From Narrative.ly comes a well told tale, by Robert Silverman, of cold war espionage in Brooklyn, NY. It is interesting to note the author’s observation that the spy does not usually appear as a James Bond or Jason Bourne: “How could Emil be a ‘master spy,’ or even a common, everyday spy? He was an amateur painter, a fine guitar player and a charming older gentleman.”  An average or less than average person. Something to consider when trying to protect confidential information in your facilities. The threat may come from the least suspected source.
Excerpts from Robert Silverman’s story are below. The entire interesting story can be read here: [ narrative.ly].  

This is a story about a man named Rudolf […]

Maryland requires “all party consent” before recording any conversations (remember Linda Tripp?). Police Sergeant Carlos Vila is now out of a job, not just for making the recording, but also because he played it for others to hear. Know your state’s laws before you consider recording any phone conversations.

BALTIMORE —A Baltimore City police officer has agreed to resign his post so charges against him in an illegal phone recording case will be dropped.

Sgt. Carlos Vila was indicted in August 2012 under the state’s wiretapping law after he was accused of illegally recording Baltimore Judge Joan Gordon, who sits in the city’s eastside district court. Officials said in April 2012, Vila used his cellphone to record an argument he had with Gordon about a warrant.

Aside from the wiretapping charge, Vila was also charged with playing the recordings for his colleagues. Both […]

Brian Krebs, KrebsOnSecurity.com offers a good summary of how the hackers found their way into the Target data network by stealing an HVAC vendor’s network access credentials. Expect to hear more about such vulnerabilities as more and more devices are connected online for maintenance, updates, and control.

 KrebsOnSecurity.com 

Last week, Target told reporters at The Wall Street Journal and Reuters that the initial intrusion into its systems was traced back to network credentials that were stolen from a third party vendor. Sources now tell KrebsOnSecurity that the vendor in question was a refrigeration, heating and air conditioning subcontractor that has worked at a number of locations at Target and other top retailers.

Sources close to the investigation said the attackers first broke into the retailer’s network on Nov. 15, 2013 using network credentials stolen from 

I SPY A STRANGE-LOOKING CAR

 Autonet.ca, Montreal QC

How does one hide a car in plain sight? There’s a clandestine component to automotive testing – the act of car cloaking with camouflage.

When an automaker builds a new model, the vehicle reaches the prototype stage, and is known as a “mule,” that must be tested on the track.

There is a small, stealthy group of auto photographers dedicated to grabbing photos of this test, so to combat their long lenses, many car companies keep a “camo expert” on staff.

There’s the threat of corporate espionage, or maybe the automaker wants to hide a new, proprietary feature that could separate them from their competition. Camouflaging is done to control perception (mules are quite ugly), and so a potential buyer doesn’t see the upcoming model, and decide to hold off on their purchase of this year’s car.

Plus, leaked images really suck the drama […]

The United Federation of Teachers union in NYC hired a TSCM team to sweep their offices.  Unfortunately, comments on articles we read and even the articles themselves tend to make fun of their desire for privacy.  One frequent comment we hear about TSCM is how a sweep is “James Bond-like”.  What people do not seem to recognize is that 007 was a spy, TSCM sweeps are performed to catch and prevent spying. 
The information of the sweep came from a review of their spending reports. That highlights another need to try to keep your security information under wraps. 

from the NY Post:

Something’s bugging teachers-union boss Michael Mulgrew — or, at least, he thinks so.

Teachers’ union boss spent $18K in Bond-like HQ spy sweep

The United Federation of Teachers president blew a huge wad of union cash to play out a paranoid James […]

The leak is linked to an insider. Reports vary as to how many accounts have been compromised, but all of them are big numbers. Bank executives are offering to resign.

Report below is from Reuters.com   

The theft of personal information from more than 100 million South Korean credit cards and accounts, reportedly including those of President Park Geun-hye and UN chief Ban Ki-moon, has ignited a storm of anger and litigation against credit firms.

The theft of personal information from more than 100 million South Korean credit cards and accounts, reportedly including those of President Park Geun-hye and UN chief Ban Ki-moon, has ignited a storm of anger and litigation against credit firms.

Worried Koreans on Tuesday packed into branches of one of the banks hit by the theft to ensure their money was safe, while lawyers said 130 people joined a class action suit against their credit […]

Some interesting history of espionage and the FBI. The author, David Wise, originally wrote a longer article for Smithsonian.com, this can be viewed here. Some of the details were supplied by David Major, a former FBI counterintelligence agent who now runs the Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies found online at www.cicentre.com, a valuable resource for up to date information on international espionage and counterintelligence.

ONE SPRING NIGHT in 1962, a short, stocky Russian walked into the FBI office in Midtown Manhattan and offered his services as a spy for the United States. Aleksei Kulak, then 39, was working undercover as a science official at the United Nations. He said he was unhappy with his progress at his true employer, the KGB.

Kulak was taking a huge risk by entering the FBI office. The building was […]

After 43 years, activists admit theft at FBI office that exposed domestic spying

In the bombshell book, “The Burglary,” journalist Betty Medzger exposes the robbers behind the momentous theft from an FBI office outside Philadelphia over 40 years ago. The perpetrators have come forward in an interview with NBC News.

By Michael Isikoff, National Investigative Correspondent, NBC News [Full article and video at nbcnews.com]

Forty-three years after the mysterious theft of up to 1,000 documents from an FBI office outside Philadelphia, three former political activists are publicly confessing to the brazen burglary, calling it an act of “resistance” that exposed “massive illegal surveillance and intimidation.”