Stealthy, sometime long-term cyber-espionage attacks to steal sensitive proprietary information – what some now call “advanced persistent threats” (APT) – have become a top worry for businesses.
Last week the Security for Business Innovation Council, a group of 16 security leaders from companies that include eBay, Coca-Cola Company, SAP, FedEx Corp., Johnson Johnson and Northrop Grumman, summed up their thoughts on APT in a report, saying this type of attack is forcing IT to rethink network security. “Tackling advanced persistent threats means giving up the idea it’s possible to protect everything. This is no longer realistic.”
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8 August 2011
Last updated at 09:15 ET
Williams told police he saw it as a chance to spy on couples having sex
The owner of a Scarborough bed-and-breakfast who used peepholes to spy on guests in their rooms, has been jailed.
Paul Williams, 60, who runs the Sandsea guest house in Devonshire Drive, was jailed for 18 weeks at Scarborough Magistrates’ Court.
Williams, who admitted voyeurism and observing a private act for sexual gratification, also made recordings of couples in their rooms.
Magistrates said the offences were so serious only jail could be justified.
The court was told in May about three young couples who had stayed at the guest house.
On the first night they returned to their rooms one of the guests, a 16-year-old girl, noticed a piece of paper moving on a door to her room.
After investigating, her boyfriend found a hole behind it.
Williams has also been placed on the sex offenders register
He then heard movement in the corridor outside and discovered Williams who was wearing just a dressing gown.
The court heard the girl’s friends also found spy holes in their doors.
Magistrates were told he had put in the holes a couple of years previously because some guests were leaving without paying.
He then told police he saw it as an opportunity to spy on couples having sex and record them.
Williams was also placed on the sex offenders register.
A Brookline, Mass., man has agreed to plead guilty to foreign economic espionage for providing trade secrets to an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence official, the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Carmen Ortiz announced Friday.
Elliot Doxer, 42, a former employee with Akamai Technologies, pled guilty to providing Akamai trade secrets over the course of 18 months.
Doxer’s plea hearing is scheduled for Aug. 19. The charge of foreign economic espionage carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, a three-year term of supervised release and a $500,000 fine.
According to the FBI press release, in June 2006, Doxer “sent an email to the Israeli consulate in Boston stating that he worked in Akamai’s finance department and was willing to provide any information that might help Israel.”
He said in later communications that his desire “was to help our homeland and our war against our enemies,” and also asked for payment.
The undercover FBI agent spoke with Doxer in Sept. 2007 and established a “dead drop” where they could exchange communications.
Doxer visited the dead drop location at least 62 times to “leave information, retrieve communications or check for new communications,” between then and March 2009, the FBI press release said.
He was arrested on Oct. 6, 2010.
The U.S. Attorney’s office thanked Akamai Technology and the Israeli government for help with the investigation.
“We also acknowledge the Government of Israel for their cooperation in this investigation, and underscore that the information does not allege that the Government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf committed any offense under U.S. laws in this case,” the press release on the plea deal said.
The Americans’ lawyer, Masoud Shafiei, had hoped that Sunday’s final court session would result in their immediate release because it coincided with the two-year anniversary of their arrest and came near the start this week of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, when pardons are traditionally handed down.Shafiei said he and the two Americans presented closing arguments in their defense and the court announced the end of its hearings.
“The judge said the court will announce its verdict about my clients within one week,” Shafiei told The Associated Press.
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Caption: Mike Tassey (l) and Rich Perkins (r) describe how they retrofitted a U.S. Army surplus target drone.
(Credit: Declan McCullagh/CNET)
LAS VEGAS–Forget Wi-Fi war driving. Now it’s war flying.
A pair of security engineers showed up at the Black Hat security conference here to show off a prototype that can eavesdrop on Wi-Fi, phone, and Bluetooth signals: a retrofitted U.S. Army target drone, bristling with electronic gear and an array of antennas.
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