iPhone Warning

report via the33tv.com...
It seems the Apple iPhone is everywhere. However, an iPhone can become a Spyphone allowing others to secretly monitor the user's calling, web browsing and texting. Mobile Spy is iPhone monitoring software that can now be downloaded...

An attorney has some fears about it.

Clint David said,"What it's really for is monitoring spouses and girlfriends. That's fine, there's only one problem. If you use this product improperly it's a federal and state criminal offense. It's called wiretapping. ... If that special someone gives you an iPhone you want to make sure that it's not booby trapped and if you want to want to make sure that iPhone it's really a spyphone." (more)
Although iPhone was discussed here, the same applies to other smart cell phones as well.

Spybusters Tip #387
Keep in mind that this only for 2nd generation iPhones (3G), and it only let's the spy see a log of calls and SMS text messages. There is no eavesdropping on the call itself. Installation requires "jailbreaking" the iPhone first.

The manufacturer's spyware removal instructions.
(Not yet updated to include iPhone, but should be soon.)
~ Kevin

Travel Alert: Bugs & Wiretaps in Turkey

Turkey - Head of the Computer Engineering Department of Gazi University, Professor Şeref Sağıroğlu, warned against the high risk of being bugged in Turkey and the abundance of wiretapping programs used to this end.

"Wiretapping programs are ordered over the Internet in Turkey. They are sent to your address for $45. Anybody may find computer keyboards used for bugging purposes for YTL 800. Wiretapping earphones are only YTL 1,200. There are more than 500 wiretapping programs in Internet and can be downloaded for free," Sağıroğlu claimed while briefing a parliamentary commission established to examine allegations that a top Republican People's Party (CHP) member had been bugged. (more)

On spying on teenagers:

via the Washington Post...
On spying on teenagers: The sooner children learn that electronic communications are not private, the better off they will be... I tell my children that I will review their computer and cellphone communications routinely, as may school administrators, coaches, employers, potential employers, college admissions officers and law enforcement officials. If my kids don't want me to read it, then they shouldn't type it. If they don't want their grandmother to see it, then they shouldn't write it. Or, if they don't want 46 million people to see a message, they shouldn't post it on a Web site... It's not spying. It's raising your children to act responsibly in our electronic world. Teach children not to expect privacy on the computer or their cellphones. (more)

Confession: Police Admit Mistake

Police acknowledge bugging minister
UK - Police in England are accused of overstepping their bounds by detaining Member of Parliament Damian Green, a shadow immigration minister. Officers were investigating a leak from the Home Office... The Metropolitan Police confirmed that Green's interview was tape recorded without his knowledge but with the best of intentions. (more)

Confession: Police Admit Mistake II

UK - Police have admitted they acted wrongly during an operation... Officers set up spy cameras in a convenience in New Brighton last year after attendants reported concerns about the behaviour of some men using it. After a series of high-visibility patrols, police hid the two tiny cameras in the urinal area of the toilets, one at head and one at waist height. Cameras were also set up outside the Harrison Drive block to detect car registration numbers. ...chiefs said things would be done differently next time. (more)

Confessing? Don't phone it in...

Bugging fears thwart sinners' confessions
Egypt's Coptic pope has banned the faithful from confessing their sins to priests over the telephone because intelligence agents might be listening in... The leader of the Coptic minority also said confessions over the Internet were invalid because they might be read by web surfers... The Vatican does not recognise confessions by telephone or over the Internet. (more)

Alert - Dot Com could really be a Dot Bomb

You receive an email containing interesting news.
It ends with, "Learn more. Visit our website. Link below."
The link is an attachment named, "OurGreatSite.com".
You're interested. You click it.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM

Oooops!
You forgot that ".com" is also an old MS-DOS executable file extension. Some .com's mean business. Other .com's mean monkey business.

Thank goodness you updated your virus protection recently.
You did, didn't you?

FREE - PC Pandora Gives Away their Spyware

via AppScout...
"David Pogue at the NYTimes.com reports that Pandora Corp. is giving away PC Pandora Version 5 for a week starting on Christmas morning, until they hit 50,000 copies (or until 11:59 PM on January 1, 2009, whichever comes first). The software usually runs $70 bucks. To get it you have to use the code PCPANDORAGIVEAWAY.

The company describes the software as "an invisible TiVo" for the PC, recording every email, IM, password, and keystroke, all of which you can monitor remotely. Our own Neil J. Rubenking reviewed PC Pandora last January and gave it 3 out of 5 stars. He said the software is not going to control how your kids use the computer, but "if you want to secretly monitor every little thing they do on the computer, PC Pandora will definitely do the job."

Why limit it to kids when you can spy on any user? Give the gift of free snooping this holiday."

Satchel Paige was not always right...

"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?"
"Age is a question of mind over matter.
If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter."
"Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you."

Satchel had a great philosophical outlook when it came to age. Not so great, when it came to competition. Looking back every now and then gives perspective and a sense of where one stands.

Exactfactor understands this, and plays upon your ...Google-envy.

Spy on your competitor's website ranking. Get email alerts when they pass you in rank, when your rank is zooming up or sliding down, and when you reach first-page status. Hey, you can bet they are spying on you!

New Security Buzzwords You May Hear in 2009

Baked-in - When security comes as an integral part of a product; as opposed to bolted-on, where a security fix may be applied to the product if desired.

Privileging - Authentication opens the main door, but no longer will you have the keys to the kingdom. It is Privileging which will keep you where you belong once granted entry. No more poking your nose where it doesn't belong.

Autocrypt - The concept of automatic encryption of all data, stored in any system or media.

Privylaws - New laws designed to protect your private data from taking a dump in the wrong place.

Reprivatize - Periodically renewing a high level of privacy. Quarterly eavesdropping detection audits of executive offices, conference rooms and vehicles is one example.

SpyCam Story #504 - Not Licensed to Shoot

A Grand Island photographer, Dennis L. Beins, has been charged with 11 counts of visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct and five counts of unlawful intrusion...

The warrant listed numerous items seized from that address, including a Sony AM-FM clock radio with a hidden camera that was removed from a dressing room. (more) (video)

Surprise! Chinese Art Form to Become Illegal

China is cracking down on hackers, making penalties a lot tougher. New laws mean that hackers could face up to seven years in jail, according to those unbiased watchdogs of the People, the State media.

The current law only allows punishment for hacking into government, defence or science computers. Private companies are fair game, which has made corporate spying an art form. (more)

TIme to break out a Tabua

Fiji's interim government has expelled New Zealand's acting high commissioner, Caroline McDonald. Ms McDonald was summonsed to Fiji's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday afternoon and was told she has been declared "persona non-grata", and has been given one week to leave the country...

The expulsion comes a day after Fiji accused Australia and New Zealand of tapping telephones. He also accused the two nations of using Fijian staff in their high commissions to spy. (more)

Free Internet Spy School

Let's give a few of the the Internet How-to-Spy sites a view. It is a good education, especially if you want to know what to protect yourself against!

First Stop...
How to Spy Computers, Helping You Spying Computers (sic)
• Should you spy on your employees?
• Is a keylogger completely hidden?
• How can I spy on what my spouse is doing on our home computer?
• What Is a Keylogger?
• Why Should I Spy on My Home Computer?
• How to Spy a Computer and Receive Reports by Email
• 7 Keyloggers for Windows Vista
• Keylogger for Mac
• All-Spy Keylogger Tutorial

Second Stop - 14 Tools to Legally Spy On Your Competition

Third Stop - How to Spy on Your Competitors—Without the Guilt

Quote of the Month - Hail to the Chief

"I came out with an encrypted drive. Every country in the world wanted me to put a back door into it [for security eavesdropping]. We refused. It’s not a secure drive if it has a back door." Bill Watkins - chief executive of Seagate, the $13 billion Scotts Valley, Calif.-based hard disk drive maker. (more)