Sports Spies

Coaches more paranoid than ever about game secrets being snatched away...
The competition between media outlets, especially on-line services, to get immediate information to the public, has driven many college football coaches over the edge. ... Many of them have closed practices and scrimmages, or allowed the media in for the first 20 minutes and last 20 minutes of practice. But even that hasn't stopped the leakage. (more)

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• Dials specified phone number upon sensing motion
• Listen in to your home to determine if intruder is a friend or foe
• Also functions as a regular phone

"Set the TeleSpy to dial your cell phone or your office, wherever you might be." (more)

This spy worked for royalty 400 years ago

Elizabeth's Spymaster: Francis Walsingham and the Secret War That Saved England By Robert Hutchinson

More than 400 years ago, England's Queen Elizabeth I appointed a single man in charge of both intelligence and security, with input on military strategy, too.

His covert staff covered nearly all of Europe. At his peak, he had 18 secret agents in foreign courts and 53 other spies besides those within Britain. He had many fewer scruples.

"Without torture I know we shall not prevail," Sir Francis Walsingham told his immediate boss. Walsingham was reporting to Elizabeth's chief minister, Lord Burghley, on a conspiracy centred on Mary Queen of Scots, who wanted to be Queen of England, too. (more)

Undiscovered Wiretaps are Expensive...

...thus, making periodic inspections for them look cheap.
The Greek unit of telecom equipment maker Ericsson has been fined €7.36 million (US$10 million) by Greece's communication privacy watchdog over a wiretapping scandal that targeted the mobile phones of more than 100 public figures. (more)
Want your wiretaps discovered? Call us.

Laser Beam Eavesdropping

Laser beam eavesdropping...
Here is a subject that pops up every few years, grabs the press and public by the nostrils, hitches them to the paranoia pony and drags them around kicking and screaming with fear and delight.

We built an LBE to put client fears into perspective when the subject urped up in the 80's. You can read all about it here.

Another experimenter has published an admirable update here.

Movie versions about LBEs may be seen here and here.

Bottom line...
Technically, a lot of fun and very impressive ...in-the-lab.
Realistically, this is not an eavesdropping threat for most people. Relax.

Chinese spying on American government computers

The Chinese military hacked into a Pentagon computer network in June in the most successful cyber attack on the US defence department, say American ­officials.

The Pentagon acknowledged shutting down part of a computer system serving the office of Robert Gates, defense secretary, but declined to say who it believed was behind the attack.

Current and former officials have told the Financial Times an internal investigation has revealed that the incursion came from the People’s Liberation Army. (more)

The Germans are also complaining about similar attacks. (more)

Ex-spy says he's new Messiah

Former spy David Shayler is to tour the country to tell people he is the Messiah . . . and spread his message of unconditional love.

The MI5 whistleblower, who claims to be receiving messages from Yeshua — believed to be the Hebrew name for Jesus — is now living in a log cabin in Devon with friends and admits his family are worried about him.

Despite this, Teesside- born Shayler is determined to carry on with his plan.

He said: “I am an incarnate of Jesus. I have not spoken to rabbis or priests about it. I am getting stuff directly from the big man.

“I am not having a breakdown. I have not seen a doctor. I do not need to see one. I am absolutely sane. “I have no doubt in my heart I am the Messiah. (more)

You may remember David from the TV show Spy School on the old TechTV channel. Other David Shayler stories...
Shayler suspects TV repair man of bugging his home
Spies will face mental health check to prevent embarrassing mistakes
Shayler: hero of free speech, or the spy who loved himself?

SpyCam Helps 'Clear the Air', or... Ionic Irony Eyes

A spy camera system concealed in an air purifier automatically records images on a removable memory card upon Video Motion Detection.

No need to hassle with complicated camera and VCR wiring or wireless cameras that transmit your images all over the neighborhood! The new MC/Air Purifier-Camera/DVR (digital video recorder) is completely self contained, totally secure, and easy to use. All functions of the Air Purifier work normally and the hidden B&W low light, high resolution camera is totally invisible. (more)

"Hoist by his own petard"

UK - A father of two who campaigned for increased security on the estate where he lives has been convicted of causing damage in order to further his cause - after being caught on the very CCTV cameras he petitioned for.

Cheeky Liam Jordan had complained to the police and housing association of repeated acts of vandalism at his flat complex in the run down area of Seacroft, Leeds, West Yorks.

He even went as far as organising a neighbourhood watch meeting about the problem, and spoke to the local newspapers about his plight, calling for CCTV to be installed.

And amazingley, it was the very CCTV footage he fought for which caught him smashing a neighbour's window. (more)

"Listen. do-da-do Do you want to know a secret?"

UK - Liverpool's ruling Liberal Democrats have switched crucial meetings away from council-run Millennium House, in Victoria Street, because they fear it is bugged.

Their councillors have moved important gatherings to the town hall, hoping the use of the council chamber will guard against political espionage and eavesdropping during private sessions of the group.

Last night, former Labour leader Frank Prendergast admitted he had been able to pick up a private Lib-Dem meeting – on his hearing aid. (more)

...and not a penny to, "Be sure to wipe and flush."

NY gets $11M to promote seat belt use
New York will receive more than $11 million in federal funding to encourage and enforce seat belt use. ... The DOT granted more than $109 million to 17 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and four territories. (more)

An outrageous waste of money - to promote the obvious to a few idiots. Announced late on a Friday prior to a holiday weekend. Just coincidence?

This Week's Bad Boys of Eavesdropping (government version)

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Gonzales also told Congress there was little dissent within the Bush administration about the legality of a warrantless electronic surveillance program launched by the NSA after the Sept. 11 attacks. But that appeared to be contradicted in testimony by a former deputy attorney general, who said several top Justice officials at one point threatened to resign over a disagreement with the White House. (more)


Former Philippine Air Force Sergeant Vidal Doble
...who admitted to having wiretapped former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at the height of the 2004 elections. (more)


Polish Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński
Accused of... "Wiretapping colleagues, using these wiretaps for political goals, in my opinion trying to arrange the detention or arrest of government colleagues - this is not the kind of activity which can be included in the canon of any code of conduct, aside from the gangsters' code," Giertych, leader of the right-wing League of Polish Families (LPR) opposition party, told reporters in Warsaw this week. (more)


Cyprus Competition Commissioner Giorgos Christofides
Police charged him in connection with allegations he was spying on his staff, press reports said yesterday. Since July, Christofides has been caught in the maelstrom’s eye after employees at the Commission for the Protection of Competition complained he used the CCTV system to watch their every move, that he listened in on their phone conversations and even scrutinized their emails. It’s also been alleged that Christofides set up a live web-link from the offices to his laptop so he could keep an eye on his staff while he was out. (more)

Your Employee's Bad Computer Security Habits

- Borrowing Wi-Fi
About one in three corporate employees who work from a laptop sometimes piggyback on a stranger's wi-fi connection they spot with their wireless Internet card, according to InsightExpress' study. While that allows for easy telecommuting without a broadband bill, moving confidential data across an insecure wireless connection can be risky.

- Using USB Drives
Those little USB key chains make for easy file transfers, but when they store sensitive information, they also pose a security risk. Not only are they frequently lost, but they're also built to run certain programs automatically when plugged in. One security researcher, Steve Stasiukonis, planted 20 USB drives in the parking lot of a bank, each with a piece of software that steals passwords and log-ins from employees' computers and sends them to a third party. Fifteen were picked up by employees and plugged in, ferreting off sensitive information and demonstrating the devices' potential for exploitation.

- Forwarding to Third-party Webmail
Services like Gmail or Yahoo! Mail are free, universally accessible and often easier to use than clunky corporate e-mail, tempting workers to forward their work messages to a Webmail account. But when confidential data is copied from your business's e-mail servers and ends up on Google's or Yahoo!'s, it's no longer completely in your control.

- Opening E-mail Attachments
Opening attached files on e-mail from strangers is one risky behavior that seems to have finally become unfashionable. Ninety-three percent of workers now know better than to expose themselves to malware or viruses by opening files from anonymous or unfamiliar messages. But some not so brilliant users actually infect themselves purposefully out of curiosity, says David Perry, director of education at Trend Micro.

- Clicking Hyperlinks in E-mails
Just as employees have started wising up to attachment threats, cyber-criminals have moved on. More common now is malware that installs itself when the user visits a Web page linked in a spam e-mail. Those links can be masked to read as legitimate sites like eBay.com or Amazon.com while sending users somewhere far less desirable.

- Surfing Shady Sites
Allowing employees to visit porn or gambling sites at work is a bad idea for several apparent reasons. But one of the less obvious is the threat of Web-based malware, which often lurks on disreputable sites.

- Not Securing Wireless Devices
As smart phones proliferate, the definition of the word "computer" is blurring at the edges, and so is the security perimeter of a business with wireless employees. Many wireless devices don't come with security software or encryption of data pre-installed. (more)

Colorado Parents Can Now Spy On Teen Drivers

An insurance company is providing parents with another tool to track how their teenagers are driving. American Family Insurance began offering a program to put cameras in cars in August.

...the camera only records 10 seconds before and after an out-of-the-ordinary driving event like a swerve, speeding, not coming to a full stop or a collision.

"Nobody can view the video except for the parents, with a password that's proprietary to them," said Tom Walker, an agent with American Family Insurance. (more)

Do It Yourself Sky Spies - The Draganflyer

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) like the military's MQ-1 Predator and local government's SkySeer are meant to protect us. They cost a lot of money.


The flip side of the coin... Industrial Espionage on the cheap!

UAVs are easy to make. Many hobbyists are already doing so - and showing off their aerial surveillance videos on YouTube! Many of these videos were shot using a Draganflyer - a hobbyist helicopter outfitted with a wireless video camera.

From Draganflyer's advertising... "Whether you need high quality aerial video for a sporting event, advertising, or any other purpose you will get it done efficiently and professionally with the Draganflyer SAVS."

While we don't believe they were thinking about industrial espionage 'other purposes', just imagine one flying over your sensitive production facilities, new construction site, or a personally private area. (more video)