Oil Ministry to Install Cameras in Sensitive Locations to Guard Against Espionage

India - A lower-level functionary of the oil ministry, keen to deliver a copy of a file to a corporate (mole), made a fatal mistake while photocopying the paper: he forgot to remove the original document from the photocopier. This created a stir when an attendant spotted the paper while dusting the machine next morning. 

The fate of the corporate mole is not clear but incidents such as these have resulted in the oil ministry moving rapidly to install surveillance cameras in sensitive locations to guard against espionage...

The surveillance system is intended to deter such moles or catch them red-handed. "The idea is to keep corporate lobbyists at bay. Cameras will be installed in sensitive locations of Shastri Bhawan," an oil ministry source said. (more)

Video Review of the Spy Gear Undercover Spy Cam Phone

A $30.00 toy with some interesting possibilities...

How Anyone Can Turn Your Computer Into a Bugging Device

by Null Byte...
Now that nearly everyone and everyplace has a computer, you can use those remote computers for some good old "cloak and dagger" spying. No longer is spying something that only the CIA, NSA, KGB, and other intelligence agencies can do—you can learn to spy, too.

In this brand new series, we will explore how we can use the ubiquity of the computer to peek in on just about anyone and anyplace. Unlike the spy movies of yesteryear where the spy had to place a listening device in the lamp or in a houseplant, as long as there is a computer in the room, it can be used as a "bug."

We will examine how to turn that commonplace computer into our own bug to listen in on conversations, use as a spy camera, track Internet searches, and more. James Bond and Q have nothing on us!

In this first part, I will show you how to convert any computer, anywhere, into a listening device. As nearly every room now has a computer in it, you can put a bug in nearly every room, unnoticed and undetected. (more)

Tips: 
• Don't open any Word or Excel files from anyone who might want to bug you. 
• Reboot your computer often.

Business Espionage: Corporations Spy on Nonprofits With Impunity

by Ralph Nader...
Here's a dirty little secret you won't see in the daily papers: Corporations conduct espionage against U.S. nonprofit organizations without fear of being brought to justice.

Yes, that means using a great array of spycraft and snoopery, including planned electronic surveillance, wiretapping, information warfare, infiltration, dumpster diving and so much more.

The evidence abounds.

For example, six years ago, based on extensive documentary evidence, James Ridgeway reported in Mother Jones on a major corporate espionage scheme by Dow Chemical focused on Greenpeace and other environmental and food activists...

This is hardly the only case of corporate espionage against nonprofits. Last year, my colleagues produced a report titled Spooky Business, which documented 27 sets of stories involving corporate espionage against nonprofits, activists and whistleblowers. Most of the stories occurred in the US, but some occurred in the UK, France and Ecuador. (more)

Denny’s Daily Zinger: Is a Thief Running Rampant in Your Office?

By Denny Hatch 

Julian Assange (Wikileaks), Edward Snowden  and Pfc. Chelsea (née Bradley) Manning became household names overnight. 

They downloaded U.S. Government secrets. Diplomatic relations, American politics and military secrets were seriously compromised.

How'd it happen? Up to 4 million people—including 500,000 government contractors—hold Top Secret clearances.

That's how.

The Lions Gate Film Studios' $100 Million Theft
In late July at Lions Gate film studios, a perfect copy of the upcoming Sylvester Stallone  movie, "Expendables 3," was stolen. The film cost an estimated $100 million to produce.
It was immediately offered free all over the Internet on such sites as KickassTorrents, or KAT, and The Pirate Bay, or TPB, and a slew more.

Millions of co-conspirators downloaded the film for private viewing resulting in a box office catastrophe when it opened in theaters.

Reuters headline
August 11, 2014:
U.S. judge orders websites to stop 'Expendables 3' film piracy
 Lotsa luck. 

Takeaways to Consider  

• In your organization, who has the equivalent of Top Secret clearance?
• Who has keys to your digital vault and access to the most sensitive R&D?
• Does a system exist whereby every time a major asset is in transit-not in its usual place-it can be tracked by user?
• Should you monitor employees' email to see who in your organization may be feeling underpaid or contemplating retribution?
• Two-thirds of companies monitor employees' Internet use and "almost 33 percent of 140 North American businesses nationwide conduct regular audits of outbound email content."
• Your future could depend on it.

Denny Hatch 's new book is "Write Everything Right!" Drayton Bird writes, "Just had to say again how bloody good this is. Who else could tell me in one book how to write a resume, which words irritate people and how to review a film? (Sent from my iPhone)." Click here to download (Opens as a PDF) and read the first three chapters FREE. The title is also available on Kindle. Reach Denny at dennyhatch@yahoo.com.

The 1-Click Conference Call Trick - Ease or Espionage?

from the website...

"We made CCALL because it’s a pain in the axx to enter conference codes from a mobile phone. If you've ever had a calendar invite with a long conference ID and scribbled it on the back of your hand to avoid jumping between the email, your calendar and your phone app then you understand why we did this."

Question: Do you think this a clever public service, or a clever social engineering eavesdropping / espionage trick? Doesn't matter. I know what I am telling my clients.

Need a Reason to Buy an iPhone?

Spies hate iPhones...

The secrets of one of the world’s most prominent surveillance companies, Gamma Group, spilled onto the Internet last week, courtesy of an anonymous leaker who appears to have gained access to sensitive corporate documents. And while they provide illuminating details about the capabilities of Gamma’s many spy tools, perhaps the most surprising revelation is about something the company struggles to do: It can’t easily hack into your typical iPhone. (more)

The NSA is Inventive - Just Look at Their Patents

What do a voice identifier, an automated translator, a "tamper-indicating" document tube, and a supersecure manhole cover have in common? They're all technologies for which the secretive National Security Agency (NSA) has been granted patents by the U.S. government, giving the agency the exclusive rights to its inventions.

The four technologies represent a tiny fraction of the more than 270 sleuthy devices, methods, and designs for which the nation's biggest intelligence agency has been granted a patent since 1979, the earliest year for which public figures are available. As the patent holder, the NSA can license the particular technology -- for a fee -- to anyone who wants to use it, so long as the patent hasn't expired.

The NSA's cryptologists and computer scientists have been busy over the years inventing methods of encrypting data, analyzing voice recordings, transferring digital files, and removing distortion from intercepted communications -- all things you'd expect from the world's largest and most sophisticated eavesdropping agency. And the digital spooks have patented gadgets straight out of a James Bond flick, such as tamper-indicating envelopes and finely tuned radio antennas. (more) (The List)

More Bad Publicity About USB Security

Cyber-security experts have dramatically called into question the safety and security of using USB to connect devices to computers.

Berlin-based researchers Karsten Nohl and Jakob Lell demonstrated how any USB device could be used to infect a computer without the user's knowledge.

The duo said there is no practical way to defend against the vulnerability.

The body responsible for the USB standard said manufacturers could build in extra security.

But Mr Nohl and Mr Lell said the technology was "critically flawed". (more with videos)

China, Sex, Spycams and PIs... A Cautionary Tale

(June) A covert sex tape involving a senior executive and his Chinese lover was the trigger for a major investigation into corruption at British drugs giant GlaxoSmith-Kline...

The video of married Mark Reilly and his girlfriend was filmed by secret camera and emailed anonymously to board members of the pharmaceutical firm.

It led to an investigation that has rocked the £76billion company... (more)

(Yesterday) A British private investigator (PI) has been sentenced to two and a half years in jail by a Chinese court after becoming embroiled in a sex and whistleblowing scandal at the drug firm GlaxoSmithKline.

Peter Humphrey, 58, was also fined 200,000 yuan (£19,300), and his wife, Yu Yingzeng – a naturalised American citizen – was sentenced to two years and fined 150,000 yuan in the first case of its kind involving foreigners in China...

GSK had hired them to investigate why the company's then head of China operations, Mark Reilly, had been filmed surreptitiously having sex with his Chinese girlfriend in his guarded luxury home. (more)

Money Saving Spy Tips
1. No area you think is private is private until a competent TSCM team says so.
2. The "girlfriend" spy is an old trick.
3. Bugs, taps and spycams are old spy tricks. #3 used with #2 will cost you.
4. Executives: beware of #2, check for #3 frequently.
5. PIs, working in China has its risks.
6. Blackmail works, especially when state sponsored.
7. Proactive TSCM is far cheaper than a mess like this.

The Ford Motors Bugging Case - FBI Continues Investigation

The FBI has taken a computer disk and internal Ford e-mails in a continuing investigation of a former employee who was fired in June after the company found recording devices she had hidden in a building on its Dearborn, Mich., world headquarters campus.

Ford fired Sharon Leach, 43, a mechanical staff engineer who worked at Ford for 16 years, in late June after company security personnel saw her leave and return to the same conference room on multiple occasions. She told them she was recording conference meetings using the bugs...

According to court records, the FBI seized eight listening devices from Ford headquarters on July 11. It earlier had seized more than two dozen items from Leach's Wyandotte, Mich., home weeks earlier, including bank statements, tax records, a buy.com shipping bag, a Post-It note with numbers and a key chain with keys labeled "do not duplicate." (more)

Free Tip: Recover Files Locked by Cryptolocker Ransomware

If your computer files have been (or will be) held for ransom by Cryptolocker, bookmark this site... https://decryptcryptolocker.com/. 

FireEye and Fox-IT have partnered to provide free keys designed to unlock systems infected by CryptoLocker.

These folks will analyze one of your locked files and send you the decode key, FREE.

Coming Soon - The "Pssst. Don't go walking there alone" App

SketchFactor is a navigation app that shows the relative sketchiness of an area. It's focused on improving city exploration on foot. SketchFactor empowers users to report sketchy experiences, read sketchy incidents, and get directions to where they need to go in the least sketchy way possible.

What does sketchy mean?
Sketchy means a number of different things. To you, it may mean dangerous. To someone else, it may mean weird.
 
What can I report?
You can report any sketchy incident you see fit. (more)

FutureWatch: If this gains traction, like Yelp, it will become a whole lot more than just a personal app. Police, criminologists, city planners, security consultants, taxi cab companies and more will find use for the data this generates. Imagine a real-time SketchFactor overlay for Google maps.

FBI Citizens Academy - Hey, corporate America, turn around and pay attention.

“The top secret, government, political secrets, all that top secret stuff that you kind of think about spies, probably less than 10% of what they are trying to go after.” 

FBI experts say that 90% of what they go after, is industrial and trade secret espionage, and the target: students and executives from companies traveling abroad carrying trade secrets from their research and development at universities and companies.. And it's highly sought after.

“Every company, your research and development, it’s your next product down the road, and if I can steal that information and beat you to the market it's going to be devastating for you as a company.” (more) (video)

Nixon Tapes Released for 40th Anniversary of Resignation

Forty years ago this Friday, Richard Nixon became the first and only president of the United States to resign from office. He signed his resignation agreement, boarded a helicopter for San Clemente, Calif., and largely retreated into the shadows of history.

A decade later, he sat down with former White House aide Frank Gannon to share his own account of his final days in the Oval Office. Segments culled from those 30 hours of interviews were aired publicly just once, on CBS News. This week, The Richard Nixon Foundation and the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum are releasing a series of clips of those interviews in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the resignation.

In the first installments of the video series entitled “A President Resigns,” the disgraced president recalls learning that the infamous tape that became known as “the smoking gun” had been released. The tape revealed that Nixon had been aware of the break-in at the Watergate, despite his repeated denials. (more)