The Spy Who Helped Us - RIP

 Gevork Vartanian, a Soviet intelligence officer who helped prevent a Nazi assassination plot on the leaders of the U.S., the U.K. and the Soviet Union, died yesterday at the age of 87, Russian state television Vesti 24 reported...

At the age of 19, Vartanian was among the officers responsible for blocking a plot by Adolf Hitler to assassinate Soviet leader Josef Stalin, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the Tehran Conference in 1943, Vesti reported on its website. (more)

SpyCam Story #629 - Holy Water Cam, Batman

UK - A church youth leader has admitted spying on a young man while he was in the shower during a visit to a faith camp.

Mark Pennell, 37, admitted filming the man when he attended the East of England Show with other members of the church in August. The court heard how the victim became suspicious of Pennell, a youth leader, after he repeatedly showered next to him... the victim noticed a glow coming from a mobile phone... in a gap between the floor and the cubicle. (more)

How to Handle a Web-site Hack Attack Gracefully

As you may have heard, Stratfor (a respected global intelligence web site) was the victim of an embarrassing hack attack last month. They are now getting back on their feet.

An e-mail I received from them this morning began, "We are happy to announce that our website is back online, and temporarily free for everyone. Visit Stratfor.com..." What followed was a sincere full disclosure and apology from their CEO, George Friedman via print and video.

Take some time today to make sure your web site is locked down. But, should you have a problem some day, this is the way to handle it...

SpyCam Story #628 - How to Push a Perv's Hot Button

An on-line review via The Nerd Gereration

"This is the coolest spy gadget I have ever used. This tiny keychain fob poses as an automatic door unlock/panic for a car. In actuality it is a tiny albeit powerful camera capable of snapping photographs at 640 x 480 resolution and recording video in AVI format. I figured the photos and video I got with this little device would be blurry and useless in real world spying practices.

I took the camera out on a couple secret missions and compiled a plethora of photographs and video files. When I arrived at my home base I plugged the device into my computer and downloaded the files from the 4 GB micro SD card (a small cable allows xfer without worrying about a card reader).

I was absolutely floored with the quality of images and video this camera took!  

I figured the video would not have any audio, but there it was! Crisp and clear! How is this possible? Technology my friends… and it’s awesome." (more)

Security Director Alert — Use of these inexpensive, yet high-quality devices in restrooms, employees showers and changing areas is now a serious workplace issue. The lawsuits are just beginning to roll out.

You are the deep pockets in this scenario, and just one spycam can spawn dozens of employee lawsuits.

FREE Security White Paper - "Surreptitious Workplace Recording ...and what you can do about it."   

Solution — Your organization needs to show pro-active due diligence. Conduct periodic inspections of your facilities. Call us for further advice and pricing.

Spycam Story #627 - SpyCam Incident Settlements Top $600,000.00

PA - A suburban Philadelphia school district has settled another lawsuit over its alleged spying on students through laptop webcams.

A lawyer says Joshua Levin has settled his lawsuit against the Lower Merion School District. Lawyer Norman Perlberger tells The Philadelphia Inquirer (http://bit.ly/uihP4S ) the 2009 Harriton High School graduate will get more than the $10,000 offered to some other students, but says he can’t specify the amount.

The district has paid more than $600,000 to resolve litigation over software that allowed school employees to remotely activate webcams to track missing computers. (more)

SpyCam Story #626 - The Slime of the Ancient Sub-Mariner

A 40-year-old man has pleaded guilty in the Perth Magistrates Court to covertly filming more than 40 women while they were showering in backpacker hostels across Perth.

Allyn Wilson Fitzgerald used his iPhone to record 70 video clips of women in showers over a 12 month period.

The court heard Fitzgerald was a former serviceman with the Australian Navy and was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. He had been a submariner for 12 years. (more)

Top German cop uses spyware on daughter, gets hacked in retaliation

A top German security official installed a trojan on his own daughter's computer to monitor her Internet usage. What could possibly go wrong?

Nothing—well, at least until one of the daughter's friends found the installed spyware. The friend then went after the dad's personal computer as a payback and managed to get in, where he found a cache of security-related e-mails from work. The e-mails, in turn, provided the information necessary for hackers to infiltrate Germany's federal police.

Wait, it gets worse...

The hackers got into the servers for the "Patras" program, which logs location data on suspected criminals through cell phone and car GPS systems. Concerned about security breaches, the government eventually had to take the entire set of Patras servers offline. (more)

Cellphone Spying Getting Easier for Abusers, Stalkers

NJ - “You could now listen in 100% completely undetected” — that’s the promise one company makes on its website to anyone who wants to eavesdrop on someone else’s cellphone.

Spy technology is now available to the average person who wants to glean cellphone information, read private emails, and track someone’s location using global positioning systems. And increasingly, experts say, the technologies are being used by spouses and partners to track, harass and stalk... 

“Any time you have technological advancements, you also have the downside that comes along with it as far as privacy is concerned,” said Kevin D. Murray, a consultant on eavesdropping detection and counterespionage services, based in Oldwick, NJ.

Murray, who advises business and government, said people who are concerned about privacy or who transmit sensitive information should know that smart phones are vulnerable. Someone with access to a smart phone can load spyware on it within minutes.

He urges wary individuals to restrict access to their phones by using a strong and unique password and by always keeping their phone in sight. Another form of protection, he said, is to use an old-fashioned phone without Internet capabilities. Phone companies, he said, aren’t likely to improve security because it’s not in their financial interest, since they make money from transmissions.

Many of the companies that sell spyware are based outside the country, making them tough to prosecute, Murray said. (more)

Killers who shot dead debt collector jailed after he 'bugged' his own murder

You can't make this stuff up...

UK - Two lovers were jailed yesterday after their murder victim 'bugged' his own clothing (apparently using a cell phone) before his brutal death. Scott Davidson, 23, was sentenced to life imprisonment whilst his 19-year-old girlfriend Rachel Horton will serve eight years in a young offenders' institution.

Martin Ithell, 49, was shot and stabbed in the neck eight times after he was invited round by the pair to collect an outstanding £26,000 loan with the pair oblivious to the recording device he had strapped to his body.

As Ithell’s friends eavesdropped round the corner from the couple’s house, they heard Mr Ithell ask them: 'Hi, have you been doing some painting?' before a shot rang out and the line went dead. (more)

Home SpyCam Success Story

PA - The man who was arrested after police said surveillance video caught images of him breaking into a Brookline home on New Year's Day told detectives Thursday that he also broke into the home in the fall.

Raymond J. Walsh, 50, of Brookline, now faces additional charges of burglary and theft. Mr. Walsh was arrested Sunday after a woman's surveillance system sent her electronic alerts that included time-stamped photos of a man walking through her home in the 1400 block of Bellaire Place.

When detectives interviewed Mr. Walsh Thursday, he admited the New Year's break-in and also said he broke into the home at the end of September and stole $100, according to a criminal complaint filed in court. (more)

One Man Makes the Corporate Security World Less Secure Today

Mark Cheviron didn't come into work today. He retired yesterday, after 30+ years as Corporate VP - Director Corporate Security & Administrative Services at ADM (a Fortune 39 company with 30,000 employees). 

In some respects, corporate security everywhere is less secure today for losing his leadership and innovations, which he freely shared with the community. 

On the other hand, he single-handedly re-invented the modern corporate security department and left us a model for future generations to follow.

Mark was the first security director ADM hired. Immediately, his one-man department began to grow. Today, the security department has many specialized sub-departments, each staffed with some of the best investigators I have ever met. They handle cases all over the world, and have personnel permanently stationed overseas. 

I've had the chance to watch the growth of this security department from almost Day One. Here are the secrets to Marks' success from my vantage-point. I am sure there is more to it, but you'll have to ask Mark.

1. Make sure the security department is a company profit-center, and document your profitability. There were several years where I saw millions of dollars returned to the company due to Mark's efforts. For all I know, he did this every year.

2. Employ honest, talented, hard-working people to assist with the task. Inspire them, and hold them to account. 

His inspiration was infectious. Accountability to him was a welcome part of the package. He made you want to be your best, at all times. 

During these last two years at ADM, he made a concerted effort to get his team ready to carry on successfully once he retired. Why? Because, from Day One, right up until the end, he had pride in his work and he cared.

That's it. Two secrets to corporate security department success. Simple, right?

After my first five years with Mark, I understood his methods and vision. I told him, "You have the hardest working, most productive security department I have ever seen." Today, I can still say, "You have the hardest working, most productive security department I have ever seen," without anyone thinking I am being self-serving. Feels good.

I don't know if Mark is interested in acting as a consultant to corporate security departments looking to restructure and become profit-centers, but if he does, open the corporate vault. It will be worth every million you pay him to get what he knows.

~Kevin

FutureWatch: Help! - A security app to record your demise.

via gizmag...

Help! Users of the app would activate it simply by touching an icon on their home screen, whenever they found themselves in what could become a dicey situation - such scenarios could include being at a protest that is threatening to become a riot, being followed on the street at night, getting into an altercation with another person, or anything else that could escalate into a problem.

When the icon was pressed, the smartphone would surreptitiously begin recording audio and video, and sending it to a remote server. Once the connection to the server was broken (by the app being turned off, the phone's battery dying, or perhaps by the phone being violently smashed), an email would be sent to up to five preselected personal contacts. This email would tell them that the user possibly needed help.

Care to help Help!?

The developer of Help!, Joseph Reilly, is currently raising development funds for his app on Kickstarter. He plans on starting out with a version for Android devices, with an iOS version soon to follow, if funds allow. (more)

Security Directors: FREE Security White Paper - "Surreptitious Workplace Recording ...and what you can do about it."   

PI excuse 2012: "I lost the guy in the crowd." 2020: "What crowd?"

Scientists have made an entire event impossible to see. They have invented a time masker.

Think of it as an art heist that takes place before your eyes and surveillance cameras. You don't see the thief strolling into the museum, taking the painting down or walking away, but he did. It's not just that the thief is invisible - his whole activity is.

What scientists at Cornell University did was on a much smaller scale, both in terms of events and time. It happened so quickly that it's not even a blink of an eye. Their time cloak lasts an incredibly tiny fraction of a fraction of a second. They hid an event for 40 trillionths of a second, according to a study appearing in Thursday's edition of the journal Nature. (more)

"Is that an ear mullet, or are you just happy to record her?"

Bogartski all you see with this Bluetooth Headset Camera! Lightweight and easy-to-use. The Bluetooth Headset Cam has the ability to record video or take still photos. Recorded images will always look sharp even if the user is in motion or using the camera in low light. 4GB internal storage and rechargeable Lithium battery. (more)

Why do I mention it?

So you will know what you're up against.

Joe Finder asks, "Who's Listening In?"

via Joe Finder - author who introduced the “private spy” — who finds out things powerful people want to keep hidden — in the New York Times bestselling novel VANISHED. 

Now, in BURIED SECRETS, Nick Heller returns, finding himself in the middle of a life-or-death situation that’s both high-profile and intensely personal.

"I found Kevin Murray’s website, Counterespionage.com, while doing research for VANISHED about surveillance techniques. Kevin’s spent more than 30 years helping corporations and individuals protect themselves from eavesdropping and information theft, and has even written a book on the subject: Is My Cell Phone Bugged? 

He’s answered a lot of questions for Nick Heller, and was kind enough to answer a few more for the newsletter." Read the interview with Kevin Murray.