Amdocs exec questioned in industrial espionage affair

The police say they have enough evidence to indict the private investigators who have been arrested.

This morning, Aryeh Zeiff, CEO of cigarette company Dubek, filed a complaint at the fraud division of the Israel Police Tel Aviv district, claiming that his company had fallen victim to monitoring by an unknown party. Zeiff had a computer with him, on which he said Trojan Horse spyware had been installed. He said the investigators had asked him to bring the computer for inspection.

The march of people giving testimony to the fraud division, both complainants and those being questioned, will continue today. Managers of several companies suspected of commissioning industrial espionage were due to present themselves to the police this morning. A senior manager with responsibility for security at Amdocs (NYSE: DOX), Eitan Shiron, has been questioned under caution. Amdocs is suspected of spying on "Globes" journalist Gitit Pincas, who used to cover the company.

Yesterday, Amdocs confirmed that it hired a private investigation agency to help it stop leaks of information to outside organizations, but the company denied that it had infiltrated computers at "Globes", and claimed that it had explicitly instructed the investigation agency that it must act within the law.

Last night, the police took away the computer used by Pincas at Globes, after a Trojan horse was found on it. It is suspected that Pincas's home computer was also infiltrated, but because its hard disk had recently been re-formatted, no Trojan horse was found on it.

The police investigators believe that Pincas came under surveillance when she covered Wall Street at "Ha'aretz's" business section "The Marker". Certain articles Pincas published about Amdocs apparently aroused the company's ire, and it started a comprehensive internal investigation to find her sources. Amdocs warned its employees about leaking information, and even forced some managers to undergo polygraph tests.

The threats and polygraph tests failed to reveal anything. It is alleged that Amdocs then tried other methods to uncover Pincas's sources. About a year ago, Pincas left The Marker to work at Globes, and the surveillance of her continued until last week.

Tana Industries (known as Tami 4) CEO Dan Taragan came to the Tel Aviv police this morning. His company is suspected of commissioning information on competitor Eden Springs (Maayanot Eden) (TASE: MEYD) from the private investigators who have been arrested. At his request, Taragan will be questioned later in the day.

Heads of bookstore chain Steimatzky also turned up at the Tel Aviv police today, to check whether a Trojan Horse had been infiltrated into their computers. It is not yet known whether any spy program was found on the computers, and, if so, who ordered information from the private investigators.

The police believe that the evidence gathered so far will enable them to draw up indictments against the private investigators, and also against some of the companies that commissioned investigations into their competitors. However, a decision on the matter rests with the State Attorney's Office, and it is not clear whether they will consider that the alleged turning of a blind eye by executives at the company's that commissioned investigations will be sufficient grounds for indictment.

Meanwhile, it emerges that the banks and government ministries are not protected against Trojan Horses. Yesterday, Supervisor of Banks Yoav Lehman instructed the banks to examine how prepared they are for preventing infiltration of their computers.

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