This Phone Ain't No Stool Pigeon

Local police confiscate a suspected drug dealer's phone—only to find that he has called his mother and no one else. 

Meanwhile a journalist's phone is examined by airport security. But when officials look to see what is on it, they find that she has spent all her time at the beach. The drug dealer and the journalist are free to go. Minutes later the names, numbers and GPS data that the police were looking for reappear.

A new programming technique could bring these scenarios to life. Computer scientist Karl-Johan Karlsson has reprogrammed a phone to lie. By modifying the operating system of an Android-based smartphone, he was able to put decoy data on it—innocent numbers, for example—so that the real data escape forensics. (more)

"A Winemaker, a Spy, and a PI" or "Drunk with IT Power" What could possibly go wrong?

Swiss authorities say they have arrested a Swiss winemaker, a spy and two others on charges of hacking the computers of at least two journalists.

The Geneva public prosecutor says winemaker Dominique Giroud and an unnamed federal intelligence officer, along with a professional hacker and a private investigator, were arrested for hacking while allegedly trying to identify the source of media leaks about a criminal investigation into Giroud in Swiss canton (state) Vaud...

News outlets including broadcaster Radio Television Suisse and Le Temps newspaper reported recently about a probe by Swiss authorities into suspected tax fraud involving Giroud's empire. (more)

Security Directors & Meeting Planners - Off-Site Meeting Counterespionage Tip

Smartphones certainly offer countless advantages for meetings and events. However, they also introduce a unique set of security concerns, creating a window of vulnerability for cyber attackers. Among common scams are phony SMS messages (known as SMiShing attacks) that are indistinguishable to attendees from official blasts, or malicious QR codes that bring attendees to hostile websites. Phone calls, texts and Wi-Fi traffic can be intercepted and leaked, providing hackers access to personal data.

The following precautions can help you protect your attendees.
 

For approximately $3,000, a hacker can set up a miniature cell phone tower that fits in a backpack and is capable of intercepting cellular calls and SMS messages. Attendees would not know if their phones were connecting to the impersonating or legitimate equipment from the hotel and cell phone carriers. For about $200, a hacker can set up a special wireless router that is capable of impersonating those set up by hotels and conferences. People who surf the web or transmit sensitive information would be victims without knowing it.

To prevent these devices from being deployed at your facility, arrange for qualified people from your staff or a vendor to provide real-time scans of the airwaves. This task requires specialized security training and equipment that is not usually part of a physical security team. Including this feature during the planning stages and throughout your event can provide valuable security for your attendees. (more)

FutureWatch: Bug Your Life with a Butterfleye (It aint' your dad's surveillance CCTV)

Surveillance cameras aren’t what they used to be. Butterfleye aims to be not just a surveillance camera, but a home monitoring camera – and that means more than just security concerns. Butterfleye wants to record your life, too.

In the same vein as Dropcam, Butterfleye is a camera you can set up to monitor your home, allowing you to check on the stream as long as you have an Internet connection. The camera itself takes 1920 x 1080 resolution video using a wide-angle 3 MP lens. 


Interestingly, Butterfleye can also operate wirelessly – it pulls off this trick by having a smart camera system that shuts down when no activity is detected. Using sensors, video analysis software, and learning algorithms, the camera will know to start recording if someone comes into a room, which will save some battery life. 

Butterfleye will also be able to pick up audio, and use that as a cue to start recording. There’s actually two-way audio here, so you can use Butterfleye in a pinch as a speakerphone to talk to someone at home while you’re away. 

That’s just the surveillance part, though... (more)

SpyCam Nabs Care Worker Stealing from 82-year-old

An 82-year-old Winnipeg woman who used a hidden camera to catch her home-care worker stealing money from her says she hopes her story will empower other seniors to stand up for their rights.

"My dad taught us morals, and all of a sudden I'm in my home and somebody rips me off.
It made me mad."

Viola Dufresne said she noticed money vanishing from her wallet starting last January, totalling nearly $1,100 over six months...

Winnipeg police told Dufresne there wasn't much they could do without evidence, so she went online and bought a spy camera.

The camera, which resembles a clock radio, showed the home-care aide taking $25 from Dufresne's wallet...

The 54-year-old aide pleaded guilty to theft, alleging that she took the money to buy cigarettes. She has since been fired. (more)

A Drone Was Caught 'Spying' on Team France at the World Cup

French national team coach Didier Deschamps is reportedly calling for an investigation into a quadcoptor drone that was spotted spying over his team’s closed training session on Tuesday...

The culprit? A hobbyist and fan, flying his unlicensed drone in Brazilian airspace, according to BFMTV. 

Local police are investigating and are promising a quick resolution. (more)

Spy Trivia - When was the term "Spook" first used to describe a spy?

The earliest known reference of "spook" used as a term for spy is from 1942. (more)

alt.eMail - Send Spyproof Messages

Beepip uses your own computer's power to scramble messages. It then blasts these encrypted messages out over a peer-to-peer network and only descrambles them when they arrive at the right beepip address. Because no central server is involved, there is no chance of snooping.
Encrypted email isn't secure.
Unlike traditional email and instant messaging which leave data trails that companies and governments can access, the security and anonymity built into Beepip means that no outside force—not even the team that built Beepip—can see your messages or track down senders or receivers of messages.

Simply Beepip.
Beepip’s easy-to-use interface brings cryptography and secure communication to non-expert users, but also achieving military-grade security against hackers.
Whisper or shout Beepips.
A beepip can be sent to an individual or a whole group of subscribers. Broadcasts are messages that are sent out to any group of Beepip users that are listening. In this way, organisations or individuals can get information out to their subscribers anonymously if they choose. (more)

Israeli ‘Eavesdropper’ Hears You 1,000 Feet Away

A device developed by an Israeli scientist can pick up conversations from hundreds of feet away without a microphone. “Using a laser beam with a camera, we can detect the voice wave patterns of the sounds that a person makes when they are talking,” says Bar-Ilan University Professor Zev Zalevsky, who helped design the system. “We take these wave patterns and translate them back into voice, and thus can interpret what was said from even a long distance away.”

 The system is the latest use for a technology and device Zalevsky designed in 2011 together with Javier Garcia of the University of Valencia in Spain. Called the Opto-Phone, the device was designed to gather medical data about an individual, allowing doctors to read heartbeat, blood pressure or blood glucose levels from 100 meters away. With the latest tweaks to the Opto-Phone, Zalevsky told Channel 2 Tuesday night, the device can now detect voice wave patterns from up to 400 meters (about 1,200 feet) away. This makes it the perfect tool not only for “long-distance” medical diagnosis, but for long-distance eavesdropping, as well. 

Using a laser beam, an advanced camera and sensors, the Opto-Phone uses nano-photonics to detect movement on the surface of the body. This movement creates a “speckle pattern,” which can be read by the Opto-Phone. By analyzing this pattern, the system can “hear” the number of heartbeats in a person’s body, the rush of blood in the bloodstream and voice wave patterns as they bounce off two people engaged in a conversation. The technology is so precise, Zalevsky said, “we can differentiate between different people based on their position,” listening in on whatever they are involved in, Zalevsky told the Times of Israel. (more)

Conference Call Eavesdropping: The Secretary Will Disavow Any Knowledge...

CO - Kelly Cronin, former vice chancellor for institutional advancement for the Texas Tech System, is leaving her fundraising post at the University of Colorado after her assistant was found to have eavesdropped on a private meeting of the CU Foundation’s Board of Directors.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, a $40,000 outside investigation found Cronin’s assistant listened in on a closed-session conference call of the board, but found no evidence Cronin told the assistant to do so. (more)

SpyWare Stalking Apps Stalked By Congress

The U.S. Congress must pass legislation to ban mobile spying apps in order to protect victims of domestic violence, a senator said Wednesday.

Groups aiding victims of domestic violence report growing numbers of clients being stalked through mobile apps secretly installed on their phones by abusers, said Senator Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat. Tens of thousands of U.S. residents are stalked each year through spy apps, he said...

The bill would also require companies to get permission from smartphone, tablet and car navigation device owners before collecting location information, except in emergencies. It would require companies collecting the location data from more than 1,000 devices to post information online about the kind of data they collect, how they share it and how people can stop the collection. (more)

How to Deck Out Your Next Secure Conference Room

Click to enlarge.

A clear plastic table and chairs are seen in a soundproof vault built into the heart of Kiev’s tax ministry. Officials say the vault is equipped with thick walls and a white noise generator to prevent eavesdropping; they add that the transparent furniture was intended to reassure the vault’s users that their conversations weren’t being bugged. (AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov) (more) (shop one) (shop two)

Town Officials Accused of Eavesdropping

NH - The Cheshire County Attorney’s Office is now looking into allegations of wiretapping and eavesdropping that prompted a state police search of the Nelson town offices in late March.

According to documents filed in the 8th Circuit Court District Division in Keene, the state police investigation was triggered when several residents reported audio and visual equipment were being used in the main entry way and just outside the front doors of the town hall on Nelson Common Road.

In the recently unsealed supporting affidavit requesting the search warrant, state police Troop C Sgt. Shawn M. Skahan wrote, that on March 13, “I received an e-mail from T. Faulkner outlining his concerns that the town of Nelson has been illegally recording conversations within the town hall building.”...

Skahan concluded that based upon the evidence, there is probable cause for the crimes of wiretapping and eavesdropping. (more) (video)

Artist's Countersurveillance Masks Make You Look Like Him

Artist Leo Selvaggio launched a project called URME on Indiegogo to fund the creation of countersurveillance masks with his face on them. The campaign will conclude June 13 but has already raised more than twice its $1,000 goal.

"We don't believe you should be tracked just because you want to walk outside, and you shouldn't have to hide, either," the project's website states. "Instead, use one of our products to present an alternative identity when in public." (more)

"So, why sweep the court for bugs if you post it on the Internet?"

The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals took a judicial mulligan Monday after staff failed last week to follow standard practice and record what was supposed to be the only such hearing in a terrorist case touching on surveillance issues broached by Edward Snowden.

The rare do-over of oral arguments at a U.S. appellate court started slowly with one judge even saying she would try and carefully recreate as best she could the questions she asked the parties in the unrecorded hearing...

Officials said last week that workers responsible for turning on a court recorder at the initial hearing were startled by U.S. agents who swept the room for bugging devices and so assumed — wrongly — that all recordings were prohibited. A recording of Monday's hearing was successfully made and promptly posted on the court website later in the afternoon. (more)