FCC Chairman Suggests Expanded Wiretap Laws

The nation’s top telecom regulator recommended broadening America’s wiretapping laws Tuesday, in response to the recent attacks in Paris by the Islamic State that left more than 120 people dead.

While the Federal Communications Commission cannot take direct action against the Islamic State, such as shutting down its Web sites or social media accounts, Congress could do “specific things” allowing the FCC to assist law enforcement more effectively, agency Chairman Tom Wheeler told a House subcommittee.

That includes revisiting the wiretap legislation, said Wheeler. The 1994 law, known as the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA, provides for the “lawful intercept” of a suspect’s telephone and online communications. It requires telecom companies and Internet providers, not to mention some online voice services, to build their networks in ways that grant authorities easier access to those communications. more

A $50. Audio Video Bugging Device is Child's Play

Remote Spy Mode
The Video Walkie Talkies act as a hidden camera. Place one Walkie in a secret location, press the activation button on the other and you’ll instantly have a hidden, live-feed surveillance cam. If you leave your Video Walkies for 15 minutes unused they automatically turn off to save power. When your mission is complete, the Video Walkie Talkies easily fold up for compact storage and screen protection! Gear up with the Spy Gear Video Walkie Talkies!

No Data or Wi-Fi Required
The Video Walkie Talkies do not require Data or Wi-Fi to use! Just press the activation button and you can wirelessly communicate with your friends on video! With a range of up to 160 feet you’ll be in constant communication with your fellow agent.

Quick Set Up – Easy As 1-2-3
Only Spy Gear has the spy technology to let you stay in constant 2-way, visual and audio communication at long range! Open up your Video Walkie Talkies and turn the power on. You’ll instantly be able to see your friends on the LCD screen. Now press the TRANSMIT BUTTON for audio communication with the other Video Walkie. Want to go stealth? Plug headphones into both Video Walkies to listen in secret and communicate without pressing the TRANSMIT BUTTON. more

BlackBerry SecuSUITE - Voice Encryption for iOS, Android & BlackBerry

BlackBerry Limited and its subsidiary Secusmart has today announced the release of SecuSUITE for Enterprise, 

a new voice encryption solution that protects mobile calls on the Android, iOS and BlackBerry operating systems.

By using the VoIP, software-based, cloud-hosted solution, employees will be able to conduct secure conversations worldwide and be able to send encrypted text messages of any length.

Voice and text messages are encrypted with 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) on the individual device level, meaning messages are stored on the receiver’s smartphone and only sent to the recipient when they are available to receive them. more

The Newest Anti-Espionage Agents... Monks & Nuns!?!?

China is training Buddhist monks and nuns in Tibet to carry out anti-espionage operations

along the remote Sino-Indian border to prevent attempts to create "conflict" by "ethnic separatists", in a veiled reference to the Dalai Lama and his supporters.

"Twenty-two monks and nuns from three temples in Nyingchi, a city in southeastern Tibet, close to the Sino-Indian border, received the three-hour lecture at Lamaling Temple on the counter-espionage law by local and national security officials," state-run news portal Tibet.Cn reported.

The lecture conducted in the Himalayan region along the border with India was about how to abide by the counter-espionage law and the legal consequences of violating the law, it said. more 

Every James Bond Gadget. Ever.

The $8 USB Memory Stick Lock

3 Digit Combination USB Flash Drive Security Lock.
A physical lock for your USB Flash Drive.

Set your own 3 digits code to prevent your flash drive from being inserted into another computer.

Of course, it won't stop everyone, but it may thwart general snoops.  more

Visit Switzerland in June - Information Security and Cryptography Seminar

INFORMATION SECURITY AND CRYPTOGRAPHY, FUNDAMENTALS AND APPLICATIONS (June 13-15, 2016)

Lecturers: Prof. David Basin and Prof. Ueli Maurer, ETH Zurich

The topics covered include cryptography and its foundations, system and network security, PKIs and key management, authentication and access control, privacy and data protection, and advanced topics in cryptography. The seminar takes place in Zurich, Switzerland. The lectures and all course material are in English.

This seminar provides an in-depth coverage of Information Security and Cryptography. Concepts are explained in a way understandable to a wide audience, as well as mathematical, algorithmic, protocol-specific, and system-oriented aspects.

A full description of the seminar, including a detailed listing of topics covered, is available at www.infsec.ch

How to Stop Your Vizio TV form Spying On You

from vizio.com
Beginning October 31, 2015, VIZIO will use Viewing Data together with your IP address and other Non-Personal Information in order to inform third party selection and delivery of targeted and re-targeted advertisements. These advertisements may be delivered to smartphones, tablets, PCs or other internet-connected devices that share an IP address or other identifier with your Smart TV...

Smart Interactivity is a feature on Internet-connected VIZIO televisions that recognizes onscreen content. Currently, we only use this feature to gather data on a non-personal or anonymous basis, as described below...

...your VIZIO Smart TV can intelligently recognize linear television and other content shown on the screen and in the future may display accompanying interactive features such as bonus features related to the content you are viewing, the ability to vote in polls, or advertisements that match your interests...

Smart Interactivity collects information from your product which triggers events, such as pop-ups, about what you are viewing. Follow the steps below on how to turn on or off Smart Interactivity based on the version of VIZIO Internet Apps (VIA) installed on your television.

Security Director Alert - Don't Be a Business Espionage Target While Traveling

via http://seriouslyvc.com
The following list represents the most important procedures you and your colleagues should follow on your next trip abroad:

1. Avoid disclosing your travel details to strangers.
2. Never put electronics in your checked luggage.
3. Consider traveling with a disposable cellphone (they are less susceptible to eavesdropping).
4. Use a separate “throw-away” email to communicate with your family and 
coworkers (this prevents hackers from penetrating your company’s email 
system even after you have completed your trip).
5. Consider installing an asymmetric email encryption program such as “Pretty Good Privacy” (PGP) on your computer, which allows you to encrypt and decrypt your email over the Internet.
6. Put sensitive business documents on password-protected USB drives (such 
as “Iron Key” or “BitLocker”).
7. Never use complimentary WiFi when traveling, unless absolutely necessary, and always use a trusted VPN.
8. Never leave your sensitive business materials and/or electronics unattended 
in your hotel room — and your hotel safe is not safe! Carry all electronics with you at all times (hence, the need for smaller devices).
9. If you spend time in the hotel bar, be cautious of what you say and to whom, 
because they are prime hunting grounds for espionage operatives.
10. Be mindful of sexual entrapment (the Russians are still the masters of “honeypots” and have blackmailed many a business traveler into disclosing sensitive information in exchange for keeping their affairs secret).
11. Use a strong passphrase (instead of password) containing up to 14-18 characters (and change it every 180 days or after every international trip).
12. Make it a habit to power-off your devices when they are not in use. more

Book - How to Be a Spy - WWII Training Manual

In the early years of World War II, Special Operations Executive (SOE) set up top secret training schools to instruct prospective agents in the art of being a spy.

By the end of 1941, an international network of schools was in operation in secluded locations ranging from the Scottish Highlands to Singapore and Canada.

How to Be a Spy reproduces the extensive training manuals used to prepare agents for their highly dangerous missions behind enemy lines. The courses cover a variety of clandestine skills including disguise, surveillance, burglary, interrogation, close combat, and assassination - everything needed to wreak havoc in occupied Europe.

Contest - Tell Us Everything You Know About this Wiretapping Device

I am guessing anyone who as ever used this is now pushing up punchdown blocks.
But, there is a nice prize for the person who can tell us about this device...
   • the manufacturer,
   • who used this device,
   • approximate year of manufacturer.
BONUS PRIZE if you send me the manual.
Information you submit will be shared below.
Enter HERE.

Winner: RH - Regarding your mystery wiretapping device, it is a Western Electric model 300ABC telephone line recording unit. Western Electric was the manufacturing company of AT&T up until the mid-90s, and furnished a lot of kit for the military. Based on the design and housing of this unit, it was likely manufactured some time between 1939 and 1946. While this could be used for wiretapping, these devices were common in military command posts were it would be used to record phone conversations between officers, and the recording would subsequently be transcribed and filed.

(Additional insights welcome.)

Slurpee Sound Cups - Now Imagine a Cup Made with Wiretaps

By now, you probably know all about 7 Eleven's Bring Your Own Cup Day, the minimart's annual event during which anyone can bring practically any sort of container into the store and fill it up with Slurpee, all for the same low price.
Well, earlier this fall during BYO Cup Day in Australia, 7 Eleven, along with its agency Leo Burnett Melbourne, took the cup idea up a notch by allowing consumers to fill up radio ads with Slurpee.

Come again? Yes, radio ads became drink containers in the inventive campaign "Slurpee Sound Cup" campaign. 7 Eleven took the sound waves of three radio spots, themed around Viking opera, Brazilian soccer fans and randy whales, and transformed them into a series of distinctive 3D-printed vessels that were given away to Slurpee fans for the big day. Consumers could also download the 3D files and make the cups themselves. video

Big Taps in The Big House

Thousands of confidential phone conversations between inmates and their lawyers have been recorded 

by a leading prison phone company that also serves New York City jails — a major data breach exposed by a hacker, according to a report.

The anonymous hacker believes the company, Securus Technologies, is violating prisoners’ constitutional rights by recording privileged conversations, The Intercept reported Wednesday.

Of 70 million phone-call records obtained by The Intercept, 14,000 were for legally protected calls made to prisoners’ attorneys, The Intercept said. more

Uninstall InstaAgent From Your Phone Now

By Andy Boxall
If you’re one of the thousands of people with an app named Who Viewed Your Profile – InstaAgent installed on your smartphone, stop using it and delete it right now.

Why? Because it’s stealing your password, transferring it to a server, and then posting images on your Instagram account suggesting others should also download the app.

The app is a third-party Instagram client that promised to tell you who visited your Instagram account, something it could only do once you’d handed over your username and password. This function was never carried out, and the app’s sole intention was to steal Instagram logins. more

Dial 12339 To Report a Spy in China (Let the SWATing Begin)

China has set up a new national hot line for reporting “spies” as authorities grow increasingly sensitive over national security issues. 

The new service was set up by officials in the north-eastern province of Jilin, the local New Cultural Newspaper said Sunday, with reports saying those who suspect “espionage activity” can call 12339.

“The hot line targets foreign organizations and individuals who conduct espionage activities or who instigate and sponsor others in conducting them,” the fiercely nationalist Global Times newspaper said.

A list of "guidelines" to help people identify spies appeared on Chinese social media soon after the hot line was announced, however it was unclear where it originated.

Potential spies included “those with vague job tiles and a lot of money” and “those who bring up controversial topics at parties and then only observe the discussion”, said the guidelines, which had been shared widely on Chinese messaging app Wechat. more