Business Espionage: "A Sellout and a Spy"

Delaware's Incyte Corp. is in court this week seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from a former-Silicon Valley competitor.

The Wilmington pharmaceutical company argues in a lawsuit that its rival, Flexus Biosciences, in 2014 stole trade secrets for a drug that at the time was thought to have enormous potential for the treatment of tumors. 

During opening statements on Tuesday, Incyte attorney Steve Wood told jurors that Flexus employed the services of "a spy and a sellout" to steal information about blood tests and about how the drug metabolizes in a patient's body. more

Ex-employee Accuses Huawei of 'Corporate Espionage'

A former employee of Huawei Technologies Co has accused the company of using a lawsuit against his Silicon Valley startup as part of a strategy to steal intellectual property and help China achieve technological dominance over the US. more

M, I, See... see you real soon...

The park around Lake Eola offers a great view of the downtown skyline, but Orlando police said someone's been peeping into some of the apartments closer than the naked eye can see with either a super high-powered camera or a drone.

"I don't even think about people watching me or anything like that. So, to me, that's just mind-blowing, honestly,” said downtown resident Mary Pericles.

Women who live in The Waverly and Post Parkside apartments say they've seen a drone flying outside their windows at least three times. more

File Under: You Can't Do That in the Private Sector

UK - A former Royal Marine carried out body searches on his girlfriend, placed bugging devices in her bedroom and installed a tracking device on her mobile phone due to his paranoia over her alleged infidelity.

In the first conviction of coercive and controlling behaviour offences secured at Grimsby Crown Court, Lee Jensen received a 12-month suspended sentence.

The prosecutor said bugging devices were concealed under cushions in her bedroom by Jensen, so he could listen to her. He subjected her to body checks. He prevented her from visiting her own GP.

After the relationship ended he made "futile threats to burn her house down". more sing-a-long

Making Security Grate Again - Part II

China has jokingly suggested that US President Donald Trump should swap his Apple iPhone for a Chinese model, as it denied a report claiming Beijing was bugging his private calls. more

Making Security Grate Again

When President Trump calls old friends on one of his iPhones to gossip, gripe or solicit their latest take on how he is doing, American intelligence reports indicate that Chinese spies are often listening — and putting to use invaluable insights into how to best work the president and affect administration policy, current and former American officials said.

Mr. Trump’s aides have repeatedly warned him that his cellphone calls are not secure, and they have told him that Russian spies are routinely eavesdropping on the calls, as well. But aides say the voluble president, who has been pressured into using his secure White House landline more often these days, has still refused to give up his iPhones. White House officials say they can only hope he refrains from discussing classified information when he is on them. more

Print Centers Leak Information

These behemoth systems do far more than just make copies,
confusing their users, and opening up vulnerabilities to the company. Although copying may be the main business of the machines, they can also scan, fax, send and receive vital company information — all in one place. Essentially, these machines have become a networking hub within the workplace, where each new action or service provides a new opportunity for exploitation wirelessly, by ethernet cable, or by both.

Researchers have recently been investigating access on printer/copiers as a potential opportunity for information leakage or industrial espionage, or even sabotage. In a January 2017 Quocira survey of 200 US and European businesses, more than half reported some data loss through intercepted print jobs (50%), access and loss or theft of printer hard disk data (48%), documents emailed externally (44%), or outright hacking of the printer system to gain company network access (18%). Some hackers have been very clever in attacking these systems. more

Tech-Head Alert: Smartphone Anti-Spyware & Anti-IMSI Catcher Development

We are looking for recommendations of top tier stealthy Spyware Command and Control APKs to place on a testbed of Windows, iOS, Android, Ubuntu handsets and handsets carrying a modded version of the Google Android 7.0 Nougat OS for a test that we wish to conduct to measure the capture rate and automated counter measure response of a mobile adaptive threat defence suite.

We are also looking for a list of non-LE "StingRay" type cellphone-surveillance and cell-site simulators available publicly as part of our testing of our MITM detection, automated counter measures response, and triangulation software suite. more

Resources for Investigators

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press serves the nation’s leading news organizations; thousands of reporters, editors, and media lawyers; and many more who use their online and mobile resources. Private and corporate investigators will find the resources below especially useful.

• General The First Amendment Handbook The News Media & The Law

• Libel and Privacy SLAPP Stick Can We Tape? Photographers Guide to Privacy

• Reporter's Privilege Privilege Compendium Agents of Discovery

• Freedom of Information A Reporter's Guide to Medical Privacy Law Access to Electronic Communications Access to Police Records Federal FOIA Appeals Guide Federal Open Government Guide Open Government Guide Private Eyes Privatization v. The Public's Right to Know Sunshine, Inc. The Lost Stories

• Court access Open Courts Compendium A Reporter's Guide to Military Justice Access to Juror Questionnaires Access to Juvenile Justice Access to Terrorism Proceedings Alternative Dispute Resolution Anonymous Juries Gag Orders Grand Juries Judicial Speech Jury Records and Proceedings Off Base: Military Court Dockets Online Access to Plea Agreements Secret Dockets Secret Juries Warrants & Wiretaps White Paper: Military Dockets

• Newsgathering A Reporter's Field Guide A Reporter's Guide to American Indian Law Homefront Confidential Police, Protesters and the Press

More Than 200 Companies Making Counter-Drone Systems

The ability of unmanned aerial vehicles to fly legally over fences, walls and property lines is disrupting more than just the few industries that use drones commercially. 

As the drone market grows, so does the anti-drone market. The market for products that track, trap or break unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) is growing alongside the market for drones, much of it driven by fear that UAVs could be weaponized by terrorists or used as platforms for corporate espionage.

This is less far-fetched than it sounds. One tech industry executive told Semiconductor Engineering that he recently found a drone hovering outside his 45th-floor hotel room in Shanghai. He immediately closed his laptop computer.

“There is a laundry list, more than 200 companies, making counter-drone systems of one kind or another, and they do market mitigation capabilities that most people can’t use,” Michael Blades said. “But drones are cheap to get, easy to fly, and are not always easy to see. So if a company is concerned about trade secrets, or even just about the security to know if there’s anyone around taking pictures, they might look into countermeasures.” more

Carvercon 2018 - Washington, DC - November 16

Security Management International (SMI) is pleased to host the inaugural CARVER Target Analysis and Vulnerability Assessment Convention in Washington, D.C. on Friday, November 16th, 2018 from 8am – 5pm. The event will be in Washington D.C. at the Washington Marriott Metro Center with a continental breakfast, lunch, and light fare in the afternoon.

This one-day event will cover a range of topics related to protecting critical infrastructure and key resources, utilizing the CARVER Target Analysis and Vulnerability Assessment Methodology as a foundation for discussion. The latest innovations in assessment technology, recent case studies, and best practices for identifying and minimizing security threats will all be addressed.

Featured speakers include retired CIA officer and the “Godfather of CARVER,” Leo Labaj, former Deputy Director of the FBI, William Esposito, former US National Security Advisor and Supreme Allied Commander, General James Jones, plus many more. more

Have Xfinity? Your Wi-Fi is Scared

"In addition to saying “Help” into your Voice Remote, you can directly ask for what you need.  For example, say “What’s my WiFi password?” and your WiFi network name and password will show up on the tv screen.

Keep exploring your WiFi information and you will find different ways to manage your network, including viewing WiFi usage across devices in your home. You can also do this on-the-go with the Xfinty xFi app." more

Wi-Fi security is important, especially if you are using it in a business environment. ~Kevin

"What, you're still on Facebook?!?!"

Today, Facebook says it recently discovered a security breach affecting nearly 50 million user accounts. more

Yesterday, Facebook confirmed that advertisers were privy to phone numbers given by members of the social network for enhanced security.

A study by two US universities, first reported by news website Gizmodo, found that phone numbers given to Facebook for two-factor authentication were also used to target advertising. more

Recent Criminal Prosecutions for Trade Secret Theft

via Megan Mocho Jeschke, Holland & Knight LLP
Theft of trade secrets typically spurs civil actions against the offender, but theft of trade secrets can also be prosecuted criminally under the Economic Espionage Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1831 et seq. (the “Act”) and other related statutes. Several high-profile arrests, convictions, and indictments have come down in recent months highlighting the Department of Justice’s active enforcement in this area...

The Act makes it a crime to steal trade secrets or obtain trade secrets knowing them to have been stolen. 18 U.S.C. § 1831(a). The Act broadly defines trade secrets to include

all forms and types of financial, business, scientific, technical, economic, or engineering information, including patterns, plans, compilations, program devices, formulas, designs, prototypes, methods, techniques, processes, procedures, programs, or codes, whether tangible or intangible, and whether or how stored, compiled, or memorialized physically, electronically, graphically, photographically, or in writing

provided that the owner takes “reasonable measures to keep such information secret” and the continued secrecy of the information has actual or potential “independent economic value.” 18 U.S.C. § 1839. Violators can be imprisoned and/or fined. Violators who intend to benefit a foreign government face higher penalties. more

Recent Spycam News

AR - A Northeast Arkansas man accused in a video voyeurism case pleaded guilty Monday. more

CA - Former Rancho Palos Verdes building inspector accused of secretly recording 89 people in City Hall, Starbucks restroom. more

DC - Fifty-two women secretly videotaped by an Orthodox rabbi in Georgetown between 2004 and 2014 as they undressed to immerse in a mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath, will get $25,000 each if a settlement reached between them and four Jewish organizations is approved by a D.C. judge. more

FL - Fort Myers Arthrex employee secretly recorded co-worker using bathroom. more

FL - A man who installs security systems for a living is accused of setting up hidden cameras in a home and recording hundreds of videos of women in the shower. more

Fl - A teacher and girls track coach left Bloomingdale High School in handcuffs on Tuesday after deputies said he admitted to secretly recording students in his fashion design class as they undressed. more
 
KY - A former teacher at Holy Rosary Catholic School in Evansville has pleaded guilty to six charges in a voyeurism case. more

PA - Philadelphia man sentenced to 20 years for secretly recording his girlfriend’s two daughters in bathroom. more

TX - A father suspicious of what was going on at his son's daycare sent the baby rigged with a spycam. His suspicions turned out to be right. more

UT - Salt Lake man charged in changing room voyeurism case. more

VT - There are new allegations against the former Rice Memorial High School teacher charged with secretly taking cellphone photos up students' skirts. more

WA - A Western Washington University employee, who committed suicide this week, had been accused of secretly video-recording two adult basketball players inside a locker room shower. more

WA - A man who videotaped a young girl as she was showering was sentenced to serve 90 days in jail for voyeurism. more

WV - Women's basketball players were photographed secretly in nude by assistant coach/residence hall director. more

Belgium - Every year, police records more acts of voyeurism. In 2016, 366 offenses were recorded, and even 857 in 2017, while in 2014 and 2015, the figures were respectively 108 and 112. more

Canada - Peterborough police have arrested a man on a warrant for several charges including voyeurism involving a woman he once had an intimate relationship with. more

Canada - A British couple vacationing in Toronto were horrified to discover a spy camera hidden in a digital clock at their rental apartment. more

Japan - Kumamoto Prefectural Police have arrested a male civic employee over the alleged illicit filming of a female high school student. more

Singapore - Apart from new laws to tackle the issue of voyeurism, various stakeholders such as malls and security companies should step up efforts to deter the use of hidden cameras in public toilets, said Members of Parliament (MPs) and activists. more   Finding spycams in the workplace.

South Korea - A spycam was discovered in the room for actress Shin Se-kyung and Apink’s Yoon Bo-mi while they were shooting for new variety program “Borderless Food Cart.” more

South Korea - Public toilets an issue of concern in South Korea for thousands of women. more