NJ - An ex-Rutgers student accused of using a webcam to spy on his gay roommate was convicted of invasion of privacy but cleared of some of the more serious charges of bias intimidation Friday.
Dharun Ravi, 20, was stoic as the jury rendered its mixed verdict in New Jersey’s Middlesex Country Superior Court after deliberating since Wednesday.
Ravi was accused of 15 counts after using a webcam to spy on roommate Tyler Clementi’s dorm-room tryst with another man in 2010.
Clementi, 18, jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge three days after the spying incident. (more)
Friday, March 16, 2012
Two Simple Tips to Prevent Snooping on Your Lost Cell Phone
Anyone who loses their mobile phone should expect the data to be accessed by the person who finds it, and business data is no exception, according to a study released this week by security firm Symantec.In its Smartphone Honey Stick Project, Symantec "lost" 10 phones in each of five cities, leaving them on top of newspaper boxes, in food courts, and even the ladies restroom of a Chinese restaurant. In all but one instance, people who found the phones accessed the devices, with 83 percent of people accessing one or more of the four business applications, including two human resources files, corporate email, and a remote administration tool. More than 4 out of 10 people even accessed the banking application on the device.
...two simple security measures can protect the data on devices...
• While complex passcodes are best, using even a simple four-digit code would protect the devices from casual access.
• Installing a remote management tool to remotely track the device can help to quickly recover a lost phone. Most device management tools also allow users to remotely delete the data on the device, a hedge against a more tech-savvy data thief. (more)
Advice: Use Cell Phone Forensics, not Spyware, to Gather Evidence
"As a private investigator, I’m often asked by businesses to gather information from cell phones owned by a company; you can protect your business by tracking your employee’s cell phone data. Even though I know the best method for collecting data from phones is through mobile phone forensics, one client was insistent that we use spyware to track calls, text messages, etc. from one specific employee they suspected of stealing from the company..." (and it goes downhill from here) (more)
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Privacy Invading Lawsuit - Apps
Facebook, Apple, Twitter, Yelp and 14 other companies have been hit with a lawsuit accusing them of distributing privacy-invading mobile applications.
The lawsuit was filed by a group of 13 individuals in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas earlier this week. The suit charges 18 companies with surreptitiously gathering data from the address books of tens of millions of smartphone users. (more)
The lawsuit was filed by a group of 13 individuals in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas earlier this week. The suit charges 18 companies with surreptitiously gathering data from the address books of tens of millions of smartphone users. (more)
Psychopath Chat
To investigate whether there are actually “psychopathic tendencies” in the way a person talks, researchers at Cornell University compared stories told by 14 imprisoned psychopathic male murderers with those of 38 convicted murderers who were not diagnosed as psychopathic.
Each subject was asked to describe his crime in detail; the stories were taped, transcribed and subjected to computer analysis.
The analysis showed that psychopaths are more likely than other criminals to use words that reveal a great degree of selfishness, detachment from their crimes and emotional flatness, the study found. These include conjunctions like “because,” “since” or “so that,” to imply that the crime “had to be done” to obtain a particular goal.
The analysis showed that psychopaths are more likely than other criminals to use words that reveal a great degree of selfishness, detachment from their crimes and emotional flatness, the study found. These include conjunctions like “because,” “since” or “so that,” to imply that the crime “had to be done” to obtain a particular goal.
Here are a few other notable differences:
• Psychopaths used twice as many words relating to physical needs, such as food, sex or money, while non-psychopaths used more words about social needs, including family, religion and spirituality.
• They were also more likely to use the past tense, suggesting a detachment from their crimes.
• They tended to be less fluent in their speech, using more “ums” and “uhs.” The exact reason for this is not clear, but the researchers speculate that the psychopath is trying harder to make a positive impression and needs to use more mental effort to frame the story. (more)
• They were also more likely to use the past tense, suggesting a detachment from their crimes.
• They tended to be less fluent in their speech, using more “ums” and “uhs.” The exact reason for this is not clear, but the researchers speculate that the psychopath is trying harder to make a positive impression and needs to use more mental effort to frame the story. (more)
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
"Yer out!" Baseball Spy Gets the Boot
Media reports said Angels scout Jeff Schugel was taking notes during the Giants’ routine drills when he was told to leave the ballpark.
Earlier this spring, Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson had scouts removed while they were watching drills at Arizona’s camp. (more)
FS - Slightly Tarnished Surveillance Equipment Company - Buyer's Identity Protected
Bull SA, Amesys's parent company, said Thursday it had "signed an exclusivity agreement with a view to negotiating the sale of the activities" related to its Eagle interception product. Bull declined to identify the buyer. (more)
From Racoon Twsp. in Beaver County a Bed Bugger's Comedy
PA - A Raccoon Township man was charged after police said he hid a listening device under his wife's bed in an attempt to catch her having an affair.
Suzanne Cripe, contacted police and said she had found a "transmitter device" under her bed... She told police she thought the device had been placed there by her husband, Wayne Comet Cripe.
The Cripes "have been separated for some time," and were still sharing a house, but they had separate bedrooms, the police report said.
Suzanne Cripe, contacted police and said she had found a "transmitter device" under her bed... She told police she thought the device had been placed there by her husband, Wayne Comet Cripe.
The Cripes "have been separated for some time," and were still sharing a house, but they had separate bedrooms, the police report said.
When police made contact with Wayne Cripe he said, "I guess she found the transmitter," before police even asked him any questions.Cripe told the police he put the transmitter under his wife's bed because he wanted to know whether she and her boyfriend were having sex. He told police he was tired of hearing them and wanted to know "if the coast was clear" before entering his home. (more)
SpyCam Story #657 - This Week in SpyCam News
SpyCam stories have become commonplace and the techniques used, repetitive. We continue to keep lose track of the subject for statistical purposes, but won't bore you with the details. Only links to the stories will be supplied unless there is something useful to be learned.
Monday, March 12, 2012
FutureWatch - Facebook and the Fourth Amendment
 |
| Click to enlarge |
"The recent trend toward social readers and other types of frictionless sharing may at first glance seem innocuous, if inane... users may not understand that sharing what they read with friends may mean sharing what they read with the government, as well. That is a whole lot more serious than just annoying your friends with your taste for celebrity gossip. Indeed, it may be another step toward the death of the Fourth Amendment by a thousand cuts." —Margot Kaminski, writing in the Wake Forest Law Review (more)
Surprise! Trade Secret Theft is not automatically Economic Espionage
Corporate espionage used to be rather straight forward as the typical Coke-Pepsi textbook example illustrates. It is a crime when one stole company data/trade secrets and passed it to a business rival.
This was, however, not quite the case of former Goldman Sachs computer programmer Sergey Aleynikov. A US federal appeals court acquitted Aleynikov in mid-February after he had served a year of his eight-year sentence... His acquittal was not only a blow to his former employer but also the Department of Justice.
Most importantly, his case is an acid test of the 16-year old Economic Espionage Act that specifically targets theft of trade secrets.
The Economic Espionage Act makes theft or misappropriation of a trade secret a federal crime, whether it is with the knowledge or intent that the theft will benefit a foreign power or for interstate and/or international commerce with the knowledge or intent that it will hurt the owner of the trade secret.
Coincidentally just a week before Aleynikov was let go, another US court acquitted Chinese-born American software developer Hanjuan Jin for allegedly stealing confidential information from her employer Motorola Inc...
But the judge said while the evidence showed she stole trade secrets...it was not enough to prove she committed economic espionage by selling the information to a foreign government or entity. (more)
Moral: Prevention is more swift and sure than legal protection. Get professional help.
Most importantly, his case is an acid test of the 16-year old Economic Espionage Act that specifically targets theft of trade secrets.
The Economic Espionage Act makes theft or misappropriation of a trade secret a federal crime, whether it is with the knowledge or intent that the theft will benefit a foreign power or for interstate and/or international commerce with the knowledge or intent that it will hurt the owner of the trade secret.
Coincidentally just a week before Aleynikov was let go, another US court acquitted Chinese-born American software developer Hanjuan Jin for allegedly stealing confidential information from her employer Motorola Inc...
But the judge said while the evidence showed she stole trade secrets...it was not enough to prove she committed economic espionage by selling the information to a foreign government or entity. (more)
Moral: Prevention is more swift and sure than legal protection. Get professional help.
Social Media Spy Trick #101 - Know Who Your Friends Are... really.
Spies opened a fake Facebook account under the name of NATO’s supreme allied commander, Adm. James Stavridis, and fooled senior British defense and government officials into accepting friend requests, it was reported yesterday. The incident allowed the reportedly Chinese spies access to the personal e-mail and contact information of some British officials, but it was unlikely any military secrets were compromised, according to The Sunday Telegraph.
“Discussions/chats/postings on Facebook are of course only about unclassified topics,” a NATO official said of the information that was accessed. (more)
Is this Web Site Malicious?
Special thanks to Lenny Zeltser...
Several organizations offer free on-line tools for looking up a potentially malicious website. Some of these tools provide historical information; others examine the URL in real time to identify threats:
- AVG LinkScanner Drop Zone: Analyzes the URL in real time for threats
- BrightCloud URL/IP Lookup: Presents historical reputation data about the website
- Cisco IronPort SenderBase Security Network: Presents historical reputation data about the website
- G-Data MonkeyWrench Beta: Analyzes the URL in real time for threats (about)
- F-Secure Browsing Protection: Presents historical reputation data about the website
- Finjan URL Analysis: Analyzes the URL in real time for threats
- KnownSec: Presents historical reputation data about the website; Chinese language only
- Norton Safe Web: Presents historical reputation data about the website
- ParetoLogic URL Clearing House: Looks up malicious sites discovered using a web honeypot; registration required
- PhishTank: Looks up the URL in its database of known phishing websites
- Malware Domain List: Looks up recently-reported malicious websites
- MalwareURL: Looks up the URL in its historical list of malicious websites
- McAfee Site Advisor: Presents historical reputation data about the website
- McAfee TrustedSource: Presents historical reputation data about the website
- Trend Micro Web Reputation: Presents historical reputation data about the website
- Unmask Parasites: Looks up the URL in the Google Safe Browsing database
- URL Blacklist: Looks up the URL in its database of suspicious sites
- URL Query: Looks up the URL in its database of suspicious sites and examines the site's content
- URLVoid: Looks up the URL in several website blacklisting services
- vURL: Retrieves and displays the source code of the page; looks up its status in several blocklists
- Web of Trust: Presents historical reputation data about the website; community-driven
- Wepawet: Analyzes the URL in real time for threats
- Zscaler Zulu URL Risk Analyzer: Examines the URL using real-time and historical techniques
On Corporate Intellectual Fruit ...and how to keep it.
Dodd-Frank related governance issues such as say-on-pay and proxy access have been well known focal points for boardrooms during the 2012 proxy and annual meeting season, but another issue has topped headlines and is of increasing concern to boardrooms: business intelligence gathering activities...
Effective corporate governance principles dictate that those who conduct unethical or, worse, illegal activities on behalf of a company must be brought to heel. The phrase “traditional intelligence gathering” has its roots corporate espionage.
Popular targets include technology related industries such as software, hardware, aerospace, biotechnology, telecommunications and energy, among others... It is clear, however, that no specific industry or sector is immune to these issues. (more)
Intelligence is the fruit of creativity; the food by which companies grow. Fruit that falls and rolls into the road is picked up by competitive intelligence professionals, legally. But when they come on property and pick fresh, ripe fruit off the trees, it's illegal. With a good fence, you can keep all your fruit.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Pursuit Magazine Book Review - "Is My Cell Phone Bugged?"
By Stephanie Mitchell, CompassPoint Investigations / Pursuit Magazine
"'Nearly everyone carries instant access to phone service, and tapping has become a personal concern.' The well documented comprehensive guide Is My Cell Phone Bugged, by Kevin D. Murray, provides well-documented information and research addressing cell phone privacy issues.
I found the book well written and superbly formatted. Even those who are not technologically savvy will find it to be very user-friendly. At no time during my reading did I feel bogged down with complicated technical language! Mr. Murray’s explanation and thorough direction assists the reader in regaining their privacy and the security of their personal information. Mr. Murray’s guidance ensures the reader that cell phone security and privacy can be achieved even if you are not a counterespionage expert.
I was impressed with the wealth of information and knowledge I gained from this book. Topics include: communications technology, purchasing secure cordless devices, how to avoid pre-bugged cell phones, understanding and identifying spyware, preventing tapping and information leaks, caller-ID technology, and identifying when your phone is under surveillance. As an investigator, I was particularly appreciative of the Legal Issues chapter covering privacy laws in a clear and precise manner." (complete review)
Thank you — Kevin
"'Nearly everyone carries instant access to phone service, and tapping has become a personal concern.' The well documented comprehensive guide Is My Cell Phone Bugged, by Kevin D. Murray, provides well-documented information and research addressing cell phone privacy issues.
I found the book well written and superbly formatted. Even those who are not technologically savvy will find it to be very user-friendly. At no time during my reading did I feel bogged down with complicated technical language! Mr. Murray’s explanation and thorough direction assists the reader in regaining their privacy and the security of their personal information. Mr. Murray’s guidance ensures the reader that cell phone security and privacy can be achieved even if you are not a counterespionage expert.I was impressed with the wealth of information and knowledge I gained from this book. Topics include: communications technology, purchasing secure cordless devices, how to avoid pre-bugged cell phones, understanding and identifying spyware, preventing tapping and information leaks, caller-ID technology, and identifying when your phone is under surveillance. As an investigator, I was particularly appreciative of the Legal Issues chapter covering privacy laws in a clear and precise manner." (complete review)
Thank you — Kevin
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)