Cautionary Tales of Laptops and Thumb Drives

Laptop Cautionary Tale

 UK - The former Director-General of UK's internal security service MI5 has had her laptop stolen at London's Heathrow airport on Tuesday. 

Dame Stella Rimington, who headed the agency from 1992 to 1996, has since then become a well-known spy thriller author. According to the report, he laptop contained research for her next book, but it could have also contained sensitive information such as contact details of her former colleagues.

"Dame Stella seems to have forgotten the tricks of her tradecraft since leaving MI5," commented a source... (more)
 

Tip: Password protect your laptop. Encrypt confidential files. Carry only essential information. Install track and remote erase security software. 

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Memory Stick / Thumb Drive Cautionary Tale

The U.S. and Israel were responsible for creating the Stuxnet computer worm that wreaked havoc with Iranian nuclear facilities... And the first salvos in the massive cyberattack were launched via an unassuming piece of technology: a thumb drive... Thumb drives were “critical” in the initial Stuxnet attacks — which began in 2008 — although unspecified “more sophisticated” means were later used... “It turns out there is always an idiot around who doesn’t think much about the thumb drive in their hand,” one of the program’s architects said. (more)

Tip: You know that thumb drive you "found" in the parking lot? 

Don't plug it in. 

Smash it. 

(distructional video)

Companies Urged to Security Classify their Information

Australia - Private companies must institute a classification system similar to the one used by spies and the military, assigning confidential, secret or top-secret status to information rather than assuming computer networks can be defended from increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks.


The former head of the Defence Signals Directorate's highly secretive Cyber Security Operations Centre, Tim Scully, has called for a reorganisation of cyber security, saying the present approach focuses too much on protecting networks and not the information in them. 

He said the private sector must begin to think like government and create a classification system that reflects the value and sensitivity of the information in its possession.

From there, risk assessments can be performed about how, if at all, the most sensitive information is conveyed across the internet. Under the new national security classification system information is marked protected, confidential, secret or top-secret.

The most sensitive information is then "air-gapped" - or stored on a closed network not accessible via the internet. (more) (see also) (see also)

Russian Wiretaps Double

Russia - Legal wiretaps have almost doubled in Russia over the past five years due to lack of external control over the secret services, according to official and publicly available statistics unearthed by a leading Russian security analyst.

“This is both a political and a bureaucratic story,” said Andrei Soldatov, editor-in-chief of Agentura.ru, an online secret services think-tank. He added that the services often abuse their powers, including for illegal monitoring of political opposition.

The courts issued 466,152 sanctions for telephone wiretaps and inspection of regular and electronic mail in 2011, according to the website of the Judicial Department at the Russian Supreme Court.

The figure stood at 265,937 in 2007, the department said.

Only 3,554 wiretap requests, or under 1 percent of the total, were rejected in 2011, compared to 4,246 in 2007. (more)

More Than A Feeling - Boston Rocked by SpyCam Death

Boston singer Brad Delp installed a hidden camera in his fiancee’s sister’s bedroom – and killed himself nine days after he was caught.

Evidence given in the court case between Boston mainman Tom Scholz and a newspaper revealed how Delp, who committed suicide in 2007, was ashamed and apologetic after his spy device was found.

Events came to light as part of Scholz’s claim that the Boston Herald defamed him by suggesting he was to blame for his bandmate’s death. (more)

One Day - Two Headlines - A Salute to US Spies

"China 'arrests high-level US spy' in Hong Kong" (more)
 

"Retired Russian colonel has been convicted and sentenced on charges of spying for the United States" (more)

"Be Sociable"

Banners signed by a cult-like Mexican drug gang say that cartel members launched firebombing attacks on a PepsiCo. subsidiary because they believe the snack company let law-enforcement agents use its trucks for surveillance. (more)

$71 million divorce - Electronic Bugging Allegations

The extraordinarily bitter break up of Silicon Valley power player Susan Decker, 49, and Michael Dovey, 52, led to the couple hurling allegations of infidelity, drug use and electronic bugging at each other. 

Miss Decker was accused of extramarital affairs, drug use, and bugging the Laguna Beach home to spy on him.  

Mr Dovey's lawyers also issued subpoenas to Yahoo demanding emails and records, and the company's head of corporate security was among witnesses due to give evidence in court over the bugging claims. (more)

Security Quote of the Month

"We're going to double down on secrecy..." 

Tim Cook, Apple, CEO (more)

Meanwhile... 

“Before, criminals used to steal money to become rich, but now they have realized that they can be rich by stealing corporate information.”

These words from a U.S. Treasury Department official send a chilling reminder to industry about the growing threat – and cost – of trade secret misappropriation...
 
Today, trade secret theft costs multinational corporations billions of dollars each year – and no company is immune. Any company with valuable commercial information, processes or intellectual property is at risk; and global companies from all sectors continue to experience significant economic losses not only from trade secret theft, but also from piracy, counterfeit products and corruption. (more)

What's your policy?

Could this mean that you will never again hear a cellphone go off at a concert?

French researchers have developed wallpaper that would block cellular and wi-fi signals while letting through AM/FM radio waves and emergency transmissions.

Click to enlarge.

Developed by engineers at the Grenoble Institute of Technology and the Centre Technique du Papier—and making use of a conductive ink containing silver particles (it’s a passive block, not a jamming system)—the wallpaper will be marketed to people concerned about outsiders’ snooping on their private networks as well as those who, for health reasons, simply want to shield themselves from as many electromagnetic waves as possible. Researchers say the cost of the product will be in line with what people pay for mid-priced purely decorative wallpaper.

Windows remain a challenge, but even without covering them (and transparent filters do exist), users will enjoy substantial increases in privacy, the researchers say. (more)

Tip: Need a compact VHF/UHF TV antenna? Check out Mohu Leaf, another invention which incorporates fractals into antenna design. We're not entirely sure why, but fractal antennas work. Trust nature's designs.

The Cold War Has Veterans Too, Remember. A Spy Talks.

IL - Blindfolded, Richard Rogala didn’t know what was going on when the USS Pueblo was captured by the North Koreans in 1968.

The former Niles resident along with Werner Juretzko, of the Northwest suburbs, shared their experiences with an attentive audience May 20 at Niles Public Library.

Rogala was a storekeeper aboard the USS Pueblo and remained a prisoner for 11 months. Juretzko was imprisoned in East Germany for six years.

The Cold War was a state of military and political tension between the United States and the Soviet Union in the decades following World War II. The war never blossomed into full-scale military action, but was marked by espionage, lasting from 1945 to 1991... 

Juretzko worked as a G-2 undercover U.S. Army political operative. In 1955, he was captured by the East German secret police, called the Stasi.

Juretzko is the author of “Years Without Hope,” which tells the stories of his espionage work during the Cold War. He showed audience members images of a prison cell and Guillotine that was used to kill Western prisoners. He said everyone left prison either in a horizontal or vertical position.

“I was fortunate I left in a vertical position,” Juretzko said. (more) Thank you, Sirs.

Holy Info Leak. Pope's Batman Arrested.

Vatican magistrates formally charged Pope Benedict's butler with illegal possession of secret documents on Saturday and said a wider investigation would take place to see if he had any accomplices who helped him leak them.

Paolo Gabriele is suspected of leaking highly sensitive documents, some alleging cronyism and corruption in Vatican contracts, in a scandal which has come to be known as "Vatileaks"...  

 Vatican magistrates formally charged Pope Benedict's butler with illegal possession of secret documents on Saturday and said a wider investigation would take place to see if he had any accomplices who helped him leak them.

Because the Vatican has no jail, Gabriele was being held in one of the three so-called "secure rooms" in the offices of the Vatican's tiny police force inside the walled city-state. (more) (sing-a-long)

World's Most Complicated Corkscrew

Lift a glass to the honored fallen this weekend and give thanks. ~Kevin  (more)

SpyCam Story #660 - 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 too many details. Only links to the stories will be supplied unless there is something useful to be learned.

OH - Woman catches spycam'er, takes his phone, calls police, punches and detains him. 

NJ - Student who used a webcam to spy on gay roommate sentenced to 30 days in jail. 

FL - Home theater installer charged with video voyeurism.

TN - Man guilty of phone'caming Miss Tennessee in tanning booth.

Canada - Man facing 28 charges for voyeurism, and writing obscene notes on stalls.

WA - Steve Powell convicted of 14 counts of voyeurism.

AR - Trial delayed... video camera where several teenage girls came to use a tanning bed.

FL - Deputy arrested for taking photos of naked woman, sent to ex-huband and daughter. 

FL - (Ironic) Store CCTV records man putting cell phone underneath the victim's dress.

IN - Pastor charged with placing two air freshener spycams in women's room stalls.

Canada - No bail for man accused of five counts of voyeurism. 

KY - (Dumb) Two students busted for upskirting video of teacher. Posted it on YouTube.

SC - Tanning salon worker faces 3rd charge of voyeurism.

FL - Another Florida upskirter sentenced. Also caught on store CCTV.

OH - The Doctor is out. Charged with three counts of voyeurism and more.

WA - Playhouse employee allegedly spycam'ed an actress undressing in staff bathroom.

SC - Security guard arrested. Caught taping female co-workers in a bathroom.

IN - Former Notre Dame employee gets probation for pen-cam in women's bathroom.

FL- Teacher charged with hiding 3 pen-cams where female students change for gym.

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/05/04/2131140/capital-playhouse-employee-charged.html#storylink=cpy

FutureWatch: Canada's CALEA

Canada - As authorities in the United States and United Kingdom push for greater Internet surveillance powers, the Canadian government is locked in its own controversial struggle to wiretap the Web.

Canada’s C-30 surveillance bill is much like the FBI’s recently revealed effort to force Internet communications providers such as Skype and Facebook to provide “back doors” for eavesdropping. In some cases, the Canadian legislation would allow police to obtain user data without a warrant. C-30 had appeared dead following a Supreme Court ruling in April that deemed warrantless wiretaps unconstitutional, plus a storm of opposition from privacy groups. But the government said last week it is still moving forward with the plan.

Now, new documents obtained under Access to Information laws have revealed Canada’s largest telecoms providers held secret meetings with government officials about the wiretapping proposals. The documents show that after forming a behind-closed-doors working group, the companies and government officials discussed the technical reality of introducing new mass eavesdropping capabilities in fascinating detail. (more)

Bugs found at Russian cultural center in Estonia

Estonia - A wiretapping device has been found in a cultural center for Russian-speaking Estonian citizens in Tallinn. The NGO is run by the mother of the city’s vice mayor, who is suspected of lobbying for Russian interests in the Baltic country.

The wiretap, discovered Tuesday, is the second such device found in the Lira cultural and sports center, after a thorough inspection carried out by center’s security.

The first eavesdropping device, which was clumsily wired into the facility’s alarm system, was found on May 15. Inspectors believe the bugs were installed between September and December 2011. The police opened an investigation but so far no official statements have been made on the issue. (more)