Seattle's $3,750,000.00 Lightpole Art Exhibit Closes, or Sightless in Seattle

Back in 2013, the Security Scrapbook featured Seattle's new citywide surveillance system.

"A New Apparatus Capable of Spying on You Has Been Installed Throughout Downtown Seattle. Very Few Citizens Know What It Is, and Officials Don’t Want to Talk About It."

2018...
Five years after activists forced Seattle's mayor to return the city's surveillance drones to their manufacturer, the city has announced that it is terminating its warrantless mass-surveillance program altogether.

The DHS gave the city a $3.6m grant to build out a mesh wireless network that could be enjoyed by the public and also provide communications services during emergencies -- but it was also specked to do continuous location-based surveillance as well as CCTV surveillance from lightpoles all over the city.

Activists worked with the ACLU to pressure the city to work with police to produce a privacy policy that would explain when this data would be gathered, how long it would be retained, and how it would be used. The devices were switched off while these questions were to be answered.

Five years on, the police and city were unable to articulate an answer to these questions, and so now they're spending $150,000 to tear all the gear (including the mesh networking access points) out, rather than accept any limitations on their use. more

Spying is Turning Us into a Stalking Society

Bugging and GPS-tracking used to be so expensive that they were only used by governments and private investigators, but a quick Amazon search offers up a hidden car-tracking device for US$27 (£19).

In the related items: a spy cam disguised as a USB charger, $52. These items are marketed as a “real-time teen-driving coach”, nanny cams or parental control software, but there is nothing to stop them being used for nefarious purposes.

Meanwhile, law enforcement struggles to keep up: victims of stalking or online harassment are frequently told simply to stop going online, which for a 19-year-old in 2018 is like being told not to breathe air.

As the National Stalking Helpline’s manager, Clare Elcombe Webber, points out, it feels like there are near-infinite technologies to help stalkers but few to help victims. more

Quote of the Week

“If you're a company doing business with other countries, you can expect that you're being hacked – because they want to know your negotiating position,” Charles Widdis, Security Strategy and Planning Manager at CitiPower and Powercor

Number Stations, Spies... and The Sultans of Swing (?!?!)

Numbers stations: The 'spy radio' that anyone can hear...

For decades, people around the globe have been able to listen in to mysterious spy broadcasts from all over the world with just a radio.

Gordon Corera has been investigating the strange world of number stations. more

The Next Generation of Corporate Spies Begins Training in May

The trailer for a career in spying used to come from movies and TV shows. In May 2018, it will come from gaming. The new game is called Assault Spy.

"The self-proclaimed elite corporate spy Asaru and his deadweight partner Kanoko are hired for a new job in a dreary world dominated by corporations. Their mission? Infiltrate the mega corporation, Negabot. Dash, evade, and smash your way to the truth in this fast paced action game. No secret is safe from THIS bombastic spy duo!"

Well, Some Young Spies Still Learn From TV

Bart purchases a mini spy camera and manages to take a picture of Homer dancing next to stripper named Princess Kashmir at a co-worker's strip club party.

He gives copies of the picture to his friends, and eventually the picture starts to circulate around until eventually Marge sees it. She kicks Homer out of the house, but the next day explains that she is not upset about him dancing next to a woman, but rather that Bart saw it.

She demands that he take Bart and go apologize to Princess Kashmir. Homer agrees and says that he is ready to start respecting women.

Book Review - Loose Ends - David B. Watts, PI (really)

Ever read a really good book that you wish would become a feature-length Hollywood movie? Or, a television series, because you wanted to see the main characters in more of their adventures?

Loose Ends, by David B. Watts, is that book. I read it today in one sitting. It left me full of time well spent, yet hungry for more.

Loosely based on an actual case, solved by a real-life private investigator, it’s a multiple murder mystery set in New Jersey.

Geographically, it’s all true. You can almost smell the exhaust coming from the trucks on Route 22, in Union County; see the plushness of a wealthy defense lawyer’s conference room; hear the gasps in the courtroom as the surprise ending unfolds. This read creates a mental movie as the eyes pull the words off the pages.

Total verisimilitude, especially when it comes to private investigations, attorneys, police, prosecutors, and the courtroom.

If you are at loose ends for a great read, yes, tie up with Loose Ends.

The Doctor is In - Twelve Ways Dr. Guri can get into your air-gapped computer.

Faraday rooms or “cages” designed to prevent electromagnetic signals from escaping can nevertheless be compromised and leak highly sensitive data, according to new studies...

In two newly released reports (the other ten are there as well), the team demonstrated how attackers can bypass Faraday enclosures and air gaps to leak data from the most highly secured computers. The Odini method, named after the escape artist Harry Houdini, exploits the magnetic field generated by a computer’s central processing unit (CPU) to circumvent even the most securely equipped room. Click here to watch the demonstration.

“While Faraday rooms may successfully block electromagnetic signals that emanate from computers, low frequency magnetic radiation disseminates through the air, penetrating metal shields within the rooms,” explains Dr. Guri. “That’s why a compass still works inside of a Faraday room. Attackers can use this covert magnetic channel to intercept sensitive data from virtually any desktop PCs, servers, laptops, embedded systems, and other devices.”

In another documented cyberattack dubbed Magneto, researchers utilized malware keystrokes and passwords on an air-gapped computer to transfer data to a nearby smartphone via its magnetic sensor. Attackers can intercept this leaked data even when a smartphone is sealed in a Faraday bag or set on “airplane mode” to prevent incoming and outgoing communications. more

Facial Recognition Glasses Used by Police to Identify Suspects

Chinese police are using dark sunglasses equipped with facial recognition technology to spot criminal suspects.

The glasses, which are being worn by police at a busy train station ahead of the Chinese New Year travel rush, are linked to a central database which contains details of criminal records.

Wearing the technology, police can almost instantly view an individual's personal details, including name, ethnicity, gender and address.

The scene would not look out of place in an episode of science fiction television drama Black Mirror, which often depicts dark scenarios of humans being overcome by technology.

China is deploying new technologies to monitor people in ways that would unnerve many in the West. more

Drama Begins in Waymo v. Uber Trade Secrets Trial

The first day of the Waymo v. Uber trial over self-driving car trade secrets had it all: a packed courtroom, comical technical glitches and the creation of a fake Twitter account in the judge's name.

And that's aside from the testimony.

The high-profile Silicon Valley case pits Waymo -- the self-driving car unit of Google's parent company, Alphabet -- against Uber, the world's most highly valued startup. Waymo claims Uber's former star engineer stole 14,000 "highly confidential" files to develop its own technology. Uber calls the claim "baseless."

Monday was the first day of the trial, which is expected to last at least three weeks. Lawyers for the two companies presented their opening statements, aiming to toss barbs into each other's cases. more

Your Cell Phone Sings "Every Step You Take..."

by Guevara Noubir, Professor of Computer and Information Science, Northeastern University

"My group’s recent research has shown how mobile phones can also track their users through stores and cities and around the world – even when users turn off their phones’ location-tracking services.
The vulnerability comes from the wide range of sensors phones are equipped with – not just GPS and communications interfaces, but gyroscopes and accelerometers that can tell whether a phone is being held upright or on its side and can measure other movements too. Apps on the phone can use those sensors to perform tasks users aren’t expecting – like following a user’s movements turn by turn along city streets.

Most people expect that turning their phone’s location services off disables this sort of mobile surveillance. But the research I conduct with my colleagues Sashank Narain, Triet Vo-Huu, Ken Block and Amirali Sanatinia at Northeastern University, in a field called “side-channel attacks,” uncovers ways that apps can avoid or escape those restrictions. We have revealed how a phone can listen in on a user’s finger-typing to discover a secret password – and how simply carrying a phone in your pocket can tell data companies where you are and where you’re going..." more

TSCM, or This Smells Characteristicly Moronic

Pakistan’s security agencies have not found anything suspicious in Chetna Jadhav’s shoes that were confiscated by the Pakistani agencies...

Sources said that Pakistan’s agencies minutely examined her shoes, searching for spying devices.

However, nothing could be found and Pakistan is now likely to attribute this “incident” to an over-enthusiastic security official...

Sources said that the Pakistan Foreign Office was having a hard time dealing with the “concocted” tale of Jadhav’s wife carrying a spying device in her shoe, as it was not being able to answer the questions of local journalists who were asking about the nature of the “spying device” allegedly recovered and why details of the same were not being shared with them. more

Give them a break. Perhaps they misinterpreted the acronym written inside the shoe. TSCM and TGIF look somewhat similar, but TGIF stands for Toes Go In First.

Switzerland - Spy Magnet - Not Welcome Sign

Switzerland has always been a favorite by writers of spy novels as a place where foreign agents from across the world meet and exchange secret information.

But it’s true – and the country is being used more and more by international spies to meet.

It’s a trend the intelligence service wants to stop.

The NZZ newspaper quotes an anonymous source says there’s a rising demand for information and agents are increasingly choosing Switzerland to meet – especially Geneva.
The international city makes it easy for people throughout the world meet without attracting attention due to all the international organizations and a low level of street surveillance.

But Swiss authorities are not happy about living up to the stereotype. The intelligence agency says it’s not in the country’s interest to be a place where information damaging to allies could be swapped and they hope friendly countries would also do the same for Switzerland. more

Derailed CEO Accused of Spying on Board Members

South Africa - Railway Safety Regulator board members had their movements monitored and their cars fitted with tracking devices - and their boss allegedly orchestrated the whole thing.

Times Select can reveal that embattled Railway Safety Regulator CEO Nkululeko Poya allegedly spied on board members. She is currently on precautionary suspension after being charged for a string of alleged irregularities, including irregular staff appointments...

The new allegations facing Poya stem from a whistle blower who revealed how he had been engaging in clandestine activities on Poya’s behalf... He that said he worked on Poya’s instructions to spy on board members and find dirt against them. more

As Seen on TV - Spycams for Moms

Here's the pitch...

Introducing Smart Spy™

"The USB Wall Charger that is also a Secret Spy Camera! Smart Spy™ has a Micro SD card with 32 GB of memory that can record up to 8 hours of footage! It allows you to capture 1080P HD video footage discretely. Chargers are commonly plugged into walls, so it will never look like it is out of place! It even works as a universal USB wall charger. Now you can see what is going on when you’re not there!

Whether you need to keep an eye out on your kids, pets, hired help, intruders or any suspicious activity! It's so compact, you can even take it with you on the go! Smart Spy™ also has a motion activation feature so you don’t waste recording time when nobody is in the room. It’s so easy to use – just plug it in! When you want to review your recordings, simply plug it into your computer to play back." more

The TV commercial on the site says it all.

One Blue Blaze Irregular quipped, "If these get any cheaper, they will be giving them away in cereal boxes."