Security Researchers: Amazon Echo Can be Turned Into a Spying Device

Security researchers have recently shown that the popular Amazon Echo speaker can be hacked to eavesdrop on conversations without permission.

Security firm MWR InfoSecurity claims it was able to exploit a vulnerability which turns the Alexa-fueled device into a “wiretap” without altering its standard functionalities.

But before you get all alarmed, let us tell you the vulnerability was found to affect only 2015 and 2016 versions of the Amazon Echo. On top of that, in order to successfully hack the speaker, a hacker would need to have physical access to it. So you might want to lock your Amazon Echo away when your computer wiz cousin comes over for a visit. more

Spy vs Spy Sweepstakes - Win Original Artwork

Spy vs. Prize Department
MAD’s year-end issue chronicling “The 20 Dumbest People, Events and Things” of 2016 is coming soon. But you don’t have to wait to experience the dumbness of MAD!

Enter now for a chance to win an original piece of Spy Vs Spy artwork by renowned artist Peter Kuper.

This rare piece has never been published, and no, not because one of the editors spilled coffee on it. (Note: The stain has since been removed. Coffee not included in this sweepstakes.)

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR TO WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. ODDS OF WINNING WILL DEPEND ON THE TOTAL NUMBER OF ELIGIBLE ENTRIES RECEIVED.The “MAD® Spy vs. Spy Original Art Sweepstakes!” begins on 11/9/16 at 10:00a.m. PT and ends on 11/30/16 at 9:59 a.m. PT. Only open to legal residents in the 50 U.S. and D.C. who are 13 years of age or older. Void in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, U.S., Military installations in foreign countries, all other U.S. territories and possessions and wherever prohibited or restricted by law. Total Prize ARV is: $100.00. Sponsor: DC Entertainment. This Sweepstakes is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook, Twitter or any other social media sites.

What Do You Call the New Vinyard in Spy Valley? ..."The Must Sea"?

NZ - A Marlborough wine company with an espionage theme is calling on members of the public to help name their new vineyard.

Crowd sourcing names can be a risky business, as the National Environment Research Council in the United Kingdom found out earlier this year...

Although they derived their name from the presence of the communications orbs in the Waihopai Valley, McCone said Spy Valley Wines did not hold any contracts to supply spooks with wine.

"They do occasionally come in their unmarked vans to buy some wine on a Friday afternoon though," he said. more

The Top Private Investigators on Twitter in 2015

via PINow.com...
We are happy to release the Top Private Investigators on Twitter in 2015! We received a lot of nominations and saw plenty of excitement, so thank you for your participation!

Twitter is a great tool for interacting with peers, sharing legislation updates, related news, business tips, promoting associations, and more. We present this list every year to recognize those in the industry who have proved to be valuable resources to their peers, specifically on the topic of investigations. Congratulations to all 2015 list-makers!

The list is ranked based on a variety of criteria, including nominations, scores on social media sites like Retweetrank, Klout, and StatusPeople, and on scores for content, consistent activity, and more.

Thank you!
Kevin

Contest - Tell Us Everything You Know About this Wiretapping Device

I am guessing anyone who as ever used this is now pushing up punchdown blocks.
But, there is a nice prize for the person who can tell us about this device...
   • the manufacturer,
   • who used this device,
   • approximate year of manufacturer.
BONUS PRIZE if you send me the manual.
Information you submit will be shared below.
Enter HERE.

Winner: RH - Regarding your mystery wiretapping device, it is a Western Electric model 300ABC telephone line recording unit. Western Electric was the manufacturing company of AT&T up until the mid-90s, and furnished a lot of kit for the military. Based on the design and housing of this unit, it was likely manufactured some time between 1939 and 1946. While this could be used for wiretapping, these devices were common in military command posts were it would be used to record phone conversations between officers, and the recording would subsequently be transcribed and filed.

(Additional insights welcome.)

Chess Cheat Caught Using Morse Code and Spy Camera

An Italian chess player has been removed from one of Italy’s most prestigious tournaments after allegedly using Morse code and a hidden camera to cheat. 

Arcangelo Ricciardi ranked at 51,366 in world when he entered the International Chess Festival of Imperia in Liguria, Italy and surprised his competitors when he easily escalated to the penultimate round...

Jean Coqueraut, the tournament's referee told La Stampa newspaper: “In chess, performances like that are impossible. I didn’t think he was a genius, I knew he had to be a cheat.”

He was “batting his eyelids in the most unnatural way,” added Mr Coqueraut. “Then I understood it. He was deciphering signals in Morse code.”

Mr Riccardi was forced to pass through a metal detector by the game organisers, revealing a sophisticated pendent hanging round his neck beneath his shirt, according to the Telegraph.

The pendant reportedly contained a small video camera, wires, which attached to his body, and a 4cm box under his arm pit.

To conceal the pendant around his neck, Mr Riccardi drank constantly from a glass of water and wiped his face with a handkerchief, according to Mr Coqueraut.

It is believed the camera was used to transmit the chess game to an accomplice or computer, which then suggested the moves Mr Riccardi should perform next. These moves were allegedly communicated to him through the box under his arm.

Mr Riccardi denies that he cheated and has claimed that the devices were good luck charms, according to reports. more

CONTEST (ENDED) - Who Is This Man?

We have a winner! Congratulations!!
Answer below.

Clues...
• Born 1897.
• Died 1973.
• Expert wiretapper. 
• Good high speed driver. 
• Sharpshooter.
• Last known occupation: Security Officer, National Airlines, Miami, FL.
• Initials: PWR
• Co-author of a book about the part of his career for which he is famous. Claimed his boss was portrayed on TV as too flattering.

Excellent prize of our choice from the Spybusters Countermeasures Compound vault. ~Kevin 

This is Paul Wenzel Robsky, the last of The Untouchables.

Birth: Oct. 16, 1897, Illinois, USA
Death: Nov. 1, 1973, Miami-Dade County, Florida, USA
 

Paul was the only child of Theodore and Martha (Ellis) Robsky. He grew up in Galesburg, Illinois. Martha died when Paul was just a child. He married Louise B Bargeron and they had a daughter, Ena. Paul and Louise were later divorced and he married Helene R. Frame in Jan 1956.
 
Paul served in the military from Nov 7, 1917 until March 22, 1927. By 1928, he was a Prohibition Agent hunting bootleggers in the hills around Greenville, South Carolina. He was well known for his fast driving and sharpshooting skills. He made such an impression that in 1930, he was handpicked to join a band of lawmen in Chicago who became known as The Untouchables. He was an expert at wire-tapping and Elliot Ness called him "a good man to have around when more than ordinary courage was needed." Paul spent his last years in Florida and was the last living of The Untouchables.

His news photo, shown above, is available here...
http://www.tribunephotos.com/HJS-617-BS-Photo-Robsky-Wire-Tapping-Expert/dp/B00CD5URR6

His book, The Last of the Untouchables is also still available, as is the 1957 edition of The Untouchables, by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley.

"Hey kids, hack it for your Uncle Sam!"

Bored with classes? 

Carnegie Mellon University and one of the government’s top spy agencies want to interest high school students in a game of computer hacking.

Their goal with “Toaster Wars” is to cultivate the nation’s next generation of cyber warriors in offensive and defensive strategies. The free, online “high school hacking competition” is scheduled to run from April 26 to May 6, and any U.S. student or team in grades six through 12 can apply and participate.

 

David Brumley, professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon, said the game is designed to be fun and challenging, but he hopes participants come to see computer security as an excellent career choice. (more)

P.S. Registration is now open!

Put a GPS in a Candy Bar - Sales Skyrocket

The candy company launched the “We Will Find You” campaign in the United Kingdom where GPS tracking devices were placed inside six candy bars.  

Once the winning candy bar wrapper is opened, the tracking device will go off and Nestle officials will be able to find the exact location of the customer.

“This will alert a secret control room who will scramble a crack team of highly trained individuals,” the commercial states. “They will board a helicopter, find the special bar and give the owner 10,000 pounds ($16,145).”

The six tracking devices will be placed in Kit-Kat, Aero and Yorkie bars in the U.K. (more)

What could possibly go wrong? Hummm... The guys in the warehouse borrow the guard's metal detector and scan pallet-loads of product. 

Seriously, if they have their act together, the bars are not going through the usual distribution chain. They are being placed on the shelf at the very last minute and the camera crew is waiting in the stock room. Brilliant promotion, however.

Special Agent T-Shirt Contest #3

Contest Closed - We have a winner.

Who is this famous wiretapper? (Enter here.)
(Hint: the answer can be found at spybusters.com)

Click to enlarge.

The prize - our Limited Edition Special Agent Black T-Shirt. (Size: X-Large)


Answer: Gerard "Cheesebox" Callahan

("How limited," I hear you say.)  

Well, there are only three in the whole world! (one medium, one large, one x-large) And, they will be awarded in that order. So if you're a big Special Agent, this is YOUR contest.

We designed this custom t-shirt ourselves! It's easy, go to ooShirts.com. They have a DIY on-line design lab! All types of t's, all colors, all prices. These are the Champion brand with the logo on the left sleeve.

CONTEST ALERT - Wednesday Noon (EST) - Last Special Agent Shirt

The famous Security Scrapbook contest back! 

Next Wednesday (noon EST) we will post a spy question. The first correct answer received wins! 

Click to enlarge.

We post this alert to give everyone an equal chance, as readers of the e-mail version receive these posts the following next day.

The prize - our Limited Edition Special Agent Black T-Shirt. 

("How limited," I hear you say.)  

Well, there are only three in the whole world! (one medium, one large, one x-large) And, they will be awarded in that order. So if you're a big Special Agent this is YOUR contest.

Did you know you could design custom t-shirts yourself? It's easy. I made these myself at ooShirts.com. They have a DIY on-line design lab! All types of t's, all colors, all prices. These are the Champion brand with the logo on the left sleeve.

ooShirts also provides design help, if needed. They suggested I use brighter colors to have the logo stand out better. They were 100% correct, but I went with muted gray and red for a subtle look (Special Agents don't have to shout it.) The shirt shows the colors correctly. The enlargement is brightened to show the fine detail of the printing, just look at the dots! This was a test run for us. We're thrilled.

Special Agent T-Shirt Contest #2

Contest Closed - We have a winner.

This man invented one of the first electronic eavesdropping devices. It was used extensively by the private detective William J. Burns in the early 20th Century. What was this inventor's full name (He has a 3-word name)?  (Enter here.)

Click to enlarge.

The prize - our Limited Edition Special Agent Black T-Shirt. (Size: Large)

Answer: Kelly Monroe Turner

("How limited," I hear you say.)  

Well, there are only three in the whole world! (one medium, one large, one x-large) And, they will be awarded in that order. So if you're a big Special Agent, wait for the last contest.

We designed this custom t-shirt ourselves! It's easy, go to ooShirts.com. They have a DIY on-line design lab! All types of t's, all colors, all prices. These are the Champion brand with the logo on the left sleeve.

CONTEST ALERT - Wednesday Noon (EST)

The famous Security Scrapbook contest back! 

Next Wednesday (noon EST) we will post a spy question. The first correct answer received wins! 

Click to enlarge.

We post this alert to give everyone an equal chance, as readers of the e-mail version receive these posts the following next day.

The prize - our Limited Edition Special Agent Black T-Shirt. 

("How limited," I hear you say.)  

Well, there are only three in the whole world! (one medium, one large, one x-large) And, they will be awarded in that order. So if you're a big Special Agent, wait for the last contest.

Did you know you could design custom t-shirts yourself? It's easy. I made these myself at ooShirts.com. They have a DIY on-line design lab! All types of t's, all colors, all prices. These are the Champion brand with the logo on the left sleeve.

ooShirts also provides design help, if needed. They suggested I use brighter colors to have the logo stand out better. They were 100% correct, but I went with muted gray and red for a subtle look (Special Agents don't have to shout it.) The shirt shows the colors correctly. The enlargement is brightened to show the fine detail of the printing, just look at the dots! This was a test run for us. We're thrilled.

Special Agent T-Shirt Contest #1

Contest Closed - We have a winner.

According to a Life Magazine article from 1966, what piece of "eavesdropping equipment" could a person buy for five hundred dollars? (Enter here.)

(Hint: the answer can be found on spybusters.com)

ANSWER: A martini olive bug.

Click to enlarge.

The prize - our Limited Edition Special Agent Black T-Shirt. (Size: Medium)

("How limited," I hear you say.)  

Well, there are only three in the whole world! (one medium, one large, one x-large) And, they will be awarded in that order. So if you're a big Special Agent, wait for the last contest.

We designed this custom t-shirt ourselves! It's easy, go to ooShirts.com. They have a DIY on-line design lab! All types of t's, all colors, all prices. These are the Champion brand with the logo on the left sleeve.

CONTEST ALERT - Wednesday Noon (EST) - Next 3 Weeks

The famous Security Scrapbook contest back! 

Every Wednesday (noon EST) for the next three weeks we will post a spy question. The first correct answer received wins! 

Click to enlarge.

We post this alert to give everyone an equal chance, as readers of the e-mail version receive these posts the following next day.

The prize - our Limited Edition Special Agent Black T-Shirt. 

("How limited," I hear you say.)  

Well, there are only three in the whole world! (one medium, one large, one x-large) And, they will be awarded in that order. So if you're a big Special Agent, wait for the last contest.

Did you know you could design custom t-shirts yourself? It's easy. I made these myself at ooShirts.com. They have a DIY on-line design lab! All types of t's, all colors, all prices. These are the Champion brand with the logo on the left sleeve.

ooShirts also provides design help, if needed. They suggested I use brighter colors to have the logo stand out better. They were 100% correct, but I went with muted gray and red for a subtle look (Special Agents don't have to shout it.) The shirt shows the colors correctly. The enlargement is brightened to show the fine detail of the printing, just look at the dots! This was a test run for us. We're thrilled. 

As with all printing, the more you do the cheaper it gets, but even just doing three is affordable enough for special one-time occasions, like showing up with, "Will you marry me?" Happy Valentine's Day! ~Kevin

Kevin's Security Scrapbook Voted Top 10 Investigator Blog!

 
Congratulations! Your blog has been selected as one of PInow’s Top Investigation Blogs. We reviewed blogs in the investigation industry and selected yours because of the quality posts and the voice of your blog.

We are going to announce your top blogger status to the rest of the investigation profession in an article that will go out to over 6,000 investigators on February 3rd.

"With changing legislation, licensing, laws and crazy stories there's a lot for investigators to keep up with. Many investigators use blogs to share their experiences, provide updates and reviews on products and to discuss experiences with databases. A blog is also a great way to market your business, connect with potential clients and become a leader in your industry. There's a wide array of investigations blogs out there, and since maintaining a blog is no easy feat PInow decided to compile a list of the top investigation blogs.

There was no specific, formulaic ranking used when creating the list, but we did take into account industry relevancy, consistency and recency of posts, variety of content and professionalism. Please keep this in mind if you disagree with the rankings."

And, congratulations to all my colleagues who also made the list. Nice to see your hard work is appreciated.
Thanks, PInow.com!

"All Your Shreds Are Belong to U.S." Wins Reconstruct Shreds Contest

via gizmag.com...

At the end of October, DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) launched its Shredder Challenge contest. The objective: create a system for reconstructing shredded papers, then demonstrate it by piecing together five documents, the shredded remains of which were posted on the contest's website. Although the contest had a December 4th deadline, the "All Your Shreds Are Belong to U.S." team correctly reassembled all five documents with two days to spare.

The San Francisco-based team, which beat out approximately 9,000 competitors, used "custom-coded, computer-vision algorithms to suggest fragment pairings to human assemblers for verification." Members of the team spent approximately 600 man-hours developing algorithms and otherwise working on the challenge, completing everything within 33 days. Because it was able to reconstruct all five documents posted in the contest, the team was able to claim the complete prize of US$50,000.

DARPA hosted the contest both to develop methods of reading shredded documents left behind by enemies in war zones, and to identify ways in which U.S. shredded documents could be read by other parties, so that countermeasures could be developed.

Missed the contest?

Try the game!

Want a Job as a Spy? Start with a Code Cracking Quiz! (UPDATED)

UK - No longer content with simply approaching the brightest from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, intelligence agency GCHQ has launched a code-cracking competition to attract new talent.

Knowing what this is might help.

The electronic surveillance organisation, the UK Government Communications Headquarters, is asking potential applicants to solve a code posted on a website.

It will direct potential candidates to the competition, hosted on an anonymous website, via sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

If the layers of code it has set are cracked, applicants will be presented with a keyword to enter into a form field. They will then be re-directed to the GCHQ website, where hopefuls will find details of the types of roles which could reflect their skills.

The aim is to attract candidates who might not apply through more conventional channels. (more)

UPDATE:
A simple Google search unlocks the supposedly secret completion page to GCHQ's code-cracking competition.

The signals snooping agency launched a codebreaking competition this week, promoted via social networks, that aimed to find would be code breakers that conventional recruitment efforts might miss. The canyoucrackit.co.uk challenge involved making sense of a 16x10 grid of 8-bit hexadecimal numbers to figure out a password, and then developing a virtual machine to execute code that would lead to the final page.

Puzzle-solvers had 10 days to crack the codes. However instead of solving this puzzle, which was not trivial to conquer, at least if some of the emails we've received are any guide, the completion page could be reached via a simple Google search.

Oops.

"All it takes to find the page is to use the site: command in Google, as the 'Can You Crack It?' webmaster seemingly didn't hide the success page from search engines," Graham Cluley of net security firm Sophos explains. (more)

Hunk, a hunk of burning bucks... for Hackers

As the annual Black Hat hacker conference kicks off here, Microsoft is turning to the hacker community to help mitigate the Windows platform.

The world’s largest software vendor today announced Blue Hat Prize, an academic challenge aimed at generating new ideas for defensive approaches to support computer security. This year, Microsoft is offering $250,000 in cash and prizes to researchers who design a novel one-time mitigation for memory safety vulnerabilities. (more) (sing-a-long)

CONTEST: The Tunny Machine Missing Diagrams Question

(WE HAVE A WINNER. DF from Canada.)

UK - The National Museum of Computing has finished restoring a Tunny machine - a key part of Allied code-cracking during World War II.

Tunny machines helped to unscramble Allied interceptions of the encrypted orders Hitler sent to his generals.

The rebuild was completed even though almost no circuit diagrams or parts of the original machines survived...

The first Tunny machine was built in 1942 by mathematician Bill Tutte. He drew up plans for it after analysing intercepted encrypted radio signals Hitler was sending to the Nazi high command. (more)

CONTEST: What happened to the original circuit diagrams?

PRIZE: First correct answer wins an autographed copy of "Is My Cell Phone Bugged? Everything you need to know to keep your mobile communications private."