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Global articles on espionage, spying, bugs, and other interesting topics.

Keep abreast of the espionage threats facing your organisation.

Sprint Excludes Chinese Companies From Contract Over Security Fears

Sprint Nextel is excluding Chinese telecommunications-equipment makers Huawei Technologies and ZTE from a contract worth billions of dollars largely because of national security concerns in Washington. The Defense Department and some U.S. lawmakers have been increasingly concerned about the two companies’ ties to the Chinese government and military, and the security implications of letting their equipment into critical U.S. infrastructure. Some officials argue China’s military could use Huawei or ZTE equipment to disrupt or intercept American communications. (more)

Industrial Espionage Case Expands

Silicon Valley is bracing itself for fireworks as a long-running intellectual property and industrial espionage dispute between two of the most powerful names in technology finally reaches court.
Oracle is suing its arch-rival SAP for exploiting what it says were illegal downloads of Oracle software code three years ago, and the case has now dragged in another technology titan, Hewlett-Packard, which hired the former SAP boss Leo Apotheker to be its chief executive a month ago. (more)

“A few weeks ago I accused HP’s new CEO, Leo Apotheker, of overseeing an industrial espionage scheme centring on the repeated theft of massive amounts of Oracle’s software,” Mr Ellison said in a statement released this week. (more)


Book Banning Over Industrial Espionage Fears

Many of Germany’s top companies are blocking access to Facebook and other social networking sites over fears of industrial espionage and other security concerns, according to a new report. Business weekly Wirtschaftswoche said that many companies on the Dax-30 blue-chip index saw an unacceptable risk posed by employees using such sites at work. (more) …not to mention the financial drain of social notworking.

Don’t tell Mrs. Quaid. It will just upset her.

John McTiernan, director of the movie “Die Hard,” was sentenced to one year in prison for lying about his association with a private investigator, Anthony Pellicano, to illegally wiretap a movie producer. (more)


Hoist by a Voicemail Petard

Employees at a CBS affiliate in Anchorage left an accidental voicemail for an aide to GOP Senate candidate Joe Miller in which they discussed and laughed about the possibility of reporting on the appearance of sex offenders at a Miller rally. And they chatted about responding with a Twitter alert to “any sort of chaos whatsoever” including the candidate being “punched.”
 
Jerry Bever, general manager for KTVA, said in a statement that a call to Miller spokesman Randy DeSoto to discuss the candidate’s planned appearance on a newscast wasn’t disconnected after the conversation ended. The call took place during a KTVA staff meeting to plan coverage of that evening’s Miller rally in downtown Anchorage. (more)