U.S. - The House yesterday easily approved a compromise bill setting new electronic surveillance rules that effectively shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits arising from the government's terrorism-era warrantless eavesdropping on phone and computer lines in this country.
The bill, which was passed on a 293-129 vote, does more than just protect the telecoms. The update to the 30-year-old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is an attempt to balance privacy rights with the government's responsibility to protect the country against attack, taking into account changes in telecommunications technologies.
The House's passage of the FISA Amendment bill marks the beginning of the end to a months long standoff between Democrats and Republicans about the rules for government wiretapping inside the United States. The Senate was expected to pass the bill with a large margin, perhaps as soon as next week, before Congress takes a break during the week of the Fourth of July. (more)
Sweden - Sweden's parliament has approved controversial new laws allowing authorities to spy on cross-border e-mail and telephone traffic. The country's intelligence bureau will be able to scan international calls, faxes and e-mails. ...The bill will become law in January. (more)
The days of sitting in a basement, monitoring a line, using your Audiotechnics pocket 'buttset' with alligator clips is over. G-people now sit at computers in their air-conditioned offices. The process was simply explained, by arlene, in this post... "CALEA requires that communications providers allow law enforcement officials to be able to listen in on phone conversations and get information about those phone calls, but only when the law enforcement agency has gotten approval for the tap.
The law enforcement agency goes before a judge and presents reasons a wiretap is needed. If the judge approves, a legal document or order is delivered to the communications provider.
A specially authorized person at the communications provider logs in to a system specifically set up for CALEA-approved wiretaps. A number of systems are sold by various manufacturers, but all of them tap into the routers and switches that make up telecommunications networks. All calls on the communications network are routed digitally over switches and routers. The system used for taps connects to a central point in the network, over which all communications travel.
The tapping system captures two primary pieces of information about the call—the actual voice transmission itself (often referred to as call content information [CCC]) and data associated with each call, such as the phone numbers at both ends of the call (often referred to as call associated data [CDC]).
The CCC and the CDC information are sent over special secure routers to the law enforcement agency.
The Federal Communications Commission has ruled that PC-to-PC calls, when a call is made directly from one computer to another over the Internet using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) software such as Skype, is subject to CALEA. But as of this writing, no technical way has been devised to tap in to those calls." (source)
"GET SMART" is a film mistaken about its own identity. As a reworking of one of the great 1960s TV comedies, you'd think being funny would be its main goal. But you would be wrong. Very, very wrong.Like its protagonist, in-over-his-head secret agent Maxwell Smart, "Get Smart" yearns to be something it's not. Unaccountably eager to walk in the footsteps of James Bond, "Get Smart" neglects the laughs and amps up the action, resulting in a not very funny comedy joined at the hip to a not very exciting spy movie. Talk about killing two birds with one stone. (more) However, in the back of the DVD bin... Peter Segal’s top five 'Get Smart' episodes Would you believe we asked Peter Segal, the director of the spy comedy "Get Smart," starring Steve Carell as Agent 86 Maxwell Smart and Anne Hathaway as Agent 99, to name his top 50 episodes of the classic TV series on which the film is based? Would you believe we asked him his top 25? How about his top 10? All right, we settled for his top five. (more) Get Smart - The Complete Original TV Series
The Phone Car is a modified by a 1975 Volkswagen Beetle. Created by Howard Davis as a way to promote his telephone biz, Datel Communications. Check out the video of this phone car on the road. The horn, of course, rings. (more) More Art Cars...
It is always heartwarming to see our eavesdropping and wiretap detection instrumentation winning international awards...
"The TALAN Telephone and Line Analyzer (manufactured by REI) has been awarded the 2008 Canadian Technical Security Conference (CTSC) Award for significant industry contribution, research and engineering design.
Telephone technology has advanced over the past several years, and so have the methods and possibilities for surveillance devices on telephone lines, making traditional eavesdropping tap detection methods outdated and ineffective. Additionally, multiple pieces of test equipment were required to conducted time consuming tests that provided limited results. The TALAN is a breakthrough in telephone and line testing, combining multiple tests into a single piece of equipment as well as introducing NEW technology providing effective tap detection tests for both digital and analog telephone lines.
The Canadian Technical Security Conference (CTSC) is an annual conference composed of Technical Security Specialists and members of the Canadian Technical Security Professional Association (CTSPA). Delegates and speakers of the conference include technical security professionals representing private companies, law enforcement, military and government organizations from Canada and around the world..." (more)
In the first prosecution of its kind in the nation, a man who is well known to members of the “botnet underground” pleaded guilty today to federal charges related to his use of “botnets” – armies of compromised computers – to steal the identities of victims throughout the country by extracting information from their personal computers and wiretapping their communications. John Schiefer, 26, of Los Angeles (90011), appeared today before United States District Judge A. Howard Matz and pleaded guilty to accessing protected computers to conduct fraud, disclosing illegally intercepted electronic communications, wire fraud and bank fraud...
Schiefer’s “spybot” malware allowed him to intercept communications sent between victims’ computers and financial institutions, such as PayPal. Schiefer sifted through those intercepted communications and mined usernames and passwords to accounts. Using the stolen usernames and passwords, Schiefer made purchases and transferred funds without the consent of the victims. Schiefer also gave the stolen usernames and passwords, as well as the wiretapped communications, to others. (more)
"DIY Wiretapping: The Ultimate Guide (And How to Fight Back)" via ITsecurity.com Even if you aren't involved in a criminal case or illegal operation, it's incredibly easy to set up a wiretap or surveillance system on any type of phone. Don't be surprised to learn that virtually anyone could be spying on you for any reason.
How to Wiretap Did you think wiretapping was just for the FBI and mobsters? It's actually so easy that we can show you how to install and manage different wiretapping systems yourself... (11 "tips" revealed)
Fighting Back Defend yourself against wiretappers and spies by following these tips. You'll be able to determine if someone is eavesdropping on your home phone, cell phone or VoIP calls. (13 "tips" revealed... including this one.)
• Check for any suspicious wires running from your phone: Spybusters LLC, a company that performs eavesdropping-detection audits, explains on its Web site the different types of wires your phone should have and which ones indicate wiretapping. (more)
Once a back-room government parlor trick, computer automated document reconstruction is now available to the general public!
Recommendations...
Ditch every stripcut (and partial stripcut) shredder in your company. They do not provide adequate business-level information security. Use crosscut, particle-cut or pulping shredders. Alert your Purchasing Department... "No more crummy stripcut shredders!"
NY - A Long Island doctor is accused of installing a hidden camera in the bathroom of his medical office.
Nassau County police say 54-year-old Vincent Pacienza was arrested Friday and charged with unlawful surveillance.
The doctor's staff discovered the camera, which had been concealed inside an air purifier.
Police believe the camera was placed in the restroom of the Manhasset medical office within the last two weeks. (more)
The kicker... The purifier, listed for $699, features a "built-in color camera and carrier current video transmitter is completely undetectable," according to the Web site.
The doctor's office staff discovered the device after receiving a bill from thespystore.com, said Det. Lt. Kevin Smith.
The staff looked at the Web site and recognized the air purifier listed there as similar to the one recently installed in the 8-by-8 office restroom, Smith said.
UK - A peeper used a mirror to spy on swimmers undressing in the cubicles of a Teesside pool, a court heard.
Paul Stoddart was spared a prison sentence as Teesside Crown Court ruled yesterday his crime was a “singular aberration”. The 46-year-old voyeur was seen holding a small mirror under the partitions of cubicles at Stockton’s Splash centre. He was caught as a mum saw two hands holding a mirror tilted upwards under the wall of her cubicle as she crouched to take off her jeans.
She was at Splash with her husband and their two-year-old daughter on November 29 last year. The woman saw Stoddart emerge from the adjoining cubicle.
Her husband went looking for Stoddart, saw him holding the mirror under other changing rooms and alerted pool staff. (more)
Watch out for that girl, laddie; you might be talking over her head but into her microphone.
As Willie Shakespeare once said, - “There’s more to this than meets the eye!” This, in the present case, happens to be the bodice of a Sweet Young Thing, said bodice containing microphone, batteries, antenna and transmitter—constituting a miniature radio station with a range of 200-300 feet.
The West German device is but one of several now being used in industrial espionage—the art of swiping your competitor’s business secrets without his knowing. It works like this:Sweet Young Thing has date with two scientists from Firm A.
Mike concealed in the bosom of her party dress picks up their shop talk and other bodice equipment transmits it to operative of Firm B waiting outside in a car equipped with tape recorder.
Sweet Young Thing gets paid off by Firm B.We realize that all’s fair in love and war but isn’t this going too far? (courtesy of those great folks at blog.modernmechanix.com/)
From the "Why are we not surprised?" file... The Italian government has proposed a bill that would limit the use of phone intercepts and their publication in the media. (more) Maybe this and this and this is why.
FutureWatch... "I'll Getta You Sucka: The Silvio Story" starring Robert De Niro
Guyana - The ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) yesterday distanced itself from drug accused Shaheed Roger Khan saying assertions being made through his attorney are “baseless” and it has no knowledge of any of its members ever being associated with him.
General Secretary Donald Ramotar made the assertions following queries from reporters yesterday at a press conference at Freedom House Boardroom. Ramotar was asked whether the party was concerned about the statements emanating from the US courts by Khan’s lawyers in the context of a purchase of high-tech surveillance equipment in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for which he allegedly secured the permission of the Guyana Government. In response Ramotar said he saw the statements as baseless. “I am not concerned about those statements. I tend to believe the Ministry of Home Affairs in this case. The statement is baseless and I am not worried about baseless statements,” he asserted.
Lawyers for Khan, who is facing drug charges in the US, have cited an FBI investigation which they claim revealed that the government had given Khan permission to purchase the sensitive electronic surveillance equipment from Spy Shops in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
In a subpoena to the US Drug Enforcement Administration, Khan’s lawyers stated: “FBI agent Justin Krider investigated Khan’s purchase of the computer telephonic surveillance equipment from Spy Shops in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and found Khan had permission from the Government of Guyana to purchase and possess this equipment.”
In a background paragraph, the subpoena said Khan was alleged to have used the equipment to improperly wiretap various high-ranking officials and others within Guyana in order to maintain his “alleged drug organization.”
...there has been no public information on what happened to the equipment and many questions posed to officials by this newspaper on how the equipment came into the country and what happened to it after the court case went unanswered.
It was believed that the surveillance equipment was passed back to Khan after the trial as he later acknowledged that he had taped several conversations of leading security officials and other personalities.
Prior to his arrest in Suriname and subsequently by the US authorities, Khan had maintained that he had assisted the Guyana government in fighting crime and subversive elements. (more)
UK - One of Britain's top intelligence officersspiesleft a dossier of secret files detailing the threat from al-Qaeda and the status of Iraqi security forces on a train, the British Government was forced to concede...
Marked "secret" and in a bright orange folder, the papers were left on a commuter train traveling between Surrey and Waterloo station, London. The al-Qaeda document, apparently commissioned jointly by the Foreign Office and Home Office, was classified "UK top secret" and was so sensitive that each page was numbered and marked: "For UK, US, Canadian and Australian eyes only."
...the file, handed to the BBC by a passenger... (more)
U.S. - The House yesterday easily approved a compromise bill setting new electronic surveillance rules that effectively shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits arising from the government's terrorism-era warrantless eavesdropping on phone and computer lines in this country.
