The last month has been a bit busy so we were not able to post articles as regularly as we had hoped. News hasn’t stopped though. Here are a few recent articles worth looking at.

The Corporate EcoSystem

Our friends Christian West & Brian Jantzen at AS Solution discuss some of the challenges of providing executive protection in the corporate environment. Similar concerns to what they express also apply to providing electronic TSCM sweeps in executive suites and boardrooms. We need to understand the culture we are coming in to. Our recommendations for improving privacy and information security may not always be received well by those we seek to protect. We often have to work closely with the security director or others within that corporate environment to find the best solutions for the clients.

We also find that on some occasions, the client may have the wrong idea about our inspections and think that we may be invading their privacy, when actually the opposite is true. We are there to protect their privacy and prevent covert surveillance from going on. Perhaps that is due in part to movies and TV where the person who does the sweeps is often portrayed as the shady surveillance expert as well.

https://assolution.com/blog/the-corporate-executive-protection-ecosystem/

 

“It’s 10 pm, do you know where your data is?”

A lost USB thumb drive with confidential security information on it turned up in the hands of an out of work gentleman in West London. The drive, found among the leaves on the pavement, contained confidential documents from Heathrow airport. Some of the data included maps showing the locations of CCTV cameras as wells as access routes in and around the airport.

 [Read more]
www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/latest-security-news/britains-largest-airport-launches-investigation-usb-found-street/

 

Facebook says “we’re not listening”.

Recent rumors that Facebook was turning on mics on cell phones and listening for keywords being spoken finally caused them to respond. “Just not true!” said Rob Goldman, vp of ads.

There is an actual psychological phenomenon called “frequency illusion” or the “Baader-Meinhof phenomenon” that may be related to user’s concerns. I always noticed that whenever I got a new car, I suddenly seemed to be seeing the same type of car everywhere. It has to do with my own awareness being peaked due to my recent purchase.

I recently passed by a Verizon store with an associate and we discussed that he was thinking about getting a MiFi hotspot device. Later that day he saw an ad for the MiFi appear on his phone. “They must be listening!” He said. The reality is that the same ad may have been showing for days or weeks, but because he was recently thinking about it, the ad caught his attention this time.

Read more:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2017/10/31/facebook-ads-microphone/

Read more on the Baader-Meinhoff Phenomenon here:
https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/baader-meinhof-phenomenon.htm

 

The next few months continue to look busy, but we’ll try to keep up with supplying topical information on security, corporate espionage, and electronic countermeasures.