The news that chairmen of FTSE 350 companies have been contacted to do a so-called ‘cyber health-check’ by MI5 and GCHQ, has been broadly welcomed by a counter-surveillance consultancy.
Peter Clements of Templepan, says: “This initiative is good news as businesses of all sizes need to be made aware of the very real threat of corporate espionage as a result of so-called cyber-attacks. But what has been over looked once again is the increasing issue of good old-fashioned traditional espionage technologies such as bugs!
“This new initiative is aimed at getting businesses to seriously assess how well they would handle issues such as protecting intellectual property and safeguarding data. We would argue that while businesses do need to do this, simply focusing on the high profile ‘sexy’ issue of online threats, it really has overlooked the more mundane, traditional spying technologies. At the end of the day all it takes is one rogue bug, one hidden mobile with remote access or one low tech device to record, monitor and effectively ‘steal’ data or intellectual property.”
Earlier in the year the Boardroom Bellwether survey issued by the Financial Times and ICSA suggested that four out of five of the UK’s largest quoted companies where not prepared for cyber attacks.
“This indicates to me that businesses are not vigilant about the threat to their IT security systems, let alone more low-tech breeches. Business boards need to address this issue head-on and take effective counter-surveillance measures as a matter or urgency. Buildings and offices, cars and mobile devices all need to be swept and checked,” he added.
About Templepan Security Systems
Founded in 1972 Templepan was originally established to provide corporate organisations, banks and financial institutions with the confirmation they needed that their buildings were free from hidden listening devices. Family-run Templepan provides a range of corporate security services including electronic counter-surveillance inspections and its associated monitoring equipment, CCTV installation and maintenance, covert detection systems, close protection services to VIP clients and a security service for executives.
