Monthly Poll Results - "Assuming You Wouldn't...

Assuming you wouldn't get caught,
what is the least payment
you would want
to plant an eavesdropping device at work,
just once?
(click chart to enlarge)

Top 100 Network Security Tools

Still, the best list around. (more)

Cellcrypt Secure VoIP Heading to BlackBerry

Cellcrypt, a British vendor of software for encrypting cell phone calls, is getting a product ready for North America's beloved BlackBerry.

The company sells software to enterprises, government agencies and individuals who want to make sure their mobile phone calls are private. Its Cellcrypt Mobile product is a downloadable, phone-based application that encrypts VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) calls all the way from one handset to the other. Unlike other cell encryption systems, it allows users to make calls pretty much as they would normally, and even to use international roaming, according to Ian Meakin, Cellcrypt's vice president of marketing...

The software doesn't come cheap: A license for one user costs about £2,500 (US$3,732) per year. (more)

Ex-Corrections Cop Cops Bugging Plea

MI - A Gladstone man, accused of illegally accessing the county jail's computer system and possessing child porn on his home computer, pleaded no contest to a lesser charge in court this week.

William James Johnson, 34, of 127 Michigan Ave., Gladstone, was charged in August with three counts of unauthorized access to a computer while working as a corrections officer at the Delta County Jail from 2004-07. He was also charged with possession of child sexually abusive material on his home computer...

The four charges were dropped after he pleaded 'no contest' Thursday to one count of attempted eavesdropping-installing/using device. The lesser charge is a one-year misdemeanor and carries a maximum $1,000 fine.

Security Director Alert - GSM Pen

Your CEO is holding sensitive negotiations, thinking the playing field is level. It isn't.

The opponent has an invisible team of advisers helping out... in real time. Your side is stymied at every move, thwarted at every turn, every advantage you thought you had, evaporated.

What happened? How did they do it?
How can YOU stop it from happening again?

Here is what you might be up against (from the seller's web site)...

"All you have to do is to connect the pen to your cell phone (via Bluetooth); make or receive calls like you do regularly. The GSM pen connects to the phone as a regular Bluetooth headset. The spy earpiece receives the signal from the phone through the GSM pen (via wireless induction).

Arrange with your partner - outside the area - who will be giving you all the necessary information, using any phone (cell, home or public phone).

Put the spy earpiece into you ear and just before you enter the room make a call to your partner.

The microphone located on the GSM pen is very sensitive. It lets your partner hear everything you say, even a whisper.

Their answer can be clearly heard by you, but nobody else. After you are done you can easily take the earpiece out from your ear with the help of the ejection cord."

This Alert also applies to:
• Educators. Final Exam time is near.
• Proctors at professional certification exams.
• Police surveilling suspects who may be secretly communicating.
How YOU can stop this from happening again...
Call me.

Business Espionage - Starwood Stung

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. sued Hilton Hotels Corp. late Thursday, accusing its rival of using stolen confidential Starwood documents to develop a new luxury hotel chain.

The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in White Plains, N.Y., alleges that Ross Klein and Amar Lalvani, two former Starwood executives who joined Hilton last summer, stole more than 100,000 electronic and paper documents containing "Starwood's most competitively sensitive information."

"This is the clearest imaginable case of corporate espionage, theft of trade secrets, unfair competition and computer fraud," the complaint alleges.

In addition to monetary damages, Starwood is seeking a court order that could, in effect, force Hilton to cancel the rollout of the Denizen Hotels chain, which it unveiled last month. (more)

Cell Phone Spying

Cell phone questions we receive...
"Can someone...
...listen in on my calls?
...listen to my voice mail messages?
...remotely steal my contacts list?
...send fake texts from my phone?
...activate my microphone 24/7?
...make my phone dial someone else?
...get a text stating the length of my call?
...get a text when I use my phone?
...send me texts using a fake number?
...get my new phone number when I switch SIM cards?
...get a text message with the numbers I call and receive?
...track where I am on a computer map using the phone's GPS?
...track where I am on a computer map even if my phone lacks GPS?
...can they do all this from anywhere in the world?
...record my calls using my phone's own internal memory?
...trick me into installing spyware by making it look like a game?
Isn't this illegal to do in the United States?"
Yes.
See...
(investigative video news report)
(more stories about cell phone spying)

Cell Phone Eavesdropping in India

India - Is your mobile under 'unofficial' surveillance? The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has recently sent a report to the Centre about mobile phone companies sharing unauthorised information about clients with influential police officers.

The report says that sensitive and personal information about mobile phone users in Gujarat is being passed on illegally to police officials, without following legal procedures.

The report also hints that duplicate numbers are being made available to cops, allowing them to eavesdrop on conversations real time. (more)

Town Clerk Recall - Illegal Eavesdropping Cited

MI - A former Hamburg Township official has started the process to recall current township Clerk Matt Skiba, a person he says is the most objectionable politician he's ever seen.

Mike Bitondo, a former township trustee, filed recall petition language with the Livingston County Clerk's office on April 9...

Bitondo claims Skiba treats the public and township employees and officials with "disrespectful, accusatory and condescending behavior," that he's demanded employees sign pledges of loyalty to him, that he secretly records conversations he has with employees and the public and that he's used a remote listening device to eavesdrop on other people's conversations. (more)

Lost your clerk's job? Have I got a job for "Q".

Britain's domestic spy agency — MI5 — is hunting for "Q".
MI6's sister organization, which carries out surveillance on terror suspects inside Britain and gives security advice to the government, is searching for someone to lead its scientific work.

"Looking for a chief scientific adviser to lead and coordinate the scientific work of the security service so that the service continues to be supported by excellent science and technology advice," MI5's Web site ad reads....

Mobile phones equipped with sensors for detecting chemical, biological or radioactive agents are already in the works. Others, such as supersensitive eavesdropping devices, will likely be rolled out for the 2012 Olympics in London. (more) (application)

SniffJoke - A Grass Roots Net Protection Effort

SniffJoke is a software you run on your computer that injects randomly generated traffic in your normal one. While it does not affect the normal communication and the content exchanged with a remote host, it has a noisy effect on the operation of a third element eavesdropping on your conversation (be it a sniffer, a passive interceptor or a Chinese trojan).

The data it injects makes the reconstruction of TCP streams very arduous (eg: wireshark, xplico). As in any concealment technique, an expert professional can understand the general flow of the transaction by reading one packet at a time, but this analysis cannot be automated, so: if they’re after you they will get you, but with this software you could consider yourself safe against mass-targeted attacks. (more)

Anatomy of a TSCM PR Fiasco

Chapter 1 - The Disgruntled Turn TSCM Into a Four Letter Word

Canada - Embattled Vaughan Mayor Linda Jackson used taxpayers' money to have her city hall office swept for listening devices last year, a practice borrowed from her predecessor and archrival, Michael Di Biase.

Through a Freedom of Information request, residents Gino and Mary Ruffolo, former supporters turned Jackson critics, uncovered an invoice showing the mayor's office paid Protech Consult Services $2,730 for equipment and labour for "manual and electronic counter surveillance."

"It appears the taxpayer is paying for Jackson's office to be swept for bugs," Mary Ruffolo said yesterday. "What is going on? Why is the poor taxpayer paying for this?" (more)

"What is going on?"
Yellow journalism. Scandal-mongering. Sensationalism. This is not news.

"Why is the poor taxpayer paying for this?"
Inspections for illegal electronic surveillance (TSCM sweeps) are a generally-accepted security practice. Both governments and businesses routinely conduct inspections for electronic surveillance.

In local government, for example, inspections can prevent fraud in negotiations and bidding; saving taxpayers money.

Not ferreting out illegal electronic surveillance is just negligence.


Chapter 2 - The Opportunistic Smell Blood

Ursula Lebana has a $50 solution to Vaughan Mayor Linda Jackson's political problems – and 2 cents worth of advice.

"People never believe it, but 90 per cent of the time, it's the person you trust the most," says Lebana, who opened Canada's first "spy shop" back in 1991 and can attest to the fact that Cold Wars are still being waged in offices, marriages and even babies' bedrooms around the world.

And for $50, the embattled Jackson, who spent $3,000 in taxpayers' money last year to have her office swept for listening devices, could have rented one of Lebana's do-it-yourself bug detectors.

Lebana has armed everyone from entrepreneurs to parents with electronic surveillance gadgets since she hung a few Bond posters on the walls of her Yonge St. Spy Tech store and created the first Teddy cam to help parents keep an eye on their child's nanny. (more)

If you even remotely think that "one of Lebana's do-it-yourself bug detectors" can help you, then you will definitely be interested in buying this book to go along with it.

Top actress’ cell phone cloned to eavesdrop (update)

Korea - Prosecutors cleared the chief of Sidus HQ, a major entertainment agency, of replicating a cell phone of top actress Jeon Ji-hyun, 27, to track her phone calls and text messages.

Sidus was investigated for alleged hiring an expert to access phone records and messages of the actress in late November 2007, shortly before her contract with the company was to expire.

Sidus CEO Chung Hoon-tak and two other executives were under investigation for eavesdropping on Jeon, who signed with Sidus while still in high school more than 10 years ago.

The outside expert, who was hired to help copy and rig Jeon's handset, was given a one-year jail sentence last month. (more) (background)

3 Skimmers in 1 Week PINed

via Ben Popken...
Three different ATM skimmers were found this week and reported on blogs, raising the question of what the heck is going on considering these are supposed to be a rarity. First, our reader Dan found a skimmer on a WaMu/Chase ATM in LA. Gizmodo picked up the story and subsequently their reader Sean Seibel found a skimmer on a Chase ATM in Manhattan's East Village. Then this kid Nick McGlynn found a setup similar to the one Sean did, also on a Chase ATM. Now, when our reader Dan took the credit-card snagging device skimmer to the police he said they, "got a big kick out of the skimmer, saying they'd never seen one in person." (more) (background)

Security Alert - Be careful at ATMs and gas stations.
• If the card slot 'looks weird' (too big, cheesy, off-color, etc.), skip it.
• Cover your fingers when entering your PIN – to block overhead cameras or telescope voyeurs.
• Think you've been had? Call the branch manager or the cops, quickly.

Need A Gift? Everyone likes spy gear...

On a mission for spy gear?
Find it here...
The International Spy Museum Store features all things espionage for Real spies, Kid Spies, the Spy-curious, and Spy-Wannabes.

Check out these doormats, for example...