Corporate Espionage and Countermeasures News
News updates and articles are presented regarding corporate espionage, eavesdropping, electronic countermeasures, and TSCM. Please subscribe for automatic updates by entering your email address in the box on the right. You can search past articles and view archives in the column on the right.
Excerpts from recent posts are shown below. Click on the title to view the entire article.
Skype for Android Bug Can Be Used for Eavesdropping
A vulnerability in Skype that could be used for eavesdropping has been discovered and described by Reddit user "Ponkers". He explains it this way: "All you need is Skype on two [of your own] devices, call someone with one, then disconnect it from the net as it's ringing. [...]
Surveillance alert: Elf On A Shelf and a Santa Spy Cam
Ontario professor Laura Pinto thinks the popular "Elf on a Shelf" Â toy is conditioning children for growing up in a surveillance state. Is that any different than Santa knowing when you are sleeping, when you're awake, and if you've been naughty or nice? Â It is [...]
Internal threat: Spying, subterfuge and stolen treasure- Inside Nike and Adidas
by Drew Harwell, Washington Post The massive heist from the world’s biggest sportswear firm was, as Nike attorneys allege, an inside job. Nike vs Adidas Faking a broken laptop, one of the sneaker giant’s top directors is said to have met secretly with [...]
NORAD tracking Santa for over 50 years
For almost 60 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa’s flight. The tradition began in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement misprinted the telephone number for children to call Santa. Instead of reaching Santa, [...]
Wiretapping ATMs
News came out last month [here] on information security blog Krebsonsecurity.com, about attacks on European ATM machines that involved cutting into the machines and tapping into the wires that connect to the internal card reader. The hole would then be covered up with a fake decal or sticker. Photos [...]
Future watch: iPhone with laser beams, 3D mapping, more…
Consumer technology eventually encroaches on ideas that were only dreamed of in the past. Developments come quickly these days, so it's worthwhile to keep an eye on where things are going. An eavesdropping technique that has been difficult to deploy in the past, could also be built [...]
NSA tools highlight the need for Cyber Security and TSCM to work together.
Pages leaked from the supposed National Security Agency - Advanced Network Technology (NSA-ANT) catalog reveal eavesdropping and spy technology using advanced wireless communications (revealed in Der Spiegel in 2013 here). Edward Snowden may not be on your Christmas list, and the NSA may or may [...]
Cyber bugs studied used for disaster rescue, real bugs…
by Kelly Dickerson, LiveScience.com Remote-controlled cyborg cockroaches could one day be among the first responders at disaster scenes to help locate survivors. A team of researchers at North Carolina State University has created a swarm of cyborg cockroaches, nicknamed "biobots," that are equipped with microphones [...]
Genie put back in the bottle with $500,000 fine. First ever conviction for cellphone eavesdropping software.
A man who advertised and sold the notorious StealthGenie mobile-phone spyware has pleaded guilty to federal charges, earning himself a $500,000 fine, the Department of Justice said Tuesday. Hammad Akbar, a Danish citizen originally from Pakistan, was arrested in September and charged with advertisement and [...]
Top Secret History: maps printed on silk, smuggled in Monopoly games to aid prisoners of war
Wall tiles and Free Parking: escape and evasion maps of World War II By Debbie Hall, Mapforum.com Waddington PLC, the printing company best known for its games including Monopoly, was involved in a most unusual venture during the Second World War: printing maps on silk, [...]