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Need secure conversations? Try the new Privacy Suite in the Rolls Royce Phantom.

Rolls Royce has introduced their new "Privacy Suite" for the Phantom extended wheelbase model. No more listening in (from the front seat) to the conversations of the CEO or celebrity, in the rear. The Privacy Suite uses electrochromatic glass (also known as "smart glass") to separate the front seats from the rear compartments. They have also added a "frequency specific" sound-absorption material that inhibits the transmission of conversations from the rear to the front of the vehicle.

Exec Security2018-08-31T21:39:36-04:00August 31st, 2018|

Four charged with hacking 500M Yahoo accounts, connected to FSB

The U.S. Justice Department today unsealed indictments against four men accused of hacking into a half-billion Yahoo email accounts. Two of the men named in the indictments worked for a unit of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) that serves as the FBI’s point of contact in Moscow on cybercrime cases. Here’s a look at the accused, starting with a 22-year-old who apparently did not try to hide his tracks.

Exec Security2017-03-15T21:21:32-04:00March 15th, 2017|

Texas car dealer emailed compromising photos off of customer’s phone.

A Grapevine, TX, car salesman took a customer’s cell phone to obtain information on financing a new vehicle, and the customer later discovered that compromising photos of his wife had been emailed to a swingers website, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:30-05:00December 7th, 2016|

Bugging news: devices found at Iran nuclear talks hotel, say Swiss officials

A number of computers at a five-star Geneva hotel that has hosted sensitive talks, including Iranian nuclear negotiations, were found to be infected with malware used for espionage, Swiss prosecutors have revealed. In Vienna, where the Iranian nuclear talks concluded in July 2015, the state prosecutor has launched two separate investigations into possible espionage. A spokesperson for the justice ministry told the Guardian that the two ongoing investigations were launched in June 2015 after bugging devices were discovered at Palais Coburg.

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:30-05:00November 6th, 2016|

Is Pokémon Go poking holes in your security?

Pokémon Go players could be using corporate accounts or devices to play the game. According to cloud platform provider CloudLock, the first release of the Pokémon Go app, which launched in the United States in early July, requested full access to users’ Google accounts (which were used to register player accounts) through an OAuth connection. This permission, which most users granted without reading the registration screen or considering potential security implications, allowed the app to access to all of the information synced to a user’s account, including contact, calendar and files stored on the device.

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:31-05:00August 17th, 2016|

Some New Yorker humor (witty-leaks)

The New Yorker magazine has some of the best cartoons around:

https://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:33-05:00May 12th, 2016|

France: defending against corporate espionage

France is boosting its fight against corporate espionage after belatedly realising that some of its largest trading partners have been extensively spying on its companies, according to the country’s corporate intelligence chief.

Jean-Baptiste Carpentier, head of the newly created Strategic Intelligence and Economic Security unit, said Paris realised how vulnerable it was three years ago. Edward Snowden, the former US government contractor, alleged then that the US National Security Agency had engaged in corporate espionage for decades — and that France was one of its main targets in Europe.

By contrast, after the fall of the Berlin wall, the French government has rarely considered national interests when looking at the activities of private companies, Mr Carpentier said.

“Laissez-faire […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:33-05:00May 9th, 2016|

Czech: Wiretapping devices found in Prague detective’s offices

Prague, May 7 (CTK) – Wiretapping devices, including a hidden camera, have been found in the rooms of the Prague economic criminal police, daily Pravo wrote Friday and public Czech Television (CT) said the police suspect a connection with the case of Jana Nagyova…

Pravo wrote that two mutually independent sources confirmed for it the information about the finding of wiretapping devices in the offices of Prague police. According to the sources, the devices were planted in the offices of the team that is investigating a suspicion of a subsidy fraud connected with the construction of the Capi hnizdo (The Stork’s Nest) farm and conference centre owned by Deputy Prime Minister and ANO head Andrej Babis.

[Read more @ Prague Daily Monitor]

Exec Security2016-09-01T11:55:17-04:00May 9th, 2016|

Honorable mention: unsung heroes of World War II and the Cold War

In recent history, many assisted in protecting our freedom. I came across two names recently and wanted to mention them here.
Frank Bresnahan of New Jersey, was recently recognized by the Northern New Jersey ASIS organization. Frank held a Top Secret security clearance and trained employees during the Cold War to be aware of Russian nationals attempting to extract information. Frank is now 100 years old.
And Betty Davies now 92, was with the Australian Special Wireless Group during World War II. As part of the Australian Special Wireless Group, Betty underwent secret training by wireless operators who had just returned from the Middle East, eavesdropping on German communications and Japanese Morse code interceptions.

from Security Management Magazine

ASIS Northern New Jersey Chapter Visits Centenarian Member

The Northern New Jersey Chapter of ASIS International was recently analyzing its meeting attendee records when it discovered something unusual. A member named Frank Bresnahan was on the books […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:33-05:00April 22nd, 2016|

Union spy, Harriet Tubman, to be honored on the new $20 bill

Move over Andrew Jackson, Harriet Tubman is about to replace Jackson on the face of a new $20 bill. Many books have been written about Harriet Tubman who is well known for her work on the Underground Railroad, helping free slaves from the south during the Civil War. But one book in particular goes into more detail regarding covert operations and human intelligence that helped the Union win the war, "Harriet Tubman, Secret Agent: How Daring Slaves and Free Blacks Spied for the Union During the Civil War" by Thomas B. Allen.
Allen helps to bring to light Harriet Tubman's roles as spy, secret agent, and military leader. The book also looks at others who helped spy for the North such as Elizabeth Van Lew who devised a code to transmit information that she picked up at society gatherings.

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:33-05:00April 21st, 2016|

Beware of cameras and IoT with built in spyware- best to buy/update from reputable sources

If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. In Mike Olsen’s blog at artfulhacker.com he reports on getting a great deal on an IP camera from Amazon, but while troubleshooting some issues he inspected the firmware and found a link to a known malware site. Apparently some versions of the camera software have the malware and some do not.

spyware link in camera firmware

On a different forum another user reported finding the malware and was able to identify a good version of the firmware vs a malware infected file. This is from a Whirlpool.net.au forum discussing the SC10IP camera available from KMart.

With the influx of IoT devices (Internet of Things) appearing throughout our homes and offices, most will have the ability to upgrade their firmware via the internet. When upgrading firmware, be sure you are connecting to […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:33-05:00April 19th, 2016|

New way to brick your Apple devices

Back in February, it was exposed that changing the date of your iPhone could brick the device. Now it’s been discovered that a similar threat exists over wifi as well, as the devices try to sync their time with an NTP server.

Brian Krebs from krebsonsecurity.com goes into more detail about this:

If you use an Apple iPhone, iPad or other iDevice, now would be an excellent time to ensure that the machine is running the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system — version 9.3.1. Failing to do so could expose your devices to automated threats capable of rendering them unresponsive and perhaps forever useless.

Zach Straley demonstrating the fatal Jan. 1, 1970 bug. Don’t try this at home!

On Feb. 11, 2016, researcher Zach Straley posted […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:34-05:00April 10th, 2016|

New York’s top court rules that parents can eavesdrop on kids

Ruling could open up admissibility of nanny-cam recordings in courtroom litigation.

Associated Press
ALBANY — Parents can legally eavesdrop on young children if they reasonably believe it would be in the child’s best interest, the state’s highest court ruled Tuesday, establishing an exception to New York law against wiretaps without the consent of at least one person on a call.

The 4-3 ruling by the Court of Appeals involved a cellphone recording of a man threatening to beat the 5-year-old son of his live-in girlfriend. The boy’s father recorded the conversation.

“The father had a good faith, objectively reasonable basis to believe that it was necessary for the welfare of his son to record the violent conversation he found himself listening to,” Judge Eugene Fahey wrote for the majority.

He cautioned that the ruling shouldn’t be interpreted as a way to avoid criminal liability for wiretaps “when a parent acts in […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:34-05:00April 6th, 2016|

History: Police vs Phone Company in early 1900’s Chicago

The following is from the Chicago Tribune:

Long before iPhones, cops battled phone use in fight against gambling

It’s probably safe to assume that shortly after man first harnessed the power of fire, someone committed the first act of arson. And so it has gone with every great innovation in history. Great leaps of technology usher in new crimes, which require new laws that unleash new struggles over enforcement.

The invention of the telephone in 1876 marked a new telecommunications era that eventually changed virtually everything, from business transactions to warfare and romance. And, of course, crime. In 1904, Chicago got an early taste of how the competing interests of security and privacy would start to play out for law enforcement and the telecom industry — in an episode with echoes of today’s dispute between Apple and theFBI, over information that might be gleaned about the attack in San […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:34-05:00March 14th, 2016|

The sounds of a 3D printer at work can be reverse engineered- big implications for industrial espionage

Your 3D printer is telling people what it’s making

From: cnet.com: In research demonstrating that industrial espionage may be as simple as opening a recording app on your smartphone, a team led by Professor Mohammad Al Faruque at the University of California at Irvine has shown that it is possible to reconstruct a 3D model based solely on audio of the printer in action.

According to the team’s research, the sounds made by a 3D printer can be used to ascertain the position and movements of its extruder. A recording of these sounds can then be used to reverse engineer these positions and use them to recreate a model of the object being printed.

Advanced parts made by 3D printing could be at risk.

Encryption can be used to protect a file. But once the design gets to the printer, the sounds of the motors give […]

Exec Security2016-03-04T18:41:02-05:00March 4th, 2016|

UK: Peers cannot move to Foreign Office because of expensive bugging equipment

from The Telegraph

Foreign and Commonwealth Office looks set to be ruled out as temporary home for peers while Houses of Parliament are repaired

Expensive bugging equipment fitted inside the Foreign Office could prevent peers from being relocated there while parliament is refurbished.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office had been eyed up as a potential temporary home while a multi-billion pound refurbishment of the Palace of Westminster is carried out.

The Palace of Westminster Photo: Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph

The refurbishment must be carried out by the end of the decade because the building is suffering from widespread damp problems, mice infestations and is thought to be riddled with asbestos.

Reports into the state of the building have previously suggested that it would be better to knock down the building and start again, if it were not for its historical […]

Exec Security2016-02-10T17:23:06-05:00February 10th, 2016|

SA: Accusations of Espionage and Sabotage in Tobacco Industry

JOHANNESBURG – Small manufacturers in the tobacco industry have taken on big business, accusing multi-national cigarette companies of corporate espionage and sabotage, and claiming to have the evidence to prove it.

The Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association (Fita) says its lawyers have made contact with the authorities to lodge numerous criminal cases.

Fita has however declined to name the implicated companies.

The association says it’s conducted its own investigation, which has exposed a network of spies which conduct covert operations to obtain information about its members.

It says private investigators have illegally trespassed on private property to plant bugging devices on behalf of multinationals.

Fita further accuses the big companies of manufacturing and passing off false information to law enforcement agencies to disrupt member business operations.

Fita’s Sinen Mnguni is reluctant to elaborate on the claims.

“We will be releasing press releases in the next few weeks, for everyone to be […]

Exec Security2016-02-10T17:15:40-05:00February 10th, 2016|

More cameras with audio… Employees at Massachusetts company face felony wiretapping charges

BOSTON — Three employees at Wyman-Gordon company in Grafton, Massachusetts, are facing felony wiretapping charges for setting up a hidden camera with audio to record their coworker inside their workplace, reports CBS Boston.

As the investigative team at CBS Boston first reported in November, the hidden camera allegedly captured former Wyman-Gordon employee Mark Ferguson sleeping on the job. The company fired Ferguson last April.

Three employees at Wyman-Gordon in Grafton, Massachusetts, facing felony wiretapping charges for setting up a hidden camera with audio to record their coworker.

Prior to his termination, Ferguson discovered the hidden camera in his work space. He took it home for a closer look.

A clip he provided to CBS Boston revealed the HR employees setting up the camera. They could also be heard discussing the camera placement.

Ferguson realized if they recorded audio without his consent, it […]

Exec Security2016-02-03T23:17:54-05:00February 3rd, 2016|