Technology and Techniques Used in Industrial Espionage

Industrial Espionage. These methodologies are being used on a daily basis by competitors maybe even against you. I knew a Private Investigator who used to break into other firm's voicemail boxes. He was suspected of erasing messages and stealing potential clients. I know you may bethinking that is not right. Maybe so but if a Private Investigator cannot protect him/herself than what use are they to a client.

This happens all the time. If you think it is bad here in the United States try overseas. It is pretty muchconsidered fair game and rarely enforced. Even the Concord was remembered for being heavily bugged.

What you may find surprising is just how easy it is to do. You could even use off the shelf items, although fully assembled models are readily available and cheap.

The best way to learn is to do. A little bit of paranoia and a lot of imagination goes a long way. Just look around your house and see what can be used. Baby monitors can be remotely activated and used to listen in on you. Your Cell Phone can be hacked through its Bluetooth Feature, so not only can all the data be copied, but also settings could be changed. Your phone could be called and answered without you knowing; thereby listening to your conversation. Yourphone can also be used to make a call to someone else without you touching a button ideal for incrimination purposes. There was a technique originally developed to remotely view what you watch on your television,now adapted for computer screens. You can find the plans to build this on the Internet from many sites. This is used in Europe, particularly the Balkans all the time against ATMs. There is still the good oldfashion radio scanner to listen to cordless phone calls. Then you can say, "Well I use a digital, spread spectrum model using 2.4 or 5.8 frequencies."

True that is good protection, but given time the packets of data (digital remember) can be reassembled and decoded. Thankfully that takes time, but you can buy a digital scanner to listen to real time conversations. You can also buy software overseas to work with scanners and laptops for listening to Cell Phone calls. An interesting side note: Some of these same companies that provide suchequipment constantly steal from each other.

Outside your house or in the basement of your apartment building are boxes where your land line phone service comes through. You just need a telephone/linesman butt set or build one from a phone to listen in.

So you say, "What does this have to do with industrial security?" Well usually certain people are targeted when looking for a means into an organization. Plus, they can make a convenient scapegoat and distraction to investigators.

Believe it or not it is often I.T. and security personnel who are targeted. Although they may be more aware of security they also have higher privileges than most. Many times they use a popular and recognized remote access program when telecommuting. If you can capture their username and password that may be all that you need. Sometimes there may be more advanced authentication procedures.

For instance, the server you will log into or firewall you wish to bypass may require extra authentication. Sometimes it may request a MAC address. This is theunique serial number burned into network cards. This can be copied and you can change yours to that one with a software application. If you have the IP Address, then you can switch your IP Address as well.

When you access the victim's computer and place a remote access program of your own, don't use one with obvious hacker names like Back Orifice. Using one that they already have, such as PC Anywhere or Remote Desktop would be ideal. Don't worry about tackling a wireless computer network. Even with security enabled that could just be a speed bump to the dedicated. If probing a victim's