Scientists Create a Real 'Cone of Silence'

Metamaterials are already being used to create invisibility cloaks and "temporal cloaks," but now engineers from Duke University have turned metamaterials to the task of creating a 3D acoustic cloak. 

In the same way that invisibility cloaks use metamaterials to reroute light around an object, the acoustic cloaking device interacts with sound waves to make it appear as if the device and anything hidden beneath it isn't there.

Steven Cummer, professor of electrical and computer engineering, and his colleagues at Duke University constructed their acoustic cloak using several sheets of plastic plates dotted with repeating patterns of holes. The plastic sheets, which were created using a 3D printer, were stacked on top of each other to form a device that resembles a pyramid in shape. 
 
The geometry of the sheets and the placement of the holes interact with sound waves to make it appear as if the device and anything sitting underneath it isn't there. (more)

The Comprehensive Guide to Facebook Privacy Settings

via techlicious.com...
The first thing you have to realize about Facebook: Nothing you put there is truly private.

Yes, you can control how users see or don’t see your profile. But every time you like a product or even look at a page, the company itself is taking note. This doesn’t mean that some day Facebook will malevolently release your every click to the world. But it does mean that Facebook is not your private diary, and what you do on the website gets collected and catalogued. That's worth keeping in mind whenever you use the service.

So let’s go over the various settings you can change to ensure pictures of your wacky jaunt to Vegas don’t end up at the top of your boss's news feed... (more)

Georgia On Their Mind

Georgia - NGOs are launching the campaign It Concerns You once again. After undertaking moves in terms of the election system in 2013, the current campaign aims at combating illegal eavesdropping and surveillance.

The organizers of the campaign demand creating a legal base against the action and systemic guarantees. According to them, the situation has not changed after the change of the government and the coalition leadership still owns a mechanism to eavesdrop on 21,000 people simultaneously.

Under the leadership of the previous government, special black boxes were installed at the headquarters of the mobile operators that enabled the Interior Minister of Georgia to eavesdrop on thousands of people. After the Georgian Dream coalition came to power, thousands of such illegal recordings and videos were destroyed. However, the black boxes still remain at the offices and the lever is still in hands of the MIA. (more)

Greek Eavesdropping News

Greece - Former PASOK minister Michalis Karchimakis, who is being charged in connection with a wiretapping scandal that showed the telephones of former Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and his cabinet were being listened to, has been released on one million euros bail and ordered not to leave the country. (more)

And, in other Greek eavesdropping news...
 

Théodore Jacques Ralli (Greek, 1852-1909) Eavesdropping 55.5 x 37 cm. Sold for £62,400 (US$ 103,675)

The French Connection

French magistrates bugged the phones of former president Nicolas Sarkozy, his lawyer and two former ministers, Le Monde newspaper claimed on Friday. The news comes after raids on the lawyer's home and office in a new investigation into alleged influence-peddling. (more)

This is why people are sitting on their cell phones in Turkey...

Turkey’s telecommunication authority has revealed that more than half a million people were wiretapped in the last two years.

Turkey’s Telecommunications Directorate (TİB) has been preparing a report on wiretapping amid reports that calls of several politicians, journalists and businessmen had been tapped.

A total of 257,545 people were wiretapped in 2012, and 252,062 people were wiretapped in 2013, according to the report. Over the two years, some 1.1 million phone calls of 509,516 people were tapped.

A total of 217,863 court decisions were made for wiretappings in that period.

Minister of National Defense İsmet Yılmaz said the numbers had gotten out of hand. (more)

The businessman who sits on his cell phone to avoid wiretapping...

Turkey - The other day, a friend of mine told me this anecdote about his meeting with a famous constructor.

“We took our seats. I put my mobile on the table. He gave me my mobile and said ‘Take this and sit on it.’ I did not understand. ‘What am I going to sit on?’ I asked. ‘Sit on the telephone. This is how I do it. That way they cannot listen,’ he said. He sat on his own telephone. I just put it in my pocket, without him seeing. He was relieved and only then could we continue to speak.” As you might understand, we are now passing through a period of time when people sit on their phones. (more)

Hummm... Maybe there is a market for... stay tuned for my solution.

PI Job Opportunity - Spy Agency Hires PIs to do its Snooping

New Zealand - It might be an organization dedicated to snooping - but the nation's spy agency has still forked out $50,000 to hire private investigators.

Details released under the Official Information Act show that during the past three years the Government Communications Security Bureau has paid contractors to investigate two matters. Director Ian Fletcher said they were "personnel-related issues".

The investigations ran concurrently and lasted five months, costing $46,009.

Mr Fletcher declined to give further details - and would not reveal the outcome of the investigations "in order to protect the privacy of the persons involved". (more)

Former Soviet Spy Chief Claims Putin Regime is an ‘Intelligence Agency Dictatorship’

The highest ranking defector to flee from the old Soviet bloc has a message to share about Vladimir Putin — he’s still a KGB agent at heart and that mindset is heavily influencing his tactics for furthering Russia’s interests.

Ion Mihai Pacepa was the head of the Romanian communist regime’s foreign intelligence service before he defected to the West in 1978. Due to the threats on his life, Pacepa refuses to appear in public, but he has communicated his message to the co-author of his most recent book ”Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategies for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism.”...

“About five years ago, Pacepa was warning me about Putin. He’s saying Putin is former KGB, Putin has surrounded himself with KGB people everywhere, it is now in essence an ‘intelligence agency dictatorship’,” Rychlak, a professor at the University of Mississippi School of Law, told TheDC. (more)

Dendroid Spying RAT Malware Found on Google Play

A new Android malware toolkit called Dendroid is being offered for sale by its creators, and at least one of the malicious APKs created with it has managed to fool Google Play's Bouncer...
The malicious APKs can purportedly intercept, block, and send out SMSes; record ongoing phone calls; take pictures, record video and audio by using the device's camera and microphone; download pictures the device owner has already made, as well as his or her browser history and bookmarks; and extract saved login credentials and passwords for a variety of accounts. 

"Dendroid also comes bundled with a universal 'binder application.' This is a point-and-click tool that a customer can use to inject (or bind) Dendroid into any innocent target application that they choose with minimal effort," the researchers added.
"This means that all a wannabee malware author needs in order to start pumping out infected applications is to choose a carrier app, download it and then let Dendroid’s toolkit take care of the rest."
Sold for $300 (in crypto currencies), the toolkit comes with a warranty that the malware created with it will remain undetected.
The researchers have discovered one app created with Dendroid that managed to get included and offered on Google Play by leveraging anti-emulation detection code that fools Google Play's Bouncer, the automated app scanning service that analyzes apps by running them on Google’s cloud infrastructure and simulating how they will run on an Android device. The app has since been removed from the market. (more)

Why this is important...
It means that any jerk with $300 and some computer skills can turn any other app into your worst nightmare. BTW, it can be detected. q.v. SpyWarn™ — coming soon.

5 Apps for Spying on your Spouse

Americans have good reason to wonder if there is such a thing as privacy anymore. After former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed that the U.S. government monitors calls, emails and texts, many people might think twice about what they share online. But that same technology is being used for another purpose: “There are a growing number of apps that will spy on your husband or wife and keep tabs on your kids,” says Theodore Claypoole, privacy attorney and co-author of “Privacy in the Age of Big Data: Recognizing Threats, Defending Your Rights, and Protecting Your Family.”

These apps may raise moral and legal questions too. The most invasive can be downloaded onto a phone and will quietly forward emails, calls and texts. 

It’s a criminal offense under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1965 to access a computer—including modern computers like tablets and smartphones—without authorization. But if ownership of the smartphone in question is under someone else’s name—say, a spouse, a parent or an employer—it’s a legal gray area, Claypoole says. “That raises the question of whether the user has a reasonable expectation of privacy,” he says. “If you own your husband or wife’s smartphone and you’re paying your child’s phone bill, it could be a moral issue rather than a legal one.” (more)

Bugging at Riga International Airport Being Investigated

Latvia - The wire-tapping scandal at Riga International airport is being investigated by Security Police. This whole situation has created a great deal of concern for Latvian politicians. During a recent closed meeting of the Saeima National Security Committee, they attempted to determine if there are any recordings of conversations that could compromise officials and sponsors of political parties whose names have surfaced during the investigation...
 
Even though the actual meeting was closed and information classified, Pietiek managed to uncover that politicians are concerned over the news that Riga airport’s VIP lounge was being monitored as well. Officials often use this are of the airport to meet in an informal environment to discuss matters away from prying eyes. (more)

FutureWatch: Germans Sweep Parliament for Bugs and Tapped Phones

The German parliament building may be soon checked for bugs and eavesdropping landlines to ensure privacy. Berlin is ramping up security amid a scandal over electronic surveillance by the US National Security Agency.

A plan to secure the Bundestag complex was prepared by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and approved by the IuK, the parliamentary commission on information technology and communications, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Monday citing its sources. It is to be presented to MPs later this week.

One of the prime areas of interest for the BSI is posed by supposedly secure rooms, which are meant to be used for negotiations of officials related to confidential matters. The office wants to ensure that they are actually free of bugs, the report says.

They also want to check landlines in the building, because they can be used for remote eavesdropping on the parliament. (more)

The amazing part of the story is that TSCM inspections are apparently not routine.

Two All Beef Paddies, Special Sauce, Let Us Cheese the Spycam!

Ireland - MCDONALD’S has defended the use of a hidden camera in the bathroom of a Dublin restaurant.

The primitive device, hidden in a smoke alarm in men’s bathroom in its Temple Bar branch, is pointed towards the sink area.

This leaves urinals and cubicles out of view.

A statement from McDonald’s noted that means the camera is “fully compliant with all appropriate legislation and guidelines in this area”.

Data Protection laws state that there are circumstances in which a camera can be installed in a bathroom. (more)

Mobile Malware Sees ‘Exponential’ 614 Percent Growth

Chinese cybercriminals are increasingly targeting mobile users as they develop ever more sophisticated hacking tools, according to new research from security firm Trend Micro.

Its Mobile Cybercriminal Underground Market report revealed that Chinese hackers are using a variety of in-depth malware and malicious code programs to target users both at home and in the West, with mobile malware kits available to buy from as little as 100 yuan (around £10) on the black market.

“The barriers to launching cybercriminal operations are less in number than ever,” the report stated. “Toolkits are becoming more available and cheaper; some are even offered free of charge.” (more)