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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation(CSIRO) is Australia’s national science agency.  

The Sidney Morning Herald, 12/5/2013
A CSIRO scientist’s failure to show up for work led Australia’s top scientific organisation to uncover a suspected spy in its ranks.

The Chinese scientist at the centre of an industrial espionage probe had missed three days of work last week, prompting CSIRO management to ask police to visit his suburban Melbourne residence to check on his welfare.

But by the time the officers arrived, the scientist was nowhere to be seen.

Fairfax Media understands he had left the country days earlier, possibly returning to China.

However, he had left CSIRO computer equipment in his home. The equipment is now being examined by federal police and intelligence officials.

It is believed CSIRO databases had been accessed from the computer equipment and confidential information may have been used in an unauthorised fashion.

Neither the Australian Federal Police […]

There is a big difference between filing for a patent for your idea, and establishing it as a trade secret.  

A patent, by it’s very nature, requires that you reveal details about how it works, what it is, what it does. This information must be revealed in order to gain a patent. A definition of a patent would be a set of exclusive rights granted… to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time, in exchange for the public disclosure of the invention. (The telephone- often considered the most valuable patent.)

A trade secret, on the other hand, is exactly that- a secret. No one but you should know what it is, or how it works.  It is required to be kept secret, private, and confidential. It must be protected, otherwise it cannot be considered a trade secret. (The formula for Coca-Cola- the most famous trade secret.)

Here are some other significant points- a patent […]

“She [Brooks] said that it was so easy to do and she couldn’t believe that famous people who have all these advisers did not know they needed to change their pin code to make their voicemail secure”.

Lisa O’Carroll and Caroline Davies
theguardian.com, Monday 25 November 2013 13.20 EST

Eimear Cook, the ex-wife of golfing star Colin Montgomerie was accused of repeatedly lying under oath about a lunch with Rebekah Brooks in which she claimed the former News International chief excutive had told her how easy it was to hack phones.

 In a tense and prolonged exchange at the Old Bailey on Monday, counsel for Brooks said Cook had fabricated parts of her witness statement to the police, including a claim that the former publishing boss had told her about an assault on her ex-husband Ross Kemp.

 Brooks’ counsel Jonathan Laidlaw, QC, asked her had she done […]

Voice of America, Jim Randle  November 05, 2013

Efforts to steal trade secrets from U.S. companies continue at a high level and are hitting new targets, in spite of major efforts to stop such industrial espionage. Losing trade secrets hurts the economy by discouraging investments in the research critical to growth.  Some new players are getting into the fray, and the attacks hit a huge variety of businesses from high tech to high fashion.  

Plans for a fighter jet are an obvious target for corporate and other kinds of spies, but experts say industrial espionage also has been aimed at high fashion designers and toymakers, innovative steel makers, food and beverage companies, clean energy research and wind turbine makers.  Corporate spies also are seeking information about the management practices that guide successful businesses.

Mandient corporate security expert Laura Galante says a growing number of companies think security breaches are becoming inevitable.

“2013 was […]