Monday, August 4, 2025

Documentary: The Thing (No, not the 1951 & 1982 monster movies. The Russian Spy Thing.)

'The Thing' a captivating short film
that uncovers one of history's most astonishing espionage incidents of the 20th Century. The documentary uncovers the amazing story behind the Great American Seal bug. 

John Little of TSCM Consulting tells this complex story of spying, counter spying, genius, betrayal, political wrangling and espionage. 

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You can live in a spy movie if...

...you’ve got some cash sitting around: 

British underwater jetpack maker CudaJet has done what you’d expect an underwater jetpack maker to do: they made an underwater jetpack.

 The 31-pound hands-free, backpack-like device, which is made to order and starts at ~$31k, will help rich people live out their dolphin dreams — diving 130+ feet down and propelling them forward 7 mph at a time. 

CudaJet says it comes with a controller and that it all takes five minutes to get comfortable with it. more

Weird Spy News: A Son Bugging Dad? (technically speaking)

India - PMK founder leader S Ramadoss on Saturday alleged his son Anbumani spied on him.

Asked whether it would be appropriate to allege that it was Anbumani who had planted a listening device as the police probe was still on, Ramadoss shot back, asking, “Who else could have planted it?"

He alleged it was his son Anbumani who had planted the bugging device at his residence. Ramadoss said complaints had been filed by him with Kiliyanur police (Villupuram district) and the cybercrime wing as well. The bugging device and its parts had been handed over to the police. more

Spies Demise Times Two

...Swedish diplomat found dead.
A veteran Swedish diplomat recently arrested on suspicion of espionage has died days after being released from police custody, his lawyer has revealed. 

Sweden's Sapo security service detained the man, who has not been named, on Sunday and kept him for questioning until Wednesday. He was released the same day, subject to investigation the country's prosecution service has said.

Police told Swedish outlet Svenska Dagbladet they had now opened an investigation into his death, but “there is no suspicion a crime has been committed”. more

Top Somali spy investigating assassination attempt on president killed...
A senior officer with Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), who was leading a sensitive investigation into a recent assassination attempt on President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, has been mysteriously killed in Mogadishu, Caasimada Online news website reported on Saturday. more

Quote of the Week: "Nobody with Sensitive Information is Immune to Espionage"

Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation director-general Mike Burgess said that in the “prevailing threat environment, national security truly is national security – everybody’s business”.


He said foreign intelligence agencies were “aggressively targeting” three key areas: science and technology, particularly advanced technology; public and private sector projects to gain a commercial advantage; and Antarctic research, green technology, critical minerals, and rare earths extraction and processing.
What information are spies taking?

Mr Burgess warned this meant “nobody with sensitive information is immune” and gave examples of recent operations investigated by ASIO. more

The Farmhouse Spy

A simple farmhouse and a mysterious dish set the stage for a real-world spy thriller.
When French counterintelligence spotted that setup, they realised someone was tapping into high-value space communications.

The homeowner, Dong H., was no ordinary resident. A former employee of Beijing’s Academy of Science and Technology and president of Stahd Europe—a subsidiary of Emposat, the Chinese communications specialist—she had all the credentials for espionage. Emposat’s failed bid to install a ground station in the Czech Republic underscored how wary governments are of hidden antennas.

French investigators couldn’t prove data theft outright, but they confirmed the dish was finely tuned to CNES frequencies. Instead of a raid, authorities filed legal charges for illegal antenna installation, quietly dismantling the operation. Dong’s rural hideout shows how easy it can be to set up covert surveillance right under everyone’s nose. more

Spycam News: From That Wonderful Country That Brought You the Noodle Splash Guard

A spycam chindogu for you. Still a concept project... 


Noodle Splash Guard

Thursday, July 24, 2025

Candidate for Swimming with the Fishes

Mohamed Orahhou, a Norwegian who worked as a security agent at the US embassy in Oslo has been charged with spying for Russia and Iran...

The 27-year-old man is accused of having supplied information on embassy activities... In return, he was paid in euros and bitcoin.

He is accused of having supplied ... the contact details of diplomats, embassy staff and their families. He is also accused of having supplied the diplomatic licence-plate numbers of vehicles used by the embassy.

The charge sheet also alleges he handed over the plans of the embassy, security routines and a list of couriers Norway's intelligence service used. more


Apparently, the dude never heard about his predecessor, Hvaldimir, a white beluga whale famously suspected of being a Russian spy, found dead off the coast of Norway.

Hey, Security. Talk to the hand...

Anviz innovative biometric Palm Vein Access Control Reader.  Seamless and touch-less access.
Key features and Advantages comparing to biometric of fingerprint and Face.

Accuracy
Palm vein recognition is one the most accurate biometric technologies, primarily due to its internal, unique, and stable biological characteristics.
FAR is typically around 0.00008% (or 1 in 1.25 million), FRR is 0.01%

Stability 
Palm vein patterns remain stable throughout a person’s life, make it suitable for long-term us 
Secure
Because palm veins are not visible to the naked eyes, also liveness detection requires active blood flow, adding a natural anti-spoofing layer. It is very hard to be duplicated.
Privacy
Unlike fingerprint or facial recognition that may be captured without user’s permission, palm vein can not be captured secretly as the vein patterns are inside the body, which makes almost impossible to collect or clone without the user’s participation.
Hygienic
Non-contact enrollment and identification surfaces. more

The Latest Eavesdropping Buzz

Amazon's New AI Wearable: Listening to You Like a Best Friend (or a Creepy Ex)

It's officially a wild world out there in tech land, where your devices are not just smart—they're practically eavesdropping. 

Amazon has taken a significant step into the AI wearable realm by acquiring a startup called Bee, which creates a device that records everything you say. Yes, you read that correctly: everything. Talk about a leap in user experience—or a giant leap toward a reality show called “Keeping Up with the Amazons.”

• Always Listening: Bee can record everything, theoretically capturing all your brilliant thoughts and awkward moments.

• Privacy Concerns: Remember when Amazon had to address Alexa's ability to record conversations? The Bee wearable might be stirring up some déjà vu. more

FutureWatch: As You Distort Wi-Fi Space You Become Identifiable

Wi-Fi networks could soon track you without devices, as Italian researchers harness signal distortions to create unique biometric identifiers...
Researchers in Italy have shown that even ordinary Wi-Fi signals can be used to track people, without needing them to carry any device at all.

A team from La Sapienza University of Rome has developed a system called ‘WhoFi,’ which can generate a unique biometric identifier based on how a person’s body interacts with surrounding Wi-Fi signals. WhoFi can identify people within a Wi-Fi area with an accuracy of 95.5%.

The approach, described in a preprint paper, uses signal distortions caused by the human body to re-identify individuals as they move across spaces covered by different Wi-Fi networks.

More information: Danilo Avola et al, WhoFi: Deep Person Re-Identification via Wi-Fi Channel Signal Encoding, arXiv (2025). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2507.12869

Protector App - Uber with Guns?

Short-Term Security. 
Immediate Protection with No Commitment

An app you can use to hire a trained law enforcement professional in NYC or LA. Launched after the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December.

"Protector provides discreet, high-level protection for executives, public figures, and innovators facing elevated risk. We work behind the scenes to assess threats, monitor digital exposure, and ensure medical readiness, so our clients can operate with confidence and clarity." more

Cautionary Tale: Weak Password Sinks a 158-Year-Old Company

KNP Logistics, a 158-year-old transportation firm, collapsed after falling victim to a ransomware attack that locked them out of their own systems.

One password is believed to have been all it took for a ransomware gang to destroy a 158-year-old company and put 700 people out of work.

In KNP's case, it's thought the hackers managed to gain entry to the computer system by guessing an employee's password, after which they encrypted the company's data and locked its internal systems. more
No. Adding another ! to your password isn't the answer.

Roach Coach for Spy Tech

Spy Cockroaches and AI Robots...
Germany plots the future of warfare.

Sven Weizenegger, who heads up the Cyber Innovation hub, the Bundeswehr's innovation accelerator, said the war in Ukraine was also changing social attitudes, removing a stigma towards working in the defence sector. "Germany has developed a whole new openness towards the issue of security since the invasion," he said.

Some of the ideas under development feel akin to science fiction – like Swarm Biotactics' cyborg cockroaches that are equipped with specialised miniature backpacks that enable real-time data collection via cameras for example...

"Our bio-robots - based on living insects - are equipped with neural stimulation, sensors, and secure communication modules," said CEO Stefan Wilhelm. "They can be steered individually or operate autonomously in swarms...

"We just need to get to this mindset: a strong defense industrial base means a strong economy and innovation on steroids," said Markus Federle, managing partner at defence-focused investment firm Tholus Capital. more

FutureWatch: Spy-Grade Storage Drive

...self-destructs on demand just like in the movies!

It's not every day that you come across a product where the standout feature is its ability to go kaput at a moment's notice. 

That's exactly what the Team Group P250Q SSD (solid state drive) is all about. This industrial storage drive for computers and servers can physically destroy itself at the push of a button, so your secrets go up in smoke before they fall into the wrong hands...

The nuclear option involves a patented independent destruction circuit that overloads the flash memory chip, melting it in the process.  more  video