Need to contact the CIA from your cell phone? There's an app for that...

The Central Intelligence Agency has joined the ranks of federal agencies offering mobile applications to the public with the release of a mobile version of CIA.gov.

Using a mobile device, visitors to the CIA website can contact the agency, apply for a job, get a quick overview of the agency and its mission, and access content from the CIA Museum.

Included in the online exhibits are technologies developed for the CIA that eventually led to public benefits. For instance, improvements in battery technology for the agency later were incorporated into medical devices such as pacemakers and consumer products such as digital cameras.

Other items on display demonstrate the role the CIA has played in the evolution of product miniaturization. Those include a 35-mm camera designed to fit inside a pack of cigarettes; a radio receiver that fit into the stem of a pipe and that the user could "hear" through bone conduction from the jaw to the ear canal; the "insectothopter," an insect-shaped micro-drone invented in the 1970s as a proof-of-concept; and a microdot camera.

The mobile version of the CIA Museum includes dozens of images and captions of museum artifacts, articles on topics such as the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, and a timeline of events related to the work of the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies. (more)

This Week on Jersey Shore - "Lemiv da Blimp"

NJ - The Army is testing its $517 million spy blimp in the skies over the New Jersey military base where the German airship Hindenburg crashed in 1937.

The Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle spent more than 90 minutes around Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Ocean County on Tuesday.

Manufacturer Northrop Grumman says the 302-foot long airship is designed to be a high altitude observation platform.

It can be operated by a crew or by remote control. (more and video) (previous blimp news)

If successful, the blimp will stay in the air for up to three weeks at a time, using 2500 pounds’ worth of “sensors, antennas, data links and signals intelligence equipment” to capture still and video images of civilians and adversaries below and send the pictures to troops’ bases.

Sports World Business Espionage - Saints or Sinners

LA - A report (in April) on ESPN claimed General Manager Mickey Loomis had the ability to listen to opposing coaches during games with an electronic device installed in the team's suite at the Superdome.

Mickey Loomis, before it hit the fans.

Wednesday, Louisiana State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson confirmed the state's investigation into the eavesdropping claim "has moved within the FBI."

"As far as our case on the eavesdropping portion of it, we've been involved in interviews with the FBI," said Edmonson. "They brought us under their wing. We've been working closely with them. I've looked at it from a state perspective and all our findings have been turned over to the U.S. Attorney's Office who will be reviewing that along with the FBI."

Edmonson would not say if any of the information gathered and now in the possession of the FBI pointed to alleged wrongdoing by Loomis or the Saints. (more)

The fact that the case is still being investigated, and the FBI has been called in, is not a good sign. - Kevin

Sports World Business Espionage - Gladiator PI

Australia - The South Sydney patriarch George Piggins has accused the Rabbitohs co-owners Russell Crowe and Peter Holmes a Court of sending private investigators to spy on him and search in the garbage bins of those opposed to their takeover of the club - and this is why Piggins now refuses to return to the fold.

In an open letter to South Sydney supporters, penned exclusively for The Sun-Herald, Piggins outlines his reasons for distancing himself from the club he saved from the brink of oblivion. In the letter, he states: ''Crowe and Holmes a Court used the services of Palladino and Sutherland, an American private investigation firm, to come to Australia to investigate us, as well as using other local investigators to secretly search garbage bins of those opposed to the takeover bid, and secretly photograph me, my family and friends.'' (more)

SO this Russian goes to work and finds a bug in his office...

Russia - Alexei Navalny showed up to work in Moscow on Monday to discover he was being bugged. He called the police, like many perhaps would, but not before tweeting photos and video of himself and his colleagues taking the Kremlin’s monitoring devices apart. 

It’s not hard to figure out why Navalny was bugged. He’s one of Russia’s most influential anti-corruption bloggers and is at the center of a protest movement aimed at toppling the regime of President Vladimir Putin. 

Since late July, the 36-year-old lawyer has faced possible arrest, trial and up to 10 years in prison for charges Putin’s prosecutors claim stem from an embezzlement scheme, but which Navalny and his supporters claim is an attempt to silence him. (more)

Bug Found in Ceiling of Jail's Chief of Operations

WV - A bugging device uncovered in an air duct in the office of the Regional Jail Authority's chief of operations has become the target of an FBI investigation, a key legislator disclosed Friday.

The first inkling of the bizarre episode came when Delegate Dave Perry, D-Fayette, as co-chairman of a legislative interims committee, quizzed acting Regional Jail Authority Director Joe DeLong if he was aware of any inquiry - internal or external - involving his agency. DeLong is a Hancock County native.
 

...the device allegedly turned up in John Lopez' office in Charleston...

Perry said he learned that Lopez found the device July 12 after spying some residue from a ceiling tile in the chair of his office.

"It was up overhead, and it had both audio and visual, in an air duct," Perry said...

"Almost like Watergate," Perry added, characterizing the alleged bugging incident, but again emphasized his committee, when meeting Monday, will not pursue it. (more)

"World domination. The same old dream. Our asylums are full of people who think they're Napoleon. Or God." - James Bond

NV - A Las Vegas tour company has launched a three-day, two-person Las Vegas bonding experience — as in James Bond.

The “Secret Agent 702” tour gives couples a chance to live the adventures of a spy, from soaring in helicopters to driving fast cars to zipping down wire cables.

The cost of being a secret agent: $6,800 for two people.

The package was developed by the Papillon Group, a Southern Nevada air tour operator that offers flights over the Strip, Hoover Dam and southwestern national parks. The tour company is partnering with Andre’s Restaurant and Lounge at the Monte Carlo, the Bank Nightclub at Bellagio, Dream Racing at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Flightlinez at Bootleg Canyon, the Light Group and Hotel32.

Secret Agent 702 “transforms mild-mannered Las Vegas visitors into sexy spies looking for the thrill of a lifetime,” company officials said in a release. (more)

The New York City Police Department now has "The most advanced and technological counter-terrorism bureau that anyone has ever seen."

NY - A new crime-tracking system designed jointly by the New York Police Department and Microsoft Corp. will pool existing data from cameras, 911 calls and other technologies to provide crime fighters with a comprehensive view of threats and criminal activity, as well as provide the city with a new revenue source.

The Domain Awareness System will be able to map suspects' movements and provide NYPD investigators and analysts with real-time crime alerts.

...the system will allow NYPD personnel to track a suspect's car, and find out where it's been located in the past days or weeks synthesizing archived video footage and license plate reader data. Other potential uses include mapping criminal history geospatially and chronologically to reveal patterns, and the ability to instantly see suspect arrest records, 911 calls associated with the suspect and related crimes occurring in the area. (more) (60 Minutes video) 
This afternoon the NYPD debuted their "all-seeing" Domain Awareness System, which syncs the city's 3,000 closed circuit camera feeds in Lower Manhattan, Midtown, and near bridges and tunnels with arrest records, 911 calls, license plate recognition technology, and even radiation detectors. Mayor Bloomberg dismissed concerns that this represented the most glaring example of Big Brother-style policing. "What you're seeing is what the private sector has used for a long time," Bloomberg said. "If you walk around with a cell phone, the cell phone company knows where you are…We're not your mom and pop's police department anymore."

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly stated that the system, which is currently operational out of the department's Lower Manhattan Security Commission HQ, was developed with a "state of the art privacy policy" and "working with the privacy community," but did not offer specifics. DAS does not have facial recognition technology at this time, but "it's something that's very close to being developed," the mayor said.  

The system was developed with Microsoft and paid for by the city for $30 to $40 million, and has already been in use for six months. The feeds compiled by the system are kept for thirty days, then erased.

The City will receive 30% on the profits Microsoft will make selling it to other cities, although Mayor Bloomberg declined to say if that money would go back into the NYPD. "Maybe we'll even make a few bucks." (more)

Lo-Jack Your Car, Kids, Pets... Anything!

from the manufacturer... 

"Simply give the PocketFinder GPS tracker to a person or attach it to your pet or vehicle and locate the devices from our website or on your smartphone with our iOS® and Android® apps.

PocketFinder features work even while you’re not thinking about them. Best of all, they’re simple to use! Geo-fence zones, speed limits, alerts, history and power features will maximize how much value you get from using the devices." (more)

FutureWatch: Telephones That Spot Scams

Nagoya University and Fujitsu first announced a research partnership in November 2009 aimed at developing automated technology to identify situations where one party might overtrust the other. 

In March of this year, the team announced the successful development of the world's first system capable of analyzing phone conversations and automatically highlighting suspect situations. The system looks for changes in a caller's voice pitch and level, together with keywords often used and repeated in phone scams.

Subsequent verification simulation testing undertaken in collaboration with the National Police Agency of Japan and the Bank of Nagoya found the technology to be over 90 percent accurate in detecting situations of overtrust. Now the research team is about to enter field trials of the system. (more) 

  

q.v. 16 Ways You Can be Phone Scammed

Eavesdropping History - Nixon Resigns

On Aug. 8, 1974, President Richard Nixon announced he would resign following damaging revelations in the Watergate scandal.

How to Prevent Corporate Espionage... in a nutshell

Corporate espionage is nothing new... 

The global economy has widened the playing field and raised the stakes for corporate competition and espionage, both defensive and offensive. American companies, big and small, lose billions of dollars a year through corporate espionage... Those who don’t actively pay attention to it and protect their businesses become easy targets for their competitors near and far. (more)

Instant Action Plan
1. Identify Your Information - paper, visual, oral and electronic
2. Guard Your Information - a comprehensive risk management plan
3. Test Your Information - test with simulated attacks on all four dimensions of information
4. Invest in Surveillance - CCTV, access control, and of course, electronic surveillance detection

A good information security consultant will help you with all of this.

Attention all Capitol Hill legislative researchers working on improving economic espionage laws...

The U.S. House of Representatives is considering new legislation concerning economic espionage. (more)

Attention all Capitol Hill legislative researchers...
Here is some background information and a fresh idea worthy of your consideration.

Any questions? Let's talk. ~Kevin

Illinois Eavesdropping Law Judged Unconstitutional

An Illinois judge ruled last week that the state’s eavesdropping law – one of the broadest restrictions on audio recording in the nation – is unconstitutional.

The decision granted a request for dismissal made by Annabel K. Melongo, a 39-year old woman who faced criminal charges under the Illinois Eavesdropping Act. The controversial law criminalizes the audio recording of any communication without the consent of all parties involved, regardless of whether the conversation was intended to be private. Melongo, who is representing herself in court, recorded three phone calls with a clerk at the Cook County Court Reporter’s office in Illinois without consent and posted them on her watchdog website in 2010, incurring six charges of eavesdropping.

The eavesdropping law in Illinois “appears to be vague, restrictive and makes innocent conduct subject to prosecution,” wrote Circuit Court Judge Steven J. Goebel of Chicago in his ruling that was filed on July 26. “[T]he fault of the Statute is that it does not require an accompanying culpable mental state or criminal purpose for a person to be convicted of a felony.” (more)

DIY - Android Cell Phone Spyware Kit Coming Soon

Android continues to prove irresistible to the hacker community, which seems intent on finding ever newer, more innovative ways to exploit security holes in the open source mobile platform.

Now a new threat to Android may be on the horizon: A pair of security researchers are planning to make public next month a modular, open source framework called AFE (Android Framework for Exploitation) that bad guys can use to build and tailor Android malware to suit their tastes...

With AFE, according to the duo's description, a hacker can quickly cobble together malware capable of at least 20 different feats, including retrieving a user's call logs, contact information, and the content of his or her mailbox; swiping SD card contents; sending text messages; viewing browsing habits; recording phone conversations; capturing images with the affected device's camera; running root exploits; accessing the device's GPS location; and remotely dialing any number from the hijacked device.

In addition, the duo have created templates to mask the malware as legitimate apps such as File Explorer, Tic Tac Toe, and a jokes app. Users of the framework can add their own.

"For a basic effort at writing malware, that's not even really trying hard, you can make $10,000 a month," Gupta told SC Magazine. (more)  

...and for the price of a book it can all be thwarted.