A Chinese Spy Network is Targeting Former US Officials Laid Off by Musk and Trump

A network of companies linked to a Chinese tech firm has been attempting to recruit recently laid-off U.S. government employees. This campaign, uncovered by analyst Max Lesser, seeks to exploit the vulnerabilities of federal workers affected by mass layoffs. 

While the companies involved remain obscure, the operation's methods resemble those used in previous Chinese intelligence activities. The U.S. government is aware of the potential risks and is urging former employees to remain cautious about such offers...

Lesser, who shared his findings with Reuters, warned that "the network seeks to exploit the financial vulnerabilities of former federal workers affected by recent mass layoffs." These recruitment efforts closely resemble previous tactics used by Chinese intelligence to obtain valuable information under the guise of employment opportunities.

A Web of Fake FirmsFour companies—RiverMerge Strategies, Wavemax Innovation, and two others—are allegedly part of this recruitment network. Their websites share overlapping designs, are hosted on the same server, and exhibit other digital connections, raising suspicions of a coordinated effort. Lesser’s research, along with Reuters' investigation, found that all four companies’ websites were hosted alongside Smiao Intelligence, an obscure Chinese internet services firm. more

RIP: Mark Klein, AT&T Tech, NSA Check - 79

Mark Klein, a bona fide hero who risked civil liability and criminal prosecution to help expose a massive spying program that violated the rights of millions of Americans.

Mark didn’t set out to change the world. For 22 years, he was a telecommunications technician for AT&T, most of that in San Francisco. But he always had a strong sense of right and wrong and a commitment to privacy.

Mark not only saw how it works, he had the documents to prove it.

When the New York Times reported in late 2005 that the NSA was engaging in spying inside the U.S., Mark realized that he had witnessed how it was happening. He also realized that the President was not telling Americans the truth about the program. And, though newly retired, he knew that he had to do something. He showed up at EFF’s front door in early 2006 with a simple question: “Do you folks care about privacy?” more

History: Spies and Informants | A 60 Minutes Marathon

From 2017, Scott Pelley’s interview with an FBI undercover agent who infiltrated Al Qaeda and helped thwart several terrorist attacks. 

From 2011, Anderson Cooper’s report on FBI agent Lin Vecchio, who helped put away several notorious Mafia leaders, but also faced murder charges due to his association with an informant. 

From 2017, Sharyn Alfonsi’s report on the use of jailhouse informants in Orange County, California. 

From 2015, Steve Kroft’s report on Jack Barsky, a KGB spy from the Soviet Union who lived for decades in the United States without being detected. 

From 2019, Pelley’s talk with a former American member of Al-Qaeda who provided valuable intelligence in order to avoid jail. 

From 2001, Lesley Stahl’s report on Robert Hanssen, an FBI agent who was convicted of spying for Russia. 

From 2024, Cecilia Vega’s report on the Americans spying for Cuba in the U.S. 

From 2015, Stahl’s investigation into the controversial use of young confidential informants by law enforcement in dangerous and sometimes deadly drug cases. 

From 2010, Pelley’s report on a Defense Department employee caught on tape selling secrets to a Chinese spy. 

From 2022, Jon Wertheim's story on the Ritchie Boys, the secret U.S. unit bolstered by German-born Jews who helped the Allies beat Hitler. 

From 2018, Cooper’s interview with Justice and FBI officials who reveal how they caught a former CIA officer spying for the Chinese. 

And from 2017, Kroft’s interview with British author John Le Carré who has written several best-selling spy thrillers under the pen name David Cornwell. more

Russian Spy Hoarded Surveillance Gadgets - Boasted: Like James Bond Q

A Russian spy was living in a "typical seaside hotel" on the English coast crammed full of electronic surveillance equipment, a court has heard.

Orlin Roussev boasted to his controller that he was becoming like the James Bond character "Q" as he prepared his spying "toys" for kidnap and surveillance operations across Europe...

The Old Bailey was told a "vast" amount of technical equipment for "intrusive surveillance" was found at Roussev's address in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, which he described in messages as his "Indiana Jones warehouse"... a "significant amount of IT and surveillance equipment". It was stacked up in two storage rooms and an office used by Roussev, the court was told. more

Russian Tanker Suspected of Baltic Sea Sabotage was ‘Loaded with Spy Equipment’

A Russia-linked tanker suspected of cutting Baltic Sea cables has been tugged to port amid reports it was loaded with “spy equipment”.

The vessel is said to have been kitted out with special transmitting and receiving devices that monitor all naval activity, according to shipping journal Lloyd’s List citing a source with direct involvement in the ship. ...The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the vessel was loaded with “huge portable suitcases” and “many laptops”... 

Those on board the ship would have been aware of the spying activities but would have been “threatened with their life, so everybody kept quiet”, the source told the journal. more

How Pigeons, Cats, Whales, Robotic Catfish Acted as Spies

The death of a spy is rarely newsworthy, due to the secrecy surrounding it. But when a white beluga whale suspected of spying for Moscow was found dead in Norwegian waters in September, the animal soon became a minor celebrity....

The US ran similar experiments with animals, some dating back to the 1960s. One of the CIA’s more unusual attempts to use animals as spies was Operation Acoustic Kitty...

The idea was to implant a microphone and antenna into the cat and use it to eavesdrop on potentially interesting conversations. The test of the “prototype” went horribly wrong... more

Google Warns Millions Of Android Users—These Apps Are Spying On You

Google is narrowing the gap to iPhone on the security and privacy front with Android 15. A raft of welcome changes will better protect users, their devices and their data, including live threat detection to quickly flag malware and permission abuse, cellular network defense, and tighter controls of what apps are doing behind the scenes.

When we talk about permission abuse, we clearly mean the grey area between apps behaving well and outright spyware—of which there’s still plenty on Android. While Apple led the charge to restrict location tracking and access to sensitive phone functions like messaging, cameras and contacts, Google has followed. more

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

‘Prison yard’ Surveillance | Lawsuit Alleges Apple Spies on Employee's iPhones

An Apple worker has filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging it spies on its employee’s personal iCloud accounts and iPhones.

As reported by Semafor, the lawsuit filed Sunday claims Apple says it can “engage in physical, video and electronic surveillance” of employees, including accessing data on personal iPhones it “actively encourages” staff to work.

Apple refutes the claims of the lawsuit, which alleges several other employment law violations including free speech suppression and illegal clawback policies. more

Canadian Coach Implicated in Drone-Spying Scandal Resigns Abruptly

John Herdman, the former Canada coach who was implicated in the drone-spying scandal, has abruptly resigned as manager of MLS side Toronto FC.

His reputation has been tarnished somewhat after he was caught up in the investigation into a Canada Soccer staffer spying on their New Zealand opponents with a drone at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The scandal saw head coach Bev Priestman, assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joey Lombardi all handed a one-year FIFA ban.Emma Hayes fulfills national anthem promise before USWNT vs. England friendly.

Herman denied any wrongdoing in the scandal given his previous role as head coach. He declined to publicly address allegations of a link to a culture of spying within Canada Soccer but maintained his record was clean at the Olympics and World Cups. more

Hvaldimir, a Celebrated ‘Spy’ Whale, Is Found Dead in Norway

The beluga whale, who was first spotted in 2019 wearing what looked like a camera harness, was seen floating in Norwegian waters on Saturday. 

Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.

Sebastian Strand, the founder of the nonprofit, Marine Mind, said that he saw the dead whale floating near Risavika in southwestern Norway on Saturday afternoon. Its cause of death was not immediately clear, he said. more Previous posts.

Olympics: FIFA Hinders Canada’s chances with Punishments for Drone Spying

FIFA suspended Canada women’s soccer coach Bev Priestman for one year, deducted six points from the team’s Olympic group stage total and issued a fine on Saturday in response to Canada flying a drone over New Zealand’s training sessions before the start of the Games.

The punishment immediately and severely hurt the chances for a second consecutive gold medal for Canada, which won the Olympic tournament in Tokyo in 2021, a run that was immediately questioned as the drone scandal emerged. more

Trinidad and Tobago: Bombshell Report on Elite Spy Unit

An audit into the Strategic Services Agency (SSA), one of key weapons in the state’s arsenal in the fight against crime, found it was being run under the influence of a religious cult comprising highly-trained military operators, armed to the teeth with the latest weaponry, on a treasonous mission to overthrow the Government.

In a bombshell statement in Parliament on July 3, the head of the National Security Council (NSC), Dr Rowley, revealed for the first time details of the audit done by acting director of the SSA retired Brig Gen Anthony Phillips-Spencer, which painted an alarming state of affairs that went undetected for years under the current PNM administration.

The SSA is authorised to intercept communications, phone calls, WhatsApp, e-mails and other modes after obtaining court orders under the Interception of Communication Act. It was first established in 1995 primarily “to guide the formulation and implementation of national policies on illicit trafficking of dangerous drugs and related criminal activities.” more

• Cult infiltrates Trinidad's elite spy agency in shocking coup plot

US Aims To ‘Disrupt’ Chinese Spy Station In Cuba

U.S. officials say they hope to “disrupt” a Chinese intelligence gathering operation allegedly based in Cuba after a Washington think tank released satellite images it said showed the construction of a spy base capable of surveilling a nearby American naval base.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies on Monday released a report alleging that Cuba in 2021 let China construct spy facilities on “the doorstep of the United States” that would allow Beijing to monitor air and maritime traffic up to 9,000 miles (14,500 kms) away by using radar.

At a press briefing on Tuesday, U.S. State Department principal deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said officials had already “talked about this a little bit more than a year ago” when reports of a Chinese base in Cuba nearly derailed a trip to Beijing by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. 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

Sky Spy: Out of This World Espionage

Russian satellite is caught spying on another satellite... The French company Aldoria Space, which tracks objects in orbit using a network of ground-based telescopes, has published a very revealing record. It demonstrates how the Russian Luch-2 inspection satellite approaches other spacecraft.

The rendezvous took place on April 12, 2024, in geostationary orbit. After that, Aldoria Space gave a warning to satellite operators about the sudden maneuvers of the Russian spacecraft.

Aldoria Space didn’t report which satellite was spied on by Luch-2. 

Such maneuvers are not uncommon for Russian and Chinese spacecraft, which have been repeatedly caught spying on other satellites.  more

The rendezvous of the Russian spy satellite Luch-2 with another spacecraft. 

Subsea Espionage

In the depths of the world’s oceans, a murky game of espionage unfolds, with nations accusing each other of exploiting submarine cables for intelligence gathering and geopolitical maneuvering. The latest accusation comes from China.

“Submarine cables have in recent years become a tool for some countries to steal intelligence information and even seek geopolitical interests,” stated China’s Ministry of State Security. Although no country was explicitly named, the implication was clear: China was pointing the finger at the United States...

However, the United States has been no stranger to leveling similar accusations at China. In May 2024, the Biden administration reportedly warned Silicon Valley giants such as Meta and Google, who have invested in submarine cables, about the potential threat posed by Chinese cable repair ships.

US officials are concerned that China could sabotage or tap undersea communications cables, which carry 95 percent of the world’s online traffic, to siphon information, from personal data to intellectual property and classified military intelligence. more

6 Ways Remote Workers Can Stop Bosses Spying on Them

1. Separate Personal Devices From Company Ones
2. Mouse Jigglers
3. Avoid Email and Social Account Monitoring
4. VPNs
5. Secure Browsers
6. Know Your Rights
Details here.

Career Diplomat Abruptly Admits to Spying for Cuba for Decades

A former career U.S. diplomat told a federal judge Thursday he will plead guilty to charges of working for decades as a secret agent for communist Cuba, an unexpectedly swift resolution to a case prosecutors called one of the most brazen betrayals in the history of the U.S. foreign service.

Manuel Rocha’s stunning fall from grace could culminate in a lengthy prison term after the 73-year-old said he would admit to federal counts of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government.

Prosecutors and Rocha’s attorney indicated the plea deal includes an agreed-upon sentence but they did not disclose details at a hearing Thursday. He is due back in court April 12, when he is scheduled to formalize his guilty plea and be sentenced. more

Germany Investigates Eavesdropping by Russia

Audio of the video-conference meeting was posted to social media by the head of Russia's state-run RT channel...

Germany said on Saturday it was investigating an apparent eavesdropping of a call, after Moscow said a recording of German officers showed them discussing weapons for Ukraine and a potential strike by Kiev on a bridge in Crimea. A German defense ministry spokesperson said on Saturday the Federal Office for Military Counterintelligence was investigating what appeared to be a case of eavesdropping, and that it was possible that the recording had been altered. more