Special ed student records proof of bullying, threatened with charges of wiretapping

PA - A special education high school student made an audio recording of a bullying incident and was later threatened with charges of wiretapping.

School administrators agreed to reduce the sentence, and March 19 the student, from South Fayette High School in McDonald, Pa., was charged with disorderly conduct.

The student and his mother, Shea Love, testified in front of District Judge Maureen McGraw-Desmet that he had been repeatedly shoved and tripped at school, and that a fellow student had even attempted to burn him with a cigarette lighter. (more)

SpyCam Found in NYC Subway

Be careful on the subway. Sure, the platforms are safer than ever, and the cars are even pretty clean. But credit card thieves seem to come up with a new way to steal your personal information every day. The latest ploy: a card-reading spy camera, hiding above the MetroCard machine. 

The MTA just put out a call for customers "to be vigilant" when buying MetroCards, after finding the hidden camera inside of a power outlet in the heavily trafficked 59th St-Columbus Circle station. A passenger noticed the device and ripped it down before taking it to the station agent. The MTA also found a card-skimming device installed on one of the machines. (more)

SpyCams Found in Leeds United Stadium Boardroom... and Toilets

UK - Police have begun an investigation at Leeds United after spy cameras were apparently found at the Elland Road stadium in a security sweep ordered by controversial new boss Massimo Cellino.

West Yorkshire Police would not confirm details of their inquiry but, according to reports, officers were called to the ground on Wednesday after surveillance equipment was found in the boardroom and toilets.

The police inquiry centered around an allegation of theft, relating to the club funds apparently used to buy the cameras. (more)

In-Flight Wi-Fi: Privacy Going GoGoing Gone

The NSA is harvesting the online data of millions of airline passengers who use inflight WiFi across the U.S., a secret letter has revealed.

Gogo, the main supplier of WiFi to airlines in the U.S., are among a host of network providers that have been handing over information gleaned from air travelers' browsing history.

The news has enraged privacy campaigners who say the data exchange may be in violation of U.S. law.

A letter, leaked to Wired, Gogo admitted violating the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) - a 1994 wiretapping law that gave a backdoor to government agencies to monitor telecom and broadband activity.

But Gogo states in the letter that it added a raft of new measures to its service that made spying on users easier for the authorities. (more)

NSA Issues "Best Practices for Keeping Your Home Network Secure"

All right. Stop giggling. 

If you can get past the double irony (recommendation #5 being the second), this 8-page pdf document is really quite good. (more)

App Scam: Top Ranked Anti-Spyware App Removed from Google Play

Until Sunday night, the top new paid app on the Google Play store was a complete scam. Google Inc. quickly removed “Virus Shield” from the Google Play store, but not before thousands of people downloaded the fake anti-malware app, exposing a major flaw in the open strategy Google has taken with its mobile app marketplace.

"Virus Shield" claimed that it protected Android smartphone users from viruses, malware and spyware, and that it even improved the speed of phones. It touted its minimal impact on battery life and its additional functionality as an ad blocker. At only $3.99, "Virus Shield" sounded like a pretty good deal to the tens of thousands of people who downloaded it in less than two weeks. 

 
Virus Shield downloads Google Play Store (screenshot by Android Police)

Those 10,000 people even seemed to enjoy "Virus Shield," as the app maintained a 4.7-star rating from about 1,700 users. Another 2,607 users recommended it on the Google Play store, helping “Virus Shield” get ranked as the No. 1 new paid app and third overall top paid app. (more)

Coming soon to Google Play, something that really works.

Red Flag - Doing Business in China? Using Your Intellectual Property? Take Note...

Knowles, a supplier of microphones to Apple and Samsung Electronics, said its lawyers were shut out of court proceedings in an intellectual property suit filed by a Chinese rival, highlighting the uncertainties foreign companies can face in China’s legal system.

Itasca, Ill.-based Knowles is the world’s largest supplier of micro-electrical-mechanical systems (MEMS) microphones, which are widely used in smartphones. The company has a factory in Suzhou, near Shanghai. Since 2012, Knowles has faced stronger competition from business with Apple from Chinese competitors Goertek and AAC Technology Holdings. Knowles and Goertek have been locked in legal battles in the U.S. and China since June, with each accusing the other of patent infringements...

Knowles said Wednesday the Weifang Intermediate People’s Court in China denied its lawyers access to the courthouse as the trial against Goertek proceeded on March 31.

“The Weifang Court’s decision to bar Knowles from the legal proceedings makes a fair trial impossible,” said Knowles Chief Executive Jeffrey Niew.

Intellectual property has long been a major issue for foreign companies that operate in China...

Lawyers in China said the situation Knowles is alleging is unusual and raises questions of whether other companies could face such a situation. (more)

If You Don't Sweep, Don't Try to Sweep it Under the Rug When it Happens

Days after the chief financial officer of a Tampa maintenance company was accused of recording videos of female employees using the bathroom and showering, the former information technology employee who exposed the chief financial officer's alleged actions has sued the company and his ex-boss.

On March 28, Jeremy Lenkowski, the former information technology director for MaintenX , filed a lawsuit accusing the company's president and vice president, among others, of failing to act after Lenkowski showed them videos he'd discovered on CFO James Stanton Jr.'s laptop in 2010. (more)

Nearly Invisible, Lens-Free Camera is the Future of Spying

The camera modules used in today's smartphones are typically pretty small, as you can see from the image below. However if you look to the left, you'll see something even smaller that's set to be the future of spying.  

Researchers at Rambus have developed a miniscule camera with a 200 micron (µm) sensor, which is smaller than the tip of a pencil. It's also completely lens-free, with the tiny sensor mapping out light signals before a processor compiles the data into a viewable image. (more)

Sports Spying (aka business espionage): Spying on Earthquakes

Mexico's Deportivo Toluca has been handed a $5,000 fine by CONCACAF's disciplinary committee for spying on a San Jose Earthquakes training session.

San Jose Earthquakes claimed that Toluca had filmed, without authorization, parts of a closed training session on March 18 at Estadio Nemesio Diez, before the return leg of their Champions League quarter final...

The Mexican/US spygate scandal is not the first time one club has been caught illegally watching another's training session. 

In a slightly more light-hearted incident in Italy last year a coach from Genoa was caught "spying" on local rivals Sampdoria of their derby clash. The agent was dressed in Rambo-style camouflage and hiding in the training ground bushes.

Sampdoria said in a statement he was hiding "like Rambo" but "failed to overcome Sampdoria's intelligence and counter-intelligence operations". (more)

Moral: Have a counter-intelligence strategy. Professional counterespionage help here.

Privacy: On-line Search Privacy Options

Explore services that allow you to search online without compromising your privacy.

Covert Video Nails Greek Politico

The Greek prime minister’s chief political adviser has resigned over a secretly filmed video in which he allegedly says the government was behind a judicial clampdown on the far-right. Panayiotis Baltakos was reportedly filmed last autumn during a meeting at the Greek parliament with an MP from the ultra-nationalist Golden Dawn party. (more)

Murray Security Tip #416 - Evil Photo Double Extension Trick

                     Isn't this the cutest kitty?

Click CuteKitty.jpg to enlarge.

DON'T CLICK, it might be the old double extension trick. 

Although this photo does NOT contain a virus, others might.

Many Windows computers will display emailed CuteKitty.jpg.exe – an executable program – as CuteKitty.jpg – which seems harmless.

When you click, you might be shown a cute kitty... while a virus is loading in the background.

Tip 1 - Don't click on stuff if you don't know where it has been. 
Tip 2 - If you want to click anyway, open Windows search; enter "folder options"; select Folder Options; View tab, uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types." Check for the double extension trick.

Privacy - The Diamond Principle

Privacy is a multifaceted gem. Like a diamond, the sum of its part is what makes the whole. Lose clarity, lose value. Lose the right color, lose value. Lose weight, lose value.

Electronic surveillance privacy is only one facet of your privacy diamond. Get to know the folks make up some of privacy's other angles...

Why Is Privacy So Damn Important Anyway?
Privacy is so much more than the right to keep information secret within yourself. It provides the right to express yourself and expose yourself within small groups of trusted associates precisely because confidentiality is respected within the group. The current collection of online executives belittle privacy as no longer relevant in the new digital age. And they are precisely the ones who protect their privacy with the most vehemence. Look how revealing Mark Zuckerberg is not, on his own Facebook page. He sued in Massachusetts to keep information about his career secret.

Privacy is essential for mental health, for a quality of life. And so it is not about whether you “don’t have anything to hide.” It’s about all of us, and the value to society in having autonomous, assertive individuals with the opportunity to learn and take risks and make good decisions in dignity and uninterrupted contemplation. Call it privacy. 

~Robert Ellis Smith, author / publisher, expert witness on privacy, credit reporting, surveillance, medical confidentiality, Social Security numbers, and identity theft. Keep current on privacy topics with his newsletter Privacy Journal, and all of his books. (more) 

Ultimate Privacy... How to Become Invisible.
In 1959, J. J. (Jack) Luna sold his outdoor advertising business in the Upper Midwest and moved with his wife and small children to the Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa. Outwardly, he was a professional writer and photographer. Secretly, he worked underground in an activity that was at that time illegal under the regime of Generalissimo Francisco Franco.

In 1970 Franco yielded to intense pressure from the western world and moderated Spain's laws, leaving Luna free to come in from the cold. By that time, however, privacy had become an ingrained habit. In the years that followed he started up various one-person low-profile businesses, built them up and then sold them.

Luna is especially interested in designing and building secret spaces and hiding places. He currently has a 3300-square foot three-level safe house for sale that is set in an almost-invisible location despite being within city limits. The exterior is complete but the interior is unfinished, awaiting a buyer who will decide which spaces or rooms are to have secret entrances. The approximate price, when finished according the buyer’s instructions, will be $795,000, plus (if desired) the cost of a secret escape tunnel into the adjoining forest. The location is in the Pacific Northwest. (...or so we are told. Remember, we are dealing with the Invisible Man here.) (more)
~JJ Luna, International Privacy Consultant, and author — How to Become Invisible.

Smartphone kill-switch could save consumers $2.6 billion per year...

...and why you will probably never see it.
Technology that remotely makes a stolen smartphone useless could save American consumers up to $2.6 billion per year if it is implemented widely and leads to a reduction in theft of phones, according to a new report...

Americans currently spend around $580 million replacing stolen phones each year and $4.8 billion paying for handset insurance... (more)

Do you really think phone and insurance companies are going to kill this goose?