If you go out in the woods today
You're sure of a big surprise.
sing-a-longA carer suspected of stealing money from a terminally ill great-grandmother was caught by a secret camera hidden in a teddy bear.Mrs Sampson’s family became suspicious after they noticed £40 had gone missing from her handbag after Allen visited her Walton home in July.At the suggestion of his daughter Emma, a forensic science graduate, Mrs Sampson’s son Robert bought a small camera and hid it inside a teddy bear in his mother’s bedroom. (more) (video)Beneath the trees, where nobody sees
They'll hide and seek as long as they please
Today's the day the teddy bears catch cleptomaaan-iac!
The Defense Intelligence Agency's newly created Defense Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence Center is going to have an office authorized for the first time to carry out "strategic offensive counterintelligence operations," according to Mike Pick, who will direct the program.
Such covert offensive operations are carried out at home and abroad against people known or suspected to be foreign intelligence officers or connected to foreign intelligence or international terrorist activities...
These sensitive, clandestine operations are "tightly controlled departmental activities run by a small group of specially selected people"...
In strategic offensive counterintelligence operations, a foreign intelligence officer is the target, and the main goals most often are "to gather information, to make something happen... (more)
Britain's most senior police officer of Asian origin was illegally bugged and put under surveillance on the orders of the Metropolitan police chief, leaked Scotland Yard documents have revealed.According to the papers, over 300 telephone calls of Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur were tapped in an elaborate operation overseen directly by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair. (more)
...from the seller's web site...
"Here’s a new undercover color camera designed to fit into the proliferation of personal devices (PDA’s, cell phones, MP3s, etc.) that seem to be everywhere these days.
The camera’s pinhole lens aims out of your ear, perpendicular (90°) to your target, allowing for high angle above the neck mobility. The camera has 350 lines of resolution and a super low 0.6 Lux for evening observations.
The 3.6mm lens gives you a sharp 78° field of view. Includes a hardened case, rechargeable battery pack and charger." (more)
...from The Financial Express...
"Virtually, every company seems to be in a rush to merge email, fax and voice communications. IT, BPO, media, telecom, banking and retail enterprises are embracing Unified Communications (UC).However, the risks associated with UC security are now beginning to surface as companies start merging their various channels of communications.Eavesdropping, unauthorised access of messages, unauthorised handsets connecting to the network and disruption of phone network are some of the threats, faced by enterprises.
"According to Jayesh Kotak, vice-president, product management, D-Link India, denial of service, spoofing, eavesdropping, signaling and media manipulation are few security threats to the UC. (more)
Laser televisions have an image produced by three lasers that are each less than one cubic centimeter in size and that are a million times brighter than current state-of-the-art 
light-emitting diodes (LEDs). They provide sharper, crisper, more brilliant pictures than you have ever seen. And this new television costs less to produce than the television you own now.Novalux of Sunnyvale, CA has developed the Novalux extended-cavity surface-emitting laser (NECSEL™) for use in high-definition (HD) rear-projection televisions (RPTVs).
Laser televisions will provide speckle-free images that have more contrast and better color coverage than their unwieldy, expensive counterparts. They also use 60% less power and have a lifespan more than 10 times as long as lamp televisions. And unlike LED televisions, laser televisions have incredible longevity without giving way to distracting color shifts over time.
Projection and illumination optics for laser televisions will cost less than those of either lamps or LEDs, resulting in a lower price for the entire system. Novalux estimates that a 50" laser television will cost significantly less than $1,000. (more) (follow the action)
From artist Ross Robinson...
"Your government is watching you. All. The. Time."...now buy my tee-shirt.
TX - Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed announced Friday that Gilbert Olivares, General Manager of Bexar Metropolitan Water District, has been indicted for wiretapping, misapplication of funds, and sexual harassment.The indictment includes 12 counts of Illegally Intercepting Oral Communications, 1 count of Misapplication of Fiduciary Property, 1 count Abuse of Official Capacity, and two counts of Official Oppression.
...the indictment alleges Olivares ordered the monitoring and recording of phone conversations of four Bexar Met employees' who were viewed as critics of his leadership. The recordings allegedly took place over a 8-month period and without the knowledge or consent of any of the parties to the conversations. (more) (video)
Ira Winkler offers chilling accounts of espionage...A former National Security Agency analyst who is now an expert on corporate espionage offered chilling accounts yesterday of his easy penetration into a variety of U.S. companies. In one case, in just a few hours he was able to make off with product plans and specifications worth billions of dollars.
Ira Winkler, global security strategist at CSC Consulting, spoke at Computerworld's Premier 100 IT Leaders Conference here and punctured several popular misconceptions about information security...
At one large company, for example, he persuaded a guard to admit him by saying he had lost his badge and presenting a business card as a substitute. He'd stolen the card -- which belonged to an employee who worked at the plant -- from a local restaurant that collected business cards in a jar for prize awards. Winkler went on to exploit a number of security weaknesses, from doors he found unlocked to using forged signatures to using simple computer hacks. The result: Designs for nuclear reactors and other 
technologies were compromised, possibly with national security implications.
"Never measure security budgets by IT," said Winkler, author of Spies Among Us: How to Stop the Spies, Terrorists, Hackers and Criminals You Don't Even Know You Encounter Every Day. (more)
Homeland Security setting up counterspy unit...
Concerns about foreign spies and terrorists have prompted the Homeland Security Department to set up its own counterintelligence division and require strict reporting from employees about foreign travel, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press. (more)
...from the seller's web site..."Now here's a nifty way of popping your head over the fence to ogle the chapess next door without being spotted or otherwise denounced as a pervy interloper. Instead of popping your head over the fence from a height of 1.8 metres, pop it over the fence in the virtual sense, from a height of up to 25 metres.
Permit us to explain and expound. In all our years of deconstructing fiendishly complex gadgetry here in the lab, deep underground at gadgetshop HQ, we've never before come across a fusion of technologies so inspired as a high performance kite with a remotely-controlled digital camera slung underneath it." (more)
FL - A mysterious box with an antenna found hidden inside a Wal-Mart was a planted spy camera set up to beam customer credit card numbers to thieves in the parking lot, police said. (more) (video)
Over the years the Security Scrapbook has brought several blatant examples of industrial espionage to your attention. Take, for example, the...• Space Shuttle (USA, Russia)
• iPhone
• Nokia phones
• Pocket cameras (pick any of them)
• Twin Magazine Covers
And remember?
• 9/30/02 - Nokia, the world's largest cell phone maker, on Thursday unveiled its first "third-generation" handset, which has a camera so users can view and edit video clips and send them to another phone or an e-mail address. ... Minutes after Nokia's announcement Thursday, rival manufacturer Motorola unveiled new details about its own equivalent handset.
• "The World's Smallest Camcorder." Sony DCR-IP1 MICROMV released. Tuesday, September 02 @ 11:15:00 PDT. Panasonic SV-AV100 camcorder debuted. Friday, September 05 @ 15:30:00 PDT
• 12/2/01 - Two major rivals announce look-alike products.
Same size ad, same magazine - 4 pages away from each other - products offered the same benefits... "drug and explosive" detection, in one instrument.
What is the difference between espionage and a rip-off? Industrial espionage products hit the market at approximately the same time. There is a time-lag with reverse engineering and knockoffs.
See more! See more! See more!
Visit The Plagiarius Competitions and the Museum Plagiarius.
...and this is just in the past two weeks...
• Eleven people from at least five different countries are facing charges for their involvement in a wide-ranging scheme to hack into nine US companies and steal and sell more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers. "As far as we know, this is the single largest and most complex identity theft case that's ever been charged in this country," Attorney General Michael Mukasey said. Officials said the ring had stolen hundreds of millions of dollars. (more) ...when federal prosecutors disclosed that computer hackers swiped more than 40 million credit-card numbers from nine retailers in the biggest such heist ever, it was the first time that many shoppers had heard about it. That's because only four of the chains clearly alerted their customers to breaches. (more)
• About 150,000 people in the US have been affected by the theft of laptops with personal information about current and former employees of brewing giant Anheuser-Busch. (more)
• A new report from the California Department of Public Health discovered that 127 UCLA Medical Center employees viewed celebrities' medical records without permission between January 2004 and June 2006, which is nearly double the number first reported earlier this year. (more)
• UK - Data protection experts have called for hospitals to use more effective encryption techniques after a laptop containing the personal data of thousands of patients was stolen. An unnamed manager at Colchester Hospital in Essex has been sacked as a result of the theft... (more)
• Security researcher Joe Stewart has identified a Russian gang that infected 378,000 computers with malware over a 16-month period in an effort to steal passwords and other information. (more)
• Ireland - The loss of a laptop containing 380,000 records of social welfare and pension recipients is a wake-up call for the Government and public and private sector bodies to ensure all staff are trained properly in data protection and use of encryption. (more)
• The Transportation Security Administration suspended Verified Identity Pass from enrolling travelers in its pre-screening program after a laptop computer containing the records of 33,000 people went missing.
The company, based in New York, lost possession of the laptop at San Francisco International Airport. The laptop contained unencrypted pre-enrollment records of individuals... (more) UPDATES: ...unencrypted laptop was found in the same office from which it was reported missing. (more) The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has cleared Verified Identity Pass to resume enrollments in its Registered Traveler program... (more) The laptop had been stolen, but was returned, according to the Sheriff's Department.
• The University of Michigan Credit Union in Ann Arbor confirmed that a data theft has resulted in some of its members becoming identity theft victims. The credit union said that so far, "less than 100" people have had their identities stolen -- mostly to open fraudulent credit card accounts. The theft, involving documents that were supposed to have been shredded... (more)
• Greece - Hundreds of bank clients in Greece and other European countries have turned into hostages because of actions of groups that steal data from bankcards and do uncontrolled drawings, the Greek To Bhma daily reports. (more)
UK - The BBC has apologised after a memory stick containing details of hundreds of children who applied to take part in a TV show was stolen. (more)
• Wells Fargo & Co. is notifying some 5,000 people that their personal information might have been seen by someone using a bank access code illegally. (more)
Only an average of eight percent of Americans say they are very confident in the ability of U.S. retailers, government and banks to protect their personal information, according to a national survey commissioned by CA, Inc. (more)
If you go out in the woods today
