Grand jury indicts deputy director at Hudson County jail on wire-tapping charge

The deputy director of the Hudson County jail was indicted by a grand jury today on charges that he illegally wiretapped fellow employees at the jail, authorities said today.

In January Eady, 46, was charged with using a website between March and July 2012 to place telephone calls to four Hudson County jail employees. The website allowed Eady to conceal the telephone numbers from where the calls originated and also call and record two people simultaneously.

The site also made it appear that those people, and not Eady, originated the call. (more)

Flash: US Grand Jury Charges 5 Chinese Hackers with Economic Espionage, Trade Secret Theft

The U.S. accused Chinese military officials of hacking into several U.S. enterprises, including Westinghouse and U.S. Steel, to steal "significant" amounts of trade secrets and intellectual property in an indictment made public Monday. 

It is the first time the U.S. has charged a state actor in a criminal cyber espionage case.

The Chinese hackers, using military and intelligence resources, downloaded massive amounts of industrial information, including strategic plans, from U.S. businesses, the indictment said. In addition to Westinghouse and U.S. Steel, victims included Solar World, United Steel Workers Union and Alcoa...

Attorney General Eric Holder called it a case of "economic espionage."

The case "represents the first ever charges against a state actor for this type of hacking," Holder said. "The range of trade secrets and other sensitive business information stolen in this case is significant and demands an aggressive response." (more)

Flash: 100+ Arrested in Global Malware Crackdown

The FBI and police in several countries have arrested more than 100 people and conducted hundreds of searches in recent days in a global crackdown on hackers linked to the malicious software called Blackshades, two law enforcement officials told CNN. 

The years-long investigation is targeting one of the most popular tools used by cybercriminals. The malware sells for as little as $40 and can be used to hijack computers remotely and turn on webcams, access hard drives and capture keystrokes to steal passwords without the victim's knowledge, CNN Justice Reporter Evan Perez and CNN Justice Producer Shimon Prokupecz report.
People familiar with the investigation say U.S. prosecutors are expected to announce more details today. (more)

Don’t Want the Government Tracking You? Turn Your Phone Off

A federal magistrate judge in New York recently ruled that cell phone location data deserves no protection under the Fourth Amendment and that accordingly, the government can engage in real-time location surveillance without a search warrant. In an opinion straight from the Twilight Zone, magistrate judge Gary Brown ruled two weeks ago that “cell phone users who fail to turn off their cell phones do not exhibit an expectation of privacy.” (more)

Watergate Figure - Deputy Director of CREEP - Magruder Dead at 79

Jeb Stuart Magruder, a former official in the administration of President Richard Nixon jailed for his role in the Watergate scandal, died May 11 from complications from a stroke, according to a funeral notice published by a Connecticut funeral home.

Magruder, 79, joined the Nixon administration in 1969 as special assistant to the president for domestic policy development. He joined Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign and was involved in the campaign's efforts to gather intelligence on its political opponents.

In that job, Magruder helped authorize the unsuccessful June 17, 1972, break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington's Watergate office complex. The arrest of the five burglars that night triggered a coverup by the campaign, which spread to the White House and was enthusiastically embraced by Nixon. Nixon resigned in August 1974 after continued revelations about his role in the scandal and other issues. (more) 

Fun Facts:
Magruder's first major political job was managing the successful 1962 primary campaign of Donald Rumsfeld for the Republican nomination, preparing for the congressional election in the 13th district of Illinois, to the United States House of Representatives.

After his fall from grace, became a Presbyterian minister.

Business Espionage - Video Report via French Television

BEYOND BUSINESS - Corporate espionage: Spying in the information age

Al Gore Sensed a Change in His Climate

The manager of the King David Hotel, in Jerusalem, said a report by Newsweek’s Jeff Stein, that an Israeli spy was caught in an air conditioner duct while spying on then U.S. Vice President Al Gore in 1998, was “ridiculous,” as the air duct is actually “so small that even a cat cannot walk in it.” (more)

Pondering Anti-Eavesdropping Laws, or Georgia on Your Mind (updated)

The parliament of Georgia has started discussions over the draft law on the protection of the security of private life and on illegal surveillance. The parliamentary majority claims that the draft reflects European Union conventions, while the minority stresses that the draft grants too much power to enforcement bodies.

The development of the draft began nearly one year ago. NGOs intensively demanded the adoption of the law against illegal eavesdropping, especially when thousands of recordings illegally typed under the previous government were destroyed. The NGOs, former officials, and members of the United National Movement (UNM) claim that the Interior Ministry still actively eavesdrops on people. (more)

In other Georgia news...
The Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has launched an investigation over secret recordings aired by Rustavi 2 on May 10.  

Several days ago the head of Rustavi 2 Nika Gvaramia stated that the company was being eavesdropped upon. He also displayed recordings reflecting the process. Gvaramia stressed that the recordings was delivered to the channel by an informer from the Interior Ministry. According to the TV program Aktsentebi, the audio recordings, which were made in 2013, feature phone conversations between several high ranking officials. This is all during the time that Mikheil Saakashvili was president and Ugulava was Tbilisi’s mayor.

Rustavi 2 TV claims that the offices of its top executives were bugged by the current authorities. However, the prosecutor’s office states that the offices were possibly bugged in December 2012 by a security agency, which at the time was under President Saakashvili’s subordination. The office claimed these devices were used to record private conversations so they could be later used to blackmail or to discredit evidence. (more)

World's Slowest Surveillance Cameras Will Spy on Berlin for the Next 100 Years

The city of Berlin, currently undergoing the biggest real estate boom since German reunification, has been chosen to pilot a global initiative monitoring urban development and decay over the next century. Instigated by experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats in cooperation with the Berlin-based team titanic gallery, the unauthorized surveillance program will use ultra-long-exposure cameras to continuously document 100 years of municipal growth and decay for scrutiny and judgment by future generations.  

Camera in situ. Click to enlarge.

"The first people to see these photos will be children who haven't yet been conceived," says Mr. Keats. "They're impacted by every decision we make, but they're powerless. If anyone has the right to spy on us, it's our descendants."

To facilitate intergenerational surveillance in Berlin and other yet-to-be-disclosed cities, Mr. Keats has invented a new photographic system based on the traditional pinhole camera. "My photographic time capsules are extremely simple, since anything complicated is liable to break," says Mr. Keats. The cameras use sheets of black paper in place of ordinary film. The pinhole focuses light on the black paper sheet, such that the paper fades most where the light is brightest, very slowly creating a unique positive image of the scene in front of the camera. "The photograph not only shows a location, but also shows how the place changes over time," Mr. Keats explains. "For instance an old apartment building torn down after a quarter century will show up only faintly, as if it were a ghost haunting the skyscraper that replaces it." 

CenturyCamera will be released on 16 May 2014 from 7:00 PM until midnight at an opening reception organized by team titanic at Friedelstrasse 29 in Berlin-Neukölln. Jonathon Keats will be on hand to demonstrate the new technology. (more)

Coffee Table Fit for a Spy

via Cup of Zup...

The unique Kai Table is designed by Naoki Hirakoso and Takamitsu Kitahara and features an incredible amount of hidden compartments that allows you to stash away money, possessions and secrets. 

Now you don’t just have a regular coffee table but one heck of a awesome piece of furniture.

600,000 YEN – Ex-warehouse
(more)

Who Says There are No Dumb Questions?

"How does one get involved in company espionage?"

Have I got some books for this person. (more) (more)

Just Tell the Boss You Are on Loan to the CIA... for 10 years.

The EPA’s highest-paid employee and a leading expert on climate change deserves to go to prison for at least 30 months for lying to his bosses and saying he was a CIA spy working in Pakistan so he could avoid doing his real job, say federal prosecutors.

John C. Beale, who pled guilty in September to bilking the government out of nearly $1 million in salary and other benefits over a decade, will be sentenced in a Washington, D.C., federal court on Wednesday. In a newly filed sentencing memo, prosecutors said that his lies were a "crime of massive proportion" and “offensive” to those who actually do dangerous work for the CIA.

Beale’s lawyer, while acknowledging his guilt, has asked for leniency and offered a psychological explanation for the climate expert’s bizarre tales. (more)

Dumb Law + Dumb Statement... What could possibly go wrong?

A Massachusetts woman's arrest has brought the state's strict wiretapping law into the national spotlight.

Karen Dziewit was arrested early Sunday morning outside of a Springfield home, charged with disorderly conduct, carrying an open container of alcohol and an illegal wiretap, according to the Boston Herald.

The last charge came after the 24-year-old allegedly told the police, "I’ve been recording this thing the whole time, my phone is in my purse, see you in court."

A Massachusetts statute states that a private citizen can't record another person without first getting their consent. (more)

Illinois recently overturned a similar law. This may prompt Massachusetts to do the same.

Could this be the end of the flashlight?

New, low-cost chips for sensing thermal energy could lead to a raft of new night-vision products, engineers say, ushering in everything from smarter cars to handheld devices for spelunking (and possibly bug hunting).

A new technology used by Raytheon, “wafer-level packaging,” dramatically reduces the cost of making these thermal sensors. The advances could – for the first time – put a thermal weapons sight in the hands of every soldier in a platoon. But the commercial and law-enforcement uses are endless, too, developers say.

“Once it reaches a certain price point, you’ll see it kind of popping up in a lot of different areas,” said Adam Kennedy, a lead engineer at Raytheon Vision Systems. “That’s just very, very exciting.” (more)

Verizon's 2014 Data Breach Investigations Report

Gain fresh insight into cyber espionage and denial-of-service attacks in the 2014 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR). 

This year’s report features nine common incident patterns, bringing together insights from 50 global organizations, from around the globe, and more than 63,000 confirmed security incidents. 

Discover how attackers can affect your business, and learn the steps you need to take to counter threats and protect your reputation. (download)