NEW ZEALAND - Police search and surveillance powers are to be broadened under legislation introduced to Parliament. (more)
On second thought...
A bill to give police stronger powers to snoop and search, including in some serious crime cases without a warrant, has been tabled in Parliament. The Search and Surveillance Powers Bill reforms search and surveillance powers and follows a Law Commission report which described the current situation as a mess. (more)
Look for a rewrite, and re-introduction soon.
MACEDONIA - New amendments to laws governing surveillance of communications came into effect earlier this month after parliament adopted what many considered controversial changes earlier this summer. (more)
GEORGIA - Georgia’s eavesdropping operation was made possible because many South Ossetians — including the border officials whose calls were intercepted on Aug. 7 by Georgia’s intelligence services — used the Georgian cellphone network of MagtiCom, a United States-owned Georgian mobile operator. (more)
SWEDEN - Several hundred demonstrators marched from Sergels Torg in central Stockholm to the steps of the Riksdag on Tuesday to protest Sweden’s surveillance law. (more)
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The Second Cold War and Corporate Security
from stratfor.com...
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, foreign corporations have been very busy in Russia as they scramble for market share, attempt to profit from Russia’s massive natural resources and seek to meet growing demand for consumer products. For these companies, growing Russian nationalism and tension with the West increases both the chance of regulatory and legal hassles and the possibility that Russian intelligence activity might be directed their way. In other words, as tensions rise, so could the risk for Western corporations.
Not all these problems are new. As a young KGB officer, Putin earned his living by stealing technology from the West. And he has since encouraged Russian intelligence agencies to expand their collection programs with the awareness that such information can assist the Russian economy and specifically the revival of the defense sector. While the Russians have an advanced weapons research and development infrastructure, they are very pragmatic. They do not see the need to spend the money to develop a technology from scratch when they can steal or buy it for a fraction of the cost and effort. This pragmatism was clearly demonstrated in their early nuclear weapons program...
This surveillance of Western businesses may apply to both corporate offices and employees’ residences. Businessmen may be physically surveilled and their residences subjected to technical surveillance and mail/garbage covers. Domestic workers may also be recruited in an effort to collect information on their employers. Known or suspected NOCs will be carefully watched and will likely even be overtly harassed. (more)
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, foreign corporations have been very busy in Russia as they scramble for market share, attempt to profit from Russia’s massive natural resources and seek to meet growing demand for consumer products. For these companies, growing Russian nationalism and tension with the West increases both the chance of regulatory and legal hassles and the possibility that Russian intelligence activity might be directed their way. In other words, as tensions rise, so could the risk for Western corporations.
Not all these problems are new. As a young KGB officer, Putin earned his living by stealing technology from the West. And he has since encouraged Russian intelligence agencies to expand their collection programs with the awareness that such information can assist the Russian economy and specifically the revival of the defense sector. While the Russians have an advanced weapons research and development infrastructure, they are very pragmatic. They do not see the need to spend the money to develop a technology from scratch when they can steal or buy it for a fraction of the cost and effort. This pragmatism was clearly demonstrated in their early nuclear weapons program...
This surveillance of Western businesses may apply to both corporate offices and employees’ residences. Businessmen may be physically surveilled and their residences subjected to technical surveillance and mail/garbage covers. Domestic workers may also be recruited in an effort to collect information on their employers. Known or suspected NOCs will be carefully watched and will likely even be overtly harassed. (more)
GSM Bug Roundup - September
Catching top honors for the GSM Bug Of the Month is the WT-2803-CV Rearview Mirror Bug.• Direct dial-in.
• Or, have it call up to three numbers when it hears sounds in the car.
• Uses the vehicle's power.
• Controls may be set remotely.
This is only one of eight covert GSM Bugs found here.
(Rearview Mirror Bug spec. sheet) (August's GSM Bug Roundup)
Industrial Espionage - Other Auto Parts
MI - A Kent County couple likely is headed to federal prison after they pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to steal trade secrets from auto parts supplier Metaldyne Corp. and sell the knowledge to Chinese competitors.
Anne Lockwood, 55, and her husband, Michael Haehnel, 53, were charged in 2006 with stealing Plymouth-based Metaldyne's technology for manufacturing connecting rods and other parts. (more)
Anne Lockwood, 55, and her husband, Michael Haehnel, 53, were charged in 2006 with stealing Plymouth-based Metaldyne's technology for manufacturing connecting rods and other parts. (more)
Monday, September 15, 2008
How to Bug & Wiretap... Legally.
Kayo Games has announced the launch of PlayDetective: Heartbreakers.The game puts gamers in the gumshoes of a private investigator as he attempts to solve a series of infidelity cases. To succeed players must conduct surveillance using a range of tools and gadgets, collect and analyze evidence, and solve difficult puzzles.
Features include:
• Investigate 15 unique cases.
• Eavesdrop using phone tapping devices to catch your suspects.
• Recover deleted text messages to form evidence.
• Conduct polygraph tests during interviews to unearth the truth.
• Buy and sell investigation gadgets – the tools of your trade.
(MAC or PC - $9.95) (more)
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Your Trade Secrets Are At Constant Risk
Make your boss open that security budget wallet... Visit and bookmark the Trade Secret Vault for the latest horror stories. Proof, funding proactive security is a no-brainer. Professor Jon Cavicchi has opened the Vault to the world and shares a wide range of information on trade secrets. The intent of this blog is to raise consciousness as to the range, extent, predominance and role trade secrets play in day to day business and legal environments.
The sources of the blogs vary from news on the web, proprietary sources on the hidden web, jury verdicts, court opinions, reports by government and NGOs around the globe as well as fun stuff such as trivia questions about products that are the subject of trade secrets.
It is designed as a blog to keep anyone interested in trade secrets coming back for more up to date news and data.
Regular Counterespionage Audits Are Cheap Insurance, compared to this...
TX - Jim Damman thought somebody was looking over his shoulder for months. Little did he know that his office was routinely broken into and more than 150-million dollars worth of trade secrets were stolen without a visible trace according to a federal lawsuit. The President of Exel Transportation Services says his suspicion grew so strong that he took the unusual step of sweeping the company's Addison offices for electronic bugs.
Exel is not a business typically considered a target of corporate spying. It's a shipping broker. Inside its offices, logistic agents sit in front of computer terminals with telephones cradled to their ears. Hundreds of times a day, they match-up shippers to freight carriers and move loads of everything from potatoes to computer chips around the world...
Damman says a new start-up competitor in Plano named Total Transportation Services (TTS) stilled seemed to have an uncanny knack of taking away Exel's customers, "the competitor was like one step ahead of us but they could not have known we were going to see a certain person, they could not have known what we were going to talk about when we were going to see that person unless they were getting information somewhere. We knew something was wrong."
Two of the former Exel executives, Mike Musacchio and Roy Brown, are accused of installing a backdoor into Exel's computer system according to the lawsuit. An exhibit in the lawsuit features a series of email messages titled "You will enjoy this" that were exchanged between Musacchio and Brown last October. Musacchio who had left Exel a month earlier to set-up TTS asked Brown who was still working at Exel, "...how are we going to get into email after you leave?" Brown left Exel three days later for TTS after replying, "Not a problem. I have the back door password that only I know and no one else can change." Musaccho replied, "Beauty!"
The lawsuit alleges that the hackers brazenly created exact replicas of Exel's documents, such as contracts, budget templates, and spreadsheets, for use in connection with TTS's business. Damman says the looted information included a $300-thousand dollar marketing study, "It's scary...it's something we all have to watch out for in this electronic day and age that we are in." (more)
Counterespionage Audits are an important element of corporate security programs. If you don't conduct Counterespionage Audits, you need to. Please contact me for assistance.
Exel is not a business typically considered a target of corporate spying. It's a shipping broker. Inside its offices, logistic agents sit in front of computer terminals with telephones cradled to their ears. Hundreds of times a day, they match-up shippers to freight carriers and move loads of everything from potatoes to computer chips around the world...
Damman says a new start-up competitor in Plano named Total Transportation Services (TTS) stilled seemed to have an uncanny knack of taking away Exel's customers, "the competitor was like one step ahead of us but they could not have known we were going to see a certain person, they could not have known what we were going to talk about when we were going to see that person unless they were getting information somewhere. We knew something was wrong."
Two of the former Exel executives, Mike Musacchio and Roy Brown, are accused of installing a backdoor into Exel's computer system according to the lawsuit. An exhibit in the lawsuit features a series of email messages titled "You will enjoy this" that were exchanged between Musacchio and Brown last October. Musacchio who had left Exel a month earlier to set-up TTS asked Brown who was still working at Exel, "...how are we going to get into email after you leave?" Brown left Exel three days later for TTS after replying, "Not a problem. I have the back door password that only I know and no one else can change." Musaccho replied, "Beauty!"
The lawsuit alleges that the hackers brazenly created exact replicas of Exel's documents, such as contracts, budget templates, and spreadsheets, for use in connection with TTS's business. Damman says the looted information included a $300-thousand dollar marketing study, "It's scary...it's something we all have to watch out for in this electronic day and age that we are in." (more)
Counterespionage Audits are an important element of corporate security programs. If you don't conduct Counterespionage Audits, you need to. Please contact me for assistance.
Cops Shot While Installing Bug
NZ - The two South Auckland men charged over the shooting of Sergeant Don Wilkinson have been granted name suppression.
One man has been charged with murdering Mr. Wilkinson and another man has been charged with assault. Both have been remanded in custody.
A second police officer is undergoing surgery in hospital after being shot several times. His injuries are not life threatening.
The two police officers were installing a bugging device in a car outside a suspected P lab in the suburb of Mangere in the early hours of this morning when they were attacked. (more)
One man has been charged with murdering Mr. Wilkinson and another man has been charged with assault. Both have been remanded in custody.
A second police officer is undergoing surgery in hospital after being shot several times. His injuries are not life threatening.
The two police officers were installing a bugging device in a car outside a suspected P lab in the suburb of Mangere in the early hours of this morning when they were attacked. (more)
SpyCam in Cell Phone Headset
from mostreviews.com...Sometimes the best place to hide something is in plain site. That’s the theory behind this camera set from Brando, which puts its lens inside a clip-on Bluetooth headset...
So, if someone's "Bluetooth" headset is not wire-less, beware.
eyePhone Is Watching You
Have you heard the latest surveillance concern floating around the tech world? Your iPhone may be storing an electronic log of your virtual footsteps, and it could one day be used against you.iPhone hacker/data forensics expert Jonathan Zdziarski explained the issue in a webcasted demo. (more)
A-Bomb of a Confession, "Yeah, yeah, yeah..."
NY - In 1951, Morton Sobell was tried and convicted with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on espionage charges. Through it all, he maintained his innocence.
But on Thursday, Sobell, 91, dramatically reversed himself, shedding new light on a case that still fans smoldering political passions. In an interview, he admitted for the first time that he had been a Soviet spy.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, call it that, I never thought of it as that in those terms," said Sobell. (more)
But on Thursday, Sobell, 91, dramatically reversed himself, shedding new light on a case that still fans smoldering political passions. In an interview, he admitted for the first time that he had been a Soviet spy.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, call it that, I never thought of it as that in those terms," said Sobell. (more)
...taps, you lose.
TX - The BexarMet Board of Directors voted Thursday evening to terminate the contract of its embattled general manager, Gil Olivares.
Olivares was suspended in August days after a Bexar County jury indicted him on charges of official oppression and illegal wiretapping, among other charges. (more)
Olivares was suspended in August days after a Bexar County jury indicted him on charges of official oppression and illegal wiretapping, among other charges. (more)
Eavesdroppers Take Stock
NY - A federal judge on Friday denied a motion by a group of ex-securities brokers and former A.B. Watley Inc. executives to dismiss a criminal case against them in an alleged scheme to misuse brokerage firm "squawk" boxes.
Prosecutors have alleged that three ex-brokers placed open telephone lines next to the internal speaker systems at their companies so that Watley day traders could secretly eavesdrop on block orders by institutional clients. (more)
1/13/09 - UPDATE - The U.S. dropped its sole charge against a former A.B. Watley Group Inc. executive who was set to be retried next month in a case where day traders were accused of eavesdropping on institutional trades using “squawk boxes.”
Michael Picone, Watley’s former chief operating officer, agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Green said today. In return, the U.S. dropped the count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, a crime punishable by as long as 25 years in prison.
“In exchange for the defendant’s cooperation, the government agrees to dismiss the charge against him,” Green told U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein. (more)
Prosecutors have alleged that three ex-brokers placed open telephone lines next to the internal speaker systems at their companies so that Watley day traders could secretly eavesdrop on block orders by institutional clients. (more)
1/13/09 - UPDATE - The U.S. dropped its sole charge against a former A.B. Watley Group Inc. executive who was set to be retried next month in a case where day traders were accused of eavesdropping on institutional trades using “squawk boxes.”
Michael Picone, Watley’s former chief operating officer, agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Green said today. In return, the U.S. dropped the count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, a crime punishable by as long as 25 years in prison.
“In exchange for the defendant’s cooperation, the government agrees to dismiss the charge against him,” Green told U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein. (more)
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
"...and my loaded gun trick is hysterical!!!"
TN - A state lawmaker said Thursday night he attached a digital recorder under an aide’s desk as “just a prank,” but no one’s laughing now with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation looking into the matter as a potentially serious case of bugging.
Rep. Jim Cobb, R-Spring City, said there was “no invasion of privacy done or intended” in the incident which involved his administrative aide, Paul Overhoiser.
The lawmaker, who represents Rhea County and part of Hamilton County, said he used Velcro to lash the recorder to the underside of the desk.
“It was where you could see it from the chair,” Rep. Cobb said in an interview. “I put it there and was going to come in and when Paul found it, he was going to jump up, run in and we were going to laugh about it. It was not hidden. It was not meant to do anything except be a joke.”
...Rep. Cobb, who recalled setting the device up on Tuesday, said he forgot about putting the recorder there until Thursday. (more)
Lawmaker? know better? aghhhh... (sing-a-long)
Rep. Jim Cobb, R-Spring City, said there was “no invasion of privacy done or intended” in the incident which involved his administrative aide, Paul Overhoiser.
The lawmaker, who represents Rhea County and part of Hamilton County, said he used Velcro to lash the recorder to the underside of the desk.
“It was where you could see it from the chair,” Rep. Cobb said in an interview. “I put it there and was going to come in and when Paul found it, he was going to jump up, run in and we were going to laugh about it. It was not hidden. It was not meant to do anything except be a joke.”
...Rep. Cobb, who recalled setting the device up on Tuesday, said he forgot about putting the recorder there until Thursday. (more)
Lawmaker? know better? aghhhh... (sing-a-long)
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