Bugging Device Found in German MP's Office

Police have found a bugging device in the office of a German MP, who is involved in investigations of the doings of the local federal intelligence.

Wolfgang Neskovic is an independent MP, who was a member of the Supreme Court before he was elected for parliament.

The commission that deals with the intelligence, and that Neskovic is a part of, will investigate the bugging case. An emergency meeting of the commission will be held next week. (more)

UPDATE...
"The German Parliament said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that after the devices were examined by the Federal Office for Security and Information Technology, "with the microphones alone, surveying, recording or forwarding the spoken word is not possible."

The devices were covered by a layer of dust that had settled atop of the lamp, pointing to the fact that the microphones had not been used for a long time."

Old spycraft tricks...
- Blow a layer of dust over an eavesdropping installation. Alters the perceived time-frame of the attack, if discovered.
- Use Hollywood special-effects cobwebs. Spray them over the opening to an installation to deter inspection.
The key question... "Why were microphones there in the first place?"
~ Kevin

Inquiry committee head Sigfried Kauder, a senior lawmaker of Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union, said in a statement Tuesday that all members of the board have been advised to check their offices for similar devices. (more)

Now, there is some sage advice :)

UPDATE 1/26/07 (the story changes) ...officials in Berlin said the alleged bug found in the office of Wolfgang Neskovic, a leftist former judge who has demanded Steinmeier's resignation, was not a functioning one and its placement was too inept to have been the work of intelligence professionals.

The microphone of a type freely on sale was attached to a ceiling lamp and was visible, security officials said. (more)

This Day in Spy History...

Today is the 39th anniversary of North Korea's seizure of the spy ship USS Pueblo and it 83-man crew, triggering an international confrontation between the United States and North Korea in the tumultuous year of 1968. The Pueblo was a World War II-era freighter that had been outfitted as an electronic eavesdropping ship for the National Security Agency. Commissioned in May 1967 and named for the city of Pueblo, the ship was under the command of Lt. Cmdr. Lloyd "Pete" Bucher when it set out to patrol the North Korean coast in January 1968. Cutting in and out of North Korean waters while eavesdropping, the Pueblo's crew had expected to be harassed by North Korean warships but on Jan. 23, the spy ship was surrounded by patrol boats and raked with machine-gun and cannon fire. Crewman Duane Hodges was fatally wounded in the attack. (more)

Check your flip-top ring at the door...

Feel daring?
Have dinner with a spy!

An Evening with Melissa Boyle Mahle
Tuesday, 6 February; 7–10 pm

From the Reagan years through 2002, CIA intelligence officer, Melissa Boyle Mahle, ran operations against Al Qaeda terrorists, conducted missions to interrupt illicit networks plotting to sell weapons of mass destruction, and completed assignments throughout the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa as the agency’s top-ranked female Arabist. Mahle, author of Denial and Deception: An Insider’s View of the CIA, has discussed her fourteen-year tenure as a covert operative for the CIA with CNN, PBS, Jon Stewart, and now you!

Be one of only 20 guests at Zola for a three-course meal where you’ll hear the inside story on her counterterrorism operations, her views on today’s continuing intelligence challenges, and enjoy the dialogue between Mahle and former CIA chief of disguise, International Spy Museum board member, Jonna Mendez. (more)

Singapore denies bugging phones

Singapore has denied listening in on private phone conversations between Council for National Security members following remarks by CNS chief Sonthi Boonyaratkalin. ...

"As an international telecommunication hub, Singapore maintains a strict and professional operating environment to safeguard the integrity of all communications which terminate in or transit through Singapore,'' the foreign ministry said. (more)

"Our Hottest Security Tips"

The smart folks over at Computerworld have put together a very good 18-page Executive Bulletin - "Our Hottest Security Tips - Sage advice for protecting corporate assets in a dangerous world". It's free... once you fill out their marketing form (hey, that's only fair).

Quote of the Day

"A company's liability will be measured against what steps it took to protect data privacy." - Charlene Brownlee, Attorney, Fulbright & Jaworski LLC

Heads of security accused of corporate espionage

Italy - Milan magistrates have arrested four Telecom Italia SpA employees for alleged illegal espionage activities...

The suspects were identified as Fabio Ghioni, the head of information security at Telecom Italia, his assistant Rocco Lucia, and Guglielmo Sasinini, a former journalist who had been hired by the company to conduct country risk analyses for the Middle East region...

A fourth warrant was served in prison on Giuliano Tavaroli, the former head of security at Telecom Italia, who had already been incarcerated on illegal espionage charges as a result of a separate investigation.

The four men are accused of using Telecom Italia’s resources to spy on Vittorio Colao, the former executive chief executive officer of the Rizzoli Corriere della Sera (RCS) SpA publishing group and on Massimo Mucchetti, the deputy director of the Corriere della Sera newspaper, as part of an elaborate intelligence operation that has all the hallmarks of a spy thriller...

...his former boss Tavaroli, allegedly rose to the top of Telecom Italia’s security department after engineering the discovery of an electronic bug planted in the Telecom Italia chief executive officer’s car in 2001. The then head of security at Telecom Italia was fired for the lapse and Tavaroli was able to take his place.
(more)

Spy Guys...

...The anatomy of a covert wireless security assessment or, how serious spies go after corporate wireless LANs.

"The most important item, as any seasoned penetration-tester will confirm, is a get-out-of-jail-free letter, preferably signed by a C-level officer for the organization being probed. Each team member ought to have a copy in his or her pocket, and another copy taped to the inside wall of the truck in a visible spot where one can point a terrorist-addled security guard or local peace officer who’s unsnapped his holster." (more)

Trident sues former employee over trade secrets

Trident Systems is suing a former executive for $9.2 million, alleging he recruited away staff and customers for a new company before he quit and that he took trade secrets with him when he left. (more)

Many companies this size have a yearly program to detect espionage warning signs. Detection keeps problems from reaching this stage. Cost... less than 1/100th of the cost of this lawsuit, much less. (see for yourself)

Tech Corner - If you WEPed then LEAPed...

...you may be in for a fall.

"Cisco LEAP authentication is a huge security risk in enterprise wireless LANs. So much attention in wireless LAN security or security in general is given to the encryption component of security that the authentication component is often neglected. If your wireless LAN is running LEAP and this document doesn't scare the living day lights out of you, it should." (more)

"Fire the retrojustification rockets, Sulu."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday accused his nation's main telecommunications company of spying on him and suggested it was at the bidding of the United States. Chavez, addressing 10 South American leaders at a summit of the Mercosur trade bloc, gave no additional details.

The accusation came less than two weeks after Chavez announced he would nationalize CA Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela, known as CANTV. (more)

Man Sues Over Sperm Bank Hidden Camera

Claiming that he found a video camera hidden in the ceiling of a sperm bank's "donation room," a Los Angeles man is suing the firm for negligence and emotional distress. Ken Rigberg, 27, charges that he discovered the pinhole camera during a June 2005 visit to Pasadena's Pacific Reproductive Services. According to Rigberg's Los Angeles Superior Court complaint, a copy of which you'll find... (more)

The Street Sweeper, or...

Your Surveillance Dollars at work.

Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) automatically reads license plate numbers on stationary or moving vehicles. Using advanced camera, recognition, and database technology ALPR systems automatically capture images of vehicle license plate numbers and instantly checks those numbers against a variety of vehicle “hot lists” held in target vehicle databases. Alarms can be triggered when a “hit” (match) is detected on any given database giving the ALPR operator the opportunity to take immediate action. (more) (video)

Apple's Secret Keeping = Competitive Advantage

One of the most astonishing things about the new Apple iPhone is how Apple managed to keep it a secret for nearly two-and-a-half years of development...

Apple does make it clear to employees and business partners that they will be dismissed and possibly prosecuted for leaking company secrets. Apple has also played the bully role, suing bloggers and other independent journalists for posting purported advance information about unannounced Apple products.

Secrets - along with patents - protect Apple against competitive threats from foreign companies that have become expert at instant cloning of Apple's products and designs. (more)

Millionaire jailed for hiring crooked PI

(A story of massive illegal electronic surveillance.)
A multimillionaire (one of Britain's richest men) was jailed yesterday after hiring corrupt private detectives to tap telephone conversations and hack into computers. Adrian Kirby used the detectives to spy on environmental investigators and residents opposed to the activities of his waste disposal company.

The agency he used, which employed private investigators, serving police officers and retired detectives, operated illegally over five years until 2004.

Hundreds of telephone lines were compromised by an array of illegal snooping equipment used to reroute and record conversations. Personal banking information and “targeted” computer hacking were available to customers willing to pay thousands of pounds a time. Confidential medical notes were also obtained.

Kirby, who is on The Sunday Times Rich List, paid the agency £47,000 to monitor opponents of his company’s plans to dispose of toxic waste. (more)

Others involved as well...
Another job taken on by the London-based agency, which cannot be named for legal reasons, was an acrimonious divorce case.

Prestige bathroom company boss Anthony Waters paid them £50,000 to "spy" on his estranged wife with the help of special software to monitor everything she typed onto her laptop about the divorce proceedings and her finances.

In a third example, a Strathclyde woman asked the agency to monitor the phone calls of someone she believed had killed one of her elderly relatives to pocket a large inheritance.

Also before the court are the detective agency's "telephone interception specialists" Michael Hall, 35, of Battersea, London, and Stuart Dowling, 30, from Sittingbourne, Kent, who made some of the telephone monitoring devices, and two more of the company's clients, Adam Share, 35, of Corby Glen, Lincolnshire...

They variously admitted intercepting illegal communications and making unauthorised modifications to a computer. (more)