Dublin-based technology development company Steorn has revealed that their offices had been bugged by an unknown party. Steorn, itself having stirred up controversy with the announcement of their "Orbo" technology, a source of "free, clean and constant energy": while it is being dismissed as violating the laws of the conservation of energy, it has apparently been independently validated by other sources.
The discovery of the surveillance devices — a series of 5 pinhole cameras, embedded in the office’s wall conduits — was made when an employee was installing a power cable for a new piece of equipment. The affected room was used for brainstorming sessions, and contained a whiteboard used to illustrate their ideas.
Company CEO Shaun McCarthy is approaching the problem calmly, posting his reaction on social media: “I am someplace between amused and bemused, one thing for sure is that being in the lab alone at night does not feel as comfortable as it used to!…the cabling in these buildings is all over the place, will take a few days to follow them – it does however look like they head out of the office…”
No-one knows who is responsible for the installation of the bugs: the list of potential entities that could be interested in this form of industrial espionage would be quite long indeed, and could conceivably include both corporate and government sources. Far more puzzling is the question of when the devices were installed, as it would be a rather involved procedure. In the meantime, the company will be doing a thorough sweep of their offices for more bugs, and undoubtedly will be reviewing their security procedures.
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