‘Epidemic’ of Bugging Devices Reported

More funding and legal powers are needed for police to stop a surge of stalkers using eavesdropping devices to spy on victims, experts have warned. 

Firms paid to detect the bugs say they’re finding more and more of the devices which are readily available on online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay.

Jack Lazzereschi, Technical Director of bug sweeping company Shapestones, says cases of stalking and victims being blackmailed with intimate footage shot in secret has doubled in the past two years...

People are paying as little as £15 ($19.00) for listening devices and spy cameras hidden inside desk lamps, wall sockets, phone charger cables, USB sticks and picture frames. Users insert a sim card into a hidden slot and call a number to listen in on their unwitting targets. People using hidden cameras can watch what’s happening using an apps on their phones.

Jack says the devices are so effective, cheap and hard to trace to their users, law enforcement prefer using them over expensive old-school devices. more

Corporate Secret Theft Through the Roof

IP theft is on the rise, and the threat landscape is way beyond the old days of targeted corporate espionage. 

There are potentially tens of thousands of entities who want a business’s data and can profit from it, one way or another. This undercuts the potential success of its rightful owners and damages the future of the business. The good news, however, is that there are several strategies which can be deployed to protect IP, and these lessons can be applied across the entire business...

The first step of this process is understanding the nature of security threats to IP. Technological development and the interconnected nature of the digital world has made IP theft far easier than ever before, especially given that the majority of security breaches that go undetected. more

Pinky Promise from Huawei

A top Huawei executive said Tuesday that the company is willing to sign a "no-spy agreement" with the United States to reassure U.S. leaders who say the company's technology could be used for surveillance. The offer is similar to proposals the Chinese tech giant has made to the United Kingdom and Germany, and it comes after weeks of intense pressure from the Trump administration. more

This Week in Spycam News

UK - A creepy landlord put a secret camera in a bathroom to film a female tenant...she noticed a black cylindrical object in the bathroom but did not pay too much notice...after three to four days she saw a red light blinking and found the device had a memory card. more

Walmart

$78.83

IN - A former Southern Indiana law enforcement officer accused of videotaping a child under 18 getting in and out of the shower. He's also accused of setting up hidden cameras to secretly watch that same child and another one. more

NYC - The husband of a Manhattan prosecutor could face criminal charges after he and his wife allegedly videotaped their nanny undressing and showering in their bathroom...she spotted the hidden camera, disguised to look like a black iPhone charger. “I noticed a glare, and I was just like, wait this is odd, so I pulled it out of the socket, and the last video is me looking at it like, ‘What is this?’” more

CT - Police reported that a suspect in the Connecticut College voyeurism case has been arrested for a second time...the incidents involved cellphone cameras that were pointed at women who were preparing to shower at residence hall gender-inclusive bathrooms. more

UK - An animal rights investigator allegedly caught the moment a hunt’s master fed live fox cubs to his dogs... The court heard how an animal rights investigator, Karl Garside, captured the incident after placing a magnetic tracker on Parry’s Land Rover.  He said the cameras were installed near white trailers on site of SHH Kennels, where he also found a fox cub in a cage. more

KY - A former Murray High School teacher and coach accused of placing a video recorder in a bathroom was in court on Thursday...staff reported finding a recording device set up in the bathroom of the nurse's station. Police say the recorder captured Boggess putting the device in place. (Darwin Award!) more

LA - A Livingston Parish man has been arrested on his second offense of video voyeurism. more

SC - During the search, investigators found more than 40,000 files of child pornography and hidden cameras in his bedroom and bathroom that he used to film adults and children for nearly 14 years since 2003. more

CA - A former Canadian Armed Forces member who allegedly hid cameras in bathrooms and bedrooms in various locations in Canada and the United states is still awaiting a verdict from the military court in CFB Esquimalt...A police search of his home in Virginia recovered several pinhole spy cameras, a digital clock with a camera hidden in it, three smoke alarms with cameras hidden in it, as well as audio recording devices, external hard drives, and a laptop. more 

SpycamDetection.Training

Summer Travel - Passport Safety Tips

There is more to protecting it than you think...

by Kevin Coffey, Travel Safety Expert
Your passport is your key to proving citizenship and is the document that the US and other countries use to recognize you and to let you enter the country, therefore you must safeguard this critical document.

Anyone traveling abroad, especially for the first time, should take a few minutes to read up on important passport security tips. more

Things are Bad When Spycams Grab the Headlines

Inside Story: It was the autumn of 2009, and something odd was happening at the offices of ING North America at 400 Atrium Drive in Somerset. It had to do with one of the janitors.

Unlike most janitors, this one had set up his own office, inside a boiler room. And in addition to making his rounds, which included one of the women’s restrooms in the five-story building, the man spent a lot of time on his laptop in his office even though nothing about his job required him to use a computer.

There was also something strange going on in the bathroom that he cleaned. For months, women had been noticing objects wrapped in toilet paper, set in peculiar places.

All this suddenly made sense in November, when a woman went to use the bathroom and noticed a strange looking object in one of the ceiling tiles. She stood on the toilet and retrieved what looked to be a hidden camera. She called the police... more

Better learn how to spot spycams. more

Become A Spy Fast... in Slovenia

Slovenia's spy agency on Tuesday published its first ever public advert to recruit new agents "to strengthen and refreshen" the former Communist country's intelligence services.

"We call on those interested in the intelligence and security fields, motivated by challenges and prepared to adjust to the agency's specific line of work," the Slovenian Intelligence and Security Agency (SOVA) said in an ad in the daily Delo and other newspapers.

One major requirement, however: candidates must be Slovenian citizens. more

The Story Behind the Story
December 8, 2017

Workers from the Slovene Intelligence and Security Agency (SOVA) have reportedly gone on strike, demanding higher wages and better working conditions...

Just like their work, Slovenian intelligence workers kept their strike secret, but details have gradually leaked to the media. As local weekly Reporter wrote, “Slovenian spies are on strike so secretly no one knows they are on strike.” more

Travel Security Tip from Smart Mexicans - Dummy Phones & Wallets

Armed robberies have gotten so common aboard buses in Mexico City that commuters have come up with a clever if disheartening solution: Many are buying fake cellphones, to hand over to thieves instead of their real smartphones.

Costing 300 to 500 pesos apiece — the equivalent of $15 to $25 — the "dummies" are sophisticated fakes: They have a startup screen and bodies that are dead ringers for the originals, and inside there is a piece of metal to give the phone the heft of the real article.

There were an average of 70 reported violent muggings every day in Mexico City in the first four months of 2019. About two-thirds were committed against pedestrians, with the rest split almost evenly between bus passengers and assaults on motorists stopped at lights or caught in traffic jams. Between 2017 and 2018, such assaults rose by about 22 percent. more

41 Smartphone Security Tips

How to make a fake mugger's wallet. 

Fake cell phone

Click to enlarge.

Make your fake cell phone look real...

Click to enlarge.

Snapple "Real Fact" #726 – Polar Bears v. Infrared Cameras v. TSCM

I had a Snapple tea the other day and found this "Real Fact" #726 under the cap.

We use infrared cameras in our work, and know how they work. This "Real Fact" struck all of us here as odd. An IR camera would not detect a polar bear because its fur was transparent?!?!

Oxymoron? No, just sensationalism. The mixing of two unrelated facts to manufacture an unexpected outcome designed to surprise... aka Fake News.

The real "Real Fact" reason... 

• Yes, a polar bear's fur is mostly transparent, and hollow too! 
• Yes, IR cameras would have a difficult time detecting a polar bear.

Polar bears live in a cold climate. Retaining body heat is important. Fur and a thick layer of fat provide insulation. Insulation prevents heat from escaping their bodies, and heat is what IR cameras detect.

Insulation is the "Real Fact"
It's not that the fur is mostly transparent, or that polar bears alone have super-powers. IR invisibility is also true for the Arctic fox and other mammals living in cold environments.

The Technical Surveillance Countermeasures field (TSCM) is also riddled with "Real Facts", like inflated bug-find claims, and pervasive laser beam eavesdropping fearmongering.

It always pays to scratch the surface.
Examine the science.
Apply some common sense.
Visit us for the Real Facts about TSCM. ~Kevin

San Francisco Prohibits Deployment Of ‘Secret Surveillance’ Technologies

Although the facial recognition aspects of the ordinance have been the most publicized, it also targets a long list of other products and systems.

According to the ordinance, "Surveillance Technology" means “any software, electronic device, system utilizing an electronic device, or similar device used, designed, or primarily intended to collect, retain, process, or share audio, electronic, visual, location, thermal, biometric, olfactory or similar information specifically associated with, or capable of being associated with, any individual or group.” Broadly interpreted, that’s a lot of devices.

The ban only applies to city departments and agencies, not to private businesses or the general public. Therefore, San Franciscans can continue to use facial recognition technology every day when they unlock their smart phones.

And technologies such as facial recognition currently used at the San Francisco airport and ports are not impacted because they are under federal jurisdiction. more

FutureWatch: New Mobile App Fends off Espionage Attacks

Innovative technology from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the FZI Research Center for Computer Science can put an end to espionage on our cell phones.....

For example, it is possible to give apps wrapped in AVARE access to the contacts in the address book, but not to all of the stored information...

In addition, AVARE can extend the location information to a radius of several kilometers and disguise the exact location. Thus, a weather app can continue to provide reliable forecasts without knowing the exact location of the user...

The AVARE code is available as open source software on the AVARE website and the scientists hope that their program will be taken up by other developers who will help to extend the current beta version to a version 1.0. more  video (cartoon)

Spycam Brings Down Austrian Leader - A Cautionary Tale

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called Saturday for an early election after his vice chancellor resigned over a covertly shot video that showed him apparently promising government contracts to a prospective Russian investor.

Two German publications, the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and the weekly Der Spiegel, published extracts Friday of a covert video purportedly showing Strache during an alcohol-fueled evening on the Spanish resort island of Ibiza offering Austrian government contracts to a Russian woman, purportedly the niece of a Russian oligarch and interested in investing large amounts of money in Austria.

In his resignation statement Saturday, Strache apologized but said he was set up in a “political assassination” that illegally used surveillance equipment. more

Hey Politicos. Better learn how to detect spycams.

The ASML Case - Trade Secret Theft - Sometimes the Good Guy Wins

Following a jury verdict rendered months earlier, a California court entered a final judgment for $845 million in favor of semiconductor maker, ASML, in its suit against rival, XTAL, for stealing trade secrets related to ASML’s lithography technology.

This judgment followed a jury award last year, which had included the potential for punitive damages because the jury found XTAL’s conduct to be malicious. The final judgment, which also reimbursed AMSL for costs relating to its investigation of XTAL’s theft...

AMSL will receive most, if not all, of XTAL’s intellectual property under a settlement agreement... more

Congratulations, ASML! ~ Kevin

FLIR Black Hornet - US Army Mini-Drones Deployed - Flying Binoculars

• US Army soldiers are, for the first time, getting personal reconnaissance drones small enough to fit on a soldier's utility belt.
• A soldier could send one of these little drones out to get a view of the battlefield all while staying put in a covered, concealed position.
• This awesome technology is a potential game changer, one that is expected to save lives by significantly reducing the risk soldiers take in battle. more  Early promo video.  Want one for your desk. Check eBay.

Military mini-drones have been a holy grail since the 1970's. Since 2009 they have developed rapidly. In 2019 they are a practical reality and are being deployed. 

FutureWatch: Expect many additional capabilities over a short period of time. Poisonous mosquitoes, self-planting eavesdropping bugs, anyone?

Mini-Drone History
Early 2014 Army version.
The British Army version from 2013. 
2009 DARPA version.
1970's CIA version.
For all of our drone posts, click here.  
Enjoy. ~Kevin

Office Spying – The Coworking Vulnerability – Part 1

Stratfor Chief Security Officer Fred Burton said...countries like Russia and China deploy spies to work with or around startups in places like Silicon Valley and Austin to get an edge on the future pipeline of tech, either copying those systems or designing resistance measures to them.

The way they pry into targets may have little to do with hacking...

Spies have been known to moonlight as office cleaners, roaming around a floor after hours and using iPhones to take pictures of workstations and documents, Burton said.

“I don't have to hack into your system. I just have to have someone work next to you who knows what you're doing. It is just that simple sometimes. It is basic agent 101.” more