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

Dump of Chinese Hacking Documents - A Window into Surveillance

Chinese police are investigating an unauthorized and highly unusual online dump of documents from a private security contractor linked to the nation’s top policing agency and other parts of its government — a trove that catalogs apparent hacking activity and tools to spy on both Chinese and foreigners...

The dump of scores of documents late last week and subsequent investigation were confirmed by two employees of I-Soon, known as Anxun in Mandarin, which has ties to the powerful Ministry of Public Security... They reveal, in detail, methods used by Chinese authorities used to surveil dissidents overseas, hack other nations and promote pro-Beijing narratives on social media. more

China Says It Has Detained Spy Working for the U.K.

China has taken into custody an alleged British spy, the country’s national security agency said, as Beijing steps up warnings over national security and the infiltration of foreign spies in the country.

In a social-media post on Monday, China’s Ministry of State Security alleged that MI6, the U.K. foreign-intelligence service, in 2015 recruited a foreign national surnamed Huang and provided both training and “specialized spy equipment for intelligence liaisons.”

According to the MSS, the British instructed Huang to enter China as a representative of a consulting agency and send back intelligence. The Chinese agency didn’t specify Huang’s nationality or name the consulting firm. more

This is not the first time a business consultant has been detained there on charges of spying.

Spybuster Tip #629: Delete Apps that are 'Spying' Using 'One Day Rule'

Security experts have explained how your phone apps track and collect your data even if they remain unused, but there's a handy hack to avoid data harvesting and potential spying...

The rule involves simply deleting one unused app a day which the expert says can massively improve your phone efficiency and free up your storage space. Doing this will help you manage how your data is used and stop it from being harvested...

To delete an app on the iPhone, find the app on your home screen, touch and hold down the icon and tap "Remove app." If you are an Android user, go to the Google Play store, tap the profile icon in the top right, and go to Manage Apps and Devices > Manage. Tap the name of the app you want to delete and choose to uninstall. more

The Too-Weird-to-Be-Fiction Spy Story

It feels like a script you’d find on the over-piled desk of some harried Hollywood agent: MAGA-style Republican, while toiling for years as a U.S. diplomat and ambassador, secretly leads a double life, allegedly spying for the Cuban government for more than four decades — completely undetected.

Except that if true, the allegations against Victor Manuel Rocha, a career foreign service officer accused of serving as an agent of the Cuban regime since 1981, have real-life — and dangerous — implications. After Rocha was indicted on Monday on espionage charges, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said, “This action exposes one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the U.S. government by a foreign agent.” ...

What surprised you the most about this arrest?

It’s really an amplification of what I thought: the Cubans are really good at espionage. Their intelligence agency, which goes by the acronym DGI, is incredibly effective. And they take the long game. more

Clandestine Ops: Mission Permission Submission

Clandestine online operations now require sign-off by senior officials.

Following a controversy over the Pentagon’s use of clandestine information operations, the U.S. military has eliminated dozens of false online personas it created in recent years and has curtailed the use of such operations overseas, according to senior defense officials.

Clandestine online operations now require sign-off by senior Pentagon officials, the CIA and the State Department, according to the officials, who spoke Monday on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity. more

Where The Spies Are

There are about 80 Russian spies in Switzerland, which is about one-fifth of the total number of Russian agents in Europe. Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, citing the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service, as reported by European Pravda

Details: European states have been actively countering the Russian intelligence network, expelling employees of Russian embassies since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

However, Switzerland did not resort to such a step due to the long tradition of neutrality. The estimates of the intelligence service, shared with members of parliament in September, indicate that there are currently about 80 Russian agents in the country.

A representative of the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs in an interview with NZZ emphasized that the country's government "does not impose any sanctions in the form of expelling diplomats", adding that communication channels with Russia should be preserved. more