Hot Tip - "Buy Tiawanese CCTV stock."

Research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan forecasts that the global video surveillance equipment market will grow from US$800 million in 2006 to US$10 billion in 2008. (more)

Another one of the Masters framed

Mere hours after the release of Tim Masters, the Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck held a press conference signifying a new chapter in the case.

In 1999 Masters was convicted of murdering and mutilating Peggy Hettrick in 1987, when he was 15 years old. Today, Masters conviction was overturned due to new DNA evidence pointing to a different suspect...

“I won’t name anybody particularly, but (we’re investigating) individuals within the Fort Collins police department, and the scope involved possible perjury and illegal wiretapping,” Buck said. (more)

Max Means Business

FIA president Max Mosley has revealed that any Formula One team caught spying in the future faces expulsion from the championship.

McLaren were fined £50million and kicked out of the 2007 constructors' championship by the FIA's World Motor Sport Council in September after they were found guilty of being in illegal possession of Ferrari technical data, but their drivers - Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso - were allowed to retain their championship points and fight for the drivers' crown.

Mosley added: "In the case of McLaren everybody said 'oh, a hundred million dollars', but the alternative would have been to exclude them - and that would have been more expensive!" (more)

Spy History - OSS - A Living History Website

"The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was created on June 13, 1942 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt who understood America's need for an intelligence service similar to Britain's Special Operations Executive (SOE).

Its director was Major General William "Wild Bill" Donovan, a World War I Medal of Honor winner, the only person to win our nation's four highest military honors, and the father of the CIA and US Special Forces." (more) (OSS wikipedia) (The OSS Society)

OSS Reborn is a website created by my good colleague Charles Pinck and his father Dan Pinck, who served in the OSS. The website tells the history of this exciting - and life saving - espionage organization. It also goes one step further - living history. OSSreborn.com solicits contributions! This will get very interesting.

In the meantime, pick up a copy of Dan Pinck's memoir, Journey to Peking: A Secret Agent in Wartime China.

Hacking Wireless Headsets

It is good to see other security consultants are beginning to spread the message, too. The following is a cautionary tale and a friendly reminder from an article by Secure Network Technologies)

Those cool wireless headsets keep your hands free – and give hackers the ability to eavesdrop on your conversations...

In offices all over the world, users are becomingly increasingly enamored with those wireless "hands-free" headsets that allow the speaker to move around the office while continuing a conversation on the phone. But have you ever wondered how secure those headsets are?

We purchased a commercially available radio scanner. These devices are available at any local electronics retailer at prices ranging from $80 to several thousand dollars. We chose a scanner capable of monitoring frequencies from 900-928 Mhz and the 1.2 Ghz ranges, which is where many of the popular hands-free headsets operate.

We took a position across the street from the facility and started up the scanner. Within seconds of turning on the device we were able to listen to conversations that appeared to be coming from our client's employees. Several of these conversations discussed the business in detail, as well as very sensitive topics. After some careful listening, we determined that the conversations were indeed coming from our customer. (more)

Official Spybuster's solution for increased privacy...
Purchase wireless headsets which use digital transmission in the 1.9 GHz, 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz frequency ranges. Avoid headsets using Bluetooth transmission (here's why)

Product Suggestions...
GN Netcom GN9300 GN9120
Plantronics CS70N CS55

SpyCam Story #426 - Long Arm Gets Third Eye

Scotland - Spy cameras are to be fitted to the uniforms of Scottish police officers for the first time, in a new hi-tech initiative in the fight against crime.

The cameras will be in open view on the uniforms or body armour of officers on patrol and will be used to gather evidence to help secure convictions.

Initially, recorded footage taken by the CCTV cameras will be downloaded to a computer, but SCS Security Design, the company behind the scheme, is developing software that will allow images from the cameras to be beamed back live to the force's CCTV control room. (more)

The Art of SpyCams - "Trioptisamongus"

"Trioptisamongus"
inspiration

SpyCam Story #425 - Amy Winehouse

The list of celebrities caught unaware by covert surveillance sadly grows. This time, it is Amy Winehouse - caught on camera - reportedly "blitzed out of her skull and struggling to talk after sucking in crack fumes from a glass pipe." (story & video of the incident)

Whatever you think about this story, remember, your privacy can be violated - and broadcast on the Internet - in an instant, using similar techniques.

Reduce your risk...
In addition to Bob's sage advice below, have a specialist conduct periodic bug sweeps for you...

Walk on your tip toes
Don't try "No Doz"
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes... (more)

From the Flase Alarm files...

New Cell Phone
Replacement Battery
May be Mistaken for
a Bugging Device.

This is not a bug.
No need to call us.

The seller claims
this thing can help you...

"Defend yourself from the electromagnetic smog of modern life."
more from their website...
"Wi-Guard batteries contain proven technology that stops man-made EMF (Electro Magnetic Frequency) radiation having an effect on the human body. The widespread proliferation of electronic and wireless devices has led to a huge increase in EMF radiation over the last 50 years. Scientific studies show over a 1 billion fold increase in EMF radiation since 1950, caused in part by the popularity of wireless devices and personal consumer electronics.

Wi-Guard Batteries, developed by Exradia eliminate any potential risk caused by EMF radiation. Utilising technology originally developed by the American military to shield their solders from EMF radiation in battle, Wi-Guard seamlessly converts man-made EMF radiation into harmless natural radiation.

Natural:
EMF radiation is a naturally occurring phenomenon, present in the environment around us. Wi-Guard works by making use of this phenomenon by introducing a random field that makes emissions behave like the harmless EMF occurring in nature.

Proven:
Wi-Guard batteries contain the only proven technology that stop man-made EMF radiation from having any effect on the human body. Independent scientific studies show that Wi-Guard technolgy is proven to stop EMF radiation having any effect on the human body." (more)

Quote of the Day

"Industrial espionage, or good old fashioned spying, is as alive and well today as it has ever been." ~Nigel Stanley, Bloor Research (more)

Cyber Eavesdropping

She’s called the Top Spy around her NYC office. Kurt (KTLA's "Cyberguy") gets a lesson on cyber eavesdropping and how this pop culture craze could have people you don’t even know telling secrets about you online. (video) (a New York-based cyber eavesdropping web site) Moral: Watch what you say in public.

SpyCam Story #424 - Pac-Man Fever

Australia - Police have searched the home of a man found covertly photographing women in the city, seizing video tapes and discs.

When officers searched the man's backpack they discovered it had been modified to hide a video camera with only the lens showing. Police executed a search warrant on the man's home in central Victoria and seized 17 video tapes, 13 minidiscs and two compact discs. (more)

Great Eavesdropping Quotations

The great British statesman Winston Churchill had one standard procedure, whenever he was housed in magnificent Russian palaces during his state visits.The first thing the British Prime Minister used to do was to go through all the rooms of his suite shouting “You b@#*%#ds, I know this room is bugged and will not be fooled by you.” (more)

Hack Attack Jacks. Black.

Cyber-security experts have long warned of the vulnerability of critical infrastructure like power, transportation and water systems to malicious hackers. Friday, those warnings quietly became a reality: Tom Donahue, a CIA official, revealed at the SANS security trade conference in New Orleans that hackers have penetrated power systems in several regions outside the U.S., and "in at least one case, caused a power outage affecting multiple cities." (more)

"I said 'non-profit', not 'open a shop and don't let anyone in'."

Canada's official spy souvenir shop is the perfect complement to the country's official spy museum. They're both top-secret facilities that are strictly off limits to ordinary Canadians and tourists. But in a nod to the modern world, the agency has since posted a virtual tour on its website, highlighting items such as a toy truck that conceals a microdot reader and codebook.

Word of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service's museum, featuring espionage cameras, micro-transmitters and other paraphernalia from the Cold War, leaked to the media years ago.
But a newly released document indicates CSIS also runs a non-profit "souvenir shop," available only to those with proper security clearance. (more)

The NSA has a great spy museum and souvenir shop which is open to the public. Free admission!