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.”

Author Christopher Reich did a lot of research for his new novel, some of his comments in this interview from the Epoch Times reflect the real security concerns corporations face.

By Joshua Philipp, Epoch Times | December 31, 2013

Three politicians die in fear as their car, controlled by an unseen hacker, charges onto the White House lawn and into a line of armed Secret Service agents. In his final moments, one of the men texts his son, a hedge fund manager in New York, a single word that could unravel a sinister plot to destroy the U.S. economy and bring the country to its knees.

So begins “The Prince of Risk,” the latest novel by bestselling author Christopher Reich. While the story is fiction, it’s haunting theme hits uncomfortably close to home. The novel plays on the Chinese Communist Party’s real-world use of industrial espionage and imagines […]

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, top HTC senior executive and vice president of product design Thomas Chien has been indicted along with five other HTC employees by the Taiwanese courts for corporate espionage. The charges include leaking company secrets, falsifying expense reports, and taking kickbacks.

Chien has been accused of leaking interface designs based on the upcoming Sense 6.0 UI, as well as receiving some 33.57 million New Taiwan dollars ($1.12 million) through kickbacks from suppliers.

HTC has declined to comment on Chien or confirm who the other charged HTC employees are, but released this statement:

“The company expects employees to observe and practice the highest levels of integrity and ethics. Protecting the company’s proprietary and intellectual properties, privacy and security is a core fundamental responsibility of every employee. The company does not condone any violation.”

Chien had supposedly leaked the interface designs to a partner he […]

Santa’s elves have been known for their cleverness with technology. This photograph made was available to the public in the 1924 edition of the Western Morning News. 

It shows a sinister Santa perched on a snow-capped roof, using a listening device to eavesdrop on the praying family below. The caption describes how ‘Father Christmas is ascertaining the wishes of children by the latest scientific methods.’

A 1924 edition of the Western Morning News shows a Sinister Santa perched on a snow-capped roof, using a listening device to eavesdrop on the praying family below. The caption describes how ‘Father Christmas is ascertaining the wishes of children by the latest scientific methods’.

The British Newspaper Archive has released a number of chilling images taken from British local papers that depict Father Christmas as at best an eerie ghost and at worst a predatory-looking spy.

Phone system hacking has been going on for decades and is still a big problem. We have been called to help solve many cases in recent years. Make sure your telecom provider is aware of the security vulnerabilities of your systems and how they can protect against hacking. Particularly vulnerable are auto-attendant features, call forwarding, DISA (Direct Inward System Access), and voicemail notification features. If you see calls on your phone bill to odd international locations, costing extra large amounts, or at odd times such as nights or weekends, it could be an indication of your system having been hacked.

Phone hackers leave RABI with £2k bill

Philip Case  Tuesday 03 December 2013 [Farmers Weekly]
Criminals have hacked into the telephone system of farming charity the RABI and spent nearly £2,000 calling premium-rate numbers.

Telephones at the RABI’s head office in […]

Should You Secretly Tape Your Meetings with Employees? By Christina Stoneburner, Fox Rothschild Attorneys, November 12, 2013

Although every situation is different, I would think twice before secretly taping employee meetings. 
With more employees  having smartphones that can record high quality digital recordings, I have been asked more and more frequently by supervisors whether they should protect themselves and record disciplinary meetings with employees just “so the record is clear.”  

Recording seems like a good idea, because supervisors tell me, they believe employees are already taping them.  Just look for example about the case my partner, Richard, blogged about a “Federal Jury Slams Black Owner for Calling Black Employee the “N Word.” Later CNN released the actual tapes in that case (which contain explict — although bleeped – slurs) and they are remarkably clear.  I guess gone are the days of hidden tape recorders where the audio sounds like a bag of potato chips was being opened and […]