Scary Password Stats

Market Pulse Survey 

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Reveals Growing Security Negligence in the Workplace 
Despite Employees’ Concern Over Risk to Personal Data 
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Yes, 1 in 5 would sell their passwords... and it only take one to spring a leak.  ~Kevin

Business Espionage: Guaranteed Rate Hit with $25M Judgment

A jury awarded Mount Olympus Mortgage Co. more than $25 million in a lawsuit alleging "corporate espionage" by former employee Benjamin Anderson and his new employer, Guaranteed Rate.

Anderson and another former Mount Olympus originator who now works for Guaranteed Rate, Brian Decker, were accused of stealing loan files, borrower information and other proprietary data from the Irvine, Calif.-based lender.

"The purpose of the scheme was to divert hundreds of MOMCo loan customers to Guaranteed. The Individual Defendants misappropriated MOMCo's confidential and proprietary information and directed MOMCo customers to Guaranteed," the lawsuit, filed in an Orange County, Calif., superior court, reads.

The complaint alleges the pair acted with the encouragement of Chicago-based Guaranteed Rate. more

Surveillance Self-Defense 101: A teach-in for activists

On Sunday, April 3, 

EFF will co-host a free workshop on surveillance self-defense with local grassroots groups in New York and Brooklyn. The workshop will be open to the public, though particularly structured for activists supporting social movements.

Participants need not wield technical expertise to attend this session, which is geared towards regular smartphone and laptop users. EFF's Shahid Buttar will facilitate a teach-in and skill-share on surveillance, some immediate and practical steps you can take to protect your communications, and how to work with neighbors to inform surveillance policy at the state and local level. An EFF staff technologist will remotely join for a question & answer session. more

Laker Rookie Secretly Filmed Teammate Admitting Cheating

A shocking video surfaced of Los Angeles Lakers forward Nick Young,

filmed by his rookie teammate D’Angelo Russell, admitting that he cheated on his fiancée Iggy Azalea.

The video shows Russell talking to Young saying, “You was 30 and she was 19?” referencing a woman the 30-year-old Young met in a nightclub...

According to Hollywoodlife.com the 25-year-old Azalea plans to now call off their wedding plans. more

Security Director Alert: Update Your HID Card Reader Software - NOW

Let Me Get That Door for You: Remote Root Vulnerability in HID Door Controllers

If you’ve ever been inside an airport, university campus, hospital, government complex, or office building, you’ve probably seen one of HID’s brand of card readers standing guard over a restricted area. HID is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of access control systems and has become a ubiquitous part of many large companies’ physical security posture.

Each one of those card readers is attached to a door controller behind the scenes, which is a device that controls all the functions of the door including locking and unlocking, schedules, alarms, etc...

Technical details...
...if we send a Linux command wrapped in backticks, like `id`, it will get executed by the Linux shell on the device. To make matters worse, the discovery service runs as root, so whatever command we send it will also be run as root, effectively giving us complete control over the device.

Since the device in this case is a door controller, having complete control includes all of the alarm and locking functionality. This means that with a few simple UDP packets and no authentication whatsoever, you can permanently unlock any door connected to the controller. And you can do this in a way that makes it impossible for a remote management system to relock it. On top of that, because the discoveryd service responds to broadcast UDP packets, you can do this to every single door on the network at the same time! Needless to say, this is a potentially devastating bug. The Zero Day Initiative team worked with HID to see that it got fixed, and a patch is reportedly available now through HID’s partner portal. more

Covert Recording: Governor of Alabama, Robert Bentley, Says He Won’t Quit

“I have no intentions of resigning,” said Mr. Bentley, a Republican in his second term...

Within hours, Rebekah C. Mason, the governor’s senior political adviser and the woman with whom he engaged in suggestive conversations, captured on tape, said she had quit. And by day’s end, it was uncertain whether it would be politically feasible for Mr. Bentley, 73, to remain in office in this state, which has a gaudy history of scandal but has been in something of a morals-driven meltdown since the governor’s admission last Wednesday.

Background...
Spencer Collier, head of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency until he was fired today, said this afternoon he has seen and investigated text messages and audio recordings "of a sexual nature" between Gov. Robert Bentley and his chief advisor, Rebekah Caldwell Mason...

...former Bentley security officer Ray Lewis... brought a laptop to Collier and played an audiotape of conversations between the governor and Mason, Collier said. The tape, purportedly created by a Bentley family member hoping for an "intervention," left no doubt about the relationship, he said. more

And you thought bugging the coffin stories were outrageous...

CA - For the second time in less than six months, defense attorneys are crying foul over the placement of hidden recording devices outside Bay Area courthouses. 

Lawyers for a group of real estate professionals facing antitrust charges on Wednesday asked the judge overseeing the case to toss evidence gained from recording devices located outside the Alameda and Contra Costa County courthouses.

"The government's unauthorized use of recording devices to capture private conversations at the Alameda and Contra Costa County courthouses violated the defendants' Fourth Amendment rights to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures," defense lawyers wrote in U.S. v Marr, 14-580. more

Bugged coffin story #1.
Bugged coffin story #2.
Bugged coffin story #3.
Bugged coffin story #4.

Just Don't Hold this "Cell Phone" to Your Head

Created by a Minnesota company called Ideal Conceal, the first product created by the startup is a handgun that can be disguised as a smartphone inside a case. 

Built into a single frame, the grip of the double barreled, .380 caliber pistol folds down and locks into place when opened. When closed, the trigger and trigger guard are completed covered by the grip, thus offering up the appearance of a standard smartphone case. There’s also a clip to attach the handgun to a belt, but in the disguised smartphone form.

Similar to the size and shape of a smartphone, the folded Ideal Conceal can be easily slipped into a pants pocket or purse when not in use....

At this time, the pistol is still being developed by Ideal Conceal and isn’t in production as of yet. more

The Puzzling Case of Corporate Espionage

Chris Wirth started Liberty Puzzles just over a decade ago as a sort of homage to his childhood and to the original wooden puzzles of the 1930s...

...Liberty’s sales back up the idea that puzzles are popular again. Liberty has grown considerably every year since it opened up shop. Lately, though, its puzzles have been so popular it’s “overwhelming,” says Wirth. But when we asked him how many puzzles the company sells each year, he declined to reveal anything. “We’ve been the victim of corporate espionage,” he says. Like people scouting out its Boulder, Colorado factory operations and stealing precious information. Who knew puzzle intelligence operatives were a thing? more

Brussels Suicide Bombers Planted Hidden Camera...

...At Home Of Top Belgium Nuclear Official

...Belgium’s federal prosecutor confirmed that on November 30, police seized footage that appeared to show a high-ranking Belgian nuclear official in an anti-terror raid. The surveillance video was discovered in a bust that resulted in the arrest of Mohamed Bakkali, who was charged with terrorist activity and murder in connection with the Paris attacks. His home in Auvelais may have been used as a hideout...

On Thursday, we get still more chilling evidence to suggest that this is all the work of the very same Belgium-based terror cell. According to Dernier Heure, it was the Bakraoui brothers that planted a hidden camera in the bushes and captured the 10-minute surveillance video of the senior Belgian nuclear official coming and going from his home. more

A European security official told the AP the terror squads are being trained in battleground strategies, explosives, surveillance techniques and countersurveillance — “next-level” methods Stewart said will help them avoid capture and kill scores of innocents.

“They’re doing pre-operational surveillance, attack planning and clandestine communications,” Stewart said. “That kind of 
advanced tradecraft gives them capabilities that are beyond what we’ve seen.” more

Apple Concerned About Spy Tech Being Added to Servers

Apple's huge success with services like iTunes, the App Store, and iCloud has a dark side.

Apple hasn't been able to build the all the data centers it needs to run these enormous photo storage and internet services on its own. And it worries that some of the equipment and cloud services it buys has been compromised by vendors who have agreed to put "back door" technology for government spying... more

The Future of Eavesdropping – Mind Reading

Imagine a world where all of your thoughts are visible – including to government agencies. This scenario might sound like it’s been plucked straight from the pages of a sci-fi novel, but it’s not as far-fetched as you might think.

Devices that measure and interpret electrical signals from our brains can already detect things like whether we are drowsy while driving.



In this video for the World Economic Forum, Nita A. Farahany, Professor of Law and Philosophy at Duke University, discusses the potential but also the legal and ethical risks of these emerging technologies.

“We are not yet at the point where a little thought bubble above your head is something we can see, but we’re getting there,” she says. more

Weird Craig's List Employment Ad - "Receptionist / File Clerk / Spy"

Can you be loyal to the boss? 
Can you spy on the other employees?

Well, not literally spy, but you need to active keep a record of all employee work activity and report to the boss and be loyal to the boss only.

If you are capable of keeping track of the other workers and reporting the details of their tardiness, or punctuality etc. then do apply.

Anyone applying needs to have a very professional, well groomed appearance, since they will be the face of the office. Pics are not required to apply but they do help show if the candidate has the organizational skills to be well put together.

You would be the upfront receptionist, however, you would also be able to perform the following... more

Leaks at Water Department Prompt TSCM Sweep - They came up dry.

Charleston police have conducted a search for wiretaps at the West Virginia Water Development Authority building amid allegations of ethics violations.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that police did not find any hidden listening devices during last week's wiretap sweep.

Water Development Authority Executive Director Chris Jarrett says he asked detectives to search the offices for wiretaps to check for unauthorized electronics.

The sweep comes after a dispute between the agency's geographic information system manager Michael Duminiak and two agency employees including Jarrett and Water Development Authority Executive Assistant Carol Cummings...

According to emails obtained by the newspaper, Duminiak says Cummings accused him of hacking employees' computers and tampering with the security system. Duminiak also accuses Cummings of secretly recording conversations on her smartphone. more

How a Tapped Phone Sparked a Mass Protest

In the latest of a series of explosive revelations that could bring down the Brazilian government, a secretly recorded phone call between former president Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva and his successor, Dilma Rousseff, suggests his appointment to a ministerial position on Wednesday was motivated by a desire to avoid prosecution in Brazil’s worst-ever corruption scandal.

Judge Sergio Moro, the lead prosecutor in Operation Lava-jato, a two-year investigation into corruption at the state-run oil company, Petrobras, released nearly 50 audio recordings to the media on Wednesday evening, prompting chaotic scenes in congress as opposition deputies demanded Rousseff’s resignation.

On Wednesday night tens of thousands of Brazilians began gathering in São Paulo, Brasília, Belo Horizonte and other major cities to demand the president’s resignation. In the capital Brasilia, riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades at more than 5,000 demonstrators outside the presidential palace and Congress building. Many waved banners calling for Lula’s arrest. Thousands more demonstrators packed the main Avenue Paulista in São Paulo. more

When was the last time you had your phones checked for taps? Call me. ~Kevin