By the end of this year, police officials say, more than 100 cameras will have begun monitoring cars moving through Lower Manhattan, the beginning phase of a London-style surveillance system that would be the first in the United States.
The Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, as the plan is called, will resemble London’s so-called Ring of Steel, an extensive web of cameras and roadblocks designed to detect, track and deter terrorists. British officials said images captured by the cameras helped track suspects after the London subway bombings in 2005 and the car bomb plots last month.
If the program is fully financed, it will include not only license plate readers but also 3,000 public and private security cameras below Canal Street, as well as a center staffed by the police and private security officers, and movable roadblocks. (more)
Monday, July 9, 2007
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Bug the Judge Blowout - One Week Later
ISLAMABAD: Following the directions of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to purge the Supreme Court, residences and offices of the judges of all bugging devices within a week, intelligence agencies remained busy to comply with the unprecedented orders of the apex court.
Sources seeking anonymity told The Frontier Post that the officials at the intelligence agencies spent a busy week ensuring that no bugging device is left at any of the places mentioned above.
Sources said that most of the devices used for bugging are planted in the vicinity of telephone exchanges or at meeting places but private places are exempted.
They informed that a special team was sent to clear those lodges which have been assigned to judges or judicial officers in Islamabad.
Supreme Court has also ordered the Director General Intelligence Bureau (IB) to file a personal affidavit declaring that all the buildings associated with the judges of the superior court are safe and without any bugging device. The affidavit is likely to be submitted on Monday. (more)
Sources seeking anonymity told The Frontier Post that the officials at the intelligence agencies spent a busy week ensuring that no bugging device is left at any of the places mentioned above.
Sources said that most of the devices used for bugging are planted in the vicinity of telephone exchanges or at meeting places but private places are exempted.
They informed that a special team was sent to clear those lodges which have been assigned to judges or judicial officers in Islamabad.
Supreme Court has also ordered the Director General Intelligence Bureau (IB) to file a personal affidavit declaring that all the buildings associated with the judges of the superior court are safe and without any bugging device. The affidavit is likely to be submitted on Monday. (more)
Toys "R" Us - Telephone Bug Kit
Telephone Bug Kitby: Elenco Electronics
"Listen in on telephone conversations in your home with this build it your self telephone bug. Its compact size (about the size of a dime) allows it to fit into most telephone handsets. Easy to install and fun to build. No battery are required. Complete with training course. Soldering is required."
Age: 10 years and up (!?!?)
Note: Gift wrap is not available for this item.
(more)(commentary)(Kid Spy Xmas List)
Next project...
Let's make booster-bags and go to Toys-R-Us!
UPDATE - 7/14/07 - This item has disappeared from the Toys-R-Us web site. (cached here)
Saturday, July 7, 2007
When we last left the Best Buy 'Geek Squad'...
...they were being sued for, "dispatching a technician who allegedly videotaped the client's daughter taking a shower." (more)
The latest claim of 'Geek Sneak Peak' comes from consumerist.com...
"To investigate claims by current and former Geek Squad techies (see "The 10 Page Geek Squad Confession - "Stealing Customers' Nudie Pics Was An Easter Egg Hunt"), we loaded a computer with porn and rigged it to make a video of itself. We captured every cursor movement, every program opened, every file accessed. Everything that the user saw and did, we recorded.
We took it to less than a dozen Best Buy Geek Squads and asked them to perform simple tasks, like installing iTunes. Most places were fine, sometimes doing the job right on the counter, sometimes even for free.
Then we caught one well-seasoned Geek Squad Agent copying personal and pornographic images and video from our computer to his company-issued thumb drive (see video, or the logfiles)."
Moral: USB memory sticks (aka thumb drives) can be dangerous to the health of your computer privacy. Info-theft and compuvoyeurism can occur anytime someone has access to your computer. If you have private file, encrypt them now. ~Kevin
The latest claim of 'Geek Sneak Peak' comes from consumerist.com...
"To investigate claims by current and former Geek Squad techies (see "The 10 Page Geek Squad Confession - "Stealing Customers' Nudie Pics Was An Easter Egg Hunt"), we loaded a computer with porn and rigged it to make a video of itself. We captured every cursor movement, every program opened, every file accessed. Everything that the user saw and did, we recorded.
We took it to less than a dozen Best Buy Geek Squads and asked them to perform simple tasks, like installing iTunes. Most places were fine, sometimes doing the job right on the counter, sometimes even for free.
Then we caught one well-seasoned Geek Squad Agent copying personal and pornographic images and video from our computer to his company-issued thumb drive (see video, or the logfiles)."
Moral: USB memory sticks (aka thumb drives) can be dangerous to the health of your computer privacy. Info-theft and compuvoyeurism can occur anytime someone has access to your computer. If you have private file, encrypt them now. ~Kevin
Friday, July 6, 2007
Lax USB stick security causing havoc
According to a straw poll carried out at Infosecurity Europe last month, 90 per cent of the 12,000 attendees routinely carried portable storage devices. The survey also showed that 80 per cent of visitors believed their company had lost valuable confidential data through the use of these devices.
SmartLine, a developer of network management and end-point security offerings, conducted a short survey on its stand.
"Although these gadgets are designed to be perfectly harmless, it does not take much for them to become a major security headache. It is all too easy to use them to siphon off valuable data.
"Even legitimate users can simply lose the device, or have it stolen. Organisations need to ensure that they have the right security measures in place to protect themselves from this type of data leakage."(more)
Some companies stamp their logos onto USB sticks and use them as give-a-ways. Keep in mind that this may be the perfect Trojan Horse gift - if pre-loaded with spyware, the infection begins the second you plug it in. Don't let visitors stick you either. ~ Kevin
SmartLine, a developer of network management and end-point security offerings, conducted a short survey on its stand.
"Although these gadgets are designed to be perfectly harmless, it does not take much for them to become a major security headache. It is all too easy to use them to siphon off valuable data.
"Even legitimate users can simply lose the device, or have it stolen. Organisations need to ensure that they have the right security measures in place to protect themselves from this type of data leakage."(more)
Some companies stamp their logos onto USB sticks and use them as give-a-ways. Keep in mind that this may be the perfect Trojan Horse gift - if pre-loaded with spyware, the infection begins the second you plug it in. Don't let visitors stick you either. ~ Kevin
Take steps to safeguard sensitive data
Whether it’s the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which addresses healthcare information, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), which addresses financial information, or even the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which addresses education information, chances are good that one of these affects your organization in some way.
Compliance is nothing to fool around with. ... Unauthorized disclosure of such sensitive information could adversely impact your organization with both civil and criminal liabilities. To protect yourself and your company, it’s vital that you implement some extra precautions. (more)(we can assist)
Compliance is nothing to fool around with. ... Unauthorized disclosure of such sensitive information could adversely impact your organization with both civil and criminal liabilities. To protect yourself and your company, it’s vital that you implement some extra precautions. (more)(we can assist)
Eavesdroppping as a Plot Thickener
Sometimes it works, as in The Conversation.
Sometimes it doesn't, as in...
"Here's how bad "License to Wed" is:
Even the outtakes at the end are lame.
And so Ben and Sadie can't have sex before the wedding, which Frank (Robin Williams) monitors by bugging their apartment, then eavesdropping on them in the back of a van with the choir boy in tow, which is just wrong." (more)
Sometimes it doesn't, as in...
"Here's how bad "License to Wed" is:
Even the outtakes at the end are lame.
And so Ben and Sadie can't have sex before the wedding, which Frank (Robin Williams) monitors by bugging their apartment, then eavesdropping on them in the back of a van with the choir boy in tow, which is just wrong." (more)
Britney Spears, Wiretapper?!?!
Spears delivered (a poem and audio CD) along with legal papers, to her mother on June 28 on the set of kid sister, Jamie Lynn’s television show, “Zoey 101.” The two are reportedly also battling over the affections of Jamie Lynn.
The CD reportedly contained recordings of phone conversations between Lynne Spears and Britney's estranged husband, Kevin Federline, in which the two are apparently working in cahoots.
Spears is forbidding her mother from seeing her two sons, and in one conversation, Lynne is said to be arranging to meet K-Fed and the boys, and says, “I have to be careful that Britney doesn’t find out!” The recordings were made by a private investigator, according to the tab(loid, Star Magazine).
In another call, Federline assured Spears’ mother that his court battle with the singer was going well. (more)
The CD reportedly contained recordings of phone conversations between Lynne Spears and Britney's estranged husband, Kevin Federline, in which the two are apparently working in cahoots.
Spears is forbidding her mother from seeing her two sons, and in one conversation, Lynne is said to be arranging to meet K-Fed and the boys, and says, “I have to be careful that Britney doesn’t find out!” The recordings were made by a private investigator, according to the tab(loid, Star Magazine).
In another call, Federline assured Spears’ mother that his court battle with the singer was going well. (more)
Thursday, July 5, 2007
The 60's Version of X-Ray Vision
...from kungfurodeo.com
"Did anyone out there ever actually buy this pen or the glasses?
What was their gimmick?"
(Ripping off impressionable kids who turned into spybusters?)
(more)
"Did anyone out there ever actually buy this pen or the glasses?
What was their gimmick?"
(Ripping off impressionable kids who turned into spybusters?)
(more)
Strange Spy Synchronism
Israel spy (spying for)
found dead in Egyptian cell
An Egyptian engineer sentenced to 15 years hard labour for spying for Israel has been found dead in his prison cell, a security source said on Monday. (more)
Israel spy (spying against)
gets six months in prison
A Jerusalem Magistrate's Court judge sentenced a nuclear spy to six months in prison for violating conditions of his release. (more)
found dead in Egyptian cell
An Egyptian engineer sentenced to 15 years hard labour for spying for Israel has been found dead in his prison cell, a security source said on Monday. (more)
Israel spy (spying against)
gets six months in prison
A Jerusalem Magistrate's Court judge sentenced a nuclear spy to six months in prison for violating conditions of his release. (more)
Judge Bugged. (...which bugs the other judges.)
Pakistan's supreme court judges have ordered a sweep of their homes and courtrooms for spying devices after the government presented "scandalous" evidence in its case against the suspended chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
The supreme court rejected a dossier containing surveillance photos of Mr Chaudhry's home and transcripts of apparently bugged conversations, marked "secret", that was presented to the court yesterday.
The 13-judge bench reprimanded the government for producing "vexatious and scandalous" material, suspended the legal license of one of the government's lawyers , and banned intelligence agents from all future hearings of the superior courts.
The court ordered the Intelligence Bureau, Pakistan's main civilian spy agency, to ensure all bugging or other surveillance devices were removed from the homes and offices of supreme court judges within one week. (more)
The supreme court rejected a dossier containing surveillance photos of Mr Chaudhry's home and transcripts of apparently bugged conversations, marked "secret", that was presented to the court yesterday.
The 13-judge bench reprimanded the government for producing "vexatious and scandalous" material, suspended the legal license of one of the government's lawyers , and banned intelligence agents from all future hearings of the superior courts.
The court ordered the Intelligence Bureau, Pakistan's main civilian spy agency, to ensure all bugging or other surveillance devices were removed from the homes and offices of supreme court judges within one week. (more)
The Champagne Spy
A son's desire to finally unload the secrets he's been carrying for decades triggers Schirman's documentary, "The Champagne Spy."Outline -- Mossad undercover agent keeps his real family in the dark while carrying on a lavish lifestyle. Perspectives on the personal costs paid for a life of espionage and the dark side of Israel's spy wars are bracing and dramatic, assuring strong film festival and distribution interest. (more)
The Athens Cell Phone Eavesdropping Affair
On 9 March 2005, a 38-year-old Greek electrical engineer named Costas Tsalikidis was found hanged in his Athens loft apartment, an apparent suicide. It would prove to be merely the first public news of a scandal that would roil Greece for months.
The next day, the prime minister of Greece was told that his cellphone was being bugged, as were those of the mayor of Athens and at least 100 other high-ranking dignitaries, including an employee of the U.S. embassy.
Even before Tsalikidis's death, investigators had found rogue software installed on the Vodafone Greece phone network by parties unknown. ...the Athens affair stands out because it may have involved state secrets, and it targeted individuals—a combination that, if it had ever occurred before, was not disclosed publicly.
Given the ease with which the conversations could have been recorded, it is generally believed that they were. But no one has found any recordings, and we don't know how many of the calls were recorded, or even listened to, by the perpetrators. ... We still don't know who committed this crime. (much more)
The next day, the prime minister of Greece was told that his cellphone was being bugged, as were those of the mayor of Athens and at least 100 other high-ranking dignitaries, including an employee of the U.S. embassy.
Even before Tsalikidis's death, investigators had found rogue software installed on the Vodafone Greece phone network by parties unknown. ...the Athens affair stands out because it may have involved state secrets, and it targeted individuals—a combination that, if it had ever occurred before, was not disclosed publicly.
Given the ease with which the conversations could have been recorded, it is generally believed that they were. But no one has found any recordings, and we don't know how many of the calls were recorded, or even listened to, by the perpetrators. ... We still don't know who committed this crime. (much more)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)