Corporate Espionage and Countermeasures News
News updates and articles are presented regarding corporate espionage, eavesdropping, electronic countermeasures, and TSCM. Please subscribe for automatic updates by entering your email address in the box on the right. You can search past articles and view archives in the column on the right.
Excerpts from recent posts are shown below. Click on the title to view the entire article.
King City’s eavesdropping case re-opened. City administrators gave eavesdropping instructions.
Revisiting the problems of King City, CA., if you recall in a previous episode, the City Council brought in their local phone vendor to review their PBX system. They found that while there was the capability of listening to room conversations via the intercom features, [...]
Voicemail hacking scandal with George Clooney (coming to the big screen)
The voicemail hacking scandal that caused the collapse of News of the World, Rupert Murdoch's UK tabloid, is about to be made into a movie, taken on by director George Clooney. Journalist Nick Davies recently published the book "Hack Attack" telling the story of how he took [...]
King City closes case into wiretapping allegations
ExecSecurity reported a couple weeks ago about a case in King City, CA, where the city manager was accused of eavesdropping on conversations between the police chief and other parties. This monitoring was suspected of being accomplished through improper use of telephone system features. The town took [...]
Spy History: John Walker Jr., spy family ringleader, dies in prison at 77
John A. Walker Jr., a former Navy officer who in 1986 pleaded guilty to recruiting his son, a brother and a friend into a spy ring that stole military documents and sold the information to Soviet agents, died on Thursday (8/28) at the federal prison [...]
Voicemail hacks still prevalent, causing fraudulent phone charges to small businesses.
There are a number of reasons to try to keep your voicemail secure. The most significant may be to prevent theft of information. Celebrities and politicians could be the most obvious targets, the escapades of reporters working for Rupert Murdoch's News of the World are testament to [...]
Trade secret theft: Cargill sues former executive, accused of stealing secrets
Reported by Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN The agribusiness giant said the executive stole secrets when leaving for competitor JBS. Cargill Inc. is suing a former high-ranking executive for alleged theft of trade secrets when he left his job for a position at JBS SA, one [...]
Legality of police recording their own phone lines under question.
Are any of your phone lines being recorded for "quality assurance"? Make sure your company policies cover how and when this is done and that employees are aware of it. South Bend, Indiana, Police Department is in court because the recording process that was set up [...]
Former IT director enters plea in wiretapping case
Ignorance of the law as well as "just following orders" is no excuse. Former hospital IT director faces felony charges while the well liked CEO apparently behind it all was only charged with a misdemeanor of stalking. Idaho, KIDK Eyewitness News BLACKFOOT, Idaho - Former Bingham [...]
‘Low-tech’ spycraft tricks
from BBC Future, Frank Swain Despite ubiquitous surveillance and fancy gadgets, there are still simple, old-fashioned ways that spies and criminals can avoid detection, says Frank Swain. The F-21 buttonhole camera - as used by the Soviet Union, Europe, and North America in the early [...]
City manager accused of eavesdropping through phone system.
All major phone system have features that can be used for listening in to conversations. This could be legitimate monitoring by supervisors, but the systems could also be compromised to allow unauthorized eavesdropping. There are also methods for activating speakerphone mics to listen in to [...]