you each visit. You do have a countermeasures team checking your Boardroom, don't you?
Hotels Are Fertile Ground for Voyeurs
• There has been a recent uptick in hotel voyeurism stories here. Most involve spycams, a few about holes poked in walls, and this odd-ball story out of Florida... with implications for travelers everywhere: A husband and wife checked into their hotel room and noticed the peephole in the door had been reversed! People on the outside could clearly see into their room.
Hotel door peepholes are mandated by law in the U.S. This door had two of them; one at regular height, and lower one three feet from the ground (legally compliant for people in wheelchairs). The lower one was reversed.
Hotels in the Hollywood, Florida area cater to young couples visiting on vacation, school breaks and cruise ships. The area is a rich target for pornography manufacturers. It is unlikely this is an isolated incident.
Recommendations: Keep a small, high-power flashlight in your kit and a long pin (for poking into pin-holes, of course). Carefully check your hotel room upon arrival. Start with the peephole. Look into unusual holes, open vents, etc. keeping in mind the field of view from that perspective. Bathrooms and beds are usually the targeted viewing areas. Be aware of electronic items which do not look like standard hotel room items. A clock (or clock radio) which looks too new, for example, could be a spycam. If in doubt, face it toward the wall. "Smoke detectors" in strange places, or too many of them, is another clue there might be a problem. If you think you have found something suspicious, call the police, not the front desk, for further investigation. You want your case well-documented, and the evidence properly handled when you say, "See you in court."
If your business is holding an off-site meeting at a hotel or resort, bring along your countermeasures team. In addition to preventing information losses, they can save you from this type of embarrassment.
Want to Spy on the International Space Station?
Click here. While the crew is working you can eavesdrop on their transmissions - often sporadic - and watch the progress map. During sleep periods, they turn on the outside spycams. Just listening to them now. Interesting. They are housecleaning. Sucking lint out of the ducts with a vacuum cleaner! Houston said, "Glad it is all clean and you didn't see a pair of eyes staring back at you."
From America, this is Kevin.
