Step one: Identifying Your Trade Secrets

Can you identify your business’ most valuable information, how it is stored and who has access to it?

Are you sure? 

It may surprise you that even some of the most sophisticated companies in the world don’t have a proper handle on their information “crown jewels” or trade secrets until someone tries to take them. 

Now is a good time to review your business’ approach to protection of its trade secrets and other confidential information and make sure you have done everything you can to protect them.

Why now? Data is one of the most valuable assets any business has. Industrial espionage is becoming more prevalent (and sophisticated)... more

Once you know what you have to protect, install an alarm system. In this realm, Step One is creating a scheduled program of Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM) inspections.

Lawsuit: West Virginia Police - Spying Using Hidden Cameras on Women & Minors

West Virginia State Police have been accused of planting hidden cameras to spy on women, from active law enforcement officers to recruits training at the academy, some of whom were minors.

Two of the active West Virginia law enforcement officers involved in the civil suit, Brenda Lesnett and Megan Talkington, spoke with CNN...

Lesnett and Talkington are two of around 70 women suing the department after an anonymous letter addressed to the state’s top lawmakers with the allegations was made public in February. Among the allegations of misconduct, which are said to have taken place over a 10-year period, are a hidden camera system set up in the women’s locker room and showers at the West Virginia Police Academy. Some of the possible victims are minors who took part in a junior program. Lesnett and Talkington said there could be “hundreds, if not thousands” of total victims. more

Protect yourself. Learn how you can detect spycams.

France Set To Allow Police To Spy Through Phones

French police should be able to spy on suspects by remotely activating the camera, microphone and GPS of their phones and other devices, lawmakers agreed late Wednesday.

Part of a wider justice reform bill, the spying provision has been attacked by the left and rights defenders as an authoritarian snoopers' charter, though Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti insists it would affect only "dozens of cases a year".

Covering laptops, cars and other connected objects as well as phones, the measure would allow geolocation of suspects in crimes punishable by at least five years' jail.

Devices could also be remotely activated to record sound and images of people suspected of terror offenses, as well as delinquency and organized crime. more

NJ Makes It Harder for Police to Snoop on Social Media

New Jersey is known for many things, from delicious bagels to the heated pork roll vs. Taylor ham debate... But the Garden State deserves a new accolade: defender of digital privacy rights.

In an important decision that has seemingly flown under the radar, late last month the Supreme Court of New Jersey decided Facebook Inc. v. State, which puts much-needed guardrails on police conduct in the state when it comes to law enforcement’s access to digital communications. more

Tasmanian Government Blocks Radio Network Eavesdropping

Australia - The days of people listening to the police scanner are numbered, with the Tasmanian Government officially launching their new ‘secure’ Government Radio Network today.

Telstra were contracted to commission the $763 million dollar initiative, which the State Government say is one of Tasmania’s largest infrastructure projects ever.

TasGRN has ‘been purpose-built’ and will be used all Government agencies – including Tasmania Police, Ambulance Tasmania, Tasmania Fire Service, Tasmania SES, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Sustainable Timber Tasmania, TasNetworks and Hydro Tasmania.

Police & Emergency Services Minister Felix Ellis says the new network is “secure” and will allow Tasmania’s key organisations “to better serve the community with fully encrypted voice communications, limiting exposure to criminals covertly accessing the network”. more

US Spies Issue Warnings Over Risks of Doing Business in China

US intelligence officials renewed warnings for American companies doing business in China, citing an update to a counterespionage law that’s due to take effect (today, July 1, 2023).

A bulletin issued by the National Counterintelligence and Security Center on Friday warns executives that an update to China’s counterespionage law, which comes into effect on July 1, has the “potential to create legal risks or uncertainty” for companies doing business in China.

It adds that the law broadens the scope of China’s espionage law and expands Beijing’s official definition of espionage. “Any documents, data, materials, or items” could be considered relevant to the law due to its “ambiguities,” the bulletin says. more

North Carolina House Speaker Installs Spy Cameras

Rep. Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) allegedly used his political influence to bed former Apex Town Councilman Scott Lassiter’s wife, Jamie Liles Lassiter, over the course of their three-year extramarital relationship, according to a lawsuit filed June 18.

After Lassiter, 36, confronted the Republican legislator about the infidelity, Moore allegedly hired an unidentified goon to install a camera on the Lassiters’ Raleigh property earlier this month in an effort to keep the tryst under wraps.

“Defendant Tim Moore and Defendant John Doe willfully and wantonly interfered with [Lassiter’s] property rights and right to privacy by entering upon [Lassiter’s] property in the middle of the night and installing equipment intended to surreptitiously record [Lassiter’s] private actions in his own home,” the lawsuit states.

Lassiter claims to have found the camera inside his flowerbed in the early hours of June 1, on what would have been his and Jamie’s 10th wedding anniversary. more

Security Alert: Unsolicited Smartwatches Received by Mail

Service members across the military have reported receiving smartwatches unsolicited in the mail. These smartwatches, when used, have auto-connected to Wi-Fi and began connecting to cell phones unprompted, gaining access to a myriad of user data.

These smartwatches may also contain malware that would grant the sender access to saved data to include banking information, contacts, and account information such as usernames and passwords...

What to do if you receive one of these devices:

• DO NOT turn the device on.
• Report it to your local counterintelligence, security manager, or through our Submit a Tip - Report a Crime reporting portal. more

The Spying Scandal Inside One of America’s Biggest Power Companies

A private investigator surveilled Southern Co.’s CEO, prompting an internal investigation into whether it was commissioned by another executive...

On a late spring day in 2017, a private investigator parked outside a fitness center in an Atlanta strip mall and covertly recorded video of a personal trainer as she entered her business.

Forty-five minutes later, the investigator took photos as the woman returned to her car, stowed her gym bag and drove away. He next followed her for 25 minutes to the home of her then-boyfriend, Tom Fanning, who, as chief executive of Southern Co., had for years been one of the energy industry’s most powerful figures.

Atlanta-based Southern, one of the largest utility companies in the U.S. and one of the most prominent corporate brands across the Southeast, has been bedeviled for much of the past year by the peculiar espionage effort, which led to an internal investigation but no public explanation.

Word of the surveillance surfaced last summer in a lawsuit between consultants in a firm that for decades has done work for Alabama Power, a Southern subsidiary. One of them alleged that, at the direction of Alabama Power officials, the other consultant had ordered surveillance of Southern executives in order to possibly gain internal leverage. more

Nissan Installed Covert Camera to Monitor No. 2's Home

Nissan installed a camera surveillance system at the home of former executive Ashwani Gupta so the automaker's internal security team could monitor him, according to the preliminary findings of an investigation into the surveillance, two people with knowledge of the report said.

Nissan has been investigating a claim that Chief Executive Makoto Uchida carried out surveillance of the carmaker's second- in-command to acquire leverage to remove him from the company because of Gupta's opposition to some terms in a new partnership deal with Renault. more

From the What Goes Around Files: Phone Spy App Hacked

LetMeSpy, a phone tracking app spying on thousands, says it was hacked...

A data breach reveals the spyware is built by a Polish developer hacker has stolen the messages, call logs and locations intercepted by a widely used phone monitoring app called LetMeSpy, according to the company that makes the spyware.

The phone monitoring app, which is used to spy on thousands of people using Android phones around the world, said in a notice on its login page that on June 21, “a security incident occurred involving obtaining unauthorized access to the data of website users​​.”

“As a result of the attack, the criminals gained access to e-mail addresses, telephone numbers and the content of messages collected on accounts,” the notice read.

LetMeSpy is a type of phone monitoring app that is marketed for parental control or employee monitoring. The app is also specifically designed to stay hidden on a phone’s home screen, making it difficult to detect and remove. Also known as stalkerware or spouseware, these kinds of phone monitoring apps are often planted by someone — such as spouses or domestic partners — with physical access to a person’s phone, without their consent or knowledge. more

FutureWatch: Mind Reading Marches On, Maybe

At first glance, the headset is unassuming. It almost looks like a pair of oversized headphones. There’s no outward indication that it can read signals in your brain and help alter your mood. But its creator, the startup Neurosity Inc., believes it’s at the forefront of a new wave of consumer products that will literally alter customers’ state of mind. 

Neurosity is one of a growing number of new companies making hardware that can read brainwaves. ... Startups with names like Emotive Inc., InteraXon Inc. and Earable Inc. are all working on devices that use EEG to measure everything from sleep to creativity...

It’s true that it’s early days for the intersection of brains and computers. “This is a huge area, and we’re going to see more of these devices,” Welle said. “Measuring your own brain signals is a cool thing to do." more   Previous mind reading news.

Spybuster Tip #712 - Stop Smartphone Eavesdropping - Cap The App

Remember to check from time to time which apps have access to the microphone.

Here’s how to do it on iPhone:

• Open the Settings app 
• Scroll to Privacy & Security 
• Tap Microphone 
• Review the apps that have access to your microphone and toggle them on or off 

Here’s how to do it on an Android handset:

• Open the Settings app 
• Tap Privacy 
• Tap Permission Manager 
• Tap on Microphone 
• Review the apps that have access to your microphone and toggle them on or off | more

Why is this important and timely?

A hacking group linked to the North Korean government has been caught using new wiretapping malware in recent surveillance attacks, according to an advisory from cybersecurity firm AhnLab. more

The US Presidential Race Gets More Interesting

Former CIA clandestine officer and GOP Rep. Will Hurd has announced he is joining the Republican race to be president. The Texan and Donald Trump critic announced he is jumping into the growing GOP field with 14 rivals during an interview with CBS on Thursday morning. 'This is a decision that my wife and I decided to do because we live in complicated times and we need common sense,' he said. more

Man Arrested for Spying on Woman with Drone

RI - The Cranston Police Department announced a convicted sex offender was arrested for spying on a woman through her bathroom window with a drone...

Officials said the woman victim...was preparing to use the shower when she heard a buzzing noise from outside. The woman went to her back yard thinking the sound had something to do with her pool when she noticed a drone hovering outside her bathroom window. When the victim approached the drone, she said it moved quickly in an attempt to get away from her when it crashed into a tree and hit the ground...the victim disabled the drone in her pool and called 911 shortly after. more