Monday, May 20, 2024
When Countering Espionage Becomes Counter-Productive
Friday, January 26, 2024
Citizens Warned Against Spy's 'Exotic Beauty' Traps
The Ministry of State Security said a Chinese man, Li Si, went to a nightclub while on an overseas trip and was later blackmailed by foreign spies.
The ministry's WeChat post's title read, "Hunting for beauty? You may become the prey". Analysts say such warnings reflect a sense of insecurity among China's leaders. more
Sunday, January 14, 2024
AI is Helping US Spies Catch Chinese Hacking Ops
Wednesday, May 31, 2023
Taiwan Raids 8 Companies for Alleged Tech Espionage
Thursday, January 19, 2023
Workers Foil Bosses’ Surveillance Attempts
Lisa Crawford... is wary of her computer falling asleep when she gets up to throw in a load of laundry...Her solution? Sloth TV, a live-cam of a Costa Rican wildlife rescue ranch...Ms. Crawford pulls up the stream on a second monitor. Her computer stays awake...
Mr. Dewan had learned that his computer wouldn’t go to sleep or mark him as “idle” during a presentation...
Mr. Abbas wrapped the cord of his computer mouse around a rotating desk fan. Its motion kept the mouse moving and prevented his computer from shutting down. “I logged on, went to the gym,” he says.
For workers who aren’t as handy, mouse jigglers are for sale on Amazon. “Push the button when you’re getting up from your desk and the cursor travels randomly around the screen—for hours, if needed!” says one review. more
Thursday, August 11, 2022
U.S. Government Gets More Aggressive to Curb Espionage at Universities
Monday, April 11, 2022
Spy Games: Russian Intelligence Personnel Expelled from Western Embassies
As part of the multi-layered response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, Western nations have expelled personnel from Russian embassies in their respective countries.
Estimates of the number of Russian diplomatic personnel booted from EU and NATO member states range from 120 to nearly 400.
Foreign Policy reports that at least 394 officials have been expelled since the February invasion began. Germany
alone has expelled 40 members of the Russian delegation, a significant
number and a substantial action by a country, like many others, that
imports Russian natural gas. The stated reason for these expulsions is
to protest Russia’s war in Ukraine, though the expulsions will do little
to impact the war. more
Monday, March 28, 2022
FBI Trolls Russian Embassy with Geotargeted Ads for Disgruntled Spies
The FBI’s latest counterintelligence operation against Russia is hardly secretive—you just have to be standing in the right place.
In the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the FBI stepped up its recruiting efforts in the US, hoping to attract Russians who are dissatisfied or disillusioned with the war. People standing in close proximity to the Russian embassy in Washington, DC, can see the ads, which appear in Russian, on Facebook, Twitter, and Google.
One ad appeared in a Washington Post reporter’s Facebook feed when he was standing on the sidewalk next to the embassy’s walls on Wisconsin Avenue NW, but none appeared in his feed when he crossed the street.
“It’s a brilliant recruiting strategy because I think there’s probably a lot of folks within the Russian government that are incredibly dissatisfied with Putin’s war, and therefore it’s a great opportunity to see if any of those dissatisfied people could help us understand Putin’s intentions better,” Peter Lapp, a former FBI counterintelligence agent, told the Post. more
Monday, September 13, 2021
Urban Drone Detection is Due to Become Easier Thanks to 5G
“Cobalt’s technology increases the number of exploitable drone
signatures for detection and tracking,” said Dr. Jeff Randorf, DHS
S&T engineering advisor and SBIR topic manager. “As more 5G mmWave
transceivers are deployed in city centers, the ability to detect and
track drones in complex urban geometries becomes easier, while not
contributing to an already crowded radio frequency spectrum.” more
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
China Steps up Monitoring of Foreigners in Anti-Spying Push
Chinese social groups, enterprises and public entities will have increased responsibility to combat foreign espionage under new regulations issued by the country’s ministry of state security.
The regulations, which were released and took effect on Monday, come amid deepening hostilities between China and some western governments, including over the detention of foreigners accused of national security crimes.
According to state media,
state security will work with other government departments to “adjust”
the list of groups susceptible to foreign espionage and to develop
measures to safeguard against it, including Chinese Communist Party and
state organs, social groups, enterprises and public institutions. more
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Industrial Espionage Quote of the Week: Most In-Demand Career
"...companies are increasingly at risk from hacking and industrial espionage. Protecting data and defending corporate networks is poised to be one of the most in-demand careers of the future." — Doros Hadjizenonos, Regional sales manager at Fortinet more
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Security Director Alert: DHS Warns US Businesses of China’s Data-Collection Practices
Chinese law requires Chinese businesses and citizens, including in academia, to “take actions related to the collection, transmission and storage of data that runs counter to principles of U.S. and international law and policy,” DHS said in a press release.
The department urged U.S. firms to “minimize the amount of at-risk data being stored and used” in China, or in places accessible to Chinese authorities. more
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Friday, October 2, 2020
Best Business Espionage Article of the Year (A corporate executive must read.)
The Espionage Threat to U.S. Businesses
By Bill Priestap, Holden Triplett
Many authoritarian governments are doing everything they can, including using their spy services, to build successful businesses and grow their economies. Indeed, even some nonauthoritarian governments are taking this approach. The reason for this is simple: A large number of nation-states view privately owned companies within their jurisdictions as extensions of their governments. They support and protect the companies as if those entities were integrated parts of government...
(Main Points)
- U.S. companies must understand that in many cases they are no longer simply competing with corporate rivals. They are competing with the nation-states supporting their corporate rivals—nation-states with enormous resources and capabilities and with very little restraint on what they will do to succeed.
- U.S. businesses are decidedly not supported by U.S. government spy agencies. For this reason, they are often competing on an uneven playing field.
- Exacerbating the problem is the fact that businesses and investors are woefully unprepared for this new environment.
- Intelligence and the art of spying are no longer constrained to the government sphere. While spy tools and tactics are more readily available, what is truly driving this proliferation is the intelligence realm’s shift in focus from government to businesses.
- In addition, most companies are focused too myopically on strong cybersecurity as a panacea for spying. Of course, cybersecurity is extremely important, but it protects only one vector by which a nation-state could spy on and subsequently loot a company.
- If businesses want to protect their assets, then developing an understanding of spies and their activities should become standard practice for business leaders and investors today.
- Spy services may also target a business via its partners and vendors, so it is equally important to shield those entities from potential attack or attempted exploitation.
- Understanding and mitigating the activities of spies must become standard practice for business leaders. And if investors don’t see companies doing this, they should hold onto their money—tightly. more
Tuesday, September 29, 2020
The Modern Detective: How Corporate Intelligence Is Reshaping the World (book)
More than thirty thousand private investigators now work in the United States, Maroney reports in his new book, “The Modern Detective: How Corporate Intelligence Is Reshaping the World” (Riverhead).
They engage in a dizzying variety of low-profile intrigue: tracking missing people, tailing cheating spouses, recovering looted assets, vetting job applicants and multibillion-dollar deals, spying on one corporation at the behest of another*, ferreting out investment strategies for hedge funds, compiling opposition research.
Contemporary private eyes, Maroney explains, are often “refugees from other industries,” including law enforcement, journalism, accounting, and academia.
One hallmark of the business is discretion—like spy agencies, private eyes must often keep their greatest triumphs secret—so it is notable that Maroney would write a book like this. In a disclaimer, he says that he has had to change names and alter some details, presumably to protect client confidentiality. But “The Modern Detective” is not an exposé. It is part memoir, part how-to guide, a celebration of the analytical and interpersonal intelligence that makes a great investigator. more
*Counterespionage is also being done.