Friday, December 12, 2014

Interesting Spy Stories of the Week

A former computer technician at HSBC Holdings’ Swiss unit, “celebrated as a hero abroad,” was indicted in Switzerland on charges of industrial espionage and violating bank secrecy laws, prosecutors said... accused of stealing client data in 2008 from HSBC’s Geneva office and passing it to French authorities... (more)

Verizon Voice Cypher, the product introduced with the encryption company Cellcrypt, offers business and government customers end-to-end encryption for voice calls on iOS, Android, or BlackBerry devices equipped with a special app. The encryption software provides secure communications for people speaking on devices with the app, regardless of their wireless carrier, and it can also connect to an organization's secure phone system. Cellcrypt and Verizon both say that law enforcement agencies will be able to access communications that take place over Voice Cypher, so long as they're able to prove that there's a legitimate law enforcement reason for doing so. (more)

US-based cyber security solutions firm FireEye has just uncovered a business espionage racket targeting over 100 corporates, to steal information. The FIN4 group, as FireEye calls the hacking outfit, has a deep knowledge of how business deals are reached and how corporate entities communicate within and outside the organization. Unlike in other attacks, the hacker group is said to be very focused. It targets people who might have access to confidential information. (more)

An electrical engineer for a defense contractor was fined $5,000 and sentenced to 180 hours of community service for falsely accusing his boss of spying for another country. (more)