Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Norway Suffers Largest Case of Industrial Espionage in its History

National security officers in Norway have uncovered what they say is the most wide-ranging theft of industrial data in the country’s history.

Ten serious cases of industrial espionage are being investigated, say officers of the Police Security Service, or PST, and the National Security Authority. 

...The Local has received suggests some industrial data has been stolen by simply inserting malicious memory sticks into the laptops of travelling company representatives.

“Whenever we go abroad, the whole hard disc has to be cleansed of spyware,” an IT worker in one of the industries targeted told The Local.

...The ten instances of computer espionage are just the tip of the iceberg, said Eiliv Ofigsbø of Norwegian Computer Emergency Response Team, or NorCERT, who also leads the NSM’s industrial espionage department. 

...The attacks were said to occur at the point in contract negotiations when email exchanges reached fever pitch. Key people were then identified and their computer links to company databases hacked, in some cases for months.

“We have to assume they have taken large amounts of information,” Ofigsbøe told The Local. “Anything else would be naïve.” (more)