CA Court - Car Computer Data Protected by 4th Amendment

The case is State v. Xinos. The question... Can the police swipe your car's black box data, without due process, after an accident and use the findings against you?

The answer... No, "We do not accept the Attorney General’s argument that defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the data contained in his vehicle’s SDM (Sensing and Diagnostic Module). The precision data recorded by the SDM was generated by his own vehicle for its systems operations. While a person’s driving on public roads is observable, that highly precise, digital data is not being exposed to public view or being conveyed to anyone else. . . . We conclude that a motorist’s subjective and reasonable expectation of privacy with regard to her or his own vehicle encompasses the digital data held in the vehicle’s SDM."

Another interesting point the court made... The SDM is located inside the vehicle, not outside, so... "Thus, a warrantless search of a vehicle, or the containers within it, under the automobile exception continues to be circumscribed by probable cause." (more)

Five out of Seven Hacker Types also Bug & Tap

infoworld.com has identified seven types of hackers. Five of them (in bold) will also use standard electronic surveillance techniques to achieve their goals. 

Why? Because that information is fresher, it is available long before it becomes computer data... and some of it will never become computer data.

If you are only watching your computer networks, you are a day late and a dollar short. Traditional bugs and wiretaps remain spy staples. Two more overlooked attack points include Wi-Fi security (and compliance) and Internet telephony (VoIP).

Malicious hacker No. 1: Cyber criminals
Professional criminals comprise the biggest group of malicious hackers, using malware and exploits to steal money. It doesn't matter how they do it... (Eavesdropping is just another profit center.)

Malicious hacker No. 2: Spammers and adware spreaders
Purveyors of spam and adware make their money through illegal advertising.

Malicious hacker No. 3: Advanced persistent threat (APT) agents
Intruders engaging in APT-style attacks represent well-organized, well-funded groups -- often located in a "safe harbor" country -- and they're out to steal a company's intellectual property. They aren't out for quick financial gain like cyber criminals; they're in it for the long haul. Their dream assignment is to essentially duplicate their victim's best ideas and products in their own homeland, or to sell the information they've purloined to the highest bidder.

Malicious hacker No. 4: Corporate spies
Corporate spying is not new; it's just significantly easier to do, thanks to today's pervasive Internet connectivity. Corporate spies are usually interested in a particular piece of intellectual property or competitive information. They differ from APT agents in that they don't have to be located in a safe-harbor country. Corporate espionage groups aren't usually as organized as APT groups, and they are more focused on short- to midterm financial gains.

Malicious hacker No. 5: Hacktivists
Lots of hackers are motivated by political, religious, environmental, or other personal beliefs. They are usually content with embarrassing their opponents or defacing their websites, although they can slip into corporate-espionage mode if it means they can weaken the opponent. 

Malicious hacker No. 6: Cyber warriors
Cyber warfare is a city-state against city-state exploitation with an endgame objective of disabling an opponent's military capability. Participants may operate as APT or corporate spies at times...

Malicious hacker No. 7: Rogue hackers
There are hundreds of thousands of hackers who simply want to prove their skills, brag to friends, and are thrilled to engage in unauthorized activities.

Visit the New CIA Website

The CIA has launched a revamped website with links to YouTube and Flickr to help the public better understand the spy agency's often clandestine work, officials said.

"The idea behind these improvements is to make more information about the Agency available to more people, more easily," CIA Director Leon Panetta said in a statement on Monday.

"The CIA wants the American people and the world to understand its mission and its vital role in keeping our country safe," he said.

Although the Central Intelligence Agency's mission has always hinged on secrecy, the spy service is conscious of its public image -- partly for recruiting reasons -- and in recent years has added games and links for children on its website. (more)

Are you the right kind of person for a career at the CIA? Take this fun quiz and find out. You might be surprised by the type of people we actually hire. (QUIZ)

My quiz result... "According to your responses, you are a: Thoughtful Observer."

Dental Data Extraction

Dentist hacked into fiancee’s laptop to show she was a fantasist
A dentist loaded spyware onto his fiancee’s laptop to gather evidence against her as their relationship collapsed, a court has heard...

The High Court heard that in a desperate attempt to hang on to his assets, Mr Singh, described as a “canny businessman”, tried to exploit the spyware he placed on her pink laptop "for improper advantage". He had also "lost no opportunity to belittle and discredit" his ex-lover in court when they came face to face. (more)

"Nei, we are just Odin-ary students, ja."

Who's the spy?

Norway - A leading foreign policy analyst says it should come as no surprise that Norway maintained a secret spying unit that operated in nine countries for 10 years. Two Oslo newspapers reported its existence over the weekend, and key government officials claim they didn’t know about it...

Agents posed as students
It operated separately from the Defense Ministry and its own intelligence gathering units, although many of its staff were defense personnel. VG reported that it operated in Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and its agents often posed as Norwegian students. (more)

Here Come the Cell Phone Anti-Spyware Laws

WV - A type of stalking that relies on the victim's mobile phone could soon become a crime in West Virginia.

The state Senate unanimously passed a bill to the House on Monday that targets anyone who secretly puts spying software on someone else's mobile phone or device.

These programs allow the spy to eavesdrop on phone calls, monitor text and e-mail, and track the victim's location.

The bill exempts parents, service and global positioning system providers, and employers when they supplied the mobile device.

Those guilty of this new misdemeanor would face up to six months in jail, a fine of up to $500 or both.

Sen. Clark Barnes sponsored the bill after learning of a woman who was stalked and harassed through her mobile phone for three years. (more)

Sin? I Phone it in.

Selling for $1.99, "Confession: A Roman Catholic App" was developed as an aid "for those who frequent the sacrament and those who wish to return," according to Little iApps, the firm behind the idea. Its makers insist it is not a replacement for confessing in person with a priest, but instead helps to keep track of all the evil things you have done since the last time you confessed by ticking off some of the most common failings. Deviants get the opportunity to add their own, bespoke, sins as they go. (more)

"First to mind is the potential law enforcement bonanza whenever searching for Catholic criminals, especially in states like California where the California Supreme Court has recently granted authorities access to smartphones and other devices' contents without even needing a search warrant." – Lauren Weinstein

Business Espionage - Et tu, IT guy?

In a recent instance, one German engineering company found it was frequently beaten on price by a competitor. The group discovered an employee in its information technology department was related to its archrival’s CEO. The IT specialist had wiretapped his own CEO’s office and phone and put a tracking device on his car, enabling him to follow his movements and identify the customers to whom he was talking. (more)

Little US action as industrial spying surges

In the year since Google revealed that some of its prize intellectual property had been stolen by hackers it associated with the Chinese government, the private sector and the FBI have increased their efforts on cybersecurity. But it isn’t nearly enough, according to outside experts including an influential panel of advisers. (more)

Survey: 32% admit mooching neighbor's Wi-Fi

Some 32% of respondents to a recent national survey admitted borrowing a neighbor's unencrypted Wi-Fi connection. That's nearly double the 18% who said they borrowed Wi-Fi in a 2008 poll...

Sharing an open Wi-Fi hookup might seem neighborly. But a nosy neighbor could use eavesdropping software to monitor your online haunts. A free, easy-to-use eavesdropping tool called Firesheep has been downloaded more than 1 million times since last year...

You can repel moochers and snoopers by taking a few simple steps while configuring your wireless network. (more) (video)

Sneaky Sneaker SpyCam

"The World's the most powerful audio video 2.4 GHz wireless with Hidden Shoes camera, super crisp real time audio video recording with date/time  stamping. Specially designed for Law enforcement agencies for their hidden investigation. This amazing device is ideal for covert or spy operations. Please tell us the size of your shoe when you pay." (more)

Why do I mention it?

So you will know what you are up against.

Visit this one-stop-shop to become familiar with almost all the different types of covert spycams that could be watching you.

Spies in the News this Week

Australia and the United States have begun a partnership to share top-secret intelligence from spy satellites as Australia moves to acquire its own satellite to boost surveillance of Asia and the Pacific. (more)

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Two Americans held in Iran for the last 18 months on suspicion of espionage pleaded not guilty in court on Sunday on the first day of their closed-door trial, state television reported. (more)

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Israeli journlist Anat Kam was found guilty Sunday by a court after a plea-bargain deal in which she admitted to having leaked secret military documents to a leading newspaper. (more)

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American citizen Alan Gross, who is accused of spying, is facing a 20-year prison sentence in Cuba for spying. Prosecutors in Havana have claimed Gross plotted against the state by importing satellite communications equipment and using it to gather secret information within the country. (more)

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The Taliban have killed four people in northwest Pakistan after accusing them of spying for the United States, local officials have said. (more)


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Ex-Taliban spy raking in aid money... With his fondness for American rap music and Beyoncé, Fareed Hidayati, sporting cropped hair, a clean-shaven face and speaking in a thick British accent does not seem like a typical Taliban spy. (more)

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A Chinese internet spy ring has penetrated Britain's government computer networks with malicious software, the Guardian reported. British foreign secretary William Hague told a security conference in Munich that his office repelled an attack last month by 'a hostile state intelligence agency'. (more)

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On August 20, 1940, Mercader plunged an ice axe into Trotsky's head. He died a day later.

The Russian spy behind Leon Trotsky's assassination was a James Bond-style agent who plotted the attack from a US pharmacy, according to a new book.

Josef Grigulevich, the KGB agent who planned the Bolshevik revolutionary's 1940 assassination first established a safe house in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the book by EB Held claims.

The book 'A Spy's Guide to Albuquerque and Santa Fe', by Mr Held, who is now director of intelligence at the US Department of Energy, appears to confirm years of speculation about a spy hideaway there.  (more) 

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This Spy Robot Will Always Find You—Unless You Stop Breathing

 

This little fellow is the TiaLinx Cougar20-H, a surveillance robot. He is capable of detecting any sneaky human presence—even through thick concrete walls—by using a ultra-wideband radio frequency sensor array and focusing on biorhythmic patterns—such as breathing. (more) (much more)

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Egypt - An amateur video showing the arrest in Egypt of an alleged spy belonging to the Israeli General Staff Reconnaissance Unit, the Sayeret Matkal, indicates how worried Tel Aviv is by the turmoil engulfing the Mubarak regime and suggests that attempts are underway by outside forces to destabilize the popular revolution. (more)

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An Israeli court sentenced an Israeli-Arab human rights activist to nine years in prison on Sunday after convicting him last year of spying for the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah. (more)

NSA Wiretap Reveals Subject May Be Paying Too Much For Long-Distance

FORT MEADE, MD—The director of the National Security Agency announced at a press conference Tuesday that the ongoing phone surveillance of Cincinnati resident Greg Wyckham has yielded "overwhelming and incontrovertible" evidence that the 37-year-old high-school teacher and married father of three is wasting money on a long-distance plan that does not suit his calling needs. (more)

Quote of the Week

Not the actual eavesdropper.

The eavesdropper who overheard Jim Kirk of Kelley Drye & Warren (adjacent post), in the first-class car on the Acela heading back to his office in New York offers some advice to fellow travelers: "Just because the person in front of or beside you has ear buds in, doesn't mean they're listening to music."

When it is Not Electronic Eavesdropping, it's...

Keep Your Friggin' Mouth Shut on the Acela!

When talking on their cellphones, business travelers sometimes assume they're surrounded by an invisible, sound-proof phone booth that keeps their conversations private. They are not. In fact, they are much more likely surrounded by an army of eavesdropping gossips, eager to upload any juicy nuggets. In particular, the high-speed Acela train between Washington, D.C., and New York has become one of the most dangerous forms of transportation for the garrulous traveler.

Take Robert Robbins, a D.C.-based corporate securities partner at law firm Pillsbury Winthrop. In February 2009, on a morning train to New York, he used his BlackBerry bluetooth to talk to a colleague about plans to lay off up to 20 lawyers at his firm; he was not shy about naming names. A law student sitting in the seat ahead of him overheard and reported the news to legal blog Above the Law (where I was an editor at the time). Soon the embarrassing story and news of the coming layoffs had migrated to gossip blog Gawker and a slew of legal newspapers. The firm later issued a statement apologizing for the "unfortunate manner in which our deliberations about reductions have become public."

The cautionary tale apparently did not reverberate in law firm circles, though. Last month another law firm partner... (more)