SpyCam Story #600 - Wildman on Good Behavior

Australia - A 29 year old Nelson Bay man who broke into his ex-girlfriend's home and installed a camera to spy on her has been placed on a good behavior bond.

Dane Wildman pleaded guilty in November last year to breaking into his ex-girlfriend's home to install the optical surveillance device.

He admitted to having a key cut so that he could install the small camouflage camera under the woman's bed to determine if she was seeing another man. A small child discovered the device.

The woman took it to police who downloaded nearly 400 images including one of Wildman as he installed it. (more)

First modern spy novel is still one of the best

Book review: Penguin Classics has reissued "The Riddle of the Sands" by Erskine Childers, a 1903 novel thought to be the progenitor of all modern spy novels, and still one of the best.

Childers' story of Britons trying to foil German spies takes place partly on the Baltic Sea, with which he was familiar as a yachtsman. His day job was clerking for the House of Commons, but at night he toiled away at this novel, adding a romantic subplot at the suggestion of his sister Dulcibella, whose mellifluous first name he gave to the yacht in his book.

Childers was superb at depicting action, as in this scene in which the narrator, Carruthers, senses that he is not alone on deck: "I started up involuntarily, bumped against the table, and set the stove jingling. A long step and a grab at the ladder, but just too late! I grasped something damp and greasy, there was tugging and hard breathing, and I was left clasping a big sea-boot, whose owner I heard jump on to the sand and run." (more)

How to Secure Cell Phones in Sensitive Areas

via Vector Technologies...

"The US Government has a requirement to properly secure any Portable Electronic Device (PED) introduced into classified processing areas...

PEDs such as cellular phones, Blackberry devices, laptop computers and PDAs have inherent technical vulnerabilities that are potentially exploitable... without the users’ knowledge. For example, microphones and photographic/video cameras built into many PEDs can be remotely activated... audio and/or visual information near the PED can either be transmitted in real-time or recorded and then transmitted at a later time. PEDs can also... wirelessly probe the surrounding area... in an attempt to connect to or map out any computer network system."

Several companies, including Vector, have come up with some ingenious products. From cell phone box and socks to portable Faraday rooms, there are solutions for every need.

Resources list:

• Vector Technologies

• Faraday-Bags.com

• Parabin 

Tip: Turn your gadget entirely off before storing it. Otherwise the phone will try transmitting signals to the cell site using its highest power level, thus depleting your battery quicker than normal.

Beware: Googling "Cell Phone Shielding" will return hundreds of sites selling quack personal radiation shielding products.

Hackers Retaliate Against Corporate Security Firm

WikiLeaks hackers and a California-based Internet security business has opened a window onto the secretive world of private companies that offer to help corporations investigate and discredit their critics.

This week, hackers said they had penetrated the computers of HBGary Federal, a security company that sells investigative services to corporations, and posted tens of thousands of what appear to be its internal company e-mails on the Internet.

The documents appear to include pitches for unseemly ways to undermine adversaries of Bank of America and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, like doing background research on their critics and then distributing fake documents to embarrass them. (more)

SpyCam Story #599 - Looking Up Down Under

Australia - Police say a man used a sophisticated system to secretly film up women's skirts in Sydney's CBD.

Sabapathy Chandrahasan, 56, has been granted bail after officers allegedly found more than 1,000 photos on his home computer yesterday.

He was arrested by police at Central Station yesterday, moments after he allegedly filmed a woman who was climbing stairs to a platform. (more)

Update on Camera Man

Remember Camera Man?
 The New York University professor who implanted a camera in the back of his head was prepared for privacy-related objections by the school and his pupils. What he didn’t anticipate was resistance from a more intimate source: his own body.

Last week, Wafaa Bilal removed part of the device, saying his body had rejected it despite antibiotics and steroid treatments, according to a report in the Chronicle of Higher Education. A spokeswoman for Bilal did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bilal, an assistant professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, was commissioned to implant the camera in his head for one year by a museum in Qatar, part of a project that broadcasts to the museum and to a website a live stream of images snapped automatically by the device at one-minute intervals.

The 10-megapixel camera was attached to Bilal’s skull during a November procedure at a piercing studio that specializes in body modification. Three titanium plates, each with a post attached, were inserted underneath a large flap of skin on the back of his head. The camera was screwed onto the posts. But his body rejected one of the posts, causing him “constant pain,” he told the Chronicle. He had one post removed, but left the other two, and intends to replace the camera with a lighter model. (more)

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)