Business Espionage Cautionary Tale - How Bugs Get Planted and More

Last Christmas Eve, a man broke into Adara Networks’ San Jose headquarters, using copies of both physical and electronic keys. He seemed to know exactly what he was looking for. The thief left rows of desks untouched as he cruised toward the lab holding the source code for Adara’s proprietary data-center networking software. Fortunately for Adara, he triggered an alarm on the lab door and fled.

“Snatch and grab” crimes, in which crooks enter an office and carts off a few loose laptops, happen occasionally in Silicon Valley. Chief Executive Officer Eric Johnson sensed that his case was more serious, though. Adara’s next-generation networking technology could be attractive to nations hoping to capture more of the global telecommunications market. So Johnson brought in contractors to sweep the offices for bugs, in case a foreign government was listening...

To make it harder for the thieves, some companies are paying for “penetration testing,” hiring security consultants to probe their defenses... Silicon Valley has a long history of thievery and espionage. (more)

Many of my reports for clients contain details and photos about how an after-hours espionage/eavesdropping attack can easily happen to them. They receive recommendations for remediation, too. 

Spybuster Tip #004: Periodic inspections help deter penetrations and information losses. Conduct them once per quarter.