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I just read this story, and it is freaking amazing...
This thing is huge - the largest Israeli companies are involved in deep sh*t.
It also appears that classified defense secrets were also stolen, which raises questions about the levels of computer security in defense establishments:
This thing is huge - the largest Israeli companies are involved in deep sh*t.
Trojan horse also hit major int'l firms
Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 29, 2005
In an undercover operation codenamed "Horse Race" the Tel Aviv Police arrested last week leading executives from the country's top-tier companies who allegedly planted a computer virus known as a Trojan horse inside their competitors' computers and stole classified commercial information, it was released for publication on Sunday.
Eleven private investigators – hired by the companies to conduct the industrial espionage - have been arrested in addition to some eight senior executives from Israel's leading companies - including including Cellcom, YES, Pelephone, Meir Car Imports and the Tami-4 mineral water retailer.
Senior police officers involved in the investigation told The Jerusalem Post that "leading well-known international-based" companies were also spied on by the Trojan horse virus.
Police said they had evidence linking the Israeli industrial espionage affair to other similar cases across Europe. Police refused to name the companies claiming they had "yet to inform them of the espionage."
While the suspects arrested so far were mostly mid-level executives, police said Sunday they expected the investigation would eventually reach the various companies CEOs and even owners. The first CEO to be questioned by police, Cellcom executive Yitzhak Peterburg, arrived Sunday at police headquarters in Tel Aviv where he was questioned for close to three hours.
"It is hard to believe that the CEOs did not know what their subordinates were doing," said head of the Tel Aviv police's Fraud Squad Dep.-Cmdr. Aryeh Edelman. "We can assume these people worked according to instructions they received from above."
"This is one of the gravest scandals in ... industrial and market espionage in Israel," said Supt. Roni Hindi, one of the members of the investigative team.
Police believe the YES satellite TV provider used the software to spy on its competition – cable TV provider HOT. YES' CFO Katriel Moriah was arrested last Wednesday. Police also suspect that cellular providers Cellcom and Pelephone spied on the PR offices of Rani Rahav which represents their competition - Partner. Pelephone's security manager Shai Raz and Cellcom's security manager Ofer Reichman were also detained by police.
CEO of Meir Motors – importer of Volvo and Honda - Uzi Mor, also the Vice President of the Maccabi Haifa soccer club, was arrested for allegedly spying on Champion Motors – the importer of Volkswagen. Tami-4, police said allegedly spied on the Mey Eden mineral water supplier.
The private investigators who were arrested belong to three major firms: Modi'in Ezrahi (Civil intelligence), Krochmal Special Investigations and Philosoph Balali. The private investigators arrested included former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) officials, and former senior police officers.
Lawyers for the suspects said their clients acknowledged ordering the private investigators to gather information on their rivals but did not know that the information was obtained illegally. Police dismissed the claim, asserting that the information obtained for the companies was valuable to the extent that the victims lost competitive bids and thousands of customers as a result of the espionage.
"The software is totally legal," said Ofir Katz Neriah, the lawyer for one of the suspects. "The question is if the use that my client made of the software was illegal - and the answer is definitely not."
Other companies spied on included: Shekem Electric appliances, Globes newspaper paper, the Strauss-Elite food consortium, Ace Hardware and the Shalmor-Amnon Amihai and Reuveni Pridan advertising firms.
The investigation began in November 2004 after known Israeli novelist Amnon Jacont filed a police complaint when he discovered excerpts of a novel he was in the middle of working on had mysteriously appeared on the Internet without his consent. Jacont told police he suspected someone hacked into his computer and stole parts of the book, and directed police to his former son-in-law Michael Haephrati - a 41-year-old computer specialist living in London.
Police inspected Jacont's computer and discovered a Trojan horse had been implanted inside. The Trojan horse, police said, granted the infiltrator complete access and remote control over Jacont's computer.
With the help of Interpol and London's Metropolitan Police, police succeeded in tracing the Trojan horse to Haephrati. He was arrested last week together with his wife Ruth, 28, in London and is currently awaiting extradition hearings so he can stand trial in Israel.
Police then discovered that Haephrati had sold the computer virus to three of Israel's leading private investigator offices where it was used to steal inside information from leading companies on behalf of their competitors.
The private investigators, police suspect, would send the virus hidden inside a promotional CD to various companies, which unknowingly uploaded the Trojan horse onto their computer system. The private investigators would also send emails to the various companies with the virus as an attachment, police said.
Police investigators succeeded in infiltrating several FTP servers in Israel, Germany and the US, on which the stolen files were stored before they were passed on to the companies that ordered them. The Trojan horse, police said, was undetectable and that is why none of the companies filed police complaints.
Rami Shalmor, a top executive at Shalmor-Avnon-Amichai advertising, said the program was planted on the computer of one of his account executives and was in their system for two or three weeks before it was discovered.
Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 29, 2005
In an undercover operation codenamed "Horse Race" the Tel Aviv Police arrested last week leading executives from the country's top-tier companies who allegedly planted a computer virus known as a Trojan horse inside their competitors' computers and stole classified commercial information, it was released for publication on Sunday.
Eleven private investigators – hired by the companies to conduct the industrial espionage - have been arrested in addition to some eight senior executives from Israel's leading companies - including including Cellcom, YES, Pelephone, Meir Car Imports and the Tami-4 mineral water retailer.
Senior police officers involved in the investigation told The Jerusalem Post that "leading well-known international-based" companies were also spied on by the Trojan horse virus.
Police said they had evidence linking the Israeli industrial espionage affair to other similar cases across Europe. Police refused to name the companies claiming they had "yet to inform them of the espionage."
While the suspects arrested so far were mostly mid-level executives, police said Sunday they expected the investigation would eventually reach the various companies CEOs and even owners. The first CEO to be questioned by police, Cellcom executive Yitzhak Peterburg, arrived Sunday at police headquarters in Tel Aviv where he was questioned for close to three hours.
"It is hard to believe that the CEOs did not know what their subordinates were doing," said head of the Tel Aviv police's Fraud Squad Dep.-Cmdr. Aryeh Edelman. "We can assume these people worked according to instructions they received from above."
"This is one of the gravest scandals in ... industrial and market espionage in Israel," said Supt. Roni Hindi, one of the members of the investigative team.
Police believe the YES satellite TV provider used the software to spy on its competition – cable TV provider HOT. YES' CFO Katriel Moriah was arrested last Wednesday. Police also suspect that cellular providers Cellcom and Pelephone spied on the PR offices of Rani Rahav which represents their competition - Partner. Pelephone's security manager Shai Raz and Cellcom's security manager Ofer Reichman were also detained by police.
CEO of Meir Motors – importer of Volvo and Honda - Uzi Mor, also the Vice President of the Maccabi Haifa soccer club, was arrested for allegedly spying on Champion Motors – the importer of Volkswagen. Tami-4, police said allegedly spied on the Mey Eden mineral water supplier.
The private investigators who were arrested belong to three major firms: Modi'in Ezrahi (Civil intelligence), Krochmal Special Investigations and Philosoph Balali. The private investigators arrested included former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) officials, and former senior police officers.
Lawyers for the suspects said their clients acknowledged ordering the private investigators to gather information on their rivals but did not know that the information was obtained illegally. Police dismissed the claim, asserting that the information obtained for the companies was valuable to the extent that the victims lost competitive bids and thousands of customers as a result of the espionage.
"The software is totally legal," said Ofir Katz Neriah, the lawyer for one of the suspects. "The question is if the use that my client made of the software was illegal - and the answer is definitely not."
Other companies spied on included: Shekem Electric appliances, Globes newspaper paper, the Strauss-Elite food consortium, Ace Hardware and the Shalmor-Amnon Amihai and Reuveni Pridan advertising firms.
The investigation began in November 2004 after known Israeli novelist Amnon Jacont filed a police complaint when he discovered excerpts of a novel he was in the middle of working on had mysteriously appeared on the Internet without his consent. Jacont told police he suspected someone hacked into his computer and stole parts of the book, and directed police to his former son-in-law Michael Haephrati - a 41-year-old computer specialist living in London.
Police inspected Jacont's computer and discovered a Trojan horse had been implanted inside. The Trojan horse, police said, granted the infiltrator complete access and remote control over Jacont's computer.
With the help of Interpol and London's Metropolitan Police, police succeeded in tracing the Trojan horse to Haephrati. He was arrested last week together with his wife Ruth, 28, in London and is currently awaiting extradition hearings so he can stand trial in Israel.
Police then discovered that Haephrati had sold the computer virus to three of Israel's leading private investigator offices where it was used to steal inside information from leading companies on behalf of their competitors.
The private investigators, police suspect, would send the virus hidden inside a promotional CD to various companies, which unknowingly uploaded the Trojan horse onto their computer system. The private investigators would also send emails to the various companies with the virus as an attachment, police said.
Police investigators succeeded in infiltrating several FTP servers in Israel, Germany and the US, on which the stolen files were stored before they were passed on to the companies that ordered them. The Trojan horse, police said, was undetectable and that is why none of the companies filed police complaints.
Rami Shalmor, a top executive at Shalmor-Avnon-Amichai advertising, said the program was planted on the computer of one of his account executives and was in their system for two or three weeks before it was discovered.
It also appears that classified defense secrets were also stolen, which raises questions about the levels of computer security in defense establishments:
Defense-related info found on PI server
yaakov katz and jpost staff, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 30, 2005
Classified defense-related material belonging to an Israeli arms developer was found on a server allegedly used by private investigators to store information stolen from various companies by using the Trojan horse virus currently at the center of the largest-ever industrial espionage case in the state's history, police said Monday.
The industrial espionage scandal sent shock waves throughout the business community on Sunday when police revealed that a number of well-known companies were suspected of hiring private investigators to spy on their competitors using the Trojan horse computer virus.
Police said that while the believed the defense-related information did not fall into hostile hands, the possibility had yet to be officially ruled out.
"Classified material was found on one of the servers," an officer involved in the investigation said. "It was taken from an Israeli arms developer and it has been transferred to the defense establishment. We can only hope it did not find its way into hostile hands."
Meanwhile, the Justice Ministry announced on Monday that it would establish a new agency to deal with matters relating to computers, information and privacy, slated to begin operating in several months' time
The espionage case expanded Monday when Tel Aviv police investigators checked suspicions that a number of additional companies fell victim to the espionage. Police searched computers at the offices of The Marker business paper, which they believe might have been infiltrated by the virus. Police were also searching the offices of the Globes business paper for traces of the virus.
Central Bank Governor Stanley Fischer said the affair could have a negative effect on investments in Israel. Moreover, there was no doubt in Fischer's mind that the case would have a negative effect on the markets.
Earlier Monday, Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reacted for the first time to the affair. "It's important that this was exposed", he said. Netanyahu reassured "the citizens of Israel", saying they need not be alarmed by it.
The undercover operation - codenamed "Horse Race" - was released for publication on Sunday after the arrest of leading executives from some of the country's top-tier companies who allegedly planted the virus.
yaakov katz and jpost staff, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 30, 2005
Classified defense-related material belonging to an Israeli arms developer was found on a server allegedly used by private investigators to store information stolen from various companies by using the Trojan horse virus currently at the center of the largest-ever industrial espionage case in the state's history, police said Monday.
The industrial espionage scandal sent shock waves throughout the business community on Sunday when police revealed that a number of well-known companies were suspected of hiring private investigators to spy on their competitors using the Trojan horse computer virus.
Police said that while the believed the defense-related information did not fall into hostile hands, the possibility had yet to be officially ruled out.
"Classified material was found on one of the servers," an officer involved in the investigation said. "It was taken from an Israeli arms developer and it has been transferred to the defense establishment. We can only hope it did not find its way into hostile hands."
Meanwhile, the Justice Ministry announced on Monday that it would establish a new agency to deal with matters relating to computers, information and privacy, slated to begin operating in several months' time
The espionage case expanded Monday when Tel Aviv police investigators checked suspicions that a number of additional companies fell victim to the espionage. Police searched computers at the offices of The Marker business paper, which they believe might have been infiltrated by the virus. Police were also searching the offices of the Globes business paper for traces of the virus.
Central Bank Governor Stanley Fischer said the affair could have a negative effect on investments in Israel. Moreover, there was no doubt in Fischer's mind that the case would have a negative effect on the markets.
Earlier Monday, Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reacted for the first time to the affair. "It's important that this was exposed", he said. Netanyahu reassured "the citizens of Israel", saying they need not be alarmed by it.
The undercover operation - codenamed "Horse Race" - was released for publication on Sunday after the arrest of leading executives from some of the country's top-tier companies who allegedly planted the virus.
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