Beling Ltd. CEO Addresses MEFF International Congress in Rome on the Corporate Blind Spot in Physical Security

Damir First speaks on the 230-to-1 spending gap between cybersecurity & counter-surveillance in front of security professionals across Europe and North America.

RIJEKA, CROATIA, May 25, 2026 /⁨EINPresswire.com⁩/ – First used his platform at the 2nd MEFF International Congress in Rome to issue a professional challenge to the industry he has been part of for over two decades.

“The work you do matters more than the market currently reflects,” First told the Congress. “Now it is time to make the case to a wider audience. Global cybersecurity spend is approximately €229 billion. Global TSCM spend protecting what is said, not just what is stored, is around €1 billion. That 230-to-1 ratio does not reflect the reality of the threat. It reflects how little awareness has been built outside government. The incidents are real and documented.”

Damir walked the audience through four incidents to illustrate that the tools and expertise to prevent every one of them already exist.

“These are real situations, real losses, and in every single case, the answer was already in the hands of the professionals in this room. The gap is not technical. It is awareness.”

In 2020, a listening device concealed inside a standard plug adapter was placed at The Ritz Hotel in London, which recorded private negotiations that influenced a deal in which competing offers exceeded £1 billion. A routine pre-meeting sweep would have found it.

In Denmark, TDC’s billion-euro 5G vendor selection was reportedly conducted under active counter-surveillance precautions after executives believed discussions were being monitored.TDC awarded the contract to Ericsson, but a critical national infrastructure decision was made in a room that had to be verified clean before anyone could speak freely.

In Ukraine, weeks before First took the stage, a covert device attributed to Russian intelligence was found in a drone manufacturer’s chief engineer’s office. The intelligence it gathered existed entirely in spoken conversation. And at Expedia’s Seattle headquarters in 2025, a contracted security guard installed covert cameras throughout the building, but the first sweep missed them. A second, more thorough sweep detected it.

“What connects all four cases is the same thing: counter-surveillance or lack of it made the difference.” First said. “The equipment to prevent every one of these situations already exists. What is missing is the awareness that it is needed.”

This message reflects what Beling Ltd. (SpyShopEurope) has built over more than three decades: a reputation as one of Europe’s most trusted voices in counter-surveillance, and a track record of serving governments, security agencies, and corporations with professional-grade equipment and expertise.

SpyShopEurope carries the full MEFF Productions professional range: the M1-PRO field detector for professional sweep operations, the M2-PRO spectrum analyzer covering 100 Hz to 24 GHz for high-stakes environments, and the M3-PRO mobile spyware scanner for detecting spyware and malware on Android and iOS devices.

Adriana Dojcinovic Beling Visit us on social media: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spyshopeurope/