Spying on the spies
Spying on the spies who spy on us
I see the Chinese hacked into a US trade secretary’s laptop in Beijing and stolen all the information on the hard drive.
And they call that news?
Having moved in this world for many years, I can explain what actually goes on. The Chinese infiltration may sound like an isolated, newsworthy incident, but it is nothing of the kind.
All governments have departments that exist purely to steal information from other Government departments. These teams compete with each other and spend millions of our (tax) money developing new bugging techniques.
So the USA complaining about the Chinese is like a football team complaining that the other side have scored a home goal — tough cookie.
Why are the guys at the US Commerce department pissed? It’s because the stuff the Chinese steal is more valuable than the stuff the US steal.
Off the record, on the QT & very hush hush
When I speak of ‘Chinese’ and ‘USA’ football teams, they are really not like national teams at all. More like Chelsea and Manchester United. Or the Denver Broncos and the New York Jets. Team members are often not from those home towns.
Most of the people involved in spying have very little interest in the cause which they are paid to support. They do not take their parts too seriously and will often go over to the other side. Espionage is, like publishing, an international and artistic profession in which opinions matter less than the art of perfidy and ‘what works’.
In a James Bond movie, for example, he will break into an office, steal documents and kill two or three people. In real life, why would he risk his life that way? He can make a phone call to a freelance and it will all be done for him by two or three 20-year-old burglars whose skills and daring far outweigh his own. And not only do they get paid (by the freelance they never meet) but get to keep all they can steal.
Little political espionage goes on now days. Commercial eavesdropping and information theft took over when the political cold war ended back in 1980. It’s far easier to conquer Europe and the USA commercially than militarily.
It was about time they figured that out. Any logician will tell you that all wars are about economics.
We publishers get our commercial intelligence from the Specialized Information Publishers Association. You sit at a ‘round table’ at the conference and someone will tell you how they launched a title, how many subs they have and the best price to charge. The only other place you can get that ‘insider’ stuff is the Subscriptions Strategy newsletter.
Subscriptions Strategy newsletter
You won’t find much about the wider, more secret world of international intelligence in newspapers.
Like SIPA members, the top Govt people meet up to exchange information: but not the really secret, sensitive stuff. Secret Govt. files are designated ‘Commercial-in-Confidence’ and you have to be really sneaky to get those. (Like the Chinese.)
Usually the target is a foreign embassy, because that is where all the secret information can be accessed, not just for that mission, but for the whole of that region. Infiltrate a computer at the US or UK embassy in Moscow and you’ll get secret information for the whole of Eastern Europe. You’ll have access to the Pentagon, State Department, Commerce department or the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
Infiltration is easier than you think. It happens a lot. Worldwide Government computer networks are very expensive to install and very expensive to upgrade. The next movie you watch, try to judge what age the software and equipment is. If it’s up-to-date, then the director knows squat about his subject.
British systems, for example, are very old — Windows NT dating back to 1998 or thereabouts. The system hasn’t been brought up to date because security is the first priority.
Yes, the tech spies plant ‘bugs’ but not the kind of little hidden devices we see in the Bond movies.
How does this affect your company – and SIPA?
Actually, this is all about you. If you attend a SIPA conference do you take your laptop or Blackberry?
If you are on a business trip for your company, the local tech spies can drop a bug into your ‘digital assistant’ or whatever device, remotely. That means they don’t need to touch it. Then they can access your personal emails and access your head office files. That’s what has happened in Beijing. So make sure you have deleted all that pornographic spam that comes your way.
I’m not taking a laptop or anything digital to the SIPA conference because guess who has collected more marketing secrets than anyone else? And guess where I store them?
Covert listening devices
Then there are covert listening devices. Be careful who says what in your hotel room at the Washington Mayflower or Tower Hotel in London.
The listener doesn’t need access to your room to replace batteries or check the listening device is working etc. He can lift conversations with a microwave listener. It beams a microwave into the room which activates a passive listening bug, a kind of diaphragm that could be buried in the walls. The bug could have been installed when the hotel was built. That’s how they do it in Eastern Europe.
In itself, the bug has no power source or transmitter, so sends no signals out.
It sounds clever and undetectable, but I can tell you that the problem with the microwave beam is the people in the room get headaches and nausea. And that’s how security people discover what’s going on and complain to the authorities.
SIPA
Anyway, back to SIPA. You get 8 or 9 hours of commercial intelligence for just £367. And if you hang around for the free drinks after the show, you get some really valuable information. I do, anyway. I get the impression some other people are there just to enjoy a great day out of the office.
Here, then are a couple of pieces of inside information from the SIPA conference. You can access them here. But this is all you get without money passing hands. I know your marketing budget is almost non-existent, but after all, we get what we pay for:
P.S. Is it only me? Have you noticed how all that porno spam flying into your inbox suddenly stops while the delegates are locked up at the SIPA conference? The next day — it all starts flying in again.