Canadian Information Security Poll

Poll shows that 48% of Canadian executives are not confident private information is secure despite 71% having policies and procedures in place to guard against security breaches. (more)

Bug Your Laptop - Get It Back

The Cautionary Tale of the Khaki Bandit...

"'The khaki bandit' posed as an office worker at several corporations and successfully stole over 130 laptops which he later sold on eBay.

The ease of theft from the corporate offices (including FedEx and Burger King) shows just how bad corporate security can be. In some cases, the career thief just walked into the office behind an employee with a security badge.

Two million laptops were stolen just in 2004, and of those 97 percent were never recovered. Ultimately it was the corporate headquarters of Outback Steakhouse who caught the thief with a bugged laptop that notified them when he re-connected it to the internet." (more) (more)

How the Khaki Bandit (and others) do it...
• Choose targets with care. He went to neighborhoods, cities or states where he was not recognized. He sought large corporate offices to blend in with their large staffs and to find lots of laptops. When possible, he scheduled multiple burglaries for a single building that housing more than one company.

• Know the victims. He observed his targets in advance and paid attention to how employees dressed, whether they needed magnetic passes to enter and move about the building, and what time most of them left for the day.

• Time the arrival. He entered a business on the heels of an employee who could hold open a security door. He often arrived at about 4 p.m., a busy time of day that let him blend with the staff and exploit a time period when receptionists and assistants left for the day, but beefed-up nighttime security measures had not kicked in. He acted like he belonged.

• Make the move. When the office emptied, he went looking for laptops room by room. He kept an eye out for magnetic access cards, too. He had an alibi in case he was confronted. When done, he put the laptops in his shoulder bags - he would carry one into the building with a second bag inside it - and go.

• Move the product. He drove or mailed laptops back to his temporary home. He prepared them for sale by erasing the prior owner's data and installing or updating critical software.

Even folks from the Outback bug their laptops.
You should, too.
Resources...
XTool Mobile Security, Inc. (tracking system)
Computrace (tracking system)
Lo-Jack for Laptops (tracking system)
LaptopLocate (tracking system)
Total Logic Security (marking system)
Ztrace Gold (tracking system)

Zombie Computers From Planet Earth

The greatest threat to global cyber security today, according to Internet Security Systems researcher Josh Corman, may be your mother's computer.

Or more precisely, the collected computers of all the world's mothers. Along with millions of other out-of-date and unsecured PCs strung together by the Internet--what Corman calls "the leper colony"--those machines represent a combined mass of computing power responsible for most of the Net's spam e-mails, much of its click fraud, and the vicious "denial of service" attacks that can knock sites offline and even destroy online businesses altogether. (more)

See: Your PC Might Be A Zombie If...

"So, uh, does this mean the Invisible Fence idea is out, too?"

Taiwanese high school students have launched a campaign to boycott a multi-function electronic identification card. They argued that the radio frequency identification (RFID) student card required by the Taipei City's Bureau of Education violates their rights to privacy.

According to Taipei Times, the High School Student's Rights Association (HSRA) launched the boycott campaign on Sunday. The newspaper quoted the HSRA's secretary, Wang Hao-zheng, as saying that the ID keeps students under strict surveillance like convicts or animals. (more)

UK - Ten students in a secondary school in the United Kingdom are being tracked through RFID implants in their school uniforms in a pilot program. (more)

Not all parents are thrilled. (more)
Not all governments are thrilled. (more)
(In case you don't know... Invisible Fence)

Lessons from Nature - Eavesdropping Iguanas

The Galapagos Marine Iguana is mute, it recognizes and utilizes the alarm call of the Galapagos Mockingbird. This is the first instance of a non-vocal species eavesdropping on another species’ calls. Both the iguana and mockingbird fall prey to the Galapagos hawk, so by recognizing the mockingbird’s warning the iguanas gain important information on avoiding predation. (more)

Being sensitive to clues in your environment can save you, too.

If you feel a funny vibration when you step on your car's brakes, trust your instincts. Inspect. Car vibrations never get better by themselves. They only get worse.

If you have the funny feeling you are being eavesdropped upon, trust your instincts. Inspect. The thought would not have occurred to you if everything were fine.
(Your inspection station.)

Studs Puts Taps into Perspective

The Wiretap This Time
By STUDS TERKEL - Op-Ed Contributor
The New York Times
Published: October 29, 2007
Chicago

EARLIER this month, the Senate Intelligence Committee and the White House agreed to allow the executive branch to conduct dragnet interceptions of the electronic communications of people in the United States. They also agreed to “immunize” American telephone companies from lawsuits charging that after 9/11 some companies collaborated with the government to violate the Constitution and existing federal law. I am a plaintiff in one of those lawsuits, and I hope Congress thinks carefully before denying me, and millions of other Americans, our day in court.

During my lifetime, there has been a sea change in the way that politically active Americans view their relationship with government. In 1920, during my youth, I recall... (more) or (more)

Spooks Getting Spookier

Like previous rumors of psychic espionage programs operated by CIA, NSA, DIA, USAF, and the Navy, at a time when those programs were classified SECRET, word is getting out of a next generation effort. ...

"Spookytechnology" refers to real-world applications, under development right now, that utilize the weird aspects of quantum mechanics for next-generation 21st Century technologies. These include quantum computers, machines that in the words of Oxford's Dr. David Deutsch, compute using matter in other universes, to circuits built on quantum teleportation, with sights set on a next generation Internet using quantum encryption schemes that cannot be broken by ordinary physics.

Dr. Anthony Valentini has proposed using an explanation of the quantum known as pilot-wave theory. The pilot-wave appears as the guiding ghost-in-the-machine of Quantum Mechanics. Valentini has shown that the statistics of ordinary quantum mechanics might be violated by special non-quantum matter, which would have very strange properties indeed. The non-quantum matter could be used (presumably by someone like the NSA) to eavesdrop on theoretically unbreakable quantum secured communications.

Dr. Jack Sarfatti ... has gone even further than Valentini, by proposing that consciousness operates like Valentini's non-quantum matter, allowing for signals to be exchanged between different minds, "beyond space and time." ... Sarfatti suggests that this dance of the mind, body and spirit allows for the mind-to-mind communication reported by the psychic spy community. (more)

Ferrari still seething over spy affair

Despite winning the world championship, Ferrari CEO Jean Todt admitted the 2007 season has been a painful one for the Italians, with the spy scandal hovering over the unexpected achievement. ...

Former Ferrari engineer Nigel Stepney is under criminal investigation in Italy for passing on confidential technical data from the Maranello-based outfit to McLaren's chief designer Mike Coughlan.

Todt said. "I wouldn't have expected this betrayal from one of ours, who for personal reasons wanted to help another team, and I didn't expect them (McLaren) to accept his help." (more)

Eavesdropping Joke (a rare item)

A guy is driving around the back woods of Tennessee and he sees a sign in front of a broken down shanty-style house: "Talking Dog for Sale".

He rings the bell and the owner appears and tells him the dog is in the backyard. The guy goes into the backyard and sees a nice looking Labrador retriever sitting there.

"You talk?" he asks.

"Yep," the lab replies.

After the guy recovers from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says "So, what's your story?"

The Lab looks up and says, "Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA and they had me sworn into the toughest branch of the armed services ..the United States Marines you know one of their nicknames is "The Devil Dogs".

In no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders; because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running, but the jetting around really tired me out and I knew I wasn't getting any younger. So, I decided to settle down.

I retired from the Corps (8 dog years is 56 Corps years) and signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in." "I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals. I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired."

The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

"Ten dollars," the guy says.

"Ten dollars?!?!
This dog is amazing!
Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?"

"Because he's a liar.
He never did any of that stuff.
He was in the Navy!"

"I Led Three Lives" 2007

The Strange Case of Alexander Litvinenko...
The former Russian spy (a lieutenant-colonel, no less) poisoned in a London hotel was an MI6 agent, the Daily Mail can reveal. Alexander Litvinenko was receiving a retainer of around £2,000 a month from the British security services at the time he was murdered.

The disclosure, by diplomatic and intelligence sources, is the latest twist in the Litvinenko affair, which has plunged relations between London and Moscow to their lowest point since the Cold War. (more)

The wife is the last to know...
“My husband was never an agent for MI6. He was a critic of the Russian government but he spoke out openly. He was well-known. And his special area was organized crime, not intelligence. He was not the kind of person who would be useful to the British security services,” ~Marina Litvinenko (more)

Meanwhile, back in Hollywood...
Michael Mann, director of dramatic thrillers like "Heat" and "Collateral," is set to bring the story of poisoned ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko to the big screen.

According to the Litvinenko Justice Foundation, Mann will direct a film based on the book "Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB". It was co-written by the former Russian spy's widow Marina and his friend Alex Goldfarb. (more)

Bond Goes Postal

James Bond has kept Britain safe from the world's villains for years. But now the spy has a new role — helping deliver the nation's letters.

Each of the stamps show different editions of six Bond books Royal Mail unveiled a set of stamps yesterday that feature the covers of Ian Fleming's Bond novels. They will go on sale from Jan 8 to mark the 100th anniversary of the author's birth in 1908.

Fleming wrote 14 Bond novels, which have sold more 100 million across the world.

The six that will be depicted on the stamps, which will feature different editions of the same book, are Casino Royale, Dr No, Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, For Your Eyes Only and From Russia With Love. (more)

The Entertainment of Spying

Wes Britton's SpyWise.net website

Find answers to questions like...
- How much reality Is in spy movies and novels?
- What are the behind-the-scenes stories of films of the past and what's coming in the future?
- What are insiders saying about spy projects in and beyond the world of 007?

Discover...
- Unique perspectives into every aspect of the real and fantastic.
- Exclusive interviews with authors and creators of docu-dramas and spy comedies.
- Rare artifacts from the 1950s along with memories of former intelligence agents.
- Resources you can't find anywhere else.
- Articles on everything from Old-Time Radio to weekly updates on the hottest news on collectibles and what's coming on DVD.

Secret Agent Television Shows, 1951-2007

NYT editor to discuss eavesdropping

OR - The freedom of the media to publish government secrets is the subject of a free talk Wednesday at Willamette University.

Philip Taubman, associate editor and special correspondent for The New York Times, will discuss "Why We Publish Secrets" at 8 p.m. in Smith Auditorium at Willamette, 900 State St.

He will talk about the decision to publish the National Security Agency eavesdropping story, White House pressure on the paper not to publish, and the ongoing constitutional and legal issues concerning that decision.

Taubman became associate editor for The Times in March, covering national security. He had been the paper's Washington bureau chief since August 2003. (more)

If you go...
What: Philip Taubman lecture
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Smith Auditorium, Willamette University, 900 State St., Salem, OR
Free Call: (503) 370-6058

...or, your could play that old Joe Jones song through the ceiling speakers.

South Africa - The Msunduzi Municipality is considering tapping the telephone lines of its employees to restrict runaway bills which cost more than R500 000 ($76,745.00) a month. ...

SA Human Rights Commission Chairperson Jody Kollapen said that while he opposed the abuse of public money, the move to tap telephone lines would be objectionable as it construed an invasion of privacy. (more) (Joe Jones song)

...whereupon the guy with the headphones blew his coffee and shorted out the patchbay.

Canada - The Law Society of Upper Canada is taking the RCMP to court in a bid to get its hands on wiretaps...

Mr. Peter Shoniker, a Toronto investment banker and one-time Crown prosecutor, was caught on police wiretaps in late 2003 boasting that there wasn't a "f---ing judge'' who would authorize a wiretap on his conversations.

"I'm untouchable, untouchable, untouchable by police," he said during one phone call. "Not a cop in this country would dare burn me, question my integrity." (more... much more)
"Laugha while you can, monkeyboy!" ~ Dr. Emilio Lizardo