Growing Prevalence of Industrial Espionage Threaten Automakers

According to Automotive News, industrial espionage in the United States has been steadily rising in multiple sectors. In fact, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI) have opened 1,212 intellectual property rights cases for the 2011 fiscal year. Compared to 2009, cases have increased by nearly 66 percent. 

Given the high-octane environment that is the auto industry, cloak and dagger activities are especially prevalent. In particular, auto giants including GM, Ford and Toyota have endured stolen intellectual property more than most...

Addressing a need to prevent acts of espionage to continue, the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive declared that countermeasures must be put in place due to the exponentially growing proliferation of smartphones and various mobile devices. (more)

All Quiet in the Chinese Front: We Await the Jury

• The House Intelligence Committee will release a report Monday, following its probe into espionage charges against the two telecommunications-gear makers. 

• Also, "60 Minutes" will air its investigation into the company on Sunday.

The House Intelligence Committee investigating national security threats posed by two Chinese telecommunications-gear makers is set to release a report Monday that seems likely to ratchet up pressure.

The committee held a three-hour hearing last month, during which lawmakers repeatedly criticized Huawei and ZTE for being vague in answering questions about whether their networking equipment could be used to snoop on American companies and individuals. At the end of the hearing, committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) expressed some consternation that the companies hadn't been more forthcoming in addressing his concerns. (more)

Sneak Peak... (excellent clip from Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.)

All Quiet in the Russian Front: Stop Light Company Stopped

TX - If their website is any indication, Arc Electronics was apparently into a lot of things besides spying.

Sure, espionage is exciting and interesting and all, but bills have got to be paid. Those traffic lights aren't going to construct themselves -- though Arc sure as hell weren't selling anything to the city...

Federal court hearings regarding Arc's alleged spying begin today before U.S. District Judge George Hanks.

The charges involve illegally sending microelectronics to the Russian government, Russian military, and intelligence agencies. But while all that was allegedly going down, Alexander Fishenko, the company's owner, had a rather elaborate faux operation humming at a nondescript strip mall in southwest Houston.

Alex James, a receptionist at neighboring Modern Performance, said he never saw anyone coming in and out of their mutual alley and had no idea what was happening inside Arc Electronic. (more)

Facebook Logic - What harm can a little spying do?

A federal court in May 2012 hit Facebook with a $15 billion lawsuit after it was found that the social network was tracking customers after they logged out of its system. The court filing claims that Facebook is violating federal wiretap laws.

The Menlo Park company is now asking that the case be dismissed because the defendants behind the case have failed to specify how they were harmed by the error in Facebook’s judgement. (more)

Spy Gear & Divorce

Techniques once accessible only to governments or corporations are now trickling down to daily use. It's part of a broader transformation of modern privacy in which even the most personal spheres of people's lives—home, friendships, intimacy—can be exposed for examination without knowledge or consent. Lawyers say the technology is turning divorces into an arms race... 

World's smallest voice recorder. Holds 300 hrs. of voice. How it's made.

Amateur spies have widening options. LandAirSea sells a GPS Tracking Key—a matchbox-size, magnetized gizmo that can stick to cars—for $179 online... Software can be purchased for many smartphones that can track their location. Computer software that copies instant messages and emails can cost less than $100 and be installed without any special know-how. An array of tiny recorders makes eavesdropping easy.

Regulators have a tough time policing the sale of these kinds of devices, since they have legitimate uses by employers or parents... (more)

Workplace SpyCams: The Accounting Firm

WI - The reported vice president of a Wisconsin accounting firm was charged with four felonies for allegedly using a camera pen to spy on women in the office restroom. 

Click to enlarge.

Last month, a woman working in an office building in the Milwaukee suburb of Glendale went to the bathroom and noticed a pen slide under the door, according to the criminal complaint and reported by the Menomonee Falls Patch. Suspecting that the pen was a camera, the woman looked online and spotted a camera pen for sale that looked similar. She then contacted the Glendale police.

A week later, another woman allegedly saw the same pen slide under the bathroom door. She likewise reported the incident to police, and the officers checked hidden cameras that they had set up outside the bathroom. According to the complaint, the cameras showed James Pirc, 46, sliding something under the door. (more)

Security Directors: FREE Security White Paper - "Surreptitious Workplace Recording ...and what you can do about it."    

SpyCam Story #663 - This Month In SpyCam News

SpyCam stories have become commonplace and the techniques used, repetitive. We continue to keep lose track of the subject for statistical purposes, but won't bore you with too many details. Links supplied.

School Daze...

NJ - Locker room spycam defense?!?! - it never endangered the welfare of any child. 

VA - Registrar's Office spycam defense - hormone imbalance.

OH - School teacher charged - spycam'ing two female teachers in teachers-only bathroom.

WA - High School sleepover spycam'er pleads guilty.

CA - U of T - iPhone spotted in bathroom stall - man charged with voyeurism and mischief.

Charges Laid...

CT - Busted - bedroom spycam'er filmed four female partners.

CA - Dusted - House guest finds video camera recording in a powder room.

LA -  Trusted - Bedroom cam & bathroom cam transmitted wireless to recorder.

MT - Adjusted - Former jailer who spycam'ed a pool changing room charged with burglary.

UK - Lusted - Ex-council member charged - leisure centres, holiday camp and dance studio. 

Men at Work...
UK - Employee used a camera disguised as a pen to film female staff in the toilets.

WA - Playhouse dressing room spycam - closing argument - not for sexual gratification.

GA - Judge finds 'peeping preacher' guilty on 13 counts of video voyeurism.

FL - Mirror ripped from the fitting room wall reveals two hidden cameras, one still recording. 

ID - Man charged - iPhone, recording, hidden in a tissue box in the employee restroom. 

CA - Owner placed camera in his hardware store staff washroom.

CT - Subway employee placed under sink camera in unisex bathroom. 

LA - Gynecologist charged - secretly photographedthe genitals of his patients... 186 times

Only You Can Pervert...

FL - Park employee kept eye on bathroom with iPhone - victim chases, snags plate, nailed.

WA - Park employee arrested, accused of recording a teenage girl in a park restroom. 

Darwin Awards to...

CT - Man admits to 4 photos of woman in next shower... 2 turned out to be of his own hand.

UK - Man uses USB stick camera to film woman - proof - shot himself while setting it up.

IN - Man hides iPod in girlfriend's bathroom - proof - shot himself while hiding it.

UT - Wife finds upskirt pix on husband's cell - calls cops - proof - shot himself while filming.

OH - Spycam'er uses clock radio, camera hidden within - poof - shot himself... with a gun!

The Tanning Guys...

AR - 16-year-old boy was arrested - cam'ed a woman after she got out of a tanning bed. 

AR - Man charged - cam'ing girls using his tanning bed, then tampering with the evidence.

AR - Tanning salon manager booked on suspicion of voyeurism.

(Arkansas and tanning salon pervs. Weird.)

IN - Fox in henhouse - Stephan Fox pleaded guilty to taping women in tanning salon.

Canada Recruits Spies - via YouTube

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has released a series of recruitment videos onto YouTube, videos that feature testimonials from real-life spies. 

The clips were posted last week, but released without any publicity...

In the clips, each of which lasts a minute or two, CSIS intelligence officers are shown striding purposefully to urgent (but fictional) assignments, as orchestral music plays and time-lapse video speeds up street scenes. (more) (videos)

Put a GPS in a Candy Bar - Sales Skyrocket

The candy company launched the “We Will Find You” campaign in the United Kingdom where GPS tracking devices were placed inside six candy bars.  

Once the winning candy bar wrapper is opened, the tracking device will go off and Nestle officials will be able to find the exact location of the customer.

“This will alert a secret control room who will scramble a crack team of highly trained individuals,” the commercial states. “They will board a helicopter, find the special bar and give the owner 10,000 pounds ($16,145).”

The six tracking devices will be placed in Kit-Kat, Aero and Yorkie bars in the U.K. (more)

What could possibly go wrong? Hummm... The guys in the warehouse borrow the guard's metal detector and scan pallet-loads of product. 

Seriously, if they have their act together, the bars are not going through the usual distribution chain. They are being placed on the shelf at the very last minute and the camera crew is waiting in the stock room. Brilliant promotion, however.

Business Espionage: Papal Butler's Trial Begins

The pope's once-trusted butler went on trial Saturday for allegedly stealing papal documents and passing them off to a journalist in the worst security breach of the Vatican's recent history — a case that embarrassed the Vatican and may shed some light on the discreet, internal workings of the papal household... 

Security was relaxed, with the guards at the tribunal entrance mostly concerned that none of the press or public brought in any recording devices: They even checked pens to make sure they couldn't record, and sequestered cell phones into safe boxes. (more)

Mobile malware up 2,180% - Threats to mobile devices rocket and set to rise further.

Between Q1 2011 and Q2 2012 ABI Research found that unique malware variants grew by 2,180 percent reaching 17,439. 

And these threats are set to increase significantly.

"With the increasing popularity of smartphones, mobile threats are on the rise. This has implications for security at the corporate level as well as for individual privacy," says Michela Menting, senior cyber security analyst. 

"The mobile application security market is rife with vendors offering their wares. The priority now for end-users is understanding the issue at hand and finding the right offering that best suits their needs," said Menting. (more) (SpyWarn)

Lawsuit: Failure to Proactively Prevent Spying

A coffee shop staged a failed cover-up after a lawyer planted spy cameras in its restrooms, a class of customers claim in court.

Lead plaintiff Roderick Smith says he discovered a spy camera in the restroom of a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Encino last year, and that personal injury attorney Mark Daniel Wenzel planted another camera a week later.

Corporate owner International Coffee & Tea LLC failed to "proactively prevent" this spying, according to the complaint in Superior Court...

Detectives allegedly identified Wenzel as the culprit because the spy cam's own footage captured him during the installation process.

"The police sent pictures of defendant Wenzel to all the Coffee Bean shops in the area, and weeks later, in or about November of 2011, defendant Wenzel was apprehended by the police on a visit to the Coffee Bean located at the intersection of Woodley and Ventura at 16101 Ventura Boulevard in Encino, California, where another hidden recording device was also uncovered," the complaint says.

Meanwhile Coffee Bean superiors allegedly told staff to keep the incident to themselves. (more)

Dedicated spycam'ers plant multiple devices — in this case, at least three before the case was solved.

All businesses need to "proactively prevent spying" (especially optical spying). Schools, country clubs and companies dealing with the public use our services on a regular basis. Contact us.

Proactive inspections are cheap insurance. Inaction leads to lawsuits and lost customer goodwill.

U.S. Government Surveillance Stats - Up 361%, 2009-2011

U.S. law enforcement surveillance of email and other Internet communication has skyrocketed in the last two years, according to data obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union... 

Early Pen Register

The number of so-called pen register and trap-and-trace orders obtained by federal law enforcement agencies has increased 361 percent between 2009 and 2011, the ACLU said. The U.S. Department of Justice released the data to the ACLU after the civil rights group sued the agency under the Freedom of Information Act. (more)

Outrageous - Anyone else would have landed in prison.

Companies agree to stop spying, taking secret photos on rented home computers
 

The US Federal Trade Commission has reached a settlement with seven computer rental companies and a software firm over what the agency said was flagrant computer spying on customers of the rental stores.

In a statement Wednesday, the FTC said that DesignerWare LLC and seven rent-to-own computer stores agreed to cease using malware-like monitoring software to track rental PCs and from using information gathered by the spying software for debt collection purposes.

According to the FTC, the software captured screenshots of confidential and personal information, logged users' keystrokes, and in some cases took "webcam pictures of people in their homes, all without notice to, or consent from, the consumers."

The settlement stems from what an FTC complaint (PDF link) says was a years-long campaign of electronic spying by PC rent-to-own firms against customers using PC Rental Agent, a remote monitoring application made and marketed by DesignerWare that can disable or remotely wipe a rented computer, but also monitored a user’s online activity and physical location using a feature called "Detective Mode." (more) (sing-a-long)


P.S. It also presented a fake software program registration screen that tricked consumers into providing their personal contact information.

Forensically Find Fake Photos Fast - Further Discussion

As most readers of the Security Scrapbook know, I do not sell products, nor do I profit in any way from items brought to your attention. The sole purpose when mentioning a product is to inform and educate. Sometimes, my readers provide additional insights and information. This helps all of us.

The other day I posted, "Fourandsix Technologies, Inc. has introduced their first product, FourMatch, which instantly distinguishes unmodified digital camera files from those that may have been edited." Wow! Cool stuff. Gimme, gimme.

Reality Check...
While this statement is technically accurate, one reader cautions that the company's other marketing information may lead one to expectations the product can not fulfill.

Read the review by Jim Hoerricks, and the response by Kevin Connor of Fourandsix Technologies, Inc.. Their discussion is very useful and illuminating, especially if you are in need of this technology.

P.S. The answer to the last "What's wrong with this picture?" (Rolling Stones album cover) is... "Former Rolling Stones’ bassist Bill Wyman was digitally removed from the cover..."

Next up...

What's wrong with this picture?