2019 was a bad year for data security. By virtually every metric, it was the worst ever. According to the Ponemon Institute’s 2019 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach reached $3.92 million, the highest amount on record. At the same time, the number of data breaches will reach an all-time high this year. The number of data breaches increased by 54% in the first half of 2019, with nearly 4,000 publicly disclosed breaches during that time. In total, more than 4.1 billion records have been exposed this year.

Code 42 recently released its 2019 Global Data Exposure Report which identified employees as being one of the greatest threats to a company’s ability to protect its valuable data and found that companies are not sufficiently addressing and mitigating the risk of this threat. The report warns companies: “If insider threat data loss is not top of mind for your organization, it should be.”

The 5G wireless technology now being introduced by phone companies promises to bring a world of innovations to mobile service -- from connected appliances to self-driving cars -- just as its predecessors made it possible for phones to become handheld computers. The first big upgrade to the world’s mobile-phone networks in a decade also promises a new round of global technology competition. The race to build 5G overlaps with arguments over its security that have pitted the U.S. and some of its allies against China and have raised tensions in the industry, to the dismay of telecom executives who fear the rollout could be delayed.

According to a request for information updated Wednesday, the military branch wants to pinpoint “Public Persona Cyber Data Sources,” or services that can provide a wide range of data and information on specific individuals, in a way that’s collected legally from the internet, and with a high degree of certainty. The Air Force was mandated by an executive order in 2011 and follow-on policy in 2012 to build and maintain a related capability to monitor insider threats. 

Since 2008, when we launched intelNews, it has been our end-of-year tradition to take a look back and highlight what we believe were the most important intelligence-related stories of the past 12 months. In anticipation of what 2020 may bring in this highly volatile field, we present you with our selection of the top spy stories of 2019. They are listed below in reverse order of significance. This is part one in a three-part series. Part two is here. Part three is available here.

The firm’s fraud barometer records fraud cases of more than £100,000 and reported a total of £1.1bn alleged fraud in 2019, the sixth largest value recorded in the report’s 33-year history. Much of this was down to a super-case which saw three men jailed for more than 12 years after police and customs officials smashed a tobacco smuggling gang.

At the end of April 2019, the new Trade Secret Protection Act implementing the corresponding European Directive (2016/943) came into force, which contains both civil claims and criminal provisions with regard to the disclosure of trade secrets. Secret business information is to be better protected by the new law and industrial espionage and betrayal of secrets thus shall be effectively prevented. In the future, it will also be possible to effectively protect, for example, algorithms of artificial intelligence or innovative process sequences, which until now have been deliberately not disclosed in the course of patent applications for example due to a lack of protective mechanisms against copies.

LAS VEGAS - Intellectual property theft is a growing concern, and it poses a real risk at large conferences where people from around the world are gathered, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said recently.  David Eagleman was one of more than 175,000 people at the Consumer Electronics Show held earlier this month in Las Vegas. He is a Stanford neuroscientist who co-founded a company that creates a wristband that helps the hearing-impaired hear through their skin. The device was produced after years of research, so Eagleman wanted it well-protected globally. 

The rise of social engineering attacks has left many organizations hanging their heads in shame. As one of fastest growing threats to businesses, attackers are increasingly using sophisticated social engineering attacks to deceive even the most astute users into handing over valuable data, such as login credentials or financial information like credit card numbers.

EU and NATO member Bulgaria, which traditionally keeps close links to Russia, expelled another diplomat over espionage allegations in October and declined to grant a visa to Russia’s incoming defense attache.

A Virginia man helped bilk the US Navy out of nearly $200,000 by setting up a sham company to sell the service nonexistent training devices, say federal prosecutors. Michael Kitrel, 42, was charged this week with conspiracy to commit larceny of government money. His alleged crimes were part of a larger $2.7 million scheme involving two Navy lieutenants and a senior chief petty officer who are already serving punishments for their roles in the brazen operation.

Tokyo police arrested a former Softbank Corp. employee and are seeking to question two Russians over a suspected corporate espionage scheme that targeted the information-technology giant. The Metropolitan Police Department announced on Jan. 25 that it had arrested Yutaka Araki, 48, on suspicion of passing confidential information to a diplomat working in the trade mission at the Russian Embassy in Tokyo. Softbank fired Araki in December after police searched the company’s offices.

Another vacancy opened on the National Security Council (NSC) over at the White House when the senior director for European and Russian Affairs, Andrew Peek, was walked out of the White House last week. The rationale for this abrupt and unceremonious departure was attributed to “security-related investigation.” Anytime “security-related” and the White House appear in the same sentence ears perk up, yet the White House is quiet about what incident(s) involving Peek were of sufficient significance to warrant being placed on administrative leave and escorted from the building.

After nearly five years with Coca-Cola, engineer Xiaorong “Shannon” You was getting downsized. Prosecutors allege that two days before her final shift in Atlanta, You gave herself a lucrative parting gift. You uploaded to her Google Drive account confidential documents detailing trade secrets from six Coke vendors worth more than $100 million, according to a federal indictment and an FBI agent’s testimony. It wasn’t Coke’s secret formula, but prosecutors say the records helped You win Chinese government funding to start a company making next-generation can coatings in a beverage industry segment that’s worth $3 billion a year.

Iran swaps American scholar tried on espionage charges for its scientist held by US An Iranian scientist arrested in the US for violating sanctions and an American Princeton scholar held on espionage charges by the Islamic Republic each returned home as part of a prisoner swap between Tehran and Washington. Both sides rejoiced at the return of their citizens earlier on Saturday, shortly after the news broke. “Glad that Professor Massoud Soleimani and Mr. Xiyue Wang will be joining their families shortly,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.

Swiss police foiled a suspected espionage operation in which Russians posed as plumbers to spy on the Davos summit, according to a report. Two Russian men were intercepted by authorities in the Alpine resort in August last year, five months before the town hosted this week’s World Economic Forum (WEF.) Police in the eastern Swiss canton of Grisons confirmed the men had been subject to routine identify checks and were found to have Russian diplomatic passports.

TOKYO, Jan 25 (Reuters) - A former employee of SoftBank Group Corp’s wireless business has been arrested on suspicion of leaking company information, the telecommunications firm said on Saturday. SoftBank Corp said it had dismissed the former manager after it became aware of the alleged theft, adding that none of the stolen information was highly confidential. The former employee is suspected of passing information to Russia’s trade mission in Japan in exchange for money, the Nikkei newspaper reported, citing the police.

This publication is a revision of IAEA Nuclear Security Series No. 8, Preventive and Protective Measures against Insider Threats, published in 2008. The new publication provides updated guidance to States, their competent authorities and operators, shippers and carriers on selecting, implementing, and evaluating measures for addressing insider threats. It applies to any type of nuclear facility, notably nuclear power plants, research reactors, and other nuclear fuel-cycle facilities (e.g. enrichment plants, reprocessing plants, fuel fabrication plants and storage facilities), whether in design, redesign, construction, commissioning, operation, shutdown or decommissioning.

E-learning programme focused on awareness of behavioural risk signs, enabling both managers and employees to recognise early signs and mitigating insider risks.

Drawing on a nearly 2 year investigation this documentary presents highly revealing interviews with participants and witnesses, some of whom have never before spoken on camera.