Predator drones, operating with impunity in the skies above north-west Pakistan, have claimed their latest high-profile victims, it was confirmed yesterday...Both have been linked to suicide bomb attacks in Pakistan in recent months and were on the FBI's most-wanted list over the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. (more)
Billed as the most embarrassing book ever written about the private life of an African leader, a former Nigerian president is portrayed by his first wife as a sly, violent, vindictive womaniser...What ensues is an almost slapstick riot of affairs and breathless high politics punctuated with domestic violence and desperation. And it's one in which Mama Iyabo is happy to name names. In the early 1970s her particular nemesis was an older married woman called Mowo Sofowora. One evening, she recalls: "I was eavesdropping on the phone downstairs while Obasanjo was in the bedroom. They had spoken for about 30 minutes when she then said she was having a headache. I had heard enough, so I butted in: 'It's that headache that will kill you, shameless married woman dating a younger man'. On hearing my voice, Obasanjo charged downstairs to beat me and we had one of the many fights that had come to define our marriage." (more)
Cell Phones are being used as bugs, taps, tracking, spying.
Here are 20 minutes of various video clips about how it works. (video)
Thailand - Chief of Department of Special Investigation (DSI) Thawee Sodsong denied having tapped a telephone of Justice Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga. His statement came after Mr Pirapan claimed his phone has been tapped.Although DSI has the bugging equipment, the organisation has the rules and laws of using it, and the ones who want to use the equipment need to ask for permission from DSI chief or his deputy, he said."Since I have taken this position for about one year, I can ensure you that we do not use the equipment to tap anyone," Pol Col Thawee told reporters. (more)
UK - The GMB union has accused Marks & Spencer of systematically bugging private conversations of its workers...
According to Personnel Today's sister publication Computer Weekly, the union will claim that M&S installed a secret, illegal "special line" in the workers' meeting room that allowed management to overhear their conversations.
Maria Ludkin, a GMB lawyer, alleged the information came from an employee at the technology company Eurosis, which supplied the microphones and other equipment used to bug the room. (more)
Murray Associates has been warning its corporate clients about the relationship between the down economy and increased snooping and dirty tricks. This is a good real-life example.
If M&S indeed made this mistake, they deserve what they will get. However, if this is a union 'set-up' ("The news comes as the trade union is preparing to take the retailer to tribunal over the sacking of whistleblower Tony Goode."), they deserve what they will get... if, the truth wins out.
Today, this is unnecessarily time-consuming and expensive ...and a PR nightmare for both sides.
All this might have been avoided if independent eavesdropping detection audits were part of the company's security program. Audits a very cost-effective alternative to litigation.
NE - The teddy bear had a bug. That's what a man alleges in a lawsuit that grew out of a child custody fight in Nebraska.
William Lewton is accusing his ex-wife Diane Divingnzzo and her father of hiding a recording device in his daughter's toy in order to spy on him... His attorney says it's believed hundreds of hours of conversations were recorded.
Lewton, his daughter -- who is now 5 -- and five other plaintiffs are requesting a jury trial. They're also seeking damages, alleging invasion of privacy and violation of state and federal wiretapping laws. (more)
via gizmodo.com...Like the Rovio, WowWee's Spyball is a Wi-Fi-enabled spycam robot. But it transforms from sorta conspicuous ball to spycam for surreptitious shots. You can connect ad-hoc via Wi-Fi or over the internet.The Spyball™ spy-cam is a remote controlled, Wi-Fi enabled, transforming robotic ball that introduces an element of play to telepresence functionality. Affordable, easy-to-use, and rechargeable, the Spyball spy-cam captures video and still images and is equipped with sleek wheels for fast, smooth mobility and 360-degree turns. Transforming from ball to camera and back again, the Spyball spy-cam moves with stealth and in disguise – perfect for spying on siblings or peeking into the kitchen. (more)
...small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) will spend... more of their IT budgets on security in 2009 than 2008, according to a new study from Forrester Research Inc. The change will result from a shift in security strategy from computer security threat defense to corporate data protection. That more closely mirrors the strategy at large companies, says Forrester's "The State of SMB Security: 2008-2009." (more)
Data is dormant. Protection, relatively easy.
Data becomes much more valuable when it is discussed and decisions are made. At this stage it is also easier to snatch. Protection against electronic eavesdropping is often overlooked.
Every company – small, medium or large – needs this minimal protection program.
Canada - A former senior bureaucrat ordered Vaughan's chief information officer to snoop on Mayor Linda Jackson's emails without her knowledge, a newly released forensic review shows...The report, obtained by the Toronto Star yesterday through a freedom of information request, was unable to determine conclusively who accessed those emails or how, but did conclude it wasn't an outside job. (more)
Ireland - One of those leading the work (an electronic stethoscope) at University College Dublin is Dr. Scott Rickard, a US scientist with a sparkling academic pedigree in applied mathematics and electrical engineering.
As an expert in audio identification techniques his work brought him to the attention of the FBI, where he helped develop an eavesdropping technology to identify a speaker's location in a crowded room.
Using two closely spaced microphones, it was possible to separate and localise an arbitrary number of speakers. "So if you were in a room and 10 people were speaking, you could tell who said what, when," said Dr Rickard. "That is really important for the FBI - they have lots of recordings of people and they want to know what was said and who said it." (more)
Attorney, Steve Lombardi reports...Family Law: Electronic surveillance of wife's bedroom activity leads to $22,500 judgmentThe decision discusses a video cassette recorder positioned above the ceiling, a camera concealed in an alarm clock located in the bedroom regularly used by Cathy, and a motion sensing “optical eye” installed in headboard of the bed in that room.” The District Court found Jeffrey had invaded Cathy’s privacy and entered judgment in the amount of $22,500.00.It’s pretty clear the Court finds married spouses even during the marriage, and while living in the same residence could be found to violate the other’s right to privacy if electronic equipment is used to record activity.This is a case of first impression in Iowa but one that has been decided in North Carolina finding estranged spouses living separately have an expectation of privacy between themselves. (Miller v. Brooks, 472 S.E.2d 350 (N.C. Ct. App 1996)) And also Clayton v. Richards, 47 S.W.3d 149 (Tex. App. 2001) Even during a marriage the bedroom carries with it an expectation of privacy. (more)
An entertaining article about the latest eavesdropping tools available to the general public. Includes: detailed usage, evaluation and pricing information. Oriented toward marital situations. Serious information security and privacy ramifications for workplace environments.
from... 
Phase one: bugging the house. In the old days a bug worked using radio waves. Meaning it had a range. Meaning you had to stand within 50 yards of the room you were bugging, wearing a large pair of headphones and a suspicious expression to hear anything. Now the latest bug uses GSM technology, so you can phone it from anywhere in the world and listen in without contravening any communications laws. (more)
Turkey - Following the recent discovery of two covert listening devices at the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) headquarters in Ankara, party officials have begun to investigate whether the devices were planted by party members. (more)meanwhile...Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, or MİT, is undergoing a comprehensive restructuring to increase its effectiveness... The Information Systems unit, which tapped wires and undertook grey zone activities, was left outside the intelligence department. Deputy undersecretariat for operations is replaced with the technical deputy undersecretariat, which now coordinates departments of information systems and electronic and technical intelligence. (more)
(see previous palace story first)
Scotland - Royal security chiefs have launched an investigation after plans of the Queen's official residence in Scotland were found near a footpath...The architect's drawings were discovered under a bush on a path leading to the Water of Leith, in Roseburn, Edinburgh... the plans showed power ducts, cables and a transformer, as well as the sizes of the gardens and locations for boiler rooms, gas meters, store cupboards, kitchens, toilets and wash areas. (more)
Remember the story Queen's Electric Teapot 'Bugged'?
It happened in The Queen's Scottish Castle, Balmoral.
If not, take a moment to review.A Scottish newspaper, The Press and Journal, is now reporting... Russian ex-secret agent rejects Balmoral samovar bugging claims. Unfortunately, reporter, Ryan Crighton's fact-checker must have taken the day off. (It was New Year's Day).Let's review the story..."A former Russian agent (Mikhail Lyubimov) has rejected claims that the Royal Family’s north-east residence was the target for Soviet spies." This reflects the official Russian position. Lyubimov, now a novelist with a Kim Philby book under his belt, backed Russian official position during the last British/Russian spy row, as well."...(Lyubimov) dismissed the reports, saying that the alleged bugging method was ineffective and useless." No surprise here, but no logic either.“'Buckingham Palace and the Queen were never objects of great interest to us...'" No verisimilitude here, either. Russian surveillance, dating back to 1832, is famous. Everything is a possible target. Getting a bug into the Queen's Castle - even an "ineffective and useless" one - would be a major brag for the KGB."...a souvenir which had been given to the US in the 1960s contained a bugging device, however." Funny, one would think a Cold War secret agent would be more familiar with his agency's biggest hit. The Thing, as it was called, was "given to the US" in 1946 and discovered in 1952.John La Carre, another ex-secret agent turned spy novelist, summed up his opinion of Lyubimov's last documentary novel this way: "Mikhail Lyubimov isn't just an ex-KGB officer. He's a ... mischievous novelist and a skillful self-publicist. My hunch is, we're dealing with one of his little fantasies..." Who knows if Mr. La Carre's hunch is correct, but..."Madam, how like you this play?"Hamlet Act 3, scene 2, 222–230If you have read this far, you will really want to see this!
Predator drones, operating with impunity in the skies above north-west Pakistan, have claimed their latest high-profile victims, it was confirmed yesterday...
Cell Phones are being used as bugs, taps, tracking, spying.
NE - The teddy bear had a bug. That's what a man alleges in a lawsuit that grew out of a child custody fight in Nebraska. 
via gizmodo.com...
Data is dormant. Protection, relatively easy.
Ireland - One of those leading the work (an electronic stethoscope) at University College Dublin is Dr. Scott Rickard, a US scientist with a sparkling academic pedigree in applied mathematics and electrical engineering. 
Phase one: bugging the house. In the old days a bug worked using radio waves. Meaning it had a range. Meaning you had to stand within 50 yards of the room you were bugging, wearing a large pair of headphones and a suspicious expression to hear anything. Now the latest bug uses GSM technology, so you can phone it from anywhere in the world and listen in without contravening any communications laws. (more)