U.S. Wiretap Report 2011 (For the Period January 1 Through December 31, 2011)

The vast majority of law enforcement wiretaps in 2011 were for telephones (including mobiles) and only a tiny percentage included encryption, which in no case prevented officials from obtaining the plain text of the communications.

That's according to the latest annual U.S. Courts report on wiretapping by federal and state government-authorized wiretaps.

Of the 2,189 court-ordered intercepts, 95.6 percent of the 2,189 total were for some type of telephone, whether a plain old one, a cell phone or another type of mobile device. Only four were against some type of electronic device, including a digital pager, fax or computer. Another six were for oral communications (intercepted with a microphone) and 87 were for a combination of more than one intercept type. (more)

Libya Powers Up Old Spy Gear (The Who, you say!)

Libya's caretaker government has quietly reactivated some of the interception equipment that fallen dictator Moammar Gadhafi once used to spy on his opponents.

The surveillance equipment has been used in recent months to track the phone calls and online communications of Gadhafi loyalists, according to two government officials and a security official. Two officials say they have seen dozens of phone or Internet-chat transcripts detailing conversations between Gadhafi supporters. (more) (the gear) (sing-a-long)

In other news... Bull Poops Out

French technology company Amesys is offloading its business that sells Internet-interception equipment, a move that comes six months after it became public that Moammar Gadhafi's regime had been using the technology to spy on Libyans.

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)

你好, 你好! Is anybody listening?

The Chinese government has “pervasive access” to some 80 percent of the world’s communications, giving it the ability to undertake remote industrial espionage and even sabotage electronically of critical infrastructures in the United States and in other industrialized countries.

The Chinese government and its People’s Liberation Army are acquiring the access through two Chinese companies, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd and ZTE Corporation, telecommunications experts have told WND.

With this access, the sources say, the Chinese are working on the other 20 percent. The two companies give the Chinese remote electronic “backdoor” access through the equipment they have installed in telecommunications networks in 140 countries. The Chinese companies service 45 of the world’s 50 largest telecom operators. (more)

So, how much can you make as an industrial spy?

Japan - Police have arrested two former employees of a Kawasaki-based machine tool maker on suspicion of duplicating confidential blueprints and smuggling them to a Chinese company. 

Industrial espionage: Confidential blueprints from Yoshizuka Seiki Co. in Kawasaki allegedly ended up in the hands of a Chinese company. KYODO 

Seiichi Furuya, 48, and Fumiaki Inoue, 57, were taken into custody Wednesday after allegedly copying blueprints belonging to Yoshizuka Seiki Co...

The Chinese company, a major press maker based in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, was found to have deposited about ¥42 million ($526,183.91) in Inoue's bank account, some ¥38 million ($476,071.16) of which was credited to an account held by Furuya, the police said.

Spy Satellites - The Next Amazing Generation

A new spy satellite launched into orbit on a secret mission for the U.S. military Friday (June 29), roaring spaceward atop the world's most powerful rocket in use today.

The NROL-15 reconnaissance satellite blasted off from a launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 9:15 a.m. EDT (1315 GMT) to begin its classified mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. It rode a towering Delta 4-Heavy booster equipped with new RS-68A first stage engines — the most powerful liquid hydrogen rocket engines ever built, according to their manufactures.

The Ginsu...

The successful launch marked the second space mission in nine days by ULA to orbit a classified payload for the U.S. military. The next ULA launch will be an Atlas 5 rocket slated to loft another NRO spy satellite into orbit in August. (more)

Spy Drones - The Next Amazing Generation

The U.S. Navy has its sight set on this new drone that was recently unveiled by defense company partner Northrop Grumman.

Click to enlarge.

They've been working on the MQ-C4 Triton over the last several years, and it's now ready for test flights. (more)

Click to enlarge.

See what the drone offers >

SpyCam Found in Irish Slammer Slammed

Ireland - Prison chiefs have launched a probe after secret cameras that could have spied on staff were discovered at a top jail.  

Warders at Wheatfield lock-up in Dublin’s west were shocked to find the miniature devices in the tuck shop area which is run by prison officers.

They have demanded to know if there are spying kits in other slammers.

The Prison Officers Association has met senior management to find out why the spy cams were put there. Spokesman John Clinton said: “The POA is deeply concerned about a report of covert surveillance in a location solely used by staff." (more)

John "Jack" Caulfield, Nixon White House operative, dies at 83

John J. Caulfield, a security operative who was responsible for wiretaps and other so-called “dirty tricks” of the Nixon White House died June 17 in Vero Beach, Fla. He was 83. 

Mr. Caulfield was best known as the White House official who extended an offer of clemency, cash and future employment to James W. McCord Jr. if McCord, a convicted Watergate burglar, refused to testify against members of Nixon’s inner circle... Among other things, he revealed that the president’s brother, Donald Nixon, was under surveillance by the Secret Service and had a wiretap on his telephone. 

After Nixon was elected, Mr. Caulfield assumed a vaguely defined role as a White House staff assistant, with responsibilities that ranged from bodyguard to collector of intelligence.

Mr. Caulfield left the White House several months before the Watergate break-in occurred in June 1972 and was never prosecuted. But his Senate testimony did include some jaw-dropping revelations about the Nixon White House’s intelligence-gathering efforts. (more) (book)

Interesting: Caulfield received NYPD shield #911, June 1, 1953, long before the number took on greater meanings. It is also ironic that Nixon called upon 911 to solve his problems.

TSCM Employment Opportunity

Job Title: Security Specialist (TSCM Program Specialist)
Department: Department Of Transportation  

Agency: Federal Aviation Administration  

Job Announcement Number: AWA-AIN-12-MR78807-26265
SALARY RANGE: $91,426.00 to $141,735.00 / Per Year
OPEN PERIOD: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 to Wednesday, July 11, 2012
SERIES & GRADE: FV-1801-J
POSITION INFORMATION: Full Time - Permanent
DUTY LOCATIONS: 1 vacancy(s) - Washington DC
WHO MAY BE CONSIDERED: U.S. Citizens

(more)

Foreign Spying in US on the Rise

DC - Driven in part by the global financial crisis, foreign intelligence services, corporations and computer hackers have stepped up efforts to steal technology and trade secrets from American companies, the FBI’s top spy hunter told Congress on Thursday. (more)

Darwin Award - Surveillance Swipping Snitch Stunned when Caught

IL - An Alton man who was supposed to be helping investigators in an undercover probe now is now accused of making off with electronic surveillance equipment worth thousands of dollars. 

Twenty-seven-year-old William Cole is charged with felony theft and criminal damage to government property.

Investigators tell The (Alton) Telegraph that Cole was working with detectives on an undercover drug buy Monday when he allegedly bolted with the equipment.

Cole was found Tuesday at an Alton home and arrested by an officer who used a stun gun to stop him from fleeing. (more)

Staff Bugs & Wiretaps at South Africa Techno University

South Africa - The Tshwane University of Technology’s investigation into the illegal tapping of staff phones, in which top campus officials have been implicated, has claimed its first dismissal. The suspended head of internal audit at TUT, Vincent Dlamini, is being fired by the university after being found to have been involved in the “conspiracy”...

Dlamini was also found guilty of unlawful conduct, gross dishonesty, non-compliance with TUT policy, gross negligence, and actions that caused a breakdown in the relationship of trust between the employer and himself as a senior employee...
 

The bugging of the offices of senior managers at TUT was uncovered during Mosia’s investigation into the university’s affairs. Dlamini was among several officials who were suspended on disciplinary charges relating to the bugging. (more)

Fun Fact: Private Investigations on the Rise in India

India's Assn. of Private Detectives and Investigators has 1,200 members, up from 13 in 2005. Much of the industry's business involves premarital investigations. Growing demand spurred the recent opening of Kolkata's Anapol Institute, said to be India's first private-detective school. (more)

"We do Private Investigation either in Kitchen or in Bedroom or anywhere with evidence. We use all available modern Electronic Gadgets." Quote from a local agency.

FutureWatch: The rise of TSCM services.

"What say, you, we go out on the town and swing, baby? Yeah! "

He set up shop as a corporate security consultant, offering his dubious “operational experience” in intelligence to solve delicate problems for customers working in dangerous places...

Some people knew him as Kevin. He told others he was Richard. Everyone could see he had money to burn, and most people thought he was a British spy...

For about three years, until 2008, Halligen spent hundreds of thousands of dollars living large in Washington. He stayed in a Willard Hotel suite for months at a time and drank the days away at pricey Georgetown restaurants. He traveled everywhere in a chauffeur-driven Lincoln Town Car, set up high-tech offices in Herndon and bought a grand home in Great Falls.

Smart, charming and favoring black turtlenecks and sunglasses, Halligen told everyone that he was a spy, or a former spy, or connected to spies. He told friends that he was under such deep cover that he took over his fiancee’s place as a “safe house.”... (more)

Jersey Sure - Encrypted & Self-Destructing iPhone Email

Encryption is meant to keep your messages secret from any third-party eavesdropper–what security pros call a “man-in-the-middle” attack. 

But what about that more common problem, the man-on-the-other-end? Even trusted recipients of a message, photo or video can leak secrets, carelessly forward messages, let them fall into the wrong hands, or even betray the sender and dig up evidence years later–a lesson folks like Anthony Weiner and Adrian Lamo have illustrated all too clearly.

Wickr, a free application that launched in the iPhone app store Wednesday, aims to encrypt text, picture and video messages to prevent their interception by men-in-the-middle. But then, as the app’s name implies, those messages also delete themselves after just minutes or even seconds like a burning wick, leaving no trace behind even for forensic investigators. “We want to let people send messages that are easy, secure, and leave no trace,” says Robert Statica, one of the company’s founders and director of Center for Information Protection at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. (more)