About Charles Patterson

Charles Patterson is the president, CEO, and primary consultant of Exec Security TSCM. He began working in the security field in 1978 in executive protection and related technical security services. He has been providing TSCM sweeps since 1995.

Spy history miniseries on ABC: ‘The Assets’: Hot on the trail of a Cold War spy within the CIA

An eight-part miniseries “The Assets,” about the real-life CIA officers who tracked down Aldrich Ames, a spy within their ranks, airs at 10 p.m. Thursdays on ABC.

By David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle

Review

No one misses the Cold War except maybe Vladimir Putin and Hollywood film and TV creators, but it’s easy to see why the second group feels nostalgia. Protracted tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union provided a rich vein of inspiration for countless TV shows and movies for decades.

Then they had to go ruin it all with that whole glasnost thing, the demolition of the Berlin Wall, and Gorbachev and Reagan getting all palsy-walsy. But now that relations between the U.S. and Russia are chilling again, it’s the perfect time to recall the cold old days of spies versus spies.

FX is already there with the fictional series “The Americans,” returning Feb. 26, and now […]

Charles Patterson2016-12-16T20:23:55-05:00January 6th, 2014|

Hidden camera in a bathroom forces plane to make emergency landing

By Jeff Black, NBC News

An American Airlines flight from San Francisco to New York was forced to make an emergency landing in Kansas City on Sunday afternoon because an electronic device thought potentially to be a bomb was found on board, authorities said.

Upon landing, the plane carrying 215 passengers and nine crew members was moved to a remote area of the airport where the jet was evacuated and searched, officials said.

The device found on the JFK-bound 767 was initially described to NBC News by a senior law enforcement official as a “flash drive.”

Later, senior government officials said the device was taped to part of the bathroom.

An preliminary inspection of the device showed it was actually a camera disguised as a flash drive, the officials said.

Security officials, including the FBI in Kansas City, were working to determine who the device belongs to.

No injuries related […]

Charles Patterson2016-12-16T20:23:55-05:00January 6th, 2014|

Fiction sheds light on the reality of industrial espionage: author’s research highlights the threats.

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 […]

Charles Patterson2016-12-16T20:23:55-05:00December 31st, 2013|

Surveillance Countermeasures also means you should be aware of your surroundings, you never know who might be listening…

Man Sits Behind Ex-CIA Director On The Train, Eavesdrops, And Live-Tweets His Conversation,
by Brian Jones, Business Insider

Former Director of the CIA and head of the National Security Agency Michael Hayden had his cover blown on the Acela train by Tom Matzzie, a political strategist who used to run the D.C. branch of MoveOn.org, according to Dylan Matthews at The Washington Post.

According to Matzzie, Hayden was on a call with reporters and was speaking under the condition of anonymity, intending to be cited only as “a former senior administration official.”

Matzzie didn’t just recognize him, he live-tweeted the conversation, and made some great quips about when he was going to get rendered for live-tweeting the private conversations of a man who was among the most powerful on the planet.

In subsequent tweets, Matzzie said he was working […]

Charles Patterson2016-12-16T20:23:55-05:00December 30th, 2013|

HTC VP and others indicted in Taiwan for corporate espionage

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 […]

Charles Patterson2013-12-30T21:11:06-05:00December 30th, 2013|

Naughty or nice, how did Santa know? Early newspaper photos caught him in the act.

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.

Charles Patterson2016-12-16T20:23:55-05:00December 27th, 2013|

Eavesdropping device installed in vehicle; Dubai man fined and sent to jail for spying on ex-wife

Ex-husband used tracking devices on woman’s car to eavesdrop and find out her whereabouts

By Eman Al Baik Published Thursday, December 26, 2013

Dubai Courts found an ex-husband guilty of spying by fixing a listening and tracking device in his divorced wife’s car and sentenced him to six months in jail and ordered him to pay Dh10,000 for invading the woman’s private life.

The Court also ordered the information solution company to pay Dh100,000 fine and another Dh100,000 to be paid by its manager for selling and offering the spying device without obtaining the necessary permissions from Telecom Regulatory Authority.

Consultant Ismail Ali Madani, Head of Funds Prosecution who investigated the case said that in 2009 the victim had bought a car from her husband with whom she had trade deals. In 2010, her husband asked her to get the car’s windows tinted from a specific outlet. […]

Charles Patterson2013-12-26T00:12:27-05:00December 26th, 2013|

Virtual Reality, Real Spies- What else goes on in the world of online gaming?

New York Times, World; By MARK MAZZETTI and JUSTIN ELLIOTT (Dec 9, 2013)

Not limiting their activities to the earthly realm, American and British spies have infiltrated the fantasy worlds of World of Warcraft and Second Life, conducting surveillance and scooping up data in the online games played by millions of people across the globe, according to newly disclosed classified documents.

Fearing that terrorist or criminal networks could use the games to communicate secretly, move money or plot attacks, the documents show, intelligence operatives have entered terrain populated by digital avatars that include elves, gnomes and supermodels.

The spies have created make-believe characters to snoop and to try to recruit informers, while also collecting data and contents of communications between players, according to the documents, disclosed by the former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden. Because militants often rely on features common to video games — fake identities, […]

Charles Patterson2016-12-16T20:23:55-05:00December 24th, 2013|

Spy Shop owner busted- for producing illegal parking permits and identity theft.

Spy shops, in general, are difficult to trust, they often claim to offer “counter-spy” equipment for protecting your privacy, but will just as easily sell you the very devices you were afraid of in the first place. This one, the Queens Spy Shop in New York, seemed to be involved in a number of suspicious activities. Feds intercepted 1,000 fake Department of Transportation parking permits, officials said. (Don’t be fooled by their claims, the countermeasures equipment sold at spy shops is usually little more than toys and cannot be used for serious sweeps. Also interesting to note, is the Feds found eavesdropping equipment here, but it was not illegal to possess, so they are not being charged with that. Somebody is buying their products. Hope they don’t show up in your office, or hire a professional TSCM team to make sure they don’t.)

The feds have uncovered something […]

Charles Patterson2013-12-20T21:30:10-05:00December 20th, 2013|

Jury had peek into phone hacker’s routine; News of the World trial

Phone-hacking jury given peek into Glenn Mulcaire’s working routine

Trial of Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson shown whiteboards and handwritten notes collected from hacker’s office and shed

Nick Davies theguardian.com,

The working life of a phone hacker was exposed in the Old Bailey on Thursday, including a note to be wary of a particularly tricky Vodafone employee and a suggestion that the News of the World’s deputy editor had been a target of his own paper’s eavesdropping.

The jury in the phone-hacking trial was shown eight of Glenn Mulcaire’s whiteboards – covered in handwritten notes and diagrams about his work – found by police in an office and a garden shed belonging to the News of the World’s specialist hacker.

One board carried a list headed “Networking”, which included the names of Rebekah Wade (as Rebekah Brooks was then) and Greg Miskiw, the former assistant editor of the News […]

Charles Patterson2016-12-16T20:23:55-05:00December 18th, 2013|

Phone hacking of UK Charity- PBX phone systems have many vulnerabilities

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 […]

Charles Patterson2013-12-17T23:20:45-05:00December 17th, 2013|

Corporate Spies, Social Media, and BYOD

Corporate Spies Love Social Media, By Stephanie Blanchard, Digital Editor Mobile Enterprise

No one appreciates a fair-weather friend, the kind that is only around when something is in it for them, and quick to disappear when help is needed. But fake friends are even worse, the social profiles of people who simply do not exist in the real world. However, such profiles serve as bait, whether to collect information, or send out malware, or believe it or not, corporate espionage.

But are companies paying attention? After all, these are just social sites, right? And someone else’s problem. Think again. Spear phising is one way in to the network, and it’s possible every day.

One completely bogus profile on Linkedin, for example, identified by Websense Security Labs, had 400 connections. Yet it exists only to harvest intelligence, and in this particular case, lure viewers to a dating site. The consequences can […]

Charles Patterson2016-12-16T20:23:55-05:00December 17th, 2013|

Tech execs urge Obama to limit NSA spying on their users

Washington Bureau, Dec 17, 2013

The nation’s top technology executives gave President Barack Obama an earful about the National Security Agency’s spying on their users at a White House meeting Tuesday.

The president met with 15 tech executives, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, FacebookChief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandbergand Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt.

Apple CEO Tim Cook

Obama talked to the executives about his administration’s work to fix HealthCare.gov, the federal insurance exchange, and announced he’s hired former Microsoft Office Division President Kurt DelBene to lead this effort. The president also encouraged the executives to share their ideas on how to improve the federal government’s procurement and use of information technology.

But NSA spying was clearly the most important topic for the tech executives.

They left the White House without talking to reporters, but they did issue the following joint statement: “We appreciated the opportunity to share directly with the president our principles on government surveillance that we released last […]

Charles Patterson2016-12-16T20:23:55-05:00December 17th, 2013|

Butt-dialing cautions…

It’s probably happened to everyone, accidentally dialing the last number dialed or a speed dial from your cell phone, or receiving such a call from someone you recently spoke with and being able to listen to the other party riding in their car, listening to the radio, carrying on with their life unknowing that you are listening. Although fairly common, this can create serious security concerns. I was in a security meeting at one organization with department heads and the Secret Service discussing the arrival of the President of the United States to an ongoing conference. An assistant of the person next to me came up to her and explained that she just received a voice message on her phone that was a recording of the entire conversation at our meeting. She was a victim of butt-dialing. The last call the department head had made was to the assistant, […]

Charles Patterson2016-12-16T20:23:55-05:00December 13th, 2013|

Speaking of recording… some caution about recording staff meetings.

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 […]

Charles Patterson2016-12-16T20:23:56-05:00December 13th, 2013|

LA hoaxer arrested on eavesdropping charges- not for making prank calls, but for recording them.

Man Nabbed Over Prank Calls to Pro Coaches, By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

(NEWSER) – Famous last words: “I’m like the world’s most safe criminal.” A Los Angeles man has been arrested after allegedly making prank calls to at least a dozen NFL, NBA, and college football coaches offering them new jobs. Kenneth Tarr, 32, allegedly called the likes of ex-Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, offering him a head coach position at the University of Southern California, NBC News reports. Others targets included Minnesota Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier, University of Hawaii head coach Norm Chow, and Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden.

Tarr was arrested yesterday on suspicion of eavesdropping after he allegedly recorded the calls; recording without consent is illegal in California. He seems quite open about the pranks, having apparently written to Deadspin boasting of them. “I’m amazed that they’re returning any of these calls,” he […]

Charles Patterson2016-12-16T20:23:56-05:00December 13th, 2013|

Hidden camera and remote controlled power outlets- but no espionage, just an advertising stunt.

Intel and The Monkeys chase power in hidden camera stunt

Intel has enlisted creative agency The Monkeys to conduct a hidden camera experiment which sees people chasing around remote controlled power outlets as they try to charge their devices.

The video ‘Chasing Charge’ to promote the new Core Processors has people chasing the power outlet at a cafe until it hides in a box which reveals the message “power keep running out on you?”

Intel’s Asia Pacific director brand strategy and integrated marketing Jayant Murty said in a statement: “In a world where people want to stay connected to the things they love without breaks or interruptions, they are increasingly seeking devices that have great performance and amazing battery life.

“Until recently consumers have had to choose between the two. But not with the latest core processors, that give you both in one package.”

Charles Patterson2013-12-05T19:25:02-05:00December 5th, 2013|

Video surveillance of hacker/activist Aaron Swartz released.

The video can be viewed at the website links below.

WIRED, BY KEVIN POULSEN 12.04.13

The door to the network closet pops open and a slender figure enters, a bicycle helmet hanging at his side. He sheds his backpack and pulls out a cardboard box containing a small hard drive, then kneels out of frame. After about five minutes, he stands, turns off the lights and furtively exits the closet.

This scene, captured by a video camera hidden in a wiring closet at MIT, was the beginning of a probe that led to federal charges against the late coder and activist Aaron Swartz. The video, along with dozens of other documents related to the case, has been released to the public for the first time through my Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the U.S. Secret Service.

The video was made in January 2011, near the end of a months-long cat-and-mouse game between MIT personnel […]

Charles Patterson2016-12-16T20:23:56-05:00December 5th, 2013|