America the Vulnerable
“The basic message of “America the Vulnerable” is that we are, almost willfully, handing over our secrets, economy and future to those who would do us harm. There are things we, as a country, as employees and as individuals should do to reduce the threats but we better get a move on or it […]
SEC Push May Yield New Disclosures of Company Cyber Attacks
Bloomberg has an article about the SEC requiring companies to reveal more cybercrime information when their networks and intellectual property/secrets are hacked. Some interesting facts and quotes from the article: • The cost to businesses of exposing data such as Social Security and credit-card numbers climbed to an average of $7.2 million per incident last […]
Young Employees Not Interested in Security
Findings from the Cisco Connected World Technology Report reveal a different security mindset of younger employees in the workforce compared to their older coworkers. This new workforce is part of a “demographic that grew up with the Internet and has an increasingly on-demand lifestyle that mixes personal and business activity in the workplace. . . The […]
US citizen charged in jihadist plot “wanted to go after the Army people”
BAD DICE: Another person born in a foreign country who took an oath to become a US citizen is now charged with wanting to attack his fellow Americans in the Tampa, FL area. His first choice was Army bases, but found them too secure, so he decided to go after softer targets. It is clear he was […]
Cyber Security Threats in 2012
“We live in a world where all information is in digital form and is easily accessible if you know how. Today’s spies no longer need to infiltrate a building to steal information. As long as they have the necessary computer skills, they can wreak havoc and access even the best-kept secrets of organizations without ever […]
Chinese hacker attacks
Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article about Chinese cyber spying (U.S. Homes In on China Spying). According to the article, the US has been able to identify the groups in China responsible for cyber attacks, and that these groups are sponsored by the People’s Liberation Army. Two weeks ago US officials confronted their Chinese […]
Russian spy tried to recruit politicians and government officials
From the Daily Telegraph. While this happened in the UK, it is also happening right now in the US: “He was very friendly and his English was very good. I did not for one moment think he was a spy. I didn’t even realise he was Russian until later.”–a British security expert who met Repin […]
China’s Spies Are Catching Up
A recent op-ed in the New York Times by intelligence author and historian David Wise whose most recent book is the highly recommended “Tiger Trap: America’s Secret Spy War with China.” IN 1995, a middle-aged Chinese man walked into a C.I.A. station in Southeast Asia and offered up a trove of secret Chinese documents. Among […]
China’s non-government economic espionage against US companies
From The Diplomat, 11 December 2011: With each week seeming to bring with it a new example of a cyber attack launched from China, the issue has in many minds become inextricably linked with the Chinese government. And with China’s state-owned firms dominating the country’s economic landscape – and with Beijing’s apparent willingness to protect […]
China #1 Country for ‘Sexpionage’
Brian McAdam said countries have been using sex to gather intel for over 1,000 years, and it hasn’t slowed a bit. “Many countries are still carrying on sexpionage, and the number one country is China.” This statement was made by a former Canadian diplomat at a recent security conference in Canada about defending against espionage. Attendees […]
Insider Threat: Senior Scientist in Utah Charged With Industrial Espionage
A senior scientist at drug company Frontier Scientific Inc. in Utah — 42 year old Prabhu Mohapatra — was charged for emailing company trade secrets to his brother-in-law in India, who co-founded a new competitor company called Medchemblox. JDLR Alert: A co-worker saw him create Microsoft Word documents of a chemical formula, which was intellectual property […]
Losses from intellectual property espionage: a trillion dollars a year
NPR published a recent article called, “China’s Cyber Threat A High-Stakes Spy Game.” Here are some interesting points: How to travel to China: “I first of all get a loaner laptop. And the USB that I bring, I clean digitally before I bring it, so it’s totally blank,” Lieberthal says. Lieberthal then disconnects the Wi-Fi and […]
Domestic Terrorism Threat: New York Al-Qaeda Sympathizer Wanted to Attack US Military Personnel in US
Jose Pimentel: 27 years old born in the Dominican Republic came to the US when he was eight years old spent 19 years living in America converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammed Yusef unemployed, divorced and living in New York City spent most of his time on the internet on radical extremist Islamic […]
Cybersecurity: Hackers ‘hit’ US water treatment systems
Our nation’s infrastructure, water lines, hackers, Russia, multiple attacks. Not good. Read on: From the BBC, 21 November 2011: Hackers are alleged to have destroyed a pump used to pipe water to thousands of homes in a US city in Illinois. Hackers with access to the utility’s network are thought to have broken the pump […]
USMC 236th Birthday
Great video celebrating the 236th birthday of the US Marines today. I can’t embed it but you can watch it here. From the USMC website, the Marines prayer which I’ve separated into bullet points because they are a good reminder for us all in work and home: The Marines’ Prayer Almighty Father, whose command is […]
US Army soldier charged with attempted espionage
BAD DICE: A 22-year-old US Army military policeman, Specialist William Colton Millay, has been formally charged with attempted espionage. According to Reuters, Millay “knowingly making false statements to Army Counterintelligence officials regarding the full scope of his attempts to contact foreign governments and the nature of information he disclosed. He is also accused of soliciting […]
Trusted insider charged with corporate espionage
An local ABC TV news station in Chicago is reporting on a recent case of 2009 Cornell University graduate Yihao Ben Pu, a 24-year-old man holding both a US and Chinese passport who “was once a trusted technology employee at Citadel Investments, once of the world’s largest hedge fund managers. Pu is charged with attempting to […]
REPORT: Foreign Spies Stealing US Economic Secrets in Cyberspace
The National Counterintelligence Executive has issued their latest report to Congress on foreign economic collection and industrial espionage called “Foreign Spies Stealing US Economic Secrets in Cyberspace.” Executive Summary Foreign economic collection and industrial espionage against the United States represent significant and growing threats to the nation’s prosperity and security. Cyberspace—where most business activity and […]
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