http://www.idm.net.au/story.asp?id=9528 

By Nathan Statz
IDM News 
April 30, 2008

A team of Israeili private investigators has been jailed on industrial 
espionage charges for their use of spyware to steal commercial secrets.

Four members of the Israeli Modi'in Ezrahi private investigation firm 
have been found guilty of using a Trojan to fleece commercial 
information. Asaf Zlotovsky, a manager at the firm was jailed for 19 
months, with two other employees given 18 and 9 month sentences.

The Trojan Horse itself was traced back to London-based couple Michael 
and Ruth Haephrati who were jailed over their involvement in the case in 
2006.

Security firm, Sophos is warning businesses to be on their guard against 
rogue agencies who offer up information on their competitors.

"It's understandable that firms would want information on what their 
business rivals are planning to do, and try to seek a competitive 
advantage over them. What isn't acceptable is to hire firms that will 
use illegal methods, such as computer spyware, to gather that 
information," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at 
Sophos.

According to Cluley, regular cyberciminals may be attempting to steal 
your employee's credit card details, but spyware can also be used for 
corporate espionage designed to steal your business plans and customer 
databases.

"Firms need to be very careful about the third parties they hire to help 
them grow their business, and seek assurances that their partners will 
not be behaving unethically or illegally. If they do not, the 
consequences could not only be a swathe of bad publicity, but also a 
spell in prison."


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