Archive for the 'Industrial Espionage' Category

Page 3 of 3

Dirty Tricks

Published on April 26, 2007 in Dirty Tricks and Industrial Espionage. 0 Comments

In an article entitled Dissing the competition through dirty tricks! Arthur Weiss cites an article that illustrates how a campaign of dirty tricks might unfold. The cited Times Online article is very educational.

More recently, the Canadian insurer, Fairfax, was the target of a campaign of malicious disinformation from a group of Wall Street Hedge Fund managers. The company is now suing them for $6 billion – claiming that their aim was to manipulate the market by creating uncertainty about the company and its future. These include a variety of dirty tricks – false emails and letters, espionage attempts and more.

The main actor accused of conducting the dirty tricks campaign was Spyro Contogouris. Googling “spyro contogouris” brings up more than you might want to know. Especially the claim that Contogouris was working for the FBI.

Four Months Jail for Spyware

Published on March 7, 2007 in Courts, Espionage, Identity Theft, Industrial Espionage, Privacy, Private Investigator, Security and Surveillance. 0 Comments

In the R v Waters [2007], the UK Court of Appeal upheld the sentence of four months imprisonment for a man who had conspired to install spyware software on his wife’s computer. The Court of Appeal ruling stated:

Computers are an established part of modern life. An increasing amount of personal and private information is kept on computers, not only by the State and large organisations but also by individuals. The privacy of that information must be protected and it is vulnerable to the kind of unauthorised interference and intrusion that occurred in this case. The judge correctly identified deterrence as an element of sentencing in this case. In our judgment, a sentence of imprisonment for offences such as this was not wrong in principle.

Information Security is a Roll of the Dice Away

Published on March 6, 2007 in Communication, Encryption, Espionage, Industrial Espionage, Intellectual Property Rights, Privacy, Security and The Investigator's Computer. 0 Comments

A friend who works for a very security conscious government organization surprised me when he asked why I had a plastic cup on my desk containing half a dozen dice cubes. Everybody knows why you keep dice at your desk, don’t they?

Passwords were the cornerstone of data security. It doesn’t matter if you are signing onto the company LAN, starting your laptop, or receiving email, passwords were required to keep out the thieves and brigands. Well today passwords are obsolete! Today you need a passphrase! Continue reading ‘Information Security is a Roll of the Dice Away’

Report Passwords

Published on March 3, 2007 in Encryption, Industrial Espionage, Intellectual Property Rights, Private Investigator, Security and The Investigator's Computer. 0 Comments

Have you ever sent an important report out to be copied and bound?

How Investigators and Consultants handle deliverables after the final editing may affect the security of the entire job. Yet they often give the product of their genius to some unknown person for copying and binding, then leave to have lunch. We have all seen this.

Another version of this slipshod security practice is emailing unsecured reports. Or unwarranted reliance on the passwords in Word or PDF files to protect the contents.

Anybody who thinks that file passwords are completely secure should look at this Google Directory for Password Recovery software or this one for PDF Password Crackers. All password systems have weaknesses that can be exploited under some circumstances. Security comes from minimizing the exposure of the password-protected report files to circumstances that could lead to unauthorized access. Knowing the weaknesses of the password system and experience with the tools used to break it form your best defence.