A Guide to Electronically Stored Information Preservation Responsibilities

The litigation-related duty to preserve relevant evidence, including electronically stored information (ESI), is well established and widely known in the legal community and the business world...

In today’s legal climate, even a company’s seemingly innocent delay in implementing an appropriate method to preserve ESI may be catastrophic...

This white paper guides litigants through their responsibilities to preserve evidence and provides valuable information on implementing a defensible legal hold process. (more) (pdf)

Pool of Likely Phone-Hacking Victims Skyrockets

UK - The number of likely victims of phone hacking by people working for Rupert Murdoch's London media empire has jumped to more than 1,000, the top police officer working on the case said Tuesday.

Police have identified another 3,706 potential victims of illegal eavesdropping by journalists in search of stories, Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers told lawmakers.

Authorities had earlier put the number of "likely" victims at around 600, but now say it is 1,069. (more)

News of the World - Mr. Big gets tapped.

Britain's Supreme Court took a step toward exposing the names at the heart of Britain's phone hacking scandal Wednesday, ruling that a private investigator convicted of eavesdropping for a Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid must reveal who ordered him to do it. 

Meanwhile, a police investigation into press wrongdoing triggered by the hacking revelations expanded beyond Murdoch's media empire with the arrest of a former reporter from the rival Mirror group.

Private eye Glenn Mulcaire was jailed briefly in 2007 for hacking the voicemail messages of royal aides on behalf of the now-defunct News of the World. (more)

Show of hands. Feeling sorry for Rupert yet? Hands? Anyone???

UK - Rupert Murdoch used his testimony before a U.K. inquiry on Thursday to portray himself as the victim, not perpetrator, of a cover-up over phone hacking -- a twist that could certainly anger those suing his company for invading their privacy to sell newspapers.

The 81-year-old media magnate apologized. He said he had failed. He noted that the corporate cleanup of the British phone hacking scandal had cost his New York-based News Corp. hundreds of millions of dollars and transformed its culture.

"I failed, and I'm sorry about it," Murdoch said, adding later: "We are now a new company altogether." (more)

Ambassador to Russsia Thinks Cell Phone is Monitored (well, duh)

The Obama administration has complained to Russia about harassment of its outspoken ambassador in Moscow, who has confronted television news crews and taken to social media to raise suspicions that his cell phone and email were being hacked.

Michael McFaul, who has been a frequent target of criticism by state media, seemed to have relished the attention, at least at first. And he may have become a bigger target by taking to Twitter to muse about the alleged surveillance, admitting to learning on the job, correcting his "bad Russian" and engaging in exchanges with a person whose Twitter account was "prostitutkamila."

"There's been a number of incidents since his arrival there that have caused us to have some concerns about his security and safety," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Friday. "So as we would in following normal protocol, we've raised that with the government of Russia." (more)

Pop Quiz: Should government ambassadors be Tweeting?

Illegal Eavesdropping Costs NOTW 1 Million...

...and that doesn't include the lawyers fees, and the lost revenue from having to shut down the paper.

UK - Rupert Murdoch's media empire has agreed to pay large payouts to 37 phone-hacking victims, including British actor Jude Law, football player Ashley Cole and former deputy prime minister John Prescott.

The High Court in London heard details of new settlements totaling about $1 million for illegal eavesdropping by Murdoch-owned tabloids on celebrities' phone conversations...

Law said he launched his case to find out the truth about the intrusion into his private life between 2003 and 2006. He said he changed his phones and had his house checked for bugs, but that the information continued to appear in the press. (more)

Wiretapping and Divorce Advice from a Lawyer

You think your wife is cheating on you? 

You remember the password to her Gmail account because you set it up for her? 

 You log into her account and discover emails between her and her new lover? 

Think that’s legal? 

Think that’s admissible evidence in court? 

Not so fast. 

Before you log onto your spouse’s email account or intercept any messages whatsoever whether email, voicemail, etc., consult with a lawyer about wiretapping laws. In your passion to discover what your spouse is doing, you might just violate federal wiretapping laws. This could backfire on you and could be more costly to you than the information you would otherwise discover is worth. Again, talk to a lawyer about this. (more)

Shawn L. Reeves is a Columbia, SC family lawyer. His office is located at 1201 Main Street, Suite 1980, Columbia, South Carolina.

"So, how often do journalists hack voicemail?"

Phone hacking appeared to be a "bog-standard tool" for information gathering, a former journalist for the Daily Mirror tabloid told the UK inquiry into media ethics overnight.

James Hipwell, who was jailed in 2006 for writing stories about companies in which he owned shares, told the Leveson Inquiry that phone hacking had taken place on a daily basis during his time at the paper.

He also threw doubt on former Mirror editor Piers Morgan's claim in evidence on Tuesday that he had no knowledge that hacking went on there.

"I would go as far as to say that it happened every day and that it became apparent that a great number of the Mirror's show business stories would come from that source. That is my clear memory," Hipwell said. (more)

Business Telephone Systems Still Vulnerable to Toll Fraud

A Compilation of Phreaking Evidence from 2004-2011 - 25 pages .pdf (download)

Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a culture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telecommunication systems, such as equipment and systems connected to public telephone networks. They are often mistakenly lumped in with criminal phone hackers. It is also a mistake to think that this was only a 1970's - 1980's phenomena. 

Just in case you thought your business phone system was safe, read on...

• PABX/PBX hacking (phreaking) is common. It's organized crime and big business.

• Telephone systems everywhere are targets and telecommunications bandits know how to gain access to your phone system by reconfiguring it to route their own calls through it.

• Phreakers can hack phone systems, voicemail boxes and PINs in a few seconds to gain illegal access to your extensions.

• Most toll fraud is generated after hours and on holidays when it's least likely to be detected.

• Phreakers can gain the most by routing expensive international calls through private phone systems.

• Terrorist organisations use telecommunications fraud to generate funds by illegally gaining access to private phone systems and then re-selling the service.

• Many businesses leave their phone systems completely unprotected.

• You will end up paying the bill after they've hijacked your phone system and extensions to make illegal calls anywhere they choose - often at a huge cost... (more)

Ask your counterespionage consultant to look into this for you. Specifying the correct controls, procedures and security hardware to protect your communications is their specialty. 

Don't have a counterespionage consultant?!?!  Contact me for a referral.

Yet Another 'News of the World' Phone Hacking Arrest

UK - British police said Wednesday they have arrested another suspect in their investigation of phone hacking by the News of the World tabloid.

London's Metropolitan police said they arrested a 41-year-old man on suspicion of conspiring to intercept voice-mail messages and pervert the course of justice. The man's name wasn't released. Police said he was being held at a police station in south London. (more)

Eavesdropping on voicemails: "perfectly acceptable tool"

UK - A former News of the World journalist made a rare, robust defense of phone hacking, telling Britain's media ethics inquiry that eavesdropping on voicemails was a "perfectly acceptable tool" to help journalists uncover stories.

Paul McMullan said Tuesday that hacking was common at the now-defunct tabloid, describing how journalists traded the phone details of celebrities. (more) (video)

P.S. McMullan now runs a pub in the English port of Dover.

...thus verifying what we feared all along about about media espionage.

Illegal eavesdropping was widely practiced by Britain's tabloid journalists, producing stories that were both intrusive and untrue, a lawyer for several phone hacking victims said Wednesday. 

Mark Lewis told a U.K. media ethics inquiry that phone hacking was not limited to Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid, which the media mogul shut down earlier this year as outrage grew over the hacking scandal.

Lewis claimed that listening in on voice mails was so easy that many journalists regarded it as no more serious than "driving at 35 mph in a 30 mph zone." (more)

"Anyone who feels they were hacked, please raise your hand."

News Corporation has begun a voluntary program that allows people who believe they have been the victims of phone hacking to apply online for compensation.

A statement issued Friday by the company’s British publishing unit, News International, urged possible victims to take advantage of the settlement plan, calling it a “speedy, cost-effective alternative to litigation.” Charles Gray, a former High Court judge and arbitration specialist, will assess the applications and serve as an independent adjudicator, News International said. There is no limit on how much the company might have to pay. (more)

Hollywood hacker apologises for spying on stars

FL - A computer hacker accused of infiltrating the email accounts of Hollywood stars including Scarlett Johansson has apologized, and says he plans to plead guilty to all charges.

Christopher Chaney, 35, faces up to 121 years in jail after being arrested in Florida on Wednesday. He faces 26 indictments, including accessing and damaging computers, wire tapping and identity theft.

Chaney's arrest, following an 11-month probe into the hacking of more than 50 victims, including actress Mila Kunis and singer Christina Aguilera. (more)

The News of the World Phone Hacking Scandal Continues

UK - As the UK parliament's inquiry into News of the World phone-hacking scandal continues, there's a lot of back-and-forth going on with regards to who knew what was happening - and when.

Immediately after the major players testified in July, it appeared that a bit of a calm before the storm was on the horizon. Things went silent for a bit. But that's changed now as new allegations, arrests and concerns have brought about new questions and evidence in the case.

To start with, a former lawyer for News of the World testified that News Corp. executive James Murdoch must have known that illegal phone hacking at the News of the World newspaper was not confined to the single journalist who was imprisoned for it. Tom Crone, who was legal manager of the paper, said Murdoch would only have given Crone authority to settle a lawsuit against News of the World if he had understood that there had been more illegal eavesdropping. (more)

Caller ID Spoofing and Your Privacy

via The New York Times...

For all of the palace intrigue recently about who in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation kingdom knew what about phone hacking when, one fundamental question about the scandal has gone mostly unanswered: Just how vulnerable are everyday United States residents to similarly determined snoops?

The answer is, more than you might think.

AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile do not require cellphone customers to use a password on their voice mail boxes, and plenty of people never bother to set one up. But if you don’t, people using a service colloquially known as caller ID spoofing could disguise their phone as yours and get access to your messages. This is possible because voice mail systems often grant access to callers who appear to be phoning from their own number.

Meanwhile, as Edgar Dworsky, a consumer advocate who founded ConsumerWorld.org, discovered recently, someone armed with just a bit of personal information about a target can also gain access to the automated phone systems for Bank of America and Chase credit card holders. (more)

News of the World Phone Hacking - Another Arrest

U.K. police arrested a 38-year-old man Thursday in connection with the ongoing investigation into alleged phone hacking by News Corp.'s now-closed News of the World tabloid.

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The arrest relates to the scandal stemming from allegations that the News of the World illegally intercepted the voice mails of celebrities, politicians and crime victims, through a practice known as phone hacking. Police also are probing possible police bribery by News of the World staff in exchange for information. The weekly tabloid was closed last month amid the scandal.

The arrested man couldn't immediately be identified. His marks the 13th arrest authorities have made since reopening their investigation into phone hacking in January. (more)

News of The World Spying - More Threads

UK - MPs have reignited the News of the World phone-hacking scandal with the publication of new documents which suggest News International was involved in a four-year cover-up.

The Guardian says Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and their former editor Andy Coulson "face embarrassing new allegations of dishonesty and cover-up after the publication of an explosive letter written by the News of the World's disgraced royal correspondent, Clive Goodman".

In the article by Nick Davies, who broke the original story, he says Goodman makes the following claims: "that phone hacking was 'widely discussed' at editorial meetings at the paper until Coulson himself banned further references to it; that Coulson offered to let him keep his job if he agreed not to implicate the paper in hacking when he came to court; and that his own hacking was carried out with 'the full knowledge and support' of other senior journalists, whom he named." (more)

News of The World Spying - Like Pulling a Sweater Thread

Revelations that U.K. tabloid journalists may have graduated to hacking computers in addition to mobile phones may form the next scandal facing Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., a U.K. lawmaker investigating privacy violations by the now-defunct News of the World said.

Police and parliament have mostly focused their probes on how journalists illegally accessed the voicemails of celebrities, politicians and crime victims, and who at the company knew about it. More revelations of computer hacking and other forms of spying could emerge, Tom Watson, a Labour Party lawmaker, said yesterday.

“My own concerns are that this will lead to other forms of covert surveillance, and I think the next scandal will be computer hacking and we're going to be living with this for weeks and months to come,” said Mr. Watson, who is also a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee that is investigating phone hacking. (more)

If you are not one of our clients, you may not know these espionage secrets...  

• When you are a target, you won't be spied upon just using one method – a variety of tactics will be used. 

• The reasons electronic surveillance is investigated first is because it is a common tactic, easy to discover, and must be eliminated before one starts accusing people directly. 

• A successful counterespionage strategy will take all your vulnerabilities, and all their tactics into consideration.

The News of The World case is slowly unraveling into a textbook case of corporate espionage, thus proving the reality of it. This is the tip of the iceberg. Only failed spying becomes headlines.

FutureWatch: Bugs, wiretaps, more bribes, blackmail and sex.

Can Ya Catch My Cheating Spouse? In Kenya Ya Can - Bugging cell phones is apparently legal there!?!?

Kenya - Are you suspicious your lover, spouse, children, employees or business partner could be hiding something? Relax. A solution is finally here.

All you need is a high-end wap-enabled mobile phone, which you will present as a gift to your partner, whom you want to investigate.

Charles Chepkonga, the director of IT company, Smuffet Outsourcing, says with Sh15,000, he could install a software that could help you get a copy of all SMS, call log, location of the phone and all the names saved in the phonebook.

"The phone does not need to be expensive. We have done with phones worth as low as Sh8,000," he says.

Dubbed Mobispy, the software will send information to a preset email address managed by the buyer.

"Let’s say your husband tells you he is working late within the central business district but you doubt. All you will need to do is log in to the email and trace the location of the phone. Unless he left it in the office, you can know his location because it gives a radius of 10m," said Chepkonga. The IT expert says the technology can also be used to keep track on the location of students who lie they are in libraries or by managers who suspects their employees could be sabotaging the company by giving out classified information.

"The most popular reasons for using this application are finding out if your partner is cheating on you, keeping an eye on your children or teens, protecting your old parents, and using it to ensure your employees are doing what they are expected," said Chepkonga.

He says he started offering the service two months ago and has so far done more than 20 mobile phones bought by suspecting partners.

"We have also had innumerable enquiries from many people but who would want to remain anonymous," he said.

He said the idea came up as a result of the many attempts by Kenyans to bust their cheating partners. (more)