 |
-
A publicly trading corporation whose share price had
dropped over time was reeking death threats from an upset
investor. The president and another officer of the company
were being extorted to Buy back the shares at the investor’s
original price or manipulate the market to have the share
value increase. When reported to Police the uniformed
officers did not take the complaint seriously saying “if
your involved in the stock market that’s what you get”
(thus disclosing a complete lack of understanding of law
and commerce). We were retained to obtain sufficient to
make the complaint to the Police more compelling. Through
investigative techniques and actual contact with the suspect
we determined that:
-
He was living in Amsterdam under a “mail
drop” address.
-
Only conversed by cellular telephone and
would only return call, never receive them
-
He was listed through Interpol as a major
drug courier
-
He was associated with persons capable
of carrying out the threats
-
He was suffering from a condition which
could be best treated in the Netherlands
|
- An officer of another large Corporation retained us to
determine the level of threat that was directed at one of
his children. There were mysterious telephone calls from
the outside Canada by someone who was inferring that potential
harm was waiting for the child if there was continued association
with another person. That person’s father, it was becoming
aware, is an international fraud artist who has bilked many
millions of dollars from unwitting wealthy investors. We
ended this case summarily by contacting and recording a
conversation with the mysterious caller. We determined that
he was an opportunist who was trying to sell information
on the whereabouts of the international fraudster in the
hope of gaining something for himself. The Threat was assessed,
his bluff was called and the story ended.
- We conducted a security audit for a medium sized company,
which was in the process of expanding and was carrying on
many sensitive meetings on their premises. It was important
that key personnel protect the information they were working
on for several reasons. Firstly, new more advanced personnel
and systems would replace several management positions.
Secondly, Competition would want to know what the nature
of the expansion was to be. Lastly, the personnel who would
be let go may use any leaked information to their advantage
and perhaps set up a competitive company.
We drew up a list of dos and don’ts for the company in
order to safeguard against espionage.
-
Have a counter-measures sweep of the key employee’s
offices and meeting rooms completed after hours and change
door locks on these rooms.
- Have all sensitive meetings with outsiders, (contractors,
suppliers, and adviser’s strategic alliance prospects) off
site so as not to indicate type or nature of changes as
well as probable alliances.
-
Prohibit casual conversations between in house insiders.
- Do not discuss business from home phones with other insiders
unless you have made them secure.
-
Formal meeting minutes should be prepared and kept
in secure location, preferably off site.
- One senior person should be responsible for the release
of information. All information to be made public or otherwise
disseminated should pass through this person.
- Protest computer-based information by encryption and passwords.
NEVER leave the room with your computer on.
- Ensure proper Network IT security.
-
All formal documents to be kept locked in secure area
with limited and controlled access.
- Account for and secure or destroy ALL draft documents.
Even a first draft contains the thread of your plans.
- Company newsletters should be vetted for strategic information
with the view “if I were my competitor, how might I benefit
from reading this”.
-
“IN” and “OUT” trays carry valuable information and
are easily “lifted”. Never leave anything in these trays
related to sensitive material.
- SHREAD do not throw scrap or draft pieces of paper in
the wastebasket. Secure your incoming call notepad. These
reveal whom you are dealing with and perhaps contractors,
clients or suppliers.
-
All internal correspondence related to the project
should be hand delivered in a sealed and receipted envelope.
- Have one trusted person make your travel arrangements
and keep your destination, timing and itinerary secret.
-
Vary the hotels you stay in so you are not predictable.
- Never leave your cell phone unattended and delete any
last number that called you if you received a call from
someone important in the presence of someone you that do
not want to know your contacts.
- Destroy old fax machine film rolls. These contain approximately
600 to 700 pages of the last fax pages.
Following the September 11/2001 World Trade Center disaster,
many of our international and domestic corporate clients
requested we update their security manuals. Executive Security
and corporate travel were foremost in their minds. As part
of the Security reviews we noted that most companies security
policies and procedures were outdated, given the modern
technological advances in security / safety hardware and
software. The result is, many companies have re-thought
were on their corporate priority list, corporate, executive,
employee and customer safety fits.
These companies in various degrees are making available
the use of our:
-
Forensic Computing team to analyze and prevent
IT security breaches and threats to personal identification
of staff.
-
Security analysis of policy and procedures
reviews.
-
Security interviews with top executives to
determine what risks they might be exposed to
in their personal as well as corporate lives.
-
Recommendations we make to them with respect
to travel policy and vehicle use in foreign countries.
-
Counter-measures sweeps ( de-bugging ) of offices,
residences, boardrooms and vehicles used for sensitive
assignments.
|
|
|
|
|
|
