Espionage Archives - Page 10 of 15 - Exec Security TSCM

Voicemail as a cyber attack vector

Modern phone systems, both VOIP and premise based PBX, can offer voicemail to email conversion, so that when a message is left in your voicemail box, the system will send you an email with the message recording as an attachment for you to click on to hear. That now becomes one more way for cyber hackers to lure victims into clicking on fake link containing malware.

Security researcher Graham Cluely discusses this and other recent attack methods in a article at Tripwire.com

MiniDionis: Where a Voicemail Can Lead to a Malware Attack

For just over a week, government departments, research institutes and other high-value targets have been on the sharp end of a sophisticated attack, where fake voicemails are being used to create a diversion while malware infects computer systems.

As security researchers at Palo Alto Networks’s Unit 42 division

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:39-05:00July 19th, 2015|

German officials use disposable phones over eavesdropping fears

from Deutsche Welle www.dw.com

Advice worth considering for any confidential assignments, especially overseas.

German officials are now using disposable mobile phones when they travel overseas, ‘Der Spiegel’ magazine has reported. The move comes following concerns about eavesdropping foreigners.

The so-called “burner” phones have been used not only in countries such as Russia and China, which continue to be at loggerheads with the West over a number of issues, including the Ukraine conflict – but also during visits to close allies such as the Britain and the United States, “Der Spiegel” news magazine reported on Saturday.

The magazine said politicians had been advised by Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security to use disposable phones and only download essential data on it.

“There are clear signals that people are getting more sensible,” the report quoted one security source as saying.

NSA revelations

For years, security agencies have warned their […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:40-05:00July 19th, 2015|

Canada’s new spy palace glass walls could allow eavesdropping

If your building boasts beautiful large glass walls and windows, you may want to follow Canada’s CSEC’s plan and find ways to darken the glass to prevent spying eyes.

From the Ottawa Citizen:

The government’s new billion-dollar spy palace in Ottawa has a problem that doesn’t sit well with the employees of one of the most secretive buildings in the world – it’s built like a fish bowl that might allow prying eyes to see inside.

The new Communications Security Establishment Canada complex, located in Ottawa.

The former head of the Communications Security Establishment once called the Ogilvie Road complex – with its massive glass walls – an “architectural wonder.”

But now CSE officials are realizing that all that glass could potentially allow foreign intelligence agencies to eavesdrop on Canada’s electronic eavesdroppers.

Specialized darkened screens are now going to be added to the windows to prevent such […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:40-05:00July 11th, 2015|

Article: Economic Espionage- Is Your Competition Hacking You?

This article was originally posted to LinkedIn by Marcus Eagan, CEO and Founder at Nodal Industries. Nodal produces the network security device, Numa.

Corporate espionage is on the rise. For those unfamiliar with the term – also commonly referred to as industrial or economic espionage – corporate espionage is when one corporate entity or government hacks into the systems of another corporate entity to steal their data. The first conviction for economic espionage in the U.S. happened only recently. Last year a Taiwanese national who worked for Boeing and later Rockwell Corporation was convicted of stealing trade secrets from the Aerospace giants. Acting on behalf of the People’s Republic of China, not Taiwan, Dongfan “Greg” Chung exfiltrated thousands of technical documents from Rockwell and Boeing to aid in China’s quest to build an earth-orbiting space shuttle.

Also making headlines is the report that the FBI was investigating the […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:40-05:00July 11th, 2015|

Waitergate, bug in the bread basket: A year later, four Polish government ministers and the speaker of parliament resign

From The Washington Post, 6/11/15

It began with something so small: a tiny microphone hidden near a dining table in a fancy Warsaw restaurant.

But after the bug caught Polish government ministers discussing private deals, Cuban cigars and off-color jokes — including a comparison of U.S.-Poland relations to oral sex — over expensive meals, a scandal that began as small-talk quickly spread. There were arrests, accusations of international spying and sealed documents leaked on social media.

On Wednesday, almost exactly a year after they first emerged, the secret recordings claimed their biggest scalp yet when four Polish government ministers and the speaker of parliament abruptly resigned.

Polish parliament speaker Radoslaw Sikorski, who stepped down on Wednesday. (European Pressphoto Agency)

The resignations are bad news for the already embattled governing party, Civic Platform, which two weeks ago narrowly lost its grip on the presidency. Its chances to retain control of parliament in elections four months from now are disappearing faster […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:40-05:00June 12th, 2015|

Aircraft security: forgotten reports say French spies bugged Concorde passengers

Corporate aircraft should regularly be swept for listening devices. It is a misconception to think that just because they are up in the air that conversations would be safe from eavesdroppers. Recording devices, hidden microphones and video cameras, and even Wifi enabled devices could make their way into the passenger compartments where many confidential conversations may take place.

This article from The Register reflects on past concerns that the French government had bugged the passenger areas of their Concorde fleet. The precautions are even more significant these days.

Ed Wallace, director of incident response and advanced threats at security consultancy MWR Infosecurity, pointed towards forgotten reports that French spies routinely bugged first-class passengers flying with Air France – including Concorde passengers – back in the 1990s.

The idea was that business people relaxing on a long trip, and perhaps enjoying a drink or two, might discuss all […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:40-05:00June 9th, 2015|

NYC pranksters publish secretly-recorded public conversations to make point about privacy

WeAreAlwaysListening.com says:

Eavesdropping on the population has revealed many saying “I’m not doing anything wrong so who cares if the NSA tracks what I say and do?”

Citizens don’t seem to mind this monitoring, so we’re hiding recorders in public places in hopes of gathering information to help win the war on terror. We’ve started with NYC as a pilot program, but hope to roll the initiative out all across The Homeland.

Report from CBS News:

A group of anonymous anti-NSA activists claim to have placed hidden recording devices in restaurants, bars, gyms and cafes all around the city to eavesdrop on citizens’ private conversations.

While, as some have pointed out, this claim cannot be verified, a series of recordings uploaded to the group’s Soundcloud page and website last week have got many people talking.

WeAreAlwaysListening.com started blowing up on the viral web over the weekend after being spotlighted by a few high-profile Twitter accounts (like the ACLU’s) and publications (like WIRED.)

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:40-05:00May 27th, 2015|

South Africa: Increased corporate espionage concerns

Times Live, Graeme Hosken

Industrial espionage is at an all-time high in South Africa, with an increase in requests for debugging services coming from gaming firms, research and development companies and those tendering for multimillion-rand contracts.

Driving fear in the world of Spy vs Spy are tough economic times and the ease with which South Africans can buy listening devices online.

The unregulated eavesdropping industry had led to an apparent surge in spying by businessmen on one another, according to Justicia Investigations, a company specialising in surveillance.

Its operations director, Alan Carey, said the number of inquiries about debugging services had increased rapidly since November, indicating a spike in South Africans spying on each other.

“In the past we received maybe two inquiries every fortnight. Now we are receiving at least three a week.

“The majority are from the gaming industry, research and development firms, cellular communication companies and businesses bidding for […]

Exec Security2015-05-16T09:05:30-04:00May 16th, 2015|

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy in devastating phone bugging setback

A Paris court says judges were correct to order the tapping of the former French President’s phones.

Compelling evidence Nicolas Sarkozy had been in the pay of Colonel Gaddafi meant judges were correct to order his phones to be bugged, the Paris appeals court has ruled.

In a devastating legal setback for the former French president, his lawyers failed to halt a criminal inquiry into the sleaze allegations. The phone tapping started in April 2013 following claims that Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign was bankrolled by Libya’s late dictator.

The judicial snooping was described by Sarkozy’s lawyer as a “monstrous violation” of his legal rights. But transcripts of the taped conversations supported the hugely damaging corruption case against the 60-year-old.

Nicolas Sarkozy

After hearing rumours that he was being listened to, Sarkozy obtained a second mobile phone, which he used […]

Charles Patterson2016-12-16T20:23:40-05:00May 7th, 2015|

Where do you keep your passwords? Posted on your monitor for all to see on a TV documentary?

Reported in The Hacker News, the passwords and login credentials for a London railway station were posted on the top of a computer monitor and broadcast on a BBC TV documentary. Company security policies should include never displaying your credentials where they might be viewed by unauthorized personnel… or TV cameras!

The Weakest Link In the Information Security Chain is still – Humans.

And this news has ability to prove this fact right.

One of London’s busiest railway stations has unwittingly exposed their system credentials during a BBC documentary. The sensitive credentials printed and attached to the top of a station controller’s monitor were aired on Wednesday night on BBC.

What could be even worse?

If you think that the credentials might have been shown off in the documentary for a short while or just some seconds, then you are still unaware of the limit of their stupidity.

The login credentials were visible for […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:40-05:00May 4th, 2015|

US using anti-spy laws to fight trade secret theft

DES MOINES, Iowa—The criminal trial of a Chinese executive accused of stealing high-tech U.S. corn seeds is turning into a battle over the federal government’s use of an anti-spying law to fight industrial espionage.

U.S. prosecutors say Mo Hailong, an official with a Chinese agriculture company, participated in a multiyear scheme to pilfer seeds from test fields of U.S. agribusiness giants Monsanto Co. and DuPont Co. The prosecutors claim that Mr. Mo, who was arrested in December 2013 at his home in Boca Raton, Fla., and several alleged accomplices transported seeds back to China, sometimes secreted in boxes of Orville Redenbacher microwave popcorn.

Smuggled seeds were secreted in boxes of Orville Redenbacher popcorn.

Prosecutors have charged Mr. Mo, now under house arrest in Des Moines, Iowa, and six alleged co-conspirators—five of whom remain at large—with stealing trade secrets. Mr. […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:40-05:00May 2nd, 2015|

Give us our daily bread… with cell phone inside.

Smuggling cell phones into secure areas can be a problem for security at prisons as well as in boardrooms or other confidential meetings. Perpetrators can go to great lengths to get access for the contraband items. An inmate in a prison in Perth received a loaf of bread that had been carved out to conceal a cell phone inside. Contact us if you need help preventing cell phones or other recording devices from entering your secure facilities.

from the Evening Telegraph, UK, 4/15/2015

Phone found in loaf as killer’s Perth Prison cell searched

A mobile phone was found in a loaf of bread within the cell of prisoner who murdered a woman from Montrose.

Several slices of Kingsmill had been carefully carved to store the device in Douglas Matthewson’s cell at maximum security Perth Prison.

Matthewson […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:40-05:00April 15th, 2015|

Future watch: secure fiber optics

Scientists Create Secure Communications By Slowing Down Light

Have you always wanted a more secure way of transmitting your information and not be worried about it being intercepted or eavesdropped along the way? While there are various security measures available at the moment, such as encryption, scientists at the Vienna University of Technology have come up with a way that could technically make eavesdropping impossible.

How they achieved this is by slowing down the speed of light from its typical speed of 300 million meters per second to a much more manageable 180kmph, and they did this using fiber optics which is a system that is currently in place around the world, thus making their findings even more applicable and viable.

To slow down the speed of light, the scientists grafted cesium atoms to the fibers which allowed it to slow light […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:40-05:00April 12th, 2015|

“Spy Wednesday” – Trusted advisors can become internal threats- for thirty pieces of silver.

The Wednesday before Easter is known to many as “Spy Wednesday”. It is recognized as the day on which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus. It can serve as a reminder that internal threats and betrayal can lead to very serious damages indeed!

Judas receives thirty pieces of silver.

“…The Wednesday before Easter is known as Spy Wednesday. The name comes from the Bible passage read in churches on that day,which explains the role that Judas Iscariot played in bringing about Jesus’death. According to the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church, Spy Wednesday marks the last full day of Lent and Holy […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00April 1st, 2015|

Move over Furby, Eavesdropping Barbie is here.

A number of years ago, while performing an electronic countermeasures sweep in a Manhattan apartment, our non-linear junction detector (locates hidden electronics) alerted to one Barbie doll that was on display among a few other dolls. To further inspect the Barbie to be sure there was no concealed listening device, we removed her clothes, revealing only that it was a “Talking Barbie” with a circuit that played back pre-recorded phrases. Unfortunately, that was the moment the client came into the room to check on how we were doing. After explaining our peculiar actions, we had a good laugh.

Now though, a “Listening Barbie” (actually named “Hello Barbie”) is coming and this one may be a real threat. This off the shelf, WIFI enabled Barbie records conversations, remembering what it hears, processing it through a cloud server, and enabling it to respond with appropriate comments.

“Eavesdropping Barbie”

While this could sound like fun […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00March 11th, 2015|

Eavesdropping through web service- spoofed phone calls; NJ corrections deputy director on trial.

Just as employees, secretaries, and anyone handling confidential information need to be aware of phishing and spoof email scams, they should also be attentive to any phone calls that come through odd or suspicious circumstances.

Kirk Eady, a Hudson County Corrections deputy director, is on trial in Newark federal court for allegedly eavesdropping on the phone conversations on corrections union leaders. He made use of a website service that allowed recording of phone calls.

Prankdial.com’s Evil Operator service no longer appears to be available. Screen shot from www.archive.org

Prankdial.com offered a service they called “evil operator” where you could enter two telephone numbers and they would call each other, then you could listen in to the conversation. Prank Dial no longer appears to have this service on their site, but other prank websites offer something similar.

[…]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00March 11th, 2015|

Automotive industrial spy for hire

Brenda Priddy takes photos, good ones, of cars, and they’re in great demand.

She is careful not to break any laws. Her targets are out in the open on public roads and highways, usually found in Death Valley. That is where many car manufacturers test drive their newest experimental and concept vehicles. She spends all day on the road, “looking for future products, looking for test cars, looking for any cars that may be out of the ordinary that may have some hint as to the future of the vehicle”.

Her web site explains: “Brenda Priddy has earned a reputation as one of the world’s top automotive “spy” photographers. Her undercover exclusives are a regular feature of LeftLaneNews.com, autos.sympatico.ca and other popular websites. Her client list also includes such publications as AutoWeek, Car & Driver, Road and Track, USA Today and the New York Times. Brenda’s […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00March 8th, 2015|

Canada kicks out spies, sending them where? Mostly to the US…

Spying is a two way street. An article in OurWindsor.ca reveals that during the past decade, Canada has given the boot to 21 spies, 5 of them returned to the US.

From 2004 to 2014 Ottawa sent back to the U.S. five of a total of 21 of those barred from Canada “on security grounds for engaging in an act of espionage that is against Canada or that is contrary to Canada’s interests,” according to a document produced by Canada Border Services Agency.

It’s not clear whether the espionage was by foreign government agents or whether it was industrial espionage — that is, spying to obtain state secrets or spying that targeted intellectual property or corporate secrets.

A document released under the Access to Information law shows the suspected spies were permanent residents or foreign nationals deemed inadmissible on security grounds, but does not break down […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00March 8th, 2015|