Here is a link to an article by my friend and colleague Kevin Murray offering a some tips and an introduction to espionage countermeasures for building and facility managers. When the serious possibility of espionage arises, building managers and even security managers may not know where to turn for help.

[Read the full article at buildings.com]

Illegal wiretapping and eavesdropping can result in large law suits and penalties.  Corporations should not take such activity lightly. Even if it was not done by anyone in an official position- perhaps just a disgruntled employee, and even if no critical trade information was lost- perhaps just personal conversation, the resultant law suits could cost millions. Add to that the possibility that someone may really be trying to steal classified information, and you have very good reasons for scheduling professional sweeps of your facilities.

A few rogue employees at AT&T helped LA high profile  private investigator Anthony Pellicano (“P.I. to the Stars”) accomplish his wiretaps over 10 years ago. That activity has resulted in a class action lawsuit against AT&T.  They are now required to pay approximately $4,000 to each of the numerous victims, amounting to a total of almost $1.5 million.

from Hollywood Reporter:

AT&T will shell out […]

Several media outlets said police had arrested a former engineer at a Toshiba affiliate on suspicion of improperly providing technical data to South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc.

Media reports of espionage can cause severe financial damage on their own:  Toshiba’s shares fell 0.9 percent on Thursday, 3/13, compared to the 0.1 percent drop in Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei average, after reports of espionage were revealed. 

From Engineering and Technology Magazine, 13 March, 2014

Japan has vowed to fight industrial espionage after reports of leaks from local companies, including Toshiba, to rivals in other countries.

Several Japanese media outlets have reported that police had arrested a former engineer at a Toshiba affiliate on suspicion of improperly providing technical data to South Korea’s SK Hynix.

The Nikkei newspaper also reported today that police had arrested an unspecified number of people in Yokohama and Aichi in 2012 for alleged leaks of industrial secrets […]

Scottish Express, Feb 27, 2014

A SENIOR employee of lingerie tycoon Michelle Mone who walked out after discovering his office was bugged won an unfair dismissal case yesterday.

Scott Kilday discovered a listening device in his office

Scott Kilday, 35, was horrified to find a listening device hidden in a plant pot days after he was asked to resign from his post as operations director.

The bug was placed by management at MJM International, which makes the Ultimo brand, for “business strategic reasons”, an employment tribunal heard.

Mr Kilday told the Glasgow hearing of difficulties at the lingerie firm’s HQ after Ms Mone, 42, split from her husband and business partner Michael, 46, in December 2011.

Judges yesterday found in his favour, ruling MJM’s decision to plant the listening device was likely to “destroy or seriously damage” Mr Kilday’s trust in his bosses. He was awarded £15,920 […]

25 February 2014, Turkish Weekly

Thousands of people, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, national intelligence chief Hakan Fidan and a wide range of journalists, academics, business leaders and NGO representatives, have been wiretapped for years by the police as part of different probes, Turkish media claimed Feb. 24. The reports prompted a top judicial body to open an internal investigation into the claims, but were dismissed by the prosecutor involved in the cases.

The classified files on the wiretappings were found in the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office by the new prosecutors who were assigned following mass purges in the judiciary, pro-government dailies Star and Yeni Şafak claimed in separate but similar reports.

Yeni Şafak reported that up to 3,064 people have been wiretapped according to the first documents found by the newly appointed prosecutors, while Star alleged that the real number is likely close to 7,000.

The Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors […]

We reported back in September how executives in Michelle Mone’s bra company, Ultimo brand lingerie, had bugged the office of another executive, Scott Kilday. Along with the drama of marital breakup and corporate hijinx, some other results of that episode are now coming to light.  After the bugged Kilday resigned, Hugh McGinley, who worked under him, claims the resulting stress and a workload increase was so intense that he was forced to quit and is now demanding compensation for a loss of earnings. 

from an article in the Scottish Daily Record of 2/14/2014:

BRA tycoon Michelle Mone became a very demanding boss as her firm ran into “serious difficulties” during her marriage split, an ex-employee claimed yesterday.

Accountant Hugh McGinley, 52, who is suing MJM International for £20,000 for constructive dismissal, told a tribunal in Glasgow he was forced out of his job of […]

Garda Ombudsman HQ bugged, The Irish Mirror

Justice Minister Alan Shatter had been asked to respond to reports that the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission was under surveillance

It was revealed today that the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) offices on Abbey Street in Dublin was under surveillance by “government-level technology”.

And Mr Shatter has asked GSOC for a report on the decision to hire a British security company to investigate a possible breach last year.

A spokesman for the justice minister said: “Minister Shatter has requested a report from the Ombudsman and will not be making a comment until he has received and considered that.”

The British consultants found a speaker phone on the upper floor of the GSOC building was bugged. The room was regularly used to hold case conferences on sensitive investigations.

Reports at the weekend suggested that a test of the line confirmed the phone was being used to eavesdrop […]

WASHINGTON — After months of taking grief for snooping on foreign leaders, the Obama administration found itself on the other side on Thursday after a private telephone call between two American diplomats appeared on the Internet in a breach that the White House tied to Russia.

In the recording, an assistant secretary of state and the ambassador to Ukraine are heard talking about the political crisis in Kiev, their views of how it might be resolved, their assessments of the various opposition leaders and their frustrations with their European counterparts. At one point, the assistant secretary uses an expletive in a reference to the European Union.

The conversation opened a window into the American handling of the crisis and could easily inflame passions in Kiev, Brussels and Moscow, where the role of the United States has been controversial. The […]

Robert Hoffman had a risky perspective on life-  “I plan to have fun with this until someone does kill me or I have enough money to disappear.” Hoffman wrote in his diary. [He] also said he didn’t trust his handler. “My thought that Vladimir is an idiot, or new at this espionage thing, is growing well on the mound of evidence he provides me. Or this whole thing could be a setup against me and they suck at it.”  It was a set up, by the FBI, and he was caught. 

Robert Hoffman: The spy who struck out –By Scott Daugherty, The Virginian-Pilot, 

Robert Patrick Hoffman II was still half-asleep when he heard the knock. He opened the door of his Virginia Beach home to find a beautiful woman with “Subtle, Eastern European features.” She said her name was Olga. She was wearing a low-cut turquoise blouse, black skirt and […]