Gone are the days when a simple sweep for bugs could solve all of your problems. Today’s world of espionage is so much more complex than ever before and it’s getting harder and harder to protect against the threats.
In the mid-nineties, I wrote an article titled “Surveillance in Society”. It was intended to highlight the ways in which surveillance had changed over the years, confirming many people’s thoughts, that they could not go about their daily business without being filmed or photographed multiple times. It was by no means a criticism of surveillance systems, rather, a means by which to relay to the community that surveillance is good for us. It protects us.
A lot has changed since then. No longer can we assume that what we do remains private.
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BERLIN – A German chemicals company said Monday its managers have started keeping their mobile phones in biscuit tins during meetings in order to guard against industrial espionage.
“Experts have told us that mobile phones are being eavesdropped on more and more, even when they are switched off,” Alexandra Boy, spokeswoman for Essen-based speciality chemicals maker Evonik, told AFP.
“The measure applies mostly when sensitive issues are being discussed, for the most part in research and development,” she said, confirming a report in business weekly Wirtschaftswoche.
Biscuit tins have a so-called Farraday cage effect, she said, blocking out electromagnetic radiation and therefore stopping people hacking into mobile phones, not only for calls but also to get hold of emails.
The firm, with 34,000 employees and sales of 13 billion euros (S$22.8 billion), is not alone in wanting to defend itself against what experts warn are increasingly sophisticated methods of industrial espionage.
This month the German government opened a new national centre in Bonn to coordinate efforts not only to protect firms from espionage but also state infrastructure from cyber attacks.
I am fortunate enough to have clients across the globe and to therefore meet like-minded colleagues and clients on my travels. As it happens, I spent today, my first in the USA for this trip, with a true professional of the TSCM business, based in California. We did a lot of talking about technical surveillance countermeasure techniques and processes employed by each of us, and can confidentially state, that the counter-surveillance services we offer in the Asia-Pacific, definitely matches those services offered in the USA.
Amusingly, when discussing peripheral security reviews, we realised that the vulnerabilities typically identified within corporations, is not limited to our respective geographical boundaries. Desks are not kept free of paperwork, doors are not locked, access control is not installed and CCTV is not fitted. These are a few common items, shared by all!
Please don’t hesitate to post some information on your counter-surevillance systems and processes. We can then start to review how each of you operate in the hope of assisting those who might be new to the business.
