Saturday, June 24, 2023
The US Presidential Race Gets More Interesting
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Khashoggi's Wife's Phone Bugged With Spyware Before Killing
The mobile phone of Hanan Elatr, the wife of Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi was reportedly bugged by United Arab Emirates agents.
The cell phone of Hanan Elatr was infected several months before he was killed in 2018.
Jamal Khashoggi was killed in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, reported Sputnik citing The Washington Post. The phone of Elatr was reportedly infected when she was questioned by UAE officials. more
Thursday, January 7, 2021
Gouverneur Vetos Protective Video Surveillance for Nursing Home Residents
In a statement opposing Whitmer’s pocket veto, Sen. Jim Runestad, the bill's sponsor, mentioned the story of 75-year-old Norman Bledsoe, who was severely beaten in May by a 20-year-old patient receiving COVID-19 treatment. Bledsoe suffered four broken fingers, broken ribs, and a broken jaw after the attack.
“Without
the benefit of video, no one would have known the truth of how Mr.
Bledsoe was injured,” Runestad said in a statement. “The governor had a
chance to sign this bill and help stop the type of abuse we’ve seen in
nursing homes for years. Instead she chose to turn a blind eye, and now
seniors pay the price.” more
Thursday, November 26, 2020
Nicolas Sarkozy Eavesdropping Trial Will Resume Monday
The corruption trial of former President Nicolas Sarkozy in the “eavesdropping” affair will resume next Monday, November 30, the Paris Criminal Court having rejected on Thursday November 26 the request for referral, for health reasons, of one of his co-defendants. more
Friday, November 6, 2020
Snitch Culture Redux, or The Hong Kong So Long
Police in Hong Kong have launched a hotline where residents can report breaches of the national security law imposed by Beijing earlier this year.
The law criminalizes secession, subversion and collusion with foreign forces. It has silenced many protesters since it came into force.
Hong Kong residents can send images, audio and video files to the hotline.
Rights groups say they are concerned the service could be used to target those with opposing political views. more
It is worth remembering that "Citizen Snitch Surveillance" is a tactic of cultures that eventually fail.
About one in 100 East Germans was an informer for communist East Germany's secret police in 1989, according to a new study. Political ideology was their main motivation, both in East and West Germany.
The Stasi kept detailed files on thousands of East Germans
Monday, August 3, 2020
The Vatican Hack
A report, released July 28, said that hackers may have used a counterfeit condolence message from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, to gain access to Vatican communications. more
Block TikTok, or Microsoft to the Rescue
U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, claimed that TikTok sends user data to China, exerting pressure on the video-sharing social networking service. Pompeo brought attention to the fact that if personal information flows across a Chinese server, it will eventually end up in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party which he calls an “Evil Empire”.
TikTok has denied U.S. allegations but a report by cyber experts at ProtonMail says otherwise. The report is more a warning as it states – “Beware, the social media giant not only collects troves of personal data on you, but also cooperates with the CCP, extending China’s surveillance and censorship reach beyond its borders.” more
In other news...
Microsoft said Sunday it will continue talks to buy short-form video app, TikTok after its chief executive spoke with President Trump, following a weekend of uncertainty clouding the future of the Chinese-owned app. more
Connect the Dots...
When Microsoft bought Skype, Wired Magazine noted, "The Skype client itself is written almost as if it were a piece of malware, using complex obfuscation and anti-reverse engineering techniques, and it would be disquieting for Microsoft to release something that behaved in such a shady way; at the very least, the client would surely have to be rewritten to avoid the obfuscation and outright hostility to
managed networks that Skype currently has... Ultimately, it's hard to see how the Skype purchase is worthwhile from a
technology or user-access perspective. The technology isn't good enough
and the users aren't lucrative enough or plentiful enough to justify
it. more
Pure Conjecture Disguised as Analysis...
Microsoft already had Windows Live Messenger. Did it really need Skype? Skype you might recall was a predominately Estonian-based encrypted platform. It was giving governments fits worldwide. Then, in 2011, Microsoft bought it. Guess what happened.
TikTok, it appears, is also giving government fits. Who ya gonna call?
Monday, June 8, 2020
Foreign Spies are Exploiting the Instability
Friday, May 15, 2020
And, The Number One Spy Job Nobody Would Want Is...
Jang Kil Song was ousted as head of the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), the North’s military intelligence agency, according to the Korea Herald, citing a report by South Korea’s Unification Ministry.
The RGB is behind the Hermit Kingdom’s most high-profile attacks as well as spy missions, including those against the US, the report says...
(Surprise) No reason was given for the switch. more
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
China May Be Tapped Out
It also said that 80% of the DoJ’s economic espionage cases where a foreign entity or government would benefit, have involved China. more
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Rare World War II Footage Released - British Spy Center
Like a home movie reel, the silent footage shows young people at candid moments: playing soccer and cricket, sunbathing, smiling and making faces at the camera...
But they were not ordinary office colleagues: They were off-duty secret British communications staffers, linked to code-breakers who decrypted German ciphers and helped the Allies win World War II.
The newly revealed footage features staff members of the MI6 Section VIII — the British spy agency’s communications staff — filmed at a site associated with the famous code-breaking facility Bletchley Park. more
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Book: Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer
Chinese espionage hinges on a sophisticated network of spies focused on state-sponsored tech theft, according to a new book that dispels outdated theories of how Beijing collects intelligence around the world.
Why it matters: Old tropes cast all ethnic Chinese as potential amateur spies, a belief which has led to racial profiling. In reality, China's intelligence agencies employ highly trained professionals who operate much like spies from any other country.
Details: Published late last year by the Naval Institute Press, doubles as an explainer of how Chinese espionage works and as a brief encyclopedia of key figures.
- The book's authors are Peter Mattis, a former CIA counterintelligence analyst, and Matthew Brazil, a former US Army officer and diplomat.
- Their main message: That Chinese espionage is neither mysterious nor totally different than that practiced by other nations. more
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Spies in the Skys
From 1957, when he first started working on the project, until 2011 when it was declassified, Dave McDowell was sworn to secrecy.
But now, the results of this once top-secret Kodak program is on full display at the Strasenburg Planetarium.
“Awe” is how McDowell described what he felt standing in front of the exhibit. “It’s something we designed and built in Rochester, and this one didn’t fly in space, but 48 others exactly like it did.”
The top-secret project was the optical system for Gambit-1, a national reconnaissance satellite. Kodak engineers designed and built what was essentially a large camera encased in a capsule. It was a revolutionary technology at that time, and it played a significant role in U.S. national security in the Cold War era. more
SPY TWO
On January 20, something rather strange happened in orbit. A Russian satellite suddenly maneuvered itself so that it was closely shadowing a US spy satellite.
The pair are now less than 186 miles (300 kilometers) apart—a short distance when it comes to space. While we don’t know for sure what’s going on, the Russian satellite’s actions strongly suggest it is there to spy on the US one—and there is very little the US can do about it. more
Thursday, November 21, 2019
"Electronic Device" Found in Mayor's Office
The device was found in the mayor's office, Interim Police Chief Phil Hart said.
Hart said he cannot speak as to what the capabilities of the electronic surveillance device are at this time.
No other information has been released because it is still under investigation. more
Former Flint Police Chief Timothy Johnson believed the device could've been in City Hall when Former Mayor Karen Weaver was in office.
He said she was concerned when she moved into City Hall that it had been bugged with recording devices. So Johnson said they checked her office, even removing ceiling tiles.* But, he explained, Weaver's was the only office they checked. more
* A professional technical surveillance countermeasures inspection is quite a bit more thorough.
Sunday, November 17, 2019
Venezuela's Ex-spy Chief Disappears on Eve of Extradition to U.S. (shocking, just shocking)
In written answers to questions by The Associated Press, Carvajal said he wanted to share secret information on drug trafficking and corruption. more | sing-a-long
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Espionage Concerns Change Hiring Policy
GitLab’s vice president of engineering, Eric Johnson, said in GitLab’s public discussion forum in October that the firm would no longer hire people living in Russia and China—countries that U.S. authorities have linked to major data security breaches—for some roles where they would be handling sensitive customer data...
The decision was prompted by “the expressed concern of several enterprise customers,” Mr. Johnson wrote on the forum... more
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Toga! Toga! Toga! ...SCIF Fight!
About two dozen House Republicans enter a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) where a closed session before the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees took place.
A group of House Republicans could have created a field day for Russian and Chinese intelligence agencies when they stormed into a secure Capitol Hill room where their colleagues were taking impeachment testimony yesterday with their cellphones in tow. more
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
CNN - In 1999 a listening device was planted inside the State Department...
Thanks to our Blue Blase Irregular at Big T for spotting this one for us.
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Iranian President's Brother Claims Presidential Office was Bugged
A close advisor to Hassan Rouhani, Fereydoun did not name the body or persons responsible for the eavesdropping. Nevertheless, it is public knowledge that the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Intelligence Organization had been behind the lawsuit against him. more
Thursday, October 10, 2019
LaFollette Councilwoman Indicted - 34 counts of Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance
Campbell County District Attorney Jared Effler requested the TBI investigate after a recording device was found in the LaFollette City Hall Conference Room. Investigators later determined that Thompson was responsible for placing the device in the conference room.
On October 2nd, the Campbell County Grand Jury returned indictments charging Thompson with 34 counts of Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance and two counts of Official Misconduct. more