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.
One of the worldâs best-paid businesswomen hired private investigators to bug her estranged husbandâs ÂŁ2âmillion home, according to papers lodged at the High Court.
Elena Ambrosiadou is being sued for spying and harassment by Dr Martin Coward. The pair, who separated in 2009, founded Ikos, one of Europeâs biggest hedge funds.
Dr Coward claims in papers obtained from the court that Miss Ambrosiadou hired a private detective agency called Kroll Associates to plant secret surveillance devices last December at his house in Steyning, West Sussex.
Separated: Martin Coward and Elena Ambrosiadou founded Ikos, one of Europeâs biggest hedge funds
He alleges that Kroll employees entered his property illegally and left bugsand video cameras in the kitchen and the fireplace of his study.
He claims that they also planted a GPS tracking device in his car. The court document also alleges that Dr Coward was covertly followed by detectives from another agency who photographed his meetings with people in Monaco and Cyprus.
Dr Coward, regarded as one of the worldâs greatest financial mathematicians, is suing his estranged wife for breaching his privacy and his human rights, which guarantee him a right to a private life.
He is also seeking an injunction against Miss Ambrosiadou and Kroll Associates âto prevent any further similar activityâ.
Greek-born Miss Ambrosiadou, 51, and Dr Coward amassed a ÂŁ200âmillion fortune through the hedge fund they jointly founded in 1993. She took a salary of ÂŁ16âmillion in 2004 as the chief executive of Ikos, and last year spent ÂŁ60âmillion on the Maltese Falcon, the worldâs largest private sailing yacht.
Last week The Mail on Sunday revealed how Miss Ambrosiadou hired a glamorous undercover agent called Laura Merts, 37, to spy on her former portfolio manager, Tobin Gover, and to extract âconfidential and private information about himâ.
Mr Gover was among 12 Ikos employees who were mysteriously sacked in 2008 while Dr Coward was on a skiing holiday. Miss Ambrosiadou has agreed to pay Mr Gover âsubstantialâ damages.
After the sackings, Ikos was hit by scandals and setbacks. In late 2009, Dr Coward, who was chief investment officer, resigned, saying he wanted to set up his own hedge fund. The couple also separated shortly afterwards.
The court papers claim that the bugs in Dr Cowardâs home ârecorded a long conversation between the claimant [Dr Coward] and his mother in the study, in which they discussed a number of highly private, confidential and sensitive issues, including issues concerning the claimantâs business plans, investments and tax affairsâ.
Dr Coward also claims that his estranged wife hired another agency to spy on his movements between November and December 2009 in Monaco. Dr Coward lives in the principality with his 24-year-old Brazilian girlfriend.
He claims he was also subjected to a more intensive surveillance when in Limassol, Cyprus.
Last night a spokesman for Dr Coward refused to comment.
Miss Ambrosiadouâs lawyers said there has been no finding of wrong-doing against her and she denies any allegations of unlawful conduct.
An Ikos spokesman said: âWe are not going to debate an ongoing situation through the media. There are a number of outstanding criminal cases to be dealt with.â
The network of defense contractor Lockheed-Martin was attacked using counterfeit electronic keys. Since the RSA Security network was hacked and the keys to its SecurID tokens were compromised a few months ago, the world has been waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop. Well, it dropped.
In an analysis of the breach at RSA Security, NSS Labs predicted, “This was a strategic move to grab the virtual keys to RSA’s customers–who are the most security conscious in the world. One or several RSA clients are likely the ultimate target of this attack. Military, financial, governmental, and other organizations with critical intellectual property, plans and finances are at risk.”
Cyber attacks have evolved into precision tools for corporate and government espionage.Since the compromise of the SecurID keys, there have been malware and phishing campaigns probing for specific data connecting RSA tokens to the end-user, suggesting that those attacks were being conducted by the original RSA Security attackers with a goal in mind.
Most crimes are crimes of opportunity, and most crimes of opportunity can be avoided. Stay in populated, well-lit areas, and you’re relatively safe. Walk down dark, deserted alleys and your odds of getting mugged go up. Lock your car doors and keep valuable hidden, and you probably won’t get things stolen. Leave your car unlocked with your iPad sitting on the passenger seat and it probably won’t be there when you get back.
However, avoiding a targeted attack–a stalker dedicated to trailing you specifically–is much more difficult. The attack against RSA Security does not appear to have been a random crime of opportunity, but rather a targeted attack calculated with the goal of acquiring the keys necessary to tackle larger prey like Lockheed-Martin.
I am sure that Lockheed-Martin and the United States government have information security experts much smarter than me investigating these incidents and connecting the dots, but it certainly seems at face value like either a state-sponsored attack, or an attack by well-funded hackers with the intent to market whatever information can be extracted internationally to other governments.
Thankfully, Lockheed-Martin detected the attack and acted quickly to thwart it. A spokesperson for Lockheed-Martin reports that no customer, program, or employee data has been compromised as a result of this attack.
But, the entire incident–starting from the RSA Security attack and compromise of the SecurID tokens, and ending at Lockheed-Martin–illustrates that malware and cyber-crime are becoming more insidious. Malware has evolved from a trivial, script-kiddie nuisance, to a professional crime syndicate, and now into a tool for precision corporate and government espionage.
PARIS — French automaker Renault SA named a top executive of Nissan Americas as its new chief operating officer on Monday, in an effort to move on from an embarrassing scandal around false accusations of espionage.
The partially state-owned French car maker said Carlos Tavares, head of operations at the U.S. division of Renault partner Nissan(NSANY), will take up the post immediately.
In a statement, Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of both Renault and Nissan, called the appointment of longtime Renault veteran Tavares “a first step in strengthening Renault’s management.”
Also Monday, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. said Colin Dodge, its chief performance officer and chairman of Africa, Middle East, India and Europe, will take on the Americas post that had been held by Tavares.
Renault in April announced a wide-scale corporate shakeout — including the ouster of Patrick Pelata from the COO post — over a scandal over false accusations against three executives for espionage.
When the scandal was made public early this year, Pelata accused the three executives of masterminding an “organized, international network” to obtain information on Renault’s flagship electric car program.
The three were suspended Jan. 11 after Renault announced it had discovered signs of espionage and proof the men had received “funds from a foreign source,” and accused them of selling strategic information.
The executives had strongly denied the allegations and investigators could not verify them. Renault sent a deep apology to the wrongly accused employees in March.
Three of Renault’s top security officers and its legal counsel lost their jobs in the scandal, and Ghosn responded by announcing that he would waive all stock option benefits for this year and bonuses for 2010.
The three wrongly accused executives have since reached settlements with Renault, which the car maker did not make public.
Shortly after the scandal broke, Industry Minister Eric Besson spoke openly of “economic warfare” against one of France’s top industrial giants — and one lawmaker from French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s party floated an unspecified “Chinese buyer” connection on French radio.
China’s foreign ministry rejected that allegation by Bernard Carayon, a conservative UMP party lawmaker, as “totally groundless, irresponsible and unacceptable.”
CANBERRA (Reuters) – Australia will a develop a cyber defence strategy to combat hacking and electronic espionage, the government said on Friday, responding to what it sees as an increased threat after recent cyber attacks on global companies and government officials.
The United States said this week it was assessing whether security had been compromised after Google Inc revealed a major hacker attack targeting U.S. officials that the Internet giant pegged to China.
Google’s hacking has fuelled debate in Washington over China’s intentions in cyberspace, which the United States has identified as a potential flashpoint for future conflict.
Australia’s cyber defence blueprint will confront the growing threat posed by electronic espionage, theft and state-sponsored cyber attack, Attorney-General Robert McClelland and Defence Minister Stepehen Smith said.
“The Cyber White Paper will examine what we need to do to protect ourselves online, the role of government, industry and the public in protecting our interests,” McClelland told a cyber security function in Sydney.
The strategy paper, to be completed in the first half of 2012, would look at a broad range of areas including consumer protection, cyber safety, cyber crime, cyber security and cyber defence, McClelland said.
Google announced on Wednesday that suspected Chinese hackers tried to steal passwords of hundreds of Google email account holders, including senior U.S. government officials, Chinese activists and journalists.
The allegations by the world’s largest Web search company sparked an angry response from Beijing, which said blaming China was “unacceptable”.
Australia’s parliament came under cyber attack in February, with the computers of at least 10 federal ministers including Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Defence Minister Stephen Smith, targeted and confidential emails possibly accessed.
Chinese intelligence agencies were among a list of foreign hackers suspected of being behind those raids, which followed similar breaches in France concerning computer network information about the Group of 20 wealthy nations.
McClelland earlier this week urged companies to tighten vigilance over cyber attacks launched offshore against some of the world’s biggest resource firms and other businesses, warning high-tech threats were intensifying.
The head of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Dennis Richardson, told upper house budget hearings on Thursday that his officials were experiencing near daily cyber attacks.
“I doubt whether there would be a 24-hour period in which you wouldn’t get something. They can be anything ranging from skilled kids seeing what they can do, to sophisticated hackers getting a kick out of it, through to attempted espionage,” said Richardson, a former head of Australia’s domestic spy agency.
Australia’s former prime minister Kevin Rudd made cyber security a national security priorities in 2009, but the country has not yet followed the lead of close ally the United States and lifted cyber hacking to a sphere of actual war.
But Australian Defence Minister Smith said the cyber threat was “a real, evolving and a growing” test to Australia’s national security defences.
“It comes from a wide range of sources, and from adversaries possessing a broad range of skills,” he said.
