*Security and TSCM Archives - Page 13 of 30 - Exec Security TSCM

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Interview with PwC’s cybersecurity partner Kris McConkey: “Perimeters are dissolving”

CIOs need to pull back from the perimeter and put in place security mechanisms around the data they are trying to protect, PwC’s partner in charge of cybersecurity, Kris McConkey, has advised. [via SiliconRepublic]

“Securing systems is becoming increasingly difficult and the perimeters are dissolving because we all have mobile devices and interconnectivity.

“A lot of organisations are going to be looking at how they secure data, as opposed to the systems, and will focus on keeping data encrypted but only readable by people with the right authority and access levels.”

As more small, personal devices are entering your workspace, adding TSCM to your information security program is an important step in securing your data and confidential information. Contact us to find out how we can help.

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:38-05:00January 6th, 2016|

Smart objects in your home

The CES, Consumer Electronics Show always brings some new devices worth paying attention to.

Here are a few new “smart” devices reviewed by cnet. It’s worth paying attention to all the new gadgets that can be controlled by your smart phone- make sure your phone is always under your control and never gets in the wrong hands!

Smarter wants to smarten up your dumb kitchen

It doesn’t take several thousand dollars’ (or pounds’) worth of connected appliances to smarten up your kitchen. With the right gadgetry, you can bring retroactive smarts to the appliances you’ve already got for a fraction of the cost.

If that approach sounds smart to you, then you’ll be happy to know that you’ll soon have a couple of new options. They come by way of Smarter, a British startup that’s already released asmart tea kettle and a connected coffeemaker. Joining the lineup today here at the […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:38-05:00January 6th, 2016|

What We Know on U.S.-Israel Eavesdropping and Who Gets to Say ‘Told You So’

from Haaretz.com

Reports that the NSA was listening in on Netanyahu’s conversations created big waves, but what really happened and how significant is the seeming breach of trust?

JTA – At first blush, it appears like a bombshell: The United States listened in on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s phone calls.

But on closer examination, the revelations reported December 29 by The Wall Street Journal might not be so far reaching. Spying on allies is both routine and legal in the United States, though perhaps not very politic.
Here’s what the controversy is all about and what may happen next.

What exactly did the Obama administration do?

According to the Journal, the National Security Agency eavesdropped on Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, in part to assess whether Israel planned to strike Iran and to track the prime minister’s efforts to scuttle the emerging nuclear deal with Iran. In the process, conversations between Israelis and […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:38-05:00January 6th, 2016|

Insider cyber security threats increasingly worrisome to corporate security execs

John Mello reports in TechNewsWorld

Security Execs Sweat Insider Threats

Insider threats are becoming increasingly worrisome to corporate security executives. That is one of the findings in a survey of C-level business people Nuix released last week.

“The insider threat seems to be a bigger concern this year than it was in previous years,” said Keith Lowry, Nuix’s senior vice president of business threat intelligence and analysis.

“People are recognizing that it is a significant weakness that has yet to be fully addressed by most organizations,” he told TechNewsWorld.

Insider threat programs are widespread across the broad set of industries represented by 28 high-level executives participating in the study, which was conducted by Ari Kaplan Advisors. More than two-thirds (71 percent) of the executives said they had either an insider threat program or an insider threat policy.

Throwing Money at Problem

Organizations are spending more money fighting insider […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:38-05:00January 6th, 2016|

Ireland: Listening device found in ceiling

Here is a little news from earlier in the year that we overlooked. The photos show the extent that some will go to in order to accomplish their eavesdropping.

The Irish News, 5/13/2015

A former republican prisoner has discovered a sophisticated listening device embedded in the ceiling of his north Belfast home. Terry McCafferty (47) said he made the discovery while changing bulbs in spotlights in the living room of his house in the New Lodge area.

The device was built into a joist in a space been the ceiling and a bedroom floor. Operated by wi-fi, with a battery back-up power supply, he said it had been carefully concealed and contained several small listening devices that were attached to spotlights.

A former member of the Real IRA, the grandfather was jailed for 12 years in 2005 after being convicted of leaving a bomb outside […]

Charles Patterson2015-12-25T19:22:35-05:00December 25th, 2015|

Spy toys for Christmas?

Every year there is an increasing number of spy-themed toys for kids.

This year, one company wants the adults to get into the fun, spying on Santa, as well.

The Santa Stake Out Kit by OpticPlanet

For only $6499 you can get:

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:38-05:00December 24th, 2015|

Stories of a spy, Hugh Montgomery, 63 years in the CIA

Ambassador Hugh Montgomery is considered one of the founding fathers of the CIA after serving 63 years in the agency. Recruited as an OSS officer, Montgomery recounts his most harrowing and memorable experiences behind enemy lines.

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:38-05:00December 1st, 2015|

New Orleans: PI arrested for installing a tracking device

When the victim believed he was being followed, he made a call to police who asked him to give his car a physical inspection. After he found the device the police detectives arranged to follow him until they saw the private investigator following as well.

The GPS technology was not illegal, but Louisiana state law bans the use of a tracking device without the knowledge or consent of the person being followed.

The Times-Picayune of New Orleans

Gretna police arrested a River Ridge private investigator accused of illegally installing a tracking device on the vehicle on a man he was following. David Centanni, 38, put the GPS device on a truck belonging to an unidentified Gretna resident about two weeks ago because he was trying to serve civil paperwork, according to Gretna Police Deputy Chief Anthony Christiana.

The resident contacted police Tuesday, nervous about a man that seemed to be following him, Christiana said. Despite […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:38-05:00December 1st, 2015|

The effects of bugging an office, 12 years later, FBI bugger reflects on Phila incident.

A bug in your office could hurt you in many ways. Theft of information is one, but the revelation that the bugging took place can have other ramifications as well. The discovery of an FBI bug in the mayor’s office by the Philadelphia Police, may have cost the opponent his election- even though he had nothing to do with it at all.

If you suspect that listening devices may have been installed in your office or conference room, the inspection and any follow up investigation needs to be handled very discretely.

Mitch Blacher from NBC10 was able to interview J.J. Klaver, the FBI agent who planted the bugs.

Site of 2003 FBI bugging operation, office of Philadelphia Mayor John Street

Former FBI Agent Who ‘Bugged’ Mayor Street’s Office Speaks Out by Mitch Blacher,

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:38-05:00November 16th, 2015|

Happy 101st Birthday of Hedy Lamarr, and thanks for frequency hopping.

November 9, the Google Doodle (on Google’s home page) celebrated the birthday of Hedy Lamarr, born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, 9 November 1914 – 19 January 2000.

She is most known for being a beautiful movie star, but she was also a talented inventor who helped develop spread spectrum frequency hopping technology, used in World War II. Though the US Navy did not adopt the technology until the 1960s, the principles of her work are now incorporated into modern Wi-Fi, CDMA and Bluetooth technology.

Her official website: https://www.hedylamarr.com/

Google’s tribute:

Here is a short History Channel presentation “The Patent Files”:

Happy Birthday, Hedy.

Exec Security2015-11-09T09:24:04-05:00November 9th, 2015|

Did Anti-Francis Cabal Plant a Spy in the Vatican?

The Daily Beast reports:

VATICAN CITY — For many inside the Vatican, Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui was trouble from the start. The willowy 32-year-old brunette raised eyebrows almost immediately in 2013 when, at 30, she was handpicked by Pope Francis as the only laywoman on an eight-memberadvisory panel called the Commission for Reference on the Organization of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See.

On Monday, the Vatican confirmed that Chaouqui, along with a Spanish monsignor named Lucio Vallejo Balda, who was the secretary of COSEA, had been arrested for leaking documents to journalists.

Sound familiar? It should. In 2012, Pope Benedict’s butler Paolo Gabriele was arrested for just the same crime, and the butler was charged with leaking to just the same journalist, Gianluigi Nuzzi, who has a new book coming out this week.

His previous book, His Holiness, is widely believed to be the last straw that led to the eventual resignation of […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:38-05:00November 6th, 2015|

Ohio dispatcher resigns following eavesdropping investigation

from cleveland.com

LORAIN, Ohio — A Lorain police dispatcher handed in her resignation after officials said she eavesdropped on a call between her supervisor and another dispatcher and improperly accessed her co-workers’ schedules.

LeeAnne Failing — who is married to Lorain Police officer Lt. Michael Failing — used her husband’s password to access a feature in the police department’s dispatching software to listen to a call, an internal investigation shows.

Michael Failing faces a 30-day unpaid suspension for letting his wife use his username and password, according to a report. Lorain Police Chief Cel Rivera recommended that Michael Failing be demoted to sergeant if he is disciplined again within the next year.

LeeAnne Failing also user her husband’s access to the computer system to look up information about her co-workers at least 29 times, the report concluded. Rivera wrote in his report that it was possible that she accessed the department’s system more than 29 times, “but the evidence was […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:38-05:00November 6th, 2015|

China: Spywatch, keeping an eye on your neighbors, dial 12339 to report a spy.

New York Times reports:

Seen a Spy? With New Hotline, China Invites You to Call It In

To the tangle of emergency phone numbers in China — 110 for the police, 119 for fire, 120 for ambulance — add another: dial 12339 to report a spy.

The spy hotline made its debut in the northeastern province of Jilin on Sunday, according to a report in the state-controlled newspaper Jilin Daily, one year after the Chinese authorities introduced a new counterespionage law.

The hotline, run by the Jilin state security bureau, was set up to help citizens who encounter behavior that would harm China’s national security to report the matter immediately to state security organs, the Jilin Daily article said.

It warned of individuals or groups who “steal, pry out, buy or otherwise illegally obtain state secrets or intelligence, or […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:38-05:00November 2nd, 2015|

Deutsche Telekom gets into TSCM, emphasizing the seriousness of eavesdropping and wiretap protection.

from telecompaper.com, Netherlands, 11/2/1015

Deutsche Telekom offers wiretapping protection for companies

Deutsche Telekom announced that it is helping companies to protect sensitive information with specialist technicians screening offices and conference rooms for eavesdropping technology and weak spots. X-rays of harmless-looking objects such as coffee pots, telephones and PC mouses are taken. The system examines USB sticks, electrical sockets and wires, scan hollow spaces with telescopic and endoscopic cameras and measure radio frequencies to find hidden transmitters. They can even detect unsecured DECT equipment. Deutsche Telekom’s wiretapping protection service is aimed at both DAX 30 companies and medium-sized enterprises that wish to protect confidential business information, for example when corporate acquisitions are being negotiated or bids for auctions are being prepared. Once the scan has been completed, the Deutsche Telekom experts provide customers with a report detailing the results. They also show companies how they can improve information and eavesdropping protection […]

Exec Security2015-11-02T13:56:48-05:00November 2nd, 2015|

Tech alert: Hacking Siri or Google Now through radio waves

Researchers in France have found that by beaming radio waves at the headset wire attached to a smart phone, they can modulate the radio waves to cause the signals in the headset wires to interpret it as voice, thus triggering the voice commands of Siri or Google Now services.

A lot of things have to be right for this to work- the smart phone must have a wired headset, the headset must have a microphone, (give them time, Bluetooth may be next), and the radio signal needs to be a powerful signal broadcast nearby with a large antenna, and you need to be oblivious to your phone suddenly reacting to unknown forces.

If you see a coworker pointing an antenna like this at your smart phone you might have cause to worry.

Voice communication can be “transposed” into other forms of modulation fairly easily. Besides radio […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:39-05:00October 15th, 2015|

Espionage in history: How Soviets used IBM Selectric keyloggers to spy on US diplomats

Interesting article from ArsTechnica.com discusses the sophisticated bugging efforts made by the Soviet Union during the Cold War era. The information was revealed in 2012, with the original document published by the NSA available here, from the Center Cryptologic History.

A National Security Agency memo that recently resurfaced a few years after it was first published contains a detailed analysis of what very possibly was the world’s first keylogger—a 1970s bug that Soviet spies implanted in US diplomats’ IBM Selectric typewriters to monitor classified letters and memos.

IBM Selectric Typewriter

The electromechanical implants were nothing short of an engineering marvel. The highly miniaturized series of circuits were stuffed into a metal bar that ran the length of the typewriter, making them invisible to the naked eye. The implant, which could only be seen using X-ray equipment, recorded the precise location of the […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:39-05:00October 13th, 2015|

Corporate printer vulnerability via wifi – using drones and a Roomba…

Corporate offices often have centralized printers connected to their wired network for shared printing. That can sometimes be inconvenient so what’s a good assistant to do? Run out to the local office supply store to pick up an inexpensive desktop printer. These printers usually have wifi built in and turned on by default.

When sweeping corporate offices we regularly find such printers while performing our network inspection. The wifi is usually unsecure and open for anyone to log into. If the staff (or executives) are using the wifi for their local printing, they then may be opening up themselves for hacking and spoofing as described in the Wired article below. We’ve even found executives bringing in their wifi printer from home just for the convenience.

The researchers in the article used a drone to reach the upper floors of an office building, but a disgruntled or over zealous employee could perform the same hacks […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:39-05:00October 8th, 2015|

Dissident Chinese artist finds his studio was bugged

Ai Weiwei has posted a number of pictures of what he says are listening devices found in his Beijing studio. The Chinese dissident artist captioned one photo of a bug on Instagram with “There will always be surprises”. His friend Liu Xiaoyuan confirmed the bugs were found after the artist returned from a trip to Germany. Xiaoyuan tweeted that they were found when redecoration started on Ai’s home and were found in the office and a living room.

This Instagram photo shows a listening device behind a plug socket in a wall

The pictures show the devices were hidden in electric sockets. ‘There will always be surprises’ was Ai Weiwei’s caption to this photo

The artist has retweeted an article saying listening devices had been found at his studio. His mother Gao Ying told Radio Free Asia that she believed the […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:39-05:00October 6th, 2015|