Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Two Arrested for Eavesdropping on Previous Employer's Conference Call

A man and a woman surrendered at Wilton Police headquarters on warrants issued by Norwalk Superior Court. They were charged with eavesdropping on a former employer.
 

The two had worked for a business at 64 Danbury Rd and been released from employment in March of 2013. During their employment they had participated in a weekly conference call with other employees beyond the site. During a June 2013 conference call, which included upwards of 50 people one of the employees picked up background noise, according to Wilton Police, and the noise was traced back to the cell phones belonging to the two former employees.

According to Wilton Police, the former employer was concerned because of the confidential nature of the conference calls, which may have included information pertaining to company strategy that might be used by a competitor and information concerning client relationships, billing and operations. (more)


Over the years, you have read many posts here about organizations being victimized by eavesdroppers on their conference calls. Hence...

Spybusters Tip # 879

CrowdCall, a specialized conference-calling app available for iOS and Android smartphones and the web. 

Instead of scheduling a dial-in line, e-mailing all parties involved and then hoping everyone calls at the appointed time, CrowdCall's interface lets users choose up to 20 participants from their contacts list and LinkedIn connections and dial them immediately (assuming the contacts have added their phone number to their LinkedIn profiles). When participants answer, they simply push "1" to enter the conference--they don't even need to have the app to participate.

...one feature in particular makes it attractive to small businesses. Because the call originator controls invitations, unauthorized participants can't use dial-in information to access the call, providing a measure of security when discussing sensitive information. (more)