LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Shots are being fired in the world of the digital camera.
California-based Red Digital Cinema alleges that a former executive at Delaware-based Arri engaged in corporate espionage when he hacked into the email server of a third camera company, according to a complaint Red filed December 21 in U.S. District Court in California.
According to the lawsuit, which was obtained by TheWrap, Red alleges Arri used the hacked emails to give its Alexa camera a competitive advantage over Red’s Epic camera.
Red alleges unfair competition based on email hacking, invasion of privacy, conversion, misappropriation of trade secrets and unlawful trade practices, among other charges.
In September, Michael Bravin, Arri’s ex-VP of market development for digital camera products, pleaded guilty to unlawfully accessing the email server of Band Pro Film Digital while he was employed at Arri.
Bravin, who had previously worked for Band Pro, was charged with computer fraud and email hacking and, following a plea agreement, was sentenced to two years’ probation, among other penalties.
Now, Red says some of the emails Bravin copied had sensitive information about the company’s technology, including the Epic camera. Some of the emails were from Red personnel including founder Jim Jannard, Red also alleges.
At the time of the hacking, Red was allegedly in confidential business discussions with Band Pro, discussing a potential joint venture. Arri employees — including Chief Technology Officer Glenn Kennel and Vice President of Camera Products Bill Russell — were aware Bravin was engaging in the hacking, Red says. Therefore, Arri is liable, according to Red.
“Red is informed and believes, and thereupon alleges, that Bravin saved or forwarded, either directly or verbally, the information obtained from the Band Pro emails to other Arri executives and employees,” the suit says.
Additionally, Red alleges that Arri started a false advertising campaign leading up to the launch of the Alexa camera, and that Bravin — using his real name and a pseudonym — posted on a Red blog, RedUser.net, disparaging the company’s products. Red says one of the Web-blog board’s policies is that users do not use false names.
Red is seeking damages, disgorgement, restitution and injunctive relief. The company is seeking a jury trial.
“It was quite shocking to them, that the vice president of Arri would steal business emails for use at Arri,” lawyer Gregory L. Weeks, who represents Red, told TheWrap.
A representative for Arri did not respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Movies including “The Hobbit,” “Prometheus” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” were shot with Red cameras.
“Hugo,” “Pariah” and “New Year’s Eve” were shot with Arri cameras.
There have been so many examples of cyber espionage that it is now the norm to just accept that it is rampant. MI5 in the UK, the German Chancellery, Titan Rain, GhostNet, the Pentagon email hack, Google Aurora – all are examples of cyber espionage, most on the part of China. But to date no evidence has been put forth other than claims from the injured parties.
Thanks to reporting from Anthony Freed of InfoSecIsland we have learned over the past few days that a group of Indian hackers that align themselves with Anonymous (the catch all movement for hackers these days)  have breached several Indian government servers and uncovered gold. If taken at face value their hacking has revealed
1. The Indian government has source code for Symantec’s AV software, albeit of 2006 vintage.
2. The Indian government is strong arming cell phone manufacturers to provide back doors into their handsets.
3. The Indian government is in possession of confidential internal communications from the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC).
And now in a new development we learn from Freed:
“Now YamaTough has provided potentially damning evidence that the Indian government is actively engaged in espionage efforts targeting not only the USCC, but potentially thousands of US government networks, ranging from those of federal agencies to systems used by state and municipal entities.”
YamaTough is part of The Lords of Dharmaraja hacking group in India.
You can see the difference between these unfolding events and previous claims of cyber espionage. The exfiltration of terabytes of data on the US Joint Strike Fighter or last March’s theft of “24,000 documents” has never been proved. They are just claims from admittedly credible sources. Thanks to a hacker group in India, InfosecIsland has source material that demonstrates wide spread cyber espionage on the part of the Indian Government which the hackers may publish.
This is a historically significant development for those of us who track cyber espionage.
The result of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race is in doubt amid allegations of spying by the winning team.
Supermaxi Investec Loyal beat the favourite Wild Oats XI by just three minutes but the result was immediately placed under protest by the race committee.
It is alleged Investec Loyal used a television helicopter to spy on Wild Oats XI and thus contravened rule 41, which refers to the use of outside assistance.
The protest will be heard at 2300 GMT on Wednesday and centres on an audio recording of a conversation between Investec and an ABC helicopter.
A crewman for Investec can apparently be heard requesting information from the helicopter about Wild Oats’ sail plan.
Investec ovetook Wild Oats mid-afternoon on the final day and crossed the winning line first 2 days, 6 hours, 14 minutes and 18 seconds after leaving Sydney.
It was one of the closest finishes in the race’s history but the seven-second gap between Condor of Bermuda and Apollo in 1982 still holds that title.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Army charged an Alaska-based soldier Monday with attempted espionage, saying he communicated and transmitted national defense information to someone he believed was a foreign intelligence agent.
According to the charges, 22-year-old Spc. William Colton Millay of Owensboro, Ky., intended to aid a foreign nation.
“Millay had access to the information through the course of his normal duties both stateside and on a previous deployment, and although the information was unclassified, Millay believed that it could be used to the advantage of a foreign nation,” according to a description of the charges released by Army officials.
Officials would not identify the country Millay believed the so-called agent represented or if their investigation involved a sting operation. Millay was assigned to a combat tour in Iraq from December 2009 to July 2010, and he served in Korea, according to information provided by the Army.
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Brazil may have been banned from bond work – but not from high-stakes politics. As vice president of field operations for the campaign of the former pizza- company chief executive and top-tier Republican White House wannabe, aides said the operative from northeastern Pennsylvania is part of Cain’s inner circle of five top aides. Another member of that circle, press aide J.D. Gordon, said Brazil is “essential.”
“This is an old and tired story,” said Gordon of Brazil’s ties to the Philadelphia probe. He said he had discussed inquiries from the Daily News with Brazil yesterday. “He was never accused of anything and never targeted.”
Gordon said the 2006 finding by the National Association of Security Dealers that prevented him from associating with its member firms was not important because Brazil never was a registered securities dealer – precisely the reason that the industry watchdog group was probing his work for two mid-Atlantic bond firms.
Brazil’s murky background is sure to add volume to complaints about the quality of Cain’s campaign staff, which has been reeling in recent days from its handling of sexual-harassment allegations, as well as from Cain’s seeming lack of knowledge of foreign-policy issues, including a disastrous, fumbling answer to a question about Libya. Cain, who had been leading in some national polls, has now fallen behind Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich in new surveys.
Brazil’s story is colorful. Until three years ago, the now-aide to a tea-party favorite was a Democrat, known for his ties to the family of that party’s stalwart Hillary Rodham Clinton, the secretary of state.
