Corporate espionage is trendy

The electronic corporate espionage has become a “fashion” in Romania, too, with spying on thy neighbour turning into a “national sport,” while certain companies have created specialised departments for this purpose, the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) says.
“The electronic surveillance fashion has become a constant preoccupation of certain economic operators, so that nearly every respectable company has specialised departments for spying the projects and accomplishments of the competitors. This fashion has reached Romania, as well, therefore creating the necessary conditions for crimes against the people’s freedom of speech and the national security,” the SRI report published on its website yesterday shows.
Those engaged in illegal tapping are most preoccupied with phone calls, radio communications, discussions or images reproducing activities carried out either indoors or outdoors, telegraphic, fax or data transmissions.
SRI reports to have found, as requested by institutions, companies or individuals, “vulnerabilities” that allow illegal tapping of communications and confidential data leaks. It warns there are “investors” interested in building unauthorised intelligence networks, while certain state institutions or companies are buying data transmission networks operating illegally.
At the same time, SRI accuses “certain employees of the telecommunications operators” of illegally tapping calls and illegally checking phone lines for tapping by the “proper authorities.”
Espionage has developed in the meantime, so that it uses a great deal of methods, from modern miniature tools, like tiny video cameras to the traditional bugs installed in the lampshades by the side of the hotel beds or in the flower pot on the booked restaurant table, the SRI report shows.
Moreover, almost every kind of answering machines and cordless phones allows not only eavesdropping on phone calls but also eavesdropping on the calls in progress near such devices. Neither the mobile phone is safer, as none of the mobile telephony networks can guarantee full security of the calls.