Alert - The hottest new bugging devices are now among the least expensive. GSM SIM bugs are like cell phones, but without the keypad. Eavesdroppers call and listen from anywhere in the world.
At one time these devices sold for $250.-$500. The price has plummeted to $35.-$55. Why? The same reason their sister product (the cell phone) is often a give-away item... Economy of scale; thus proving consumer demand is fueling mass production.
Corporate Concern...
At these prices, "salting" offices with bugs becomes practical. Imagine... Buy in bulk and get custom silk screening - "Air Quality Monitor - Do Not Disturb." Even if accidentally seen, it might be accepted - "Every office has one of these."
Corporate Solution...
Periodic Eavesdropping Detection Audits are now an integral part of corporate security. Not having an eavesdropping detection program is negligence.
from a seller's web site...
"The GSM SIM Bugs are advanced audio surveillance devices. The SIM spy ear comes with compact design and embedded microphone system. This audio surveillance listening system no need software and no configuration required. Very easy to use. The only one thing you need to do is insert a pre-paid GSM SIM card into SIM card slot of the spy sim bug. Then you could hide it in an inconspicuous location and starts excellent listening surveillance." (more)
Update: The seller has stopped selling this; claiming, "Because they are incompetent." This is likely as early models did not work well, hence the big price drop. Newer models seem to be selling very well, however.
Trinidad & Tobago - Sweeping legislative changes, including a proposal to regulate the practice of wiretapping in the entire region, are among a series of recommendations agreed to by Caricom Heads of States, Bharrat Jagdeo, the Guyanese president, revealed yesterday.Speaking to reporters outside of the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Trinidad where a special security meeting of the Caricom Heads of Government was concluded. Jagdeo disclosed that he had personal knowledge that wiretapping is done throughout the region and revealed that it was agreed by heads of government that the practice should be regulated by legislation. “People wiretap now,” he said, “but they can’t use it for evidence because it’s done illegally.” (more)
Bet you never heard of CARICOM.
Guess how many countries we are talking about here...
Full Members
Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Dominica
Grenada
Guyana
Haiti
Jamaica
Montserrat
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago
Associate Members
Anguilla
Bermuda
British Virgin Islands
Cayman Islands
Turks and Caicos Islands
Observers
Aruba
Colombia
Dominican Republic
Mexico
Netherlands Antilles
Puerto Rico (U.S.)
Venezuela
That's a lot of wiretappers who will soon be able to present their evidence in court!
It may also change some old saws...
"Sunny places attract shady characters."
may now become...
"Sunlight is the best disinfectant."
According to the Freedonia Group, a market research group in Cleveland, Ohio, companies spend over $95 billion annually on corporate security.
One of the fastest growing areas for this spending is corporate espionage prevention.
Factors in this growth include everything from globalization to decreased employee loyalty and the fact that the most valuable asset of a corporation these days is information, which can be easier to steal than a piece of machinery.
So what’s a worried executive or security professional to do?
Increasingly, companies and government agencies are turning to firms that specialize in detecting and removing eavesdropping and other surveillance devices... (more)
via hexview.com
New technologies always come with privacy issues.
Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) is one of those technologies.
What is TPMS?
TPMS lets on-board vehicle computers measure air pressure in the tires.
How does TPMS work?
In a typical TPMS, each wheel of the vehicle contains a device (TPMS sensor) - usually attached to the inflation valve - that measures air pressure and, optionally, temperature, vehicle state (moving or not), and the health of the sensor's battery. Each sensor transmits this information (either periodically or upon request) to the on-board computer in the vehicle. To differentiate between its own wheels and wheels of the vehicle in the next lane, each TPMS sensor contains a unique id.
TPMS transmits data that uniquely identifies your car!Here is where privacy problems become obvious: Each wheel of the vehicle transmits a unique ID, easily readable using off-the-shelf receiver. Although the transmitter’s power is very low, the signal is still readable from a fair distance using a good directional antenna.
Why is this a problem?
If you live in the United States, chances are, you have heard about the “traffic-improving” ideas where transportation authorities looked for the possibility to track all vehicles in nearly real time in order to issue speeding tickets or impose mileage-adjusted taxes... Guess what? With minor limitations, TPMS can be used for the very purpose of tracking your vehicle in real time with no substantial investments! TPMS can also be used to measure the speed of your vehicle... (remember) car manufacturers know serial numbers of every part in your vehicle, including unique IDs of TPMS sensors.
("Your ticket is in the mail.")
Now, no article is complete unless it mentions terrorists...
It is now super easy to blow up someone's car. There's no need to fix the explosive to the vehicle. No more wires and buttons. No human factor. A high-school kid with passion for electronics can assemble a device that will trigger the detonator when the right vehicle passes by. (more)
17-year-old accused of trying to spy
WI - Michael Q. Ruby (17) of Omro, Wisconsin was with two others who were trying to see into a Larrabee Street apartment when Ruby pushed one of the others through the window, damaging the screen. Ruby told police he and his friends went to the Larrabee Street residence to see if they could find an acquaintance there with underage girls... (more)
A hedge fund manager and art collector from New York testified under immunity Tuesday that Anthony Pellicano, the Hollywood private detective accused of wiretapping and racketeering, had once offered to have a movie producer killed for him. (more)
via wired.com
If you've been having trouble tracking what the various surveillance bills are all about, don't blame yourself -- there's been plenty of misinformation going around. Here's Wired.com's definitive guide to the congressional surveillance debate.
Why is Congress expanding the government's spying authority?After 9/11, or possibly before, President Bush instructed the nation's spies to begin a secret spying program that reportedly includes data-mining records of U.S. residents' phones, travels and purchases in order to find targets to wiretap. The administration says its warrantless eavesdropping only listened in on international phone calls and e-mails... (more)
A federal judge has ordered Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) to pay nearly $1.2 million to House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), settling a legal dispute over McDermott's actions in leaking the contents of an intercepted 1996 conference call involving Boehner and other Republican leaders.
Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia,... had already levied a $60,000 civil fine against McDermott in 2004 for violating federal wiretapping statutes by receiving the intercepted audiotape of the conference call and releasing its contents to several members of the media....
Boehner was speaking on a cellphone in Florida, where his conversation was illegally recorded by a couple who heard it on a radio scanner. (more)
..."Does that ringing in my ears bother you?"
via Discovery.com
I know some of you may not want to believe this, but the U.S. government may well already have the ability to beam secret commands to you through the fillings in your teeth. Well, not exactly. But close. A recently declassified 1998 U.S. Army report, “Bioeffects of Selected Nonlethal Weapons,” describes government plans for a microwave weapon that would transmit voice communication that seems to emanate from within a human target’s own brain. (It was obtained and posted on the Web by Freedom From Covert Harassment & Surveillance, a Cincinnati-based organization that advocates on behalf of people who believe they are being stalked and subjected to “electromagnetic harassment.”)
To quote the report:
Because the frequency of the sound heard is dependent upon the pulse characteristics of the RF energy, it seems possible that this technology could be developed to the point where words could be transmitted to be heard like the spoken word, except that it could only be heard within a person’s head.
This is possible because of something called the Microwave Auditory Effect, which was first discovered during World War II, when people working in the vicinity of radar transponders complained of hearing strange clicking noises that other people nearby didn’t notice. The effect is caused by thermal expansion of the region around the cochlea. In the 1960s, neuroscientist Allan H. Frey, who was the first to publish research on the effect, was able to induce it in human subjects with pulsed microwaves from a transmitter 100 meters away.
It’s unclear just how far the government’s microwave auditory research and development efforts have progressed since 1993, when the report was written... (more)
Short version: AMX Corporation's Vice President, David Goldenberg, was "arrested for allegedly participating in corporate espionage practices against a competing manufacturer's representative firm."
The following is from the Bergen County (NJ) Prosecutor's press release...
NJ - Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli announced the arrest of David A. Goldenberg, D.O.B. 05/18/1962, of 432 Golf Dr., Oceanside NY. Goldenberg was arrested on March 28, 2008, on charges of Unlawful Access of a Computer System / Network (2C:20-25b); Unlawful Access of Computer Data / Theft of Data (2C:20-25c); and Conducting an Illegal Wiretap (2A:156A-27)...The arrest stemmed from an investigation concerning the following: The Paramus Police Department received a complaint from a Paramus based corporation known as Sapphire Marketing, who specializes in high-end audio/visual systems. Representatives of Sapphire reported that they were being suspiciously and consistently underbid for contracts by a competitor for whom David Goldenberg works. They expressed suspicion of corporate espionage. Based on anomalies that the complainant noticed within their computer network and more specifically their electronic mail (e-mail) system, they suspected that the company’s e-mail system had been compromised and that e-mail was being intercepted. The Paramus Police Department (a member of the Computer Crimes Task Force) and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Computer Crimes Unit initiated an investigation. The investigation revealed that Mr. Goldenberg had engineered the passwords protecting several of the complainant’s e-mail accounts. For a period of time, Mr. Goldenberg was intercepting and reading e-mails that related to potential contracts. Mr. Goldenberg then established a free e-mail account that he had control over, and created an automatic forward of the victim’s e-mail so that they would be sent to him directly. This afforded Mr. Goldenberg advanced knowledge of Sapphire’s customers and bid prices, thus further affording him an opportunity to underbid Sapphire. Sapphire Marketing estimates the loss in revenue from Mr. Goldenberg’s actions to exceed one-million dollars. Mr. Goldenberg was arrested without incident on this date. (more) (more - scroll down)
Goldenberg was hired by AMX June 11, 2007...
“David has a proven track record of satisfying the needs of his customers while boosting sales and profitability. He is also an aggressive marketer focused on value creation,” said Rashid Skaf, AMX president and CEO. “David is a dynamic leader who has proven that he can successfully manage and motivate a diverse team of individuals. I am confident that he will fit well into the AMX culture and accomplish great things with our company.” (more)
By Will Vaus The trial of private detective Anthony Pellicano, who is charged with 110 counts of racketeering, wiretapping, conspiracy and other federal charges, has been capturing headlines for quite some time. No wonder. Its connections to the mob, eavesdropping on Hollywood conversations and the revolving door of movie industry personalities make for a good read. However, for me and my family, it is déjà vu.Why? Because my father, "Big Jim" Vaus, was the original Hollywood wiretapper. He launched the practice of listening in on the stars in the 1940s and gained the same sort of notoriety then that surrounds Pellicano now. He was written up in the L.A. papers, and his story has been featured in Time, Life, Reader's Digest and in a 1955 movie, "Wiretapper." (more)
Will Vaus, author of My Father Was a Gangster: The Jim Vaus Story
Recordings of Jim Vaus talking about his life.
More stories about Jim Vaus...
The Hollywood Vice Queen (1948)
Wiretapping in Hollywood (1955)
Why Jim Vaus Quit Wiretapping (1946)
Data Theft Carried Out On Network Thought Secure
Criminals involved in a massive data breach at the Hannaford Bros. and Sweetbay grocery chains stole the customer information from a part of a computer-network system that security experts had believed was secure.As many as 4.2 million credit- and debit-card numbers were exposed in the breach.
The Hannaford data, which included customer account numbers and card expiration dates, was stolen between Dec. 7 and March 10. ...it has resulted in at least 1,800 cases of fraud.A malicious software program, written by the thieves, intercepted the information as it went back and forth over a cable to a transaction processor in Denver. It was then transmitted to an Internet service provider somewhere outside the U.S. The software, known as malware, was planted on computer systems in every store in the two chains, the company says....it took a team of about 30 forensics experts and information technologists more than 10 days of round-the-clock troubleshooting to discover the malware. (more) (recent data theft list)
...we have probably all wondered if our conversations via phone were being taped.There are federal and state (all 50 and DC) statutes governing the use of electronic recording equipment. The unlawful use of recording equipment may not only give authority for civil proceedings against the perpetrator of illegal taping, but may also give rise to criminal charges.Today’s Bulletin gets right into the meat of how and where the taping of private telephone conversations is allowed...
Interesting exceptions to the rules...
In California, generally an all party consent state, one party alone can record if criminal activity (e.g. extortion) is anticipated or involved.
In Arizona, the subscriber to a telephone service can record telephone conversations with no party consent when criminal activity is involved. (more)
Researchers from Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, presented a complete break of remote keyless entry systems based on the KeeLoq RFID technology. The shown vulnerability applies to all known car and building access control systems that rely on the KeeLoq cipher. "The security hole allows illegitimate parties to access buildings and cars after remote eavesdropping from a distance of up to 100 meters" says Prof. Christof Paar. "Eavesdropping on as little as two messages enables illegitimate parties to duplicate your key..."
A KeeLoq system consists of an active Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) transponders (e.g., embedded in a car key) and a receiver (e.g., embedded in the car door). Both the receiver and transponder use KeeLoq as encryption method for securing the over-the-air communication.
KeeLoq has been used for access control since the mid-1990s. By some estimates, it is the most popular of such systems in Europe and the US. Besides the frequent use of KeeLoq for garage door openers and other building access applications, it is also known that several automotive manufacturers like Toyota/Lexus (Chrysler, Daewoo, Fiat, GM, Honda, Volvo, VW, Clifford, Shurlok, Jaguar, etc.) base their anti-theft protection on assumed secure devices featuring KeeLoq.
(more)
(Hacker video explaining KeeLoq. Minutes: 36:18 - 41:35)
(How to Steal Cars - A Practical Attack on KeeLoq)
...a mother writes...
"It’s a tough call knowing when to spy and when to trust. Though my own children, 4 and 7, are too young for me to be going through pockets looking for drugs, turning up mattresses looking for porno, etc., I plan on doing those things in their teen years.In my own childhood, my parents were way too hands-off. Both of my brothers were doing serious drugs in high school and my parents didn’t find out until it was way too late. They wanted harmony in the house and took the path of least resistance. That meant my brothers were allowed privacy, didn’t have an enforced curfew, were given car keys before they could handle that responsibility. My parents prayed maturity would come soon.With my own children, I’ve learned that I have to stay on top of things. On the computer, my son has tried to order things online. He even asked my mom for her credit card so he could buy a Ben 10 shirt. We’ve found that we need to set the rules for which Web sites he can look at. Anything not on the ‘Kids’ section of our Web browser’s bookmarks is off limits. Still, we walk by often while he’s online, and we remind him he needs to ask if it’s a new site." (more)
Alert - The hottest new bugging devices are now among the least expensive. GSM SIM bugs are like cell phones, but without the keypad. Eavesdroppers call and listen from anywhere in the world.
