Who Needs TSCM... China’s top court vows to combat eavesdropping, illegal recordings...

The Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Wednesday released several cases regarding the prosecution of crimes related to the illegal production, sale, and use of eavesdropping and surreptitious recording equipment, showing a clear stance on cracking down on the underground industrial chain behind such activities.

The SPC revealed that some offenders installed eavesdropping and recording devices in hotels, guesthouses, and other locations to spy on unknowing guests and patrons. In some cases, they provided internet links for others to view these recordings in real time or produced images, audio, and videos for sale and distribution, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Others used such devices for illegal activities such as unauthorized investigations, blackmail, and cheating in gambling, seriously infringing upon people's information security and privacy. Additionally, some offenders had illegally manufactured and sold these devices, fueling their proliferation in society and exacerbating the issue of illegal recording, the SPC said. more

Shocking! One wonders if this will stop the exports, and will there be a run on eBay and amazon spy merch.

Cautionary Tale for Traveling Executives - A Case of Spy Tradecraft...

A Bulgarian espionage ring working on behalf of Russia in the UK used video-recording spyglasses and honey traps to gather information on journalists and dissidents...

...five Bulgarian nationals who are accused of spying in Britain as part of a ring co-ordinated by Jan Marsalek, the former chief operating officer of Wirecard. 

London’s Old Bailey heard the group targeted journalists Christo Grozev and Roman Dobrokhotov, as well as Kazakh dissident Bergey Ryskaliyev, tracking them variously on flights and across European cities during 2021 and 2022. 

One member of the group, Katrin Ivanova, 33, used specially-designed glasses to record images and videos to watch Grozev on a flight from Vienna to Montenegro in June 2022, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said. The group had accessed an airline industry database called “Amadeus” through another Bulgarian contact to ascertain the flight details and seat numbers of their targets, the court heard. 

Ivanova also sat nearby Dobrokhotov on a flight in November 2021 and memorised his phone pin code, reporting it back to her handlers, Morgan added. “That was a correct capture and showed the tradecraft of Miss Ivanova,” Morgan told the court. 

The group also discussed bribing hotel staff, employing pickpockets and infiltrating a target’s home by hiring Bulgarian and Romanian cleaning teams, the court heard. more

Bulgarian national Katrin Ivanova (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

and... Russian agent discussed deploying a “true sexy bitch” in a “honeytrap” spy plot against an award-winning journalist, a court has heard...Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC told jurors that, as well as trying to “befriend” Mr Gozev, Gaberova had been engaged in capturing surveillance images of him at the conference...

She said: “These images were extremely important as they showed Christo Grozev together with others of interest to Russia, Eliot Higgins. 

“Roussev would later seek to use face recognition software to check that the image did show Christo Grozev with Higgins together.”...

She showed off her “tradecraft” by relaying images, using covert recording equipment and capturing Mr Dobrokhotov’s iPhone PIN number, Mr Morgan said. more

New Eavesdropping Technology Reveals Vulnerabilities in Underwater Communications

Researchers from Princeton and MIT have uncovered a method for intercepting underwater communications...

...challenging long-standing assumptions about the security of sonar transmissions. By using radar to detect the tiny surface vibrations caused by underwater acoustic signals, the team has demonstrated how these signals can be decoded from the air, offering significant security implications for sensitive data transmitted underwater.

The team detailed their findings in a paper presented at the ACM MobiCom conference on November 20. According to TechXplore, they explained how their device can pick up vibrations on the water’s surface, allowing it to eavesdrop on underwater messages. This technique could also potentially identify the location of the transmitting underwater device, making it a powerful tool for intelligence gathering or adversarial actions. more

Man Destroys Dental Clinic Claimed Dentist Implanted Eavesdropping Chip

... in wife's tooth.

A woman and her husband have justified their decision to damage a Brazilian dental clinic after they strangely claimed the dentist secretly placed a chip in her mouth three years ago to eavesdrop on their family's conversations.

The shocking incident was recorded from the Belo Horizonte office when 27-year-old Kenia Aparecida and her 31-year-old partner came and asked to see the dentist on Wednesday, the Telegraph reports.

"They pulled out two of my teeth and without my authorization, they put a chip in my mouth and listened to my conversations. But my husband saw that it was in (the mouth) and the dentist does not want to take it out". more with video

Spies Can Eavesdrop on Phone Calls by...

 ... sensing vibrations with radar.

An off-the-shelf millimetre wave sensor can pick out the tiny vibrations made by a smartphone's speaker, enabling an AI model to transcribe the conversation, even at a distance in a noisy room.

Spies can eavesdrop on conversations by using radar to detect tiny vibrations in smartphones and employing artificial intelligence to accurately transcribe them. The trick even works in noisy rooms, as the radar homes in on the phone’s movement and is entirely unaffected by background hubbub.

Millimetre wave sensing is a form of radar that can measure movements of less than 1 mm by transmitting pulses of electromagnetic wave energy and detecting the reflected beams.

Suryoday Basak at Pennsylvania State University and his colleagues used a commercially available sensor operating between 77 and 81 gigahertz to pick up the tiny vibrations in a Samsung Galaxy S20 earpiece speaker playing audio clips. They then converted the signal to audio and passed it through an AI speech recognition model, which transcribed the speech. more$

Ford Has a Better Idea: Patent In-Vehicle Eavesdropping

There was a time when people had to whisper to avoid being heard by the wrong ears. Now, in the era of smart devices, we’ve also got to worry about our smartphones listening to our conversations for advertising purposes.

But the eavesdropping situation seems to be reaching new heights with Ford’s recently published patent, which shows “systems and methods” that assist with showing more targeted ads.

The document also discloses that to achieve this goal, the new technology would listen to conversations that take place among people in the vehicle. more

Mistress Recorded Trysts with Italian Minister on ‘Spy Glasses’

Gennaro Sangiuliano’s spurned former lover took to social media to reveal details of their affair.

Gennaro Sangiuliano, the culture minister who is married, met Maria Rosaria Boccia, a former men’s fashion retailer from Pompeii, at a political rally a year ago.

She subsequently attended ministerial meetings, gained access to the Palazzo Montecitorio, home to one of Italy’s two parliamentary houses, and accompanied Sangiuliano, 62, at official events around the country, from Taormina in Sicily to Riva Ligure in Liguria.

Boccia has accused her former lover of misusing public funds to pay for her trips, providing access to confidential information and appointing her as an adviser despite a conflict of interest.

She has supported her assertions with audio recordings of phone calls with ministerial officials, screenshots of emails and flight tickets, and photos of confidential programmes for official events.

Throughout their affair she recorded an unknown number of private conversations, using her phone and a pair of Ray-Ban Stories sunglasses, which have a built-in camera and microphone. Footage taken also shows the corridors of the Palazzo Montecitorio, where it is forbidden to film. more

History: How to Build a Bugging Device in 1917

Want to build a bug; known as a Detectograph back in 1917? 

Just write to a magazine, like The Electrical Experimenter, and they would tell you. Things were pretty simple back then, but the parts were not cheap. The average full-time worker's wage was $13.21 per week.

Voice Over Wi-Fi Vulnerability Let Attackers Eavesdrop Calls And SMS

IPsec tunnels are employed by Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) technology to route IP-based telephony from mobile network operators’ core networks via the Evolved Packet Data Gateway (ePDG).

This process consists of two main phases: negotiation of encryption parameters and performing a key exchange using the Internet Key Exchange protocol, followed by authentication....

The risk is that these vulnerabilities could expose VoWiFi communications to MITM attacks, compromising data integrity or confidentiality, which is essential for better security in implementing VoWiFi solutions...

These findings highlight the systemic flaws in the implementation of VoWiFi, which could make users vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks, and communication security is compromised on a global scale, consequently requiring better security measures in VoWiFi protocols and implementations. more

FutureWatch: AI to the Max - Will Intelligent Eavesdropping Bugs Be Possible?

SCIENTISTS ARE GROWING BRAINS IN LABS. COULD THEY BECOME CONSCIOUS? "IT HAS NO EYES, EARS, NOSE OR MOUTH — NOTHING'S COMING IN." (yet)

As scientists continue to make advances using human tissue to grow brains in laboratories, one neuroscientist is naming the existential elephant in the room: could lab-grown brains ever become truly conscious?

In an interview with Live Science, University of California at Santa Barbara neuroscientist Kenneth Kosik explained that as the science stands now, the facsimile brains made in labs aren't likely to achieve consciousness anytime soon. (Nothing to see here, don't worry, move on.)

These brain organoids, as the lab-grown brains are called, are created by taking someone's cells, converting them into stem cells, and differentiating those into neurons. more

This Week in Wiretapping, Eavesdropping & Spying

• Ex-Pittsburgh police commander gets probation in wiretapping case. A former Pittsburgh police commander on Friday morning agreed to take 24 months of probation on charges that he stashed body-worn cameras in patrol cars last fall to secretly record more than a half-dozen of his own officers. more

• Secret recording of Supreme Court justices raises legal questions. Posing as a "Christian conservative" at the Supreme Court Historical Society's members-only, black-tie gala, liberal journalist and filmmaker Lauren Windsor secretly recorded her conversations with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito and Alito's wife, Martha-Ann Alito. The event was not open to journalists. more

• The producers of the James Bond movies will receive honorary Oscars at a ceremony this November, the Academy said on Wednesday, as anticipation swells for the announcement of who will next play 007. Half-siblings Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli have controlled the beloved espionage franchise since 1995’s Goldeneye, having been passed the reins by Broccoli’s father Albert. more

• Is your employer spying on you? Here’s how to know for sure. For starters, workers are likely more at risk of being spied on when using company technology, such as phones or laptops. However, your device activity can also be monitored if you have company software downloaded to your personal devices, or if your personal tech is connected to the company network. more

• U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich to stand trial in Russia on charges of spying for the CIA.
The Wall Street Journal reporter, 32, has spent more than a year in pretrial detention. more

• People are Spying on Travis Kelce's Missouri Home on Google Earth It's not easy being Kansas City Chief Travis Kelce. Oh, wait. It probably kind of is. Still, it's a little odd that many people seem to be spying on Travis Kelce's Kansas City, Missouri mansion on Google Earth. more

New Wireless Eavesdropping Vulnerability - Beam Deflection

A research team led by Rice University’s, Edward Knightly, has uncovered an eavesdropping security vulnerability in high-frequency and high-speed wireless backhaul links, widely employed in critical applications such as 5G wireless cell phone signals and low-latency financial trading on Wall Street.

Contrary to the common belief that these links are inherently secure due to their elevated positioning and highly directive millimeter-wave and sub-terahertz “pencil-beams,” the team exposed a novel method of interception using a metasurface-equipped drone dubbed MetaFly. Their findings were published by the world’s premier security conference, IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, in May 2024.

“The implications of our research are far-reaching, potentially affecting a broad spectrum of companies, government agencies and individuals relying on these links,” said Knightly, the Sheafor-Lindsay Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and professor of computer science. more

Chinese Language Phone Keyboard Exploits Leave One Billion Users Exposed

We analyzed the security of cloud-based pinyin keyboard apps from nine vendors — Baidu, Honor, Huawei, iFlytek, OPPO, Samsung, Tencent, Vivo, and Xiaomi — and examined their transmission of users’ keystrokes for vulnerabilities.

Our analysis revealed critical vulnerabilities in keyboard apps from eight out of the nine vendors in which we could exploit that vulnerability to completely reveal the contents of users’ keystrokes in transit. Most of the vulnerable apps can be exploited by an entirely passive network eavesdropper...

Given the scope of these vulnerabilities, the sensitivity of what users type on their devices, the ease with which these vulnerabilities may have been discovered, and that the Five Eyes have previously exploited similar vulnerabilities in Chinese apps for surveillance, it is possible that such users’ keystrokes may have also been under mass surveillance.

Recommendation: We urge users to install the latest updates to their keyboard apps and that they keep their mobile operating systems up to date. We also recommend that at-risk users consider switching from a cloud-based keyboard app to one that operates entirely on-device. more

NASCAR Radio Comms Hacked - “That Was Some Weird Sh*t”

Unwelcome Participant Eavesdropping on Bubba Wallace...

Remember the 2023 All-Star Race? The No. 23 team and specifically its driver, Bubba Wallace, experienced a bad situation. Somebody hacked into the team’s radio channel and delivered a derogatory message...Although NASCAR investigated the incident, the mysterious voice remained unknown.

A similar situation seems to have propped up at the 2024 Coca-Cola 600 race, but devoid of the hurtful comments. While Bubba Wallace was prying for the lead in stage 2, an unfamiliar voice popped in between his communication with his pit team. The 23XI Racing driver was surprised yet fascinated by this occurrence.

Earlier in 2024, the No. 23 team’s radio buffered during the race at Talladega Superspeedway. As it turned out, not only Bubba Wallace but also other drivers faced a similar problem. Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 driver Martin Truex Jr was audibly frustrated: “All our radios are f***ed up right now.”

Now another mysterious glitch has surfaced in Charlotte, with unfamiliar voices on Wallace’s radio. We can only wait till the end of the weather-delayed race to delve deeper into this curious matter. more

......

Care to eavesdrop yourself? "DOWNLOAD NASCAR MOBILE APP and click on Buy Premium link in the navigation to subscribe for full access on mobile devices." more 

Or... do what that mysterious voice did... Buy a cheap 2-way radio.

One Bugged Bugger

A husband who was fined BD50 for eavesdropping on his wife’s phone calls without her consent, bugging her house and sending the recordings to his siblings has lost his final appeal at the Cassation Court. 

Last July, the Public Prosecution issued an order fining the Arab man BD20 on eavesdropping charges, without referring the misdemeanour to court, but he objected to the ruling in the Lower Criminal Court. more

Airbnb Bans Indoor Surveillance Cameras

Airbnb said Monday that it’s banning the use of indoor security cameras in listings on its site around the world by the end of next month. The San Francisco-based online rental platform said it is seeking to “simplify” its security-camera policy while prioritizing privacy.

“These changes were made in consultation with our guests, Hosts and privacy experts, and we’ll continue to seek feedback to help ensure our policies work for our global community,” Juniper Downs, Airbnb’s head of community policy and partnerships, said in a prepared statement.

Under the new policy, hosts will still be allowed to use doorbell cameras and noise-decibel monitors, which are only allowed in common spaces, as long as the location and presence of the devices are disclosed. more

You are still on your own to find the covert spycams...

• https://counterespionage.com/what-is-tscm/spy-camera-detection/

• https://counterespionage.com/spy-camera-detectors/

Louisiana Deputy Fired - Allegedly Spying On Former Girlfriend

A long-serving sheriff's deputy in Louisiana who allegedly told his supervisor that he had planted a recording device in his ex-girlfriend's bedroom has been fired and arrested, following a brief investigation. 

As The (Baton Rouge) Advocate reports, David Pizzolato Jr. went inside his ex-girlfriend's apartment in early January, using a key that he had, and placed a digital recording device on her headboard, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office said this week. more

Nashville Funk: Eavesdropping Devices in District Attorney Offices?

...a NewsChannel 5 investigation that revealed the presence of equipment capable of monitoring conversations without the knowledge of employees and visitors to the DA's offices, located in downtown Nashville.

Documents that Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk fought to keep secret raise new questions about eavesdropping in and around the DA's offices — as the TBI continues its investigation into possible illegal wiretapping.

Those documents, recently produced as a result of a months-long legal battle waged by NewsChannel 5, reveal there were more microphones — and more concern about conversations being monitored — than the DA had admitted.

Among the newly obtained evidence: notes from a staff meeting indicating that an IT employee had "discovered wide range of audio throughout ofc." more

The $1.76m Eavesdropping Story

Mr Loudon, of Houston, Texas, and his wife worked in home offices within 20 feet of each other.

His wife - a mergers and acquisitions manager at BP - worked on the oil giant's takeover of TravelCenters.

"As a result, they frequently overheard and witnessed each other's work-related conversations and video conferences." ...Mr Loudon confessed to his wife about buying the TravelCenters shares after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority began asking questions about the BP deal and who was "in the know"...The US Securities and Exchange Commission alleged Tyler Loudon made $1.76m in illegal profits....His wife - who was "stunned by this revelation" - reported the trading to her supervisor at BP.

Mr Loudon's wife moved out of the house and ceased all contact with him. In June, she initiated divorce proceedings. more

Van Eck Redux: Hackers Can Spy on Cameras Through Walls

Capturing real-time video through walls isn’t hard if you have an antenna and a little bit of engineering know-how. It could be a massive threat to billions of security and phone cameras... 

Kevin Fu, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern who specializes in cybersecurity, has figured out a way to eavesdrop on most modern cameras, from home security cameras and dash cams to the camera on your phone. Called EM Eye, short for Electromagnetic Eye, the technique can capture the video from another person’s camera through walls in real time. It redefines the idea of a Peeping Tom...

Results vary on how far away someone would have to be in order to eavesdrop on these different devices. For some, a peeping Tom would have to be less than 1 foot away; for others, they could be as far away as 16 feet...

Fu says. “Maybe you don’t want to put this [camera] on your wall you share with your neighbor.” more
Van Eck  Interesting, but no need for the average person to worry.