When it's time to make sure that communications from and to the aircraft of the president of the United States are safe from eavesdropping, who do you call? The Air Force's 346th Test Squadron.
Part of the 688th Cyberspace Wing, which itself is part of the 24th Air Force, based at Lackland Air Force base here, the 346th is tasked with making sure that electronic emissions aboard all the service's aircraft are secure. Even Air Force One.
As part of CNET Road Trip 2014, I've come to Lackland, located in this south-central Texas city of 1.3 million, to see just how the Air Force "hardens" its aircraft from unwanted eavesdropping. Though I came to hear technicians talk about their efforts on board any number of the service's planes, I wasn't expecting to hear about their recent work to secure communications on Air Force One. (more)
Android and iOS mobile trojans likely used for surveillance through mobile devices of journalists and politicians, activists and human rights advocates have been discovered circulating in the wild...
The mobile trojans are designed to operate in a discreet manner, for instance monitoring a mobile device’s battery life so as not to ostensibly drain it, arousing suspicion. Then, when a victim is connected to a particular Wi-Fi network or while the device is plugged in to charge, it springs to life, unbeknownst to the user. Kaspersky said that the trojans are capable of performing a variety of surveillance functions, including intercepting phone calls and SMS messages, and chat messages sent from specific applications such as Viber, WhatsApp and Skype. It can also report the target’s location, take photos, copy events from the device’s calendar and more.
These mobile trojans are part of the allegedly ‘legal’ spyware tool, Remote Control System (RCS), aka Galileo. The mapping shows the presence of more than 320 RCS command & control servers in 40+ countries. The majority of the servers were found in the US, Kazakhstan, Ecuador, the UK and Canada. (more)
Last month it was reported that British intelligence agency MI5 had, in a series of high-level meetings, painted a worrying picture for leading British corporations in which their IT workers may become targets for foreign powers seeking sensitive data.
The idea of an IT department infiltrated with double agents may sound a little fanciful but the threat of a rival nation trying to influence them is far more realistic than many may think according to Uri Rivner, vice-president for cyber strategy at Israeli security company BioCatch.
“Obviously there are cases like this,” says Rivner, who compares the situation to having “someone on the inside” of a bank before committing a robbery. Of the companies or organisations that will be targeted, he says that “whatever a nation is good at, that’s interesting to other nations”.
In the case of the UK, he says this may be the financial sector, while in Scandinavia two industries in particular, telecommunications and mining, “have been targeted”. (more)
Austrian architecture firm Coop-Himmelblau has designed a Snuggie-like piece of clothing that jams the wearer's phone, effectively rendering him invisible.
The Jammer Coat shields the phone from wireless signals, so the device becomes undetectable to things like search engines or tracking software, and there's no way for anyone to pull credit card information.
 |
| Click to enlarge. |
The code is basically a Faraday cage, with metals embedded in the fabric that reflect incoming radio waves, protecting the wearer from unwittingly sharing any information on any device beneath it.
Apparently, one of the cloak's most useful features is its lumpy pattern, which acts as a disguise for would-be phone hackers and thieves.
"The Wave Circle pattern of the fabric gives an illusion of strange multiple body parts, which hides and frees the individual physicality," the product's website states. (more)
Worried about spying? Maybe you need a personal drone detection system.
Privacy in the drone-filled age is going to be more difficult to protect than ever. Competitors, thieves, or even just your neighbors could be spying on your every move using a remote-controlled flying camera.
That’s the kind of paranoia Domestic Drone Countermeasures (DDC) is hoping to tap into with its new personal drone detection system (PDDS) Kickstarter project – a black box that promises to go beep when a drone flies within 15m of its sensors. (more)
An inspection by agents from Colombia’s investigation unit discovered that evidence was missing from the National Archive in Bogota regarding the wiretapping scandal of Colombia’s former intelligence agency.
The disappearance of the evidence in the wiretapping case against Colombia’s now-defunct intelligence agency, DAS, was confirmed by journalist Claudia Julieta Duque, who claims to have been “psychologically tortured” and harassed by the former agency, Colombia’s Caracol Radio reported on Thursday. (more)
According to a security and counterintelligence expert, Fortune 500 companies and the world’s media face a crisis. Chinese operatives are gaining control over the crucial nexus through which market intelligence is gathered and cash flows to media companies: ad agencies.
The issue is known to top executives at some of the largest companies in the United States. Five spoke off the record and gave a common answer: they’re aware, but cannot step forward for fear of retribution...
After having learned that spies were targeting proprietary information through their ad agencies, a chief executive officer at a Fortune 100 technology firm said, “We had no idea as to the relentlessness and depth the Chinese were willing to go to in obtaining our negotiating and pricing strategies.”...
In the case of the ad agencies, the information is being gathered by spies inside the companies.
The sending of agents, rather than the launching of cyberattacks, shows the strong value placed on the targets. Singer said, “You’re talking about something that’s costly on your side, so what you’re going after has to be of great value to you.” (more)
A cheap brand of Chinese-made smartphones carried by major online retailers comes pre-installed with espionage software, a German security firm has said.
G Data Software said it found malicious code hidden deep in the propriety software of the Star N9500 when it ordered the handset from a website late last month. The find is the latest in a series of incidents where smartphones have appeared preloaded with malicious software...
G Data said the spyware it found on the N9500 could allow a hacker to steal personal data, place rogue calls, or turn on the phone's camera and microphone. G Data said the stolen information was sent to a server in China.
Bjoern Rupp, chief executive of the Berlin-based mobile security consultancy firm GSMK, said such cases are more common than people think. Last fall, German cellphone service provider E-Plus found malicious software on some handsets delivered to customers of its Base brand. (more)
TX - A pioneer in cancer research, who was facing a second-degree felony charge in an alleged plot to spy on his ex-wife during their divorce, has reached a plea deal to dismiss the charges.
According to prosecutors, Dr. Steven Curley plotted with a computer expert to install a program called eBlaster. Dr. Curley and his ex, a physician’s assistant, once worked together at MD Anderson Hospital. (more)
Has a family member recently died leaving you with more stuff than answers?
Die Spy can help!
Our teams can find out everything you want to know about your deceased loved one. You may find out so much you will wonder why you ever bothered to get to know the person when he or she was alive!
We have a service package to fit any budget...Open Sesame
Do you want to make sure there aren't any paperless bills to be paid or recurring payments that should be canceled? Perhaps you want to notify the deceased's social media contacts of the death. With our most basic package a low level hacker will get you logged in to your loved one's computer, tablet, and smart phone to help you find that person's most used accounts... (more)
Someone forensic examiner better buy up DieSpy.com fast.
Wish I published this on April 1st.
UK - Spy supremo Peter Sables has tapped into history with his collection of wartime surveillance gear.
The radio buff has lovingly restored a string of listening devices used by the Allies against Nazi Germany during World War Two to create a nostalgic goldmine dating back more than 70 years.
And now his hobby has sparked the interest of a museum which is to take up some of his wireless sets as part of a new exhibition. (more)
Only a tenth (12 per cent) of people in the UK believe that calls on a mobile phone and texts are private, research from Silent Circle has found following Vodafone revealing secret wires that allow state surveillance.
The research of 1,000 employed Brits found that over half (54 per cent) believe ‘anyone with the right equipment’ has the ability to listen in on their mobile calls and texts.
Respondents named the government as the group most likely to have the ability to listen in on calls and texts (54 per cent), while 44 per cent believe the police can eavesdrop and a third think mobile phone providers could listen in.
Criminals (28 per cent) and jealous spouses (17 per cent) also raise suspicions for eavesdropping. (more)
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)
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)
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)
