By The Associated Press 
on July 01, 2013 at 10:20 PM, updated July 01, 2013 at 10:33 PM

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama brushed aside sharp European criticism on Monday, suggesting that all nations spy on each other as the French and Germans expressed outrage over alleged U.S. eavesdropping on European Union diplomats.

…

Obama, in an African news conference with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, said the U.S. would provide allies with information about new reports that the National Security Agency had bugged EU offices in Washington, New York and Brussels. But he also suggested such activity by governments would hardly be unusual.

“We should stipulate that every intelligence service — not just ours, but every European intelligence service, every Asian intelligence service, wherever there’s an intelligence service — here’s one thing that they’re going to be doing: They’re going to be trying to understand the world better, and what’s going on in world […]

Forbes.com  This article is by George Westerman, a research scientist in the MIT Sloan School of Management’s Center for Digital Business. He is co-author of IT Risk: Turning Business Threats Into Competitive Advantage.  [Read Original Article]

A few years ago I was working with a small consulting firm, and one of our up and coming salespeople left for a competitor. No big deal. It happens. But several months later, the management team noticed a disturbing trend. The company kept losing bids for new business to this very same competitor. It had happened four times in a row when finally we realized that we’d forgotten to turn off the former employee’s network access. He had been logging into our network, stealing our information, and then undercutting us. 

As cybercrime reporting goes, this may be small potatoes.  But it wasn’t small to this company. It illustrates a […]

from the Verge

Effort will include diplomatic, law enforcement pressure
By T.C. Sottek on February 20, 2013 03:25 pm

The White House has just announced a new strategy to combat the theft of US trade secrets, created in coordination with several US agencies including the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, and State. The strategy, detailed in a 141-page document, focuses on 5 action items, including diplomatic efforts, cooperation with private industry to promote best practices in security, enhanced law enforcement operations and legislation, and public outreach. The White House says that “the Administration will continue to act vigorously to combat the theft of American trade secrets that could be used by foreign companies or foreign governments to gain an unfair commercial advantage.”

Today’s announcement follows a spate of admissions by US companies that hackers had infiltrated their systems in recent months, sometimes employing elaborate and sophisticated attacks over […]

The union behind the recent L.A. and Long Beach port strike accuses APM Terminals of conducting ‘secret surveillance’ for months to gain an edge in labor negotiations. APM says it’s investigating the matter.

Wall Street Journal (09/07/12) Gorman, Siobhan

The U.S. House Intelligence Committee is expecting to hold public hearings next week in which it will question executives of Chinese telecom firms Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. about concerns over corporate espionage, the companies’ ties with the Chinese military and government, and their dealings with Iran. The hearings are part of a year-old probe into the companies by the committee, which has prompted several sharply worded warnings and statements by Huawei alleging it is being discriminated against and protesting its innocence of any wrong doing. ZTE has already announced that it will take part in the hearings and plans to send Senior Vice President Zhu Jinyun. Huawei, however, has said that its participation in the hearings will be conditional on the committee making “appropriate arrangements,” though it has not indicated what arrangements those might be. Both companies have been attempting to further expand […]

From the Denver Business Journal, 9/4/2012

https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2012/09/04/colorado-contractor-settles-federal.html?s=print

 Bloomburg Business Week, By Jason Keyser on August 29, 2012

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge sentenced a Chinese-born American Wednesday to four years in prison for stealing millions of dollars in trade secrets from Motorola, describing her as a soft-spoken, unassuming woman who carried out a “very purposeful raid” on the company in the dead of night.

In a barely audible voice and heavily accented English, 41-year-old Hanjuan Jin told the judge she was “so sorry for what happened” and pleaded for a second chance. Her lawyers had argued that she took the files merely to refresh her knowledge after a long absence from work and was not spying for China. They appealed for leniency and asked that Jin receive probation, in part because of her poor health.

But U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo said it was important to send a message that would deter others with access to trade secrets from siphoning […]

 from SC Magazine, UK, Secure Business Intelligence;  Patrick Keddy  August 15, 2012

Corporate espionage is a term that conjures up a world of high-tech gadgets, intelligence agents in trench coats and organised criminal gangs.

This is a world far removed from everyday life at the office – or is it? Companies today are spending an estimated £65 billion dealing with an on-going war against malicious outsiders, intent on accessing their information.

However, corporate espionage covers a broad range of activity, not all of it obviously criminal or malicious and there are many kinds of information and many ways of obtaining it. With money and attention being directed at shoring up IT systems, companies often ignore the risk presented by paper and can lose sight of the serious threat posed, often without intention, by their employees.

A recent Iron Mountain study revealed that office workers often form […]

“No evidence was found…” if you have suspicions of eavesdropping it is important to act immediately and know who to call for support.  “Evidence” can disappear quickly leaving you with nothing more than suspicions.  -cp

NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana State Police investigators have found no evidence that the Saints or general manager Mickey Loomis rigged Superdome wiring so opposing coaches’ radio communications could be intercepted.

“This has been an intensive investigation, and after numerous interviews we have determined that there is no evidence that state laws have been violated,” State Police Col. Mike Edmonson said Monday after meeting with Saints owner Tom Benson in New Orleans to brief him on the status of the probe.

State police investigators have been working in conjunction with the FBI since the eavesdropping allegations surfaced in news reports in April.

“We found no corroborating evidence that Mickey Loomis or anybody in the Saints was engaged in wiretapping or […]

New businesses especially need to pay attention to keeping their proprietary information safe.  In this article, Susan Shreter gives information security tips for those starting out in a new venture. If you are planning any new business moves- whether starting a new business, adding a new product line, acquiring another company, you need to be sure that your discussions, your planning meetings, and your offices are protected from espionage. A professional TSCM sweep would be a good place to start.  -cp

By Susan Schreter  Published August 13, 2012  FOXBusiness

Is there such a thing as entrepreneurial espionage? Entrepreneurs who believe that their “great ideas” have been stolen by ruthless competitors, opportunistic web surfers, shady consultants, and dishonorable prospective investors, would say, “Yes! There are people out there who will take advantage of all too trusting entrepreneurs.”

When entrepreneurs ask me about the risks associated with sharing their business plans with complete strangers, […]