According to Lebanese sources, the suspect, identified as Ibrahim S., has confessed to spying for Tel Aviv and that sophisticated espionage equipments, including a satellite device and an Israeli SIM card, were found in his apartment.
Ibrahim’s wife, a Lebanese national, was also arrested on suspicion of involvement in his espionage activities against Beirut.
Ibrahim, 55, has lived in Hasbaya, southeast Lebanon, for the past 20 years. He was apprehended on Saturday and is currently under interrogation.
Security sources said Ibrahim crossed into Israel during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and worked there for years.
In April 2009, Lebanon, which has technically been in a state of war with Israel, launched a nationwide crackdown on Israeli spy cells arresting nearly 100 people, including members of the country’s security forces and telecommunications personnel, on suspicion of espionage for Mossad.
A number of the suspects have admitted to their role in helping Israel identify targets inside Lebanon, mostly belonging to Hezbollah, which Tel Aviv heavily bombed during its 2006 war against the country.
The most high-profile arrest came in August after Fayez Karam, a former army general and Christian Party politician, was charged with spying for Israel.
Karam, who was in charge of the Lebanese army’s anti-terrorism and counter-espionage unit in the 1980s, has been accused of meeting Mossad agents outside Lebanon and giving them information in exchange for money and weapons.
If convicted, the spies will face life sentences with hard labor. Should they be found guilty of contributing to the loss of Lebanese lives, the agents will face the capital punishment.
HM/HGH/HJL
Security experts also warn about Russia, Israel and even France, which in the 1990s reportedly bugged first-class airplane cabins to capture business travelers’ conversations. Many other countries, including the United States, spy on one another for national security purposes.
But China’s brazen use of Âcyber-espionage stands out because the focus is often corporate, part of a broader government strategy to help develop the country’s economy, according to experts who advise American businesses and government agencies.
“I’ve been told that if you use an iPhone or BlackBerry, everything on it — contacts, calendar, e-mails — can be downloaded in a second. All it takes is someone sitting near you on a subway waiting for you to turn it on, and they’ve got it,” said Kenneth Lieberthal, a former senior White House official for Asia who is at the Brookings Institution.
Chinese government officials say cyber-spying is a problem in much of the world. “It’s advisable for all international travelers to take due precautions with their computers and cellphones,” embassy spokesman Wang Baodong said. “China is not less insecure than other countries.”
Some industrial cyber-espionage takes place in the U.S corporate world, experts say, but not nearly to the extent found in China. Also, the U.S. government reportedly does not conduct economic espionage on behalf of U.S. industry.
Travelers there often tote disposable cellphones and loaner laptops stripped of sensitive data. Some U.S. officials take no electronic gear. And a few corporate executives detour to Australia rather than risk talking business in a bugged Chinese hotel room.
Other travelers hide files on thumb drives, which they carry at all times and use only on off-line computers. One security expert, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid drawing scrutiny from the Chinese government, buys a new iPad for each visit, then never uses it again.
“It’s real easy for them [the Chinese] to read everything that goes in and out of the country because the government owns all the networks,” said Jody Westby, chief executive of Global Cyber Risk, a consulting firm.
“The real problem here is economic espionage,” she said. “There are countries where the search for economic information and high-value data is so aggressive that companies or people are very hesitant about taking their laptops to those countries.”
Business travelers began adopting such safety measures for China several years ago, experts say. On the eve of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Joel Brenner, then the U.S. national counterintelligence executive, first issued government safety guidance to overseas travelers, with such tips as: “If you can do without the device, don’t take it.”
Researchers have uncovered a series of cyber-attacks
targeting government agencies and research institutions around the world. But unlike
recent high-profile incidents, China has not been blamed.
Attackers targeted 47 victims including space-related
government agencies, diplomatic missions, research institutions and companies
located in 61 countries, including Russia, India, Mongolia, Vietnam and the Commonwealth
of Independent States (former Soviet Union countries), Trend Micro researchers
wrote in a Sept. 22 blog. Trend Micro classified the attack as an advanced
persistent threat and said a total of 1,465 computers had been targeted,
including the ones belonging to the Russian Federal Space Agency.
Read More
By Erin Ailworth, Globe Staff
American Superconductor Corp. in Devens today charged that a Chinese wind turbine maker hired a former American Superconductor employee to steal its technology.
In a regulatory filing, American Superconductor said it has filed suit in China and is in process of filing criminal complaints against Sinovel Wind Group Co., once American Superconductor’s largest customer. American Superconductor said it discovered the corporate espionage through an internal investigation and a criminal investigation by Austrian law enforcement authorities.
The former employee was arrested in Austria in July and charged with economic espionage, American Superconductor said. The company said the former employee stole software source code used to control wind turbines and passed it to Sinovel.
“We are taking legal action against Sinovel based on its contractual breaches and strong evidence of its criminal misconduct,’’ said American Superconductor chief executive Daniel McGahn said in a statement last night.
The complaints follow months of problems that American Superconductor has had with Sinovel.
Earlier this year, the Devens company cut its workforce by 30 percent, or 150 jobs, citing contract issues with Sinovel. The Chinese wind turbine maker refused to accept shipments for which it was contracted amid talk that it was shifting its business to another supplier.
American Superconductor said yesterday that it would be seeking monetary damages from Sinovel.
“Based on suspicions that were raised in mid-June, we began working closely with law enforcement,’’ chief executive Daniel McGahn said yesterday. “Have no doubt: We are determined to protect our intellectual property and the interests of our shareholders.’’
The former American Superconductor employee, who as not named in the documents, was arrested in Austria in July and charged with economic espionage. He is awaiting trial, the company said. The former staffer stole software source code used to control wind turbines and passed it to Sinovel, the company said. Sinovel could not be reached for comment.
Read More
