Industrial Espionage - Rolls-Royce and Royal Dutch Shell

Rolls-Royce and Royal Dutch Shell have fallen victim to Chinese espionage attacks, The Times has learnt.

Sustained spying assaults on Britains largest engineering company and on the worlds second-biggest oil multinational occurred earlier this year as part of a campaign to obtain confidential commercial information, sources said.

News of the attacks on Rolls-Royce and Shell comes after a warning by Britain's security services that China is sponsoring espionage against vital parts of the British economy, including breaking into big companies computer systems. (more)

Spy Bar - Dead at 10

OH - The once-chic Spy Bar is no more. Since opening in '97, the Warehouse District nightclub established itself as one of Cleveland's swankiest spots and strongest celebrity magnets. Its VIP room hosted A-listers like Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, Prince, and even that magician who's married to that hot chick. "David Copperfield was the nicest man," says owner Raj Singh, remembering the glory days. (more) (others)

Spy Barred - Dead at 72

Cuban state media report that former CIA agent Philip Agee, who caused outrage by naming undercover former colleagues, has died in Cuba at the age of 72.

Agee quit the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in the late 1960s after 12 years of working mostly in Latin America. He later wrote the book "Inside the Company: CIA Diary," which included the names of certain undercover agents.

The book infuriated U.S. officials who said it put those agents in danger, and the U.S. government revoked Agee's passport. (more)

Listen Up

The TV ad for this electronic amplifier starts of innocently. "Do you sometimes disturb others while you watch TV?"

Then, it turns creepy.

"Listen to a pin drop from across the room. Or, listen into a conversation from across the street."

Headphones would solve the TV problem. And, if you feel the need to hear pins drop from across the room the only electronics you need might be shock therapy.

Several more references to eavesdropping follow. (scene: a health club) "Ever wonder what people are talking about across the room?" (video)

There oughtabealaw!
There is a law. "Manufacture, distribution, possession, and advertising of wire, oral, or electronic communication intercepting devices prohibited" But, if you are a follower of this Security Scrapbook you know that the law is not being enforced.

This item is not much of a threat in corporate and government circles. However, many of the other eavesdropping devices you read about here are being used.

Moral: It is up to you to protect your privacy.
All we can do is help.

Sow, Reap & Weep

Remember these stories?
• "I'm dreaming of a Spy Christmas..."
• Christmas Toys Which Teach (somesorta) Lessons
• More bugs for your kids...
• The Kids Spy Back
If so, you knew this was coming...

"My 9-year-old was given a spying device for Christmas. It has a sensitive microphone so he can eavesdrop, unnoticed, on others' conversations. He can't resist using it even though he gets in trouble when he gets caught. What should we do?"

(answer from Beth Palmer - The Rocky Mountain News)
This toy might be too much temptation for most kids.

If you've been clear about what's inappropriate and he's had consequences when he crosses the line, he isn't ready to have the toy. Take it away. Explain that when he is able to resist the temptation of invading others' privacy, then he can try again.

Do the best thing for your child even though he may protest that it's not fair. Exercise good judgment, especially when your son can't. (more)

Normal looking belt buckle...

(from the seller's website)
...is a high quality Audio Video recorder.

"Our Buckle DVR gives you the ability to perform personal investigation, conduct secret video surveillance or for any ideal covert operation where gathering evidence is important.

Ideal for hidden camera use where wireless camera can be detected easily with a wireless camera detector." (more) (sample video)

Why do I mention it?
So you know what you're up against.

Short Wave Radio to the Rescue

Plot by terrorists to blow up the Eiffel Tower uncovered.
A scrambled short-wave radio conversation exposing the planned attack on the world's most visited monument was picked up by Portuguese air traffic controllers and passed on to French spy chiefs. The threat was uncovered in a "vague and muffled" radio conversation picked up by air traffic controllers in Lisbon on Thursday. (more)

Nato Secrets USB Stick Lost

A Cautionary Tale...
The discovery of a USB memory stick containing classified NATO information in a library in Stockholm has prompted a meeting between the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service and foreign defence officials.

According to Swedish daily Aftonbladet, the stick contained (http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article1563893.ab) material on NATO's ISAF peace-keeping force in Afghanistan, as well as an intelligence report on the attempted assassination of Lebanon's defense minister and the murder of Sri Lanka's foreign minister.

Colonel Bengt Sandström of the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service says this kind of carelessness is intolerable and can result in up to six months in prison. It is unclear how the USB stick ended up in the library.

It isn't the first time the military has lost USB sticks with secret files. In 2006, a memory stick containing files on the Dutch military mission to Afghanistan was lost in a rented car. The documents also included information about the rules of engagement for Dutch troops in Afghanistan and the personal protection of Dutch Defense Minister Henk Kamp.

Also in 2006, the Dutch Defense Ministry reported the loss of another memory stick containing sensitive information about military intelligence agency MIVD. (more)

By this time, you should be convinced that you have to do something immediately about YOUR USB memory stick.
(more USB stories) (IronKey solution) (a great movie ...cheap!)

"Clerk 'M' is eavesdropping and spying on us"

A co-worker is a spy-pipe-line to the boss. What would you do?
"Mr. I-want-privacy" took his plight to officepolitics.com and received some sage advice from Dr. Greg Ketchum. (more)

SpyCam Story #422 - Carpenter Nail'ed

UK - A Polish peeping Tom will have to sign the sex offenders register for seven years after admitting spying on his housemates in the shower.

Grzegorz Zdyb, 34, a carpenter, admitted a charge of voyeurism at Isleworth Crown Court and was handed a three-month sentence, although he has already served this on remand.

Zdyb, who has been in the country for nine years but still speaks little English, lived with three women and three men at a house in Rosemont Road, Acton.

Police were called in when one of them found the camera, which was connected to recording equipment in his room, while having a shower.

Prosecutor Tim Nail said: "One of the residents noticed a shiny area next to the shower and discovered it was the lens of a camera. Investigation revealed that it was connected to a wire which went outside the building and up to the attic occupied by the defendant." (more)

DIY - SpyCam Sunglasses for under $40.00

What the video doesn't mention...
In the United States, laws prohibit recording audio without the consent of at least one party to the conversation - and, in some states, all parties must consent.

The video aspects of the laws are currently evolving. Here is our general advice concerning the use of covert video. Your local laws may be more restrictive.

Have fun with the construction project.
Use your new powers wisely.



Extra Credit: A Practical Guide to Taping Phone Calls and In-Person Conversations in the 50 States and D.C.

If you loved the...

• Radar Detector Zapper!
• Cell Phone Zapper!
You will also love the...
(watch the movie first)
(movie)

Get yours here.

Princess Diana hired a private security firm to secretly sweep Kensington Palace for bugs

The newspaper explains it one way...
"Diana told 'without any doubt' that she was being bugged by a five-strong surveillance team - Surveillance expert detected a device behind her bedroom wall

...She was so concerned about eavesdropping that she called in a four-man team to carry out a search for listening devices. (from Moran Security Support Services Ltd)...

Princess Diana's bedroom was being bugged two years after her split from Prince Charles, her inquest sensationally heard yesterday.

An electronic surveillance expert made the astonishing discovery after Diana asked him to check her Kensington Palace apartment for listening devices because she feared 'dark forces' were snooping on her.

Former soldier Grahame Harding located a suspected bug behind a wall in her bedroom, adjacent to a room which had been used by Charles." (more)

Mr. Harding explains it this way... (in the same article)
"My equipment detected an electronic signal which indicated that a possible bugging device may have been present behind a wall in her bedroom. Princess Diana was present when I found this signal.

"As you walk into her bedroom, I believe there was another room off it where His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales had a room and it was on that wall."

He said was unable to get behind the wall to examine the device. But there was "no indication" that the fabric of the wall had been altered. He said he swept the room again later that day and the signal had gone.

"I could not give an explanation to the reading. It could have been innocent electronic equipment in another room. But the noise behind the wall was very similar to a transmitter device."

Alert - SkyeSpy

Short Story - Add this inexpensive software to any S60 mobile phone (aka smart phone) and you have a bugging device with brains and the ability to snitch.

Why do I mention it?
So you know what you are up against.

Long Story - from the seller's website...
SkyeSpy is remote audio monitoring, detection and notification software for your S60v3 mobile device.

SkyeSpy can be used as:
(1) an intruder detection and alarm system for the home and office,
(2) a remote baby monitor,
(3) a remote car alarm monitor, or
(4) a spy device to listen-in on any environment without anyone knowing!

SkyeSpy is installed on a mobile device that is used as the audio monitoring hardware. The SkyeSpy device is placed in an area where the audio/sound is to be monitored e.g. near a baby, in the home/office etc. SkyeSpy is 'paired' to 'communicate' with another mobile device or landline. When SkyeSpy detects an audio instance, it alerts the paired device with an SMS, MMS or even a CALL!

There are 2 ways for the user to interact with the SkyeSpy device:
(1) SkyeSpy will contact the user.
(2) User can call the SkyeSpy and secretly listen in real-time.
1 day trial FREE!
Purchase price: $17.95

Wiretapping Before the Wires...

...The Post Office and the Birth of Communications Privacy
by Anuj C. Desai, University of Wisconsin Law School

"In this Article, I look beneath the surface of that raging debate to one of the premises underlying the court's conclusion, that the Fourth Amendment protects the confidentiality of communications. I explore the origins of the notion that the Fourth Amendment protects communications privacy. Most scholars and commentators look to Justice Brandeis's famous dissent in the 1928 case Olmstead v. United States. In this Article, I contend that we must go further back, back to surveillance of the first communications network in the United States, the post office. I explain the history of postal surveillance and show that the principle of communications privacy derives not from the Fourth Amendment or even from the Constitution at all. Rather, it comes from..." (more)