Securing VoIP... "Give up?"

There are too many sources of vulnerability for VoIP to ever be completely secure, says Patrick Park, author of VoIP Security. Here he describes the VoIP threat landscape and offers best practices for making VoIP reasonably secure... (more)

SpyCam Story #518 - Student vs Teacher

via The Smoking Gun...
"Meet Curtis Pickard. The Georgia student was arrested this week after he allegedly used his cell phone to take "upskirt" photos of Greenbrier High School teacher Ellen Hotchkiss, which he then showed to fellow high schoolers... Pickard was charged with unlawful eavesdropping or surveillance and booked into the Columbia County Detention Center..." (more) (Teacher vs Student)

UPDATE - Curtis Jamar Pickard, 17, of the 4200 block of Waterston Courtyard in Evans, was charged with unlawful eavesdropping or surveillance. He was released from the Columbia County Detention Center later that day after posting a $2,600 bond, according to jail records. (more)

"And then, we'll outlaw Uummarmiutun."

Canada - The Conservative government is preparing sweeping new eavesdropping legislation that will force Internet service providers to let police tap exchanges on their systems - but will likely reignite fear that Big Brother will be monitoring the private conversations of Canadians.

The goal of the move, which would require police to obtain court approval, is to close what has been described as digital "safe havens" for criminals, pedophiles and terrorists because current eavesdropping laws were written in a time before text messages, Facebook and voice-over-Internet phone lines. (more)

"The village called. They want their idiot back."

Taliban and al Qaeda fighters are now so aware every phone conversation may be monitored that they actually get on the line to taunt NSA interpreters who sit in relay centers to translate and distribute transcripts as quickly as possible. "They love to get on our bands and taunt us and especially our interpreters," said the intelligence source. (more)

"So, uh, what happened to the ones you did use?"

Tanzania - Police in Dar es Salaam has distanced itself from recording devices found in two hotel rooms rented out to two parliamentarians in Dodoma.

The Director of Criminal Investigations, Mr Robert Manumba, told reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday that Government intelligence unit, no longer uses such devices because they are of obsolete technology...

Dodoma police commander Omar Mganga, said in a statement on Saturday that preliminary investigation by experts on information technology identified the devices as EDIC-Mini Tiny, with a capacity to record for 10 hours. (more)

So, let's have a peek at this "obsolete technology."
EDIC-Mini Tiny - Miniature Edic-Mini Tiny digital voice recorder (DVR) is intended for professional recording voice messages into flash memory. The DVR features an extremely small size and weight, long record time (varying with the model – from 18 to 300 hours at the sample rate of 8 kHz, and 2 bit ADPCM compression), very low power consumption, wide frequency range (100- 10000Hz), wide dynamic range and a highly sensitive built-in microphone. A built-in real time clock and a calendar are provided, as well as the mode of start-up by timer. Due to the absence of moving parts, the DVR functions in a wide temperature range, under vibration and dusty conditions.

The model records high quality stereo audio signal from two external microphones on built-in flash memory. It is powered by the rechargeable battery (with 120 mAh capacity), which can be charged from USB port of a PC.

The DVR has a Voice Activating System (VAS) which effectively compresses pauses in messages, therefore increasing the actual record time. Using this system saves memory during pauses, but the time intervals remain. When downloading records to PC, the pause length can be either restored (as silence) or passed depending on the settings made.

One might think, being "obsolete technology," one would have a difficult time finding one for sale. (click here)

Privacy Compromiser's Privacy Compromised

Germany - Lax password security allowed hackers to bust into the German interior minister’s website, it has emerged.

Hacktivists pwned the website of Wolfgang Schäuble on Tuesday in protest against new wiretapping and data retention laws. They posted links inviting visitors to a protest website "Vorratsdatenspeicherung". (more)
Divine Internet farfegnugen.

SpyCam Story #517 - Teacher vs Student

KY - Police in Mayfield have arrested a middle school teacher after he was seen under some bleachers allegedly photographing beneath cheerleaders’ skirts.

The Paducah Sun reported 51-year-old Steve L. McCuiston of Murray was charged with voyeurism, eavesdropping, disorderly conduct and evidence tampering.

McCuiston is on paid leave from his job as a science teacher at Livingston County Middle School. (more)

SpyCam Story #516 - They're everywhere, they're...

IA - An admitted peeping Tom is accused of spying on "at least" 100 unsuspecting naked women through holes in the bathroom vents at a Sioux City hotel.

According to court documents, former hotel maintenance worker Robert Ray Campbell, 51, told detectives he had spied on "at least" 100 female guests at the Rodeway Inn and Conference Center, then known as Quality Inn.

Police discovered holes in bathroom vent filters while inspecting a maintenance hallway. Court documents filed Tuesday say holes were cut or torn into the filter of every bathroom vent in the building. The hotel has 153 rooms, according to its Web site. (more)

Cartoonist takes a biting look at HOA drama

CO - Homeowners associations towing away cars over unpaid dues. An HOA president engaging in illegal wiretaps of his neighbors...
These could be the latest horror stories from Colorado Springs' covenant-controlled neighborhoods...These are scenarios created by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mike Peters for his nationally syndicated "Mother Goose and Grimm" newspaper comic strip. (more) (more cartoons)

"Bugs don't kill people. People..." Part I

UK - The wealthy businessman accused of murdering his wife after listing ways to dispose of her body yesterday admitted attacking her in a rage.

Martin Hale, 52, said he hit wife Maureen several times after bugging her car and hearing her say she never loved him.

The jury heard the attack left her with a bloody nose and a sprained neck. Mrs Hale, 42, disappeared on June 22, 1999 - 10 days after she filed a divorce petition in which she said she lived in fear of her husband, the court heard. (more)

Defending, Richard Christie asked: 'Did you kill your wife?' Mr Hale, wearing a dark suit and pale blue shirt, calmly replied: 'No'.

He denied offering a friend £20,000 to hire an incinerator at a pet crematorium a month after his wife disappeared.

The company director, who ran a fruit and veg importing business, also denied borrowing a shovel from work to dispose of her body. (more)

"Bugs don't kill people. People..." Part II

UK - Gary Grinhaff, 44, an electrical engineer, battered his wife Tracey, 42, a former hairdresser, to death after she changed her profile on the social networking website to: "Currently splitting up with my husband."

Mr Grinhaff conducted his own private investigations after becoming convinced that his wife had rekindled a relationship with one of his close friends, an inquest heard.

He bugged her 4x4 vehicle to eavesdrop conversations, fitted it with a tracking device and secretly bought a Ford Escort which she would not recognise while he follow her in disguise. (more)

The Top 10 Female Spies

via askmen.com...
"There is a tendency to regard high-stakes espionage as a man’s domain, but history repudiates this myopic view -- in spades. In fact, for centuries women have served their allegiances with as much distinction, bravery and awe-inspiring efficacy as their male counterparts. The only ostensible difference can be found in the breadth of their methodologies..." (The Top 10 Female Spies)
Entertaining look at real spy history. NSFW depending upon your employer.

Exclusive: Foreign spies bug British offices

UK - Spies from at least 20 countries are targeting British businesses to steal industrial secrets.

Spooks are bugging offices, intercepting phone calls and infiltrating corporations to gain commercial details worth millions.

Senior security sources say networks from Iran, Russia and China are "highly active" here. But other so-called allies such as France, Spain and Saudi Arabia are also involved.

A report leaked to the Sunday Mirror says medical advances, particularly in genetics, are one of the spies' main targets. It states: "Intelligence services ... are targeting commercial enterprises far more than in the past.

A security source said: "If you can steal information you can save yourself years of expensive research." (more) (an additional 4 reports)

The FBI reports the same is true in the United States.
Did you know, espionage is preventable. (click here)
Need a band? Call the "Men In Black!" (more)

Bugging Device Found - Secretary General Slaa

Tanzania - There was drama in Dodoma when gadgets believed to be bugging devices were found on Thursday night in the hotel rooms of Chadema Secretary-General Willibrod Slaa and another opposition MP, both of whom are attending the current parliamentary session...

The other MP targeted by the unknown people who planted the high tech devices in the rooms is the Civic United Front (CUF) representative for Konde, Dr Ali Tarab Ali...

The two politicians then teamed up and scoured Dr Slaa's room together for any suspicious objects and were stunned to find what looked like recording gadgets tucked under the mattress.

Alarmed, Dr Ali, also suspecting that he might also have been targeted, checked in his room. And to his shock, he unearthed a similar gadget, also hidden under his mattress.

Speaking to reporters after the discovery of the recording device in his room, Dr Slaa said: "I have read widely about bugging and I know, how these devices work." (more)

Deutsche Bahn CEO Apologizes For Spying Scandal

Germany - The board of directors at Deutsche Bahn "apologizes to its employees," Mehdorn said after a meeting with the workers' council on Friday in Frankfurt. The Transnet, GDBA and GDL unions had already been demanding that Mehdorn issue an apology for the two surveillance operations conducted on employees. (more) (sing-a-long)