Quote of the Month

“Absent a very strong federal privacy law, we’re all screwed.”
—Al Gidari, a privacy professor at Stanford Law School.
(via The New York Times article above)

Five Mile GPS Tracker Doesn't Require Cellular Service

GoFindMe is a real-time GPS tracker that works without cell service. By built-in GPS & long-range radio technology, it allows you to stay in touch with people even if your phone fails by rich handy features such as:
 -Real time location tracking
 -Send & receive texts, built-in voice and GPS coordinates
 -One-button emergency SOS
 -Automatic trace record
 -Sync up group activity
 -Set customized safe zone
 -Pin meeting place or home base
 -Mesh network to extend connectivity range
more


But what if you can't find it when you need it?

NIST - Detecting and Responding to Ransomware and Other Destructive Events

In response to growing ransomware attacks on businesses and governments small and large, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released draft guidelines to help organizations prepare for “data integrity cybersecurity events” that threaten their operations...

The free guide, which will be available for public comment through Feb. 26, focused specifically on potential tool sets for mitigating and containing cybersecurity attacks as well as what strategies security teams could adopt to respond...

Security teams and organization leaders can read the full report and provide public comment through NIST’s website. more

Facebook Tracks You - You can stop the spying, sort of.

If you’ve ever thought Facebook is listening or watching you when you’re not on the social media site, you are right. ...  The Washington Post says Facebook-owned apps like Instagram and Messenger are tracking you, too.

But now developers at the social media giant have rolled out a tool that may stop most of it, or at least tell you how Facebook is spying on users’ daily lives. It’s called off-Facebook activity...

Click the small triangle at the top right of Facebook and go to settings. Then click “Your Facebook Information” on the left column, then select Off-Facebook Activity to manage the information the company gleans from your life. Here you can either manage it or clear the entire history from your account.

But the company also has a caveat. You may clear your current history, but new activity will be shared back to Facebook in the future. more

Geez... just like barnacles.

FBI: Harvard Doc Can't Have Rice Cake and Eat it Too

Federal law enforcement officials arrested a top Harvard scientist on Tuesday for allegedly lying to the U.S. government about his involvement in a massive Chinese program that authorities say is responsible for stealing proprietary information from U.S. institutions.

Authorities arrested Dr. Charles Lieber, 60, chair of the department of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University...

"...received more than $15,000,000 in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Department of Defense (DOD),” The Department of Justice said in a statement. “These grants require the disclosure of significant foreign financial conflicts of interest, including financial support from foreign governments or foreign entities.”

“Unbeknownst to Harvard University beginning in 2011, Lieber became a ‘Strategic Scientist’ at Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) in China and was a contractual participant in China’s Thousand Talents Plan from in or about 2012 to 2017.” more

The original traveling professor.

Hershey Sues Former Top Official - Alleges Corporate Espionage

The Hershey Company is accusing a former top executive of committing corporate espionage, and it and wants a federal judge to order him to repay hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The target of Hershey’s lawsuit filed suit in U.S. Middle District Court is Doug Behrens, who is now chief customer officer of KIND LLC, a snack food maker and a competitor of Hershey.

The suit reads like the intro to a spy novel. more

Spybusters Tip #509: When someone resigns, is fired, or is laid-off... lock them out. This includes access cards, passwords, and email accounts.

January's Hot Mic Moments... so far

Leaked audio appears to catch Trump demanding the firing of Marie Yovanovitch: “Get rid of her!”
“Get her out tomorrow," a voice that is apparently President Trump’s says in the recording. more

Hot mic catches Pence telling Netanyahu 'He's unstoppable' “We are contending. He’s unstoppable, like someone else I know,” the vice president was overheard telling Israel's prime minister. more

Trudeau's hot mic comments cause consternation in Canada... Trudeau was caught on camera at a Buckingham Palace reception for NATO seemingly trash talking President Donald Trump. more

“You Called Me a Liar”: CNN Hot Mic Catches Warren-Sanders Blowup more

Biden heard on hot mic joking with Sanders about his arm gestures at debate. more

Patrick Cantlay involved in classic hot-mic fail at Sentry Tournament of Champions... Patrick Cantlay can expect to receive a stern letter from PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, and it won’t have anything to do with his pace of play. This one will be for “conduct unbecoming a professional.” more

Steve Kerr went BALLISTIC on a ref during the Warriors' game against the Sacramento Kings on Monday night -- and the whole profanity-laced rant was caught on a hot mic!!! more

It turns out it was Virginia State Senator Dave Marsden who called gun rights advocates "children" on a hot mic at a public meeting over the weekend. But calling them "children" was just the beginning. Things just got worse. Much worse. more

Five 'hot mic' moments that got leaders in trouble... more

"If you don't have something nice to say about somebody, don't say it." ~my mom
"Always assume you are being recorded." ~common sense
"Been there. Done that. Have the T-Shirt." ~hackneyed phrase

FutureWatch: Mind-Reading Called Brain-Hacking - Food for Thought

The world is in the middle of a new technology arms race, according to best-selling historian Yuval Noah Harari, who warns that the prize being fought over this time is not physical territory, but our brains. 

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Harari predicted a future where governments and corporations will be able to gather enough data about citizens around the world that, when combined with computational power, will let them completely predict – and manipulate – our decisions. Harari calls this concept "brain-hacking".

"Imagine, if 20 years from now, you could have someone sitting in Washington, or Beijing, or San Francisco, and they could know the entire personal, medical, sexual history of, say, every journalist, judge and politician in Brazil," said Harari.

"You could control a whole other country with data. At which point you may ask: is it an independent country, or is it a data colony?" more   Previous mind-reading posts.

Android Users Beware: These Top Camera Apps May Secretly Be Spying

The latest warning has come from the research team at CyberNews, exposing “camera apps with billions of downloads [that] might be stealing user data and infecting them with malware.”

...But that’s exactly what some of the top beauty camera apps have been found guilty of doing. more

1. BeautyPlus – Easy Photo Editor & Selfie Camera
2. BeautyCam
3. Beauty Camera – Selfie Camera
4. Selfie Camera – Beauty Camera & Photo Editor
5. Beauty Camera Plus – Sweet Camera & Makeup Photo
6. Beauty Camera – Selfie Camera & Photo Editor
7. YouCam Perfect – Best Selfie Camera & Photo Editor
8. Sweet Snap – Beauty Selfie Camera & Face Filter
9. Sweet Selfie Snap – Sweet Camera & Beauty Cam Snap
10. Beauty Camera – Selfie Camera with Photo Editor
11. Beauty Camera – Best Selfie Camera & Photo Editor
12. B612 – Beauty & Filter Camera
13. Face Makeup Camera & Beauty Photo Makeup Editor
14. Sweet Selfie – Selfie Camera & Makeup Photo Editor
15. Selfie camera – Beauty Camera & Makeup camera
16. YouCam Perfect – Best Photo Editor & Selfie Camera
17. Beauty Camera Makeup Face Selfie, Photo Editor
18. Selfie Camera – Beauty Camera
19. Z Beauty Camera
20. HD Camera Selfie Beauty Camera
21. Candy Camera – selfie, beauty camera & photo editor
22. Makeup Camera-Selfie Beauty Filter Photo Editor
23. Beauty Selfie Plus – Sweet Camera Wonder HD Camera
24. Selfie Camera – Beauty Camera & AR Stickers
25. Pretty Makeup, Beauty Photo Editor & Selfie Camera
26. Beauty Camera
27. Bestie – Camera360 Beauty Cam
28. Photo Editor – Beauty Camera
29. Beauty Makeup, Selfie Camera Effects & Photo Editor
30. Selfie cam – Bestie Makeup Beauty Camera & Filters

Dude, you gotta be a government before you shoot spies!

FL - A man is facing charges after authorities say he fired shots at children he thought were spying on him from canoes outside his home.

Deputies with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office

said they were called to the home in the 1500 block of Murphy Road in Pierson after the victims said they were fishing in a lake when 30-year-old Michael Adams fired several shots their way...

Adams was arrested and booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail on two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm. more

Plumbing for Secrets in Davos

Swiss officials foiled an apparent spying operation by Russians posing as plumbers in Davos, site of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting, a newspaper reported on Tuesday, but police did not confirm key details of the account.

The report in the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper said the pair presented diplomatic passports and left the country. more

‘Spy Games’ - 10 Civilians Vie for $100,000 Prize

One can’t deny that there is a certain charm and pull around the life of a spy - from going on undercover missions to just enjoying the finer things in life à la James Bond, and if you are keen on seeing how one goes about acquiring the skills needed to be a good spy, then Bravo’s latest offering ‘Spy Games’ might just be what you have been looking for...

One can’t deny that there is a certain charm and pull around the life of a spy - from going on undercover missions to just enjoying the finer things in life à la James Bond, and if you are keen on seeing how one goes about acquiring the skills needed to be a good spy, then Bravo’s latest offering ‘Spy Games’ might just be what you have been looking for.  more

"I found this thing. Is it a bug?"

At Murray Associates we occasionally receive calls asking, "I found this thing. Is it a bug?"

Usually, the identification is easy:

• it's a piece of electronic jewelry (blinky earring, or pin); 
• an old annoy-a-tron; 
• or Bluetooth tag, like a Tile item finder.

Today, a call comes in from a well-respected private investigator in Boston. He has a corporate client whose employee "found this thing."

She takes a photo, sends it to him, who sends it to us... via low resolution text message...

Rough guess...
A Bluetooth item finder, similar to a Tile, but a Chinese knockoff branded with some corporate logo. Possibly a promotional item?

We later learned it was in her bedroom, mounted to the wall, not found in a covert location. She had pulled it off the wall to take the photo. We did not receive a photo of the mounting piece, or a mention of its placement.

Later we eventually received a photo of the flip side...

Hummm... not too helpful, but no evidence of on the front of a pinhole for video, or a microphone on the circuit board. No battery seen, but the two large solder tabs and circles on the circuit board indicate there is a battery on the other side of the board.

Why would someone mount something like this on a bedroom wall?!?!

One possibility emerged... "How to find your lost iPhone with Tile."

Nope. Tiles have their logo on them. Ours looks different.

Another possibility... Yahoo changed their logo last Fall.

Could they have sent out a promotional "Tile" with their newly designed exclamation point logo on it?

Close, but no prize.

Okay, let's start fresh.
Say, the Tile is a MacGuffin.
Look elsewhere.

What other wall-warts do we know of?
HVAC sensors, for one.

Google search....

Ah ha.... that's what this thing is. 
Case closed.

This was a good investigative process refresher for us, and a thing we will all remember next time "this thing" shows up.

Extra Credit:

• If you find a thing and think it's a bug, read this.
• To learn about the other Thing—the famous spy eavesdropping device—read this.

~Kevin

The Case of “Eddie Spaghetti” and the First Spycam News of 2020

We are only halfway through, the first month, of the first year, in a new decade... and the spycam pandemic is off to a roaring start. 

Like corporate espionage and other forms of illegal electronic surveillance, only the failures make the news. The vast majority of illegal covert electronic surveillance goes undetected.

Learn how to spot spycams and keep scheduling your corporate TSCM inspections.

-----

Canada - Edward Casavant, 55, (who gave himself the nickname, “Eddie Spaghetti”) pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography, making child pornography, voyeurism and sexual exploitation of a person with a disability, and was sentenced to six years in prison. more

OH - A former Hillsdale Middle School and High School art teacher convicted of voyeurism was sentenced Tuesday to 180 days in jail. more

CA - Peterborough man charged with voyeurism after allegedly using electronics to peer through windows. more

Singapore - The alleged victims of a Singaporean undergraduate accused of illicitly filming 12 women want a gag order on his identity to be lifted, despite being fully aware of the risk of being identified. more

ID - Kory Ray West, the 34-year-old man accused of concealing a video camera in the bathroom of a Blackfoot home where he had been staying, and of stealing items of underclothing from bedrooms, could serve up to seven years in prison for his crimes. more

NY - The husband of a New York prosecutor who filmed his child's nanny on bathroom spycam, could have charges against him dropped, after he claimed he only used it to watch himself undress. more

HI - An $8,000 project to install covert security cameras in the Council Chambers of the county building in order to monitor an active shooter or hostage situation was kept secret from most council members and the public, county officials said. more

CA - Ring of fired: Amazon axes multiple workers who secretly snooped on netizens' surveillance camera footage. more

KY - A former teacher at a Kentucky high school admitted to filming students in a bathroom...

Police...reported finding a recording device set up in the bathroom of the nurse's station. Police said the video recorder captured the person putting the device in place. more

MI - A Canton man pleaded guilty last month to three felony charges associated with illegal voyeurism at an Aqua-Tots swim school in his hometown... Police said they were dispatched to the Canton Aqua-Tots swim school for young children...because a woman saw a recording device targeting her changing stall. She reported her suspicions to staff. more

UK - staff and parents with children at Denmead Junior School were in shock at the grim discovery of an iPhone in a vent. Action was taken by the school. A 23-year-old man from Waterlooville (was arrested) on suspicion of voyeurism. He has been released under investigation. more

CT - An investigation that began in South Windsor in August that led to a Manchester man being charged with voyeurism after filming people in a locker room at L.A. Fitness resulted in more charges being filed against him Friday stemming from similar incidents in Farmington, police said. South Windsor police said that Selby had placed his cellphone in one of the lockers and left the door open. more

CA - A Desert Hot Springs man who was previously required to register as a sex offender pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of filming people inside a grocery store bathroom in Cathedral City...10 misdemeanor counts of unlawful use of a concealed camera to secretly videotape.... 2013 - Prosecutors alleged he concealed a video camera in a paper bag and entered a woman's restroom in a Los Angeles Macy's department store dressed as a woman and secretly videotaped women using the restroom. more

Wales - A sportsman who once represented Anglesey in the Island Games has admitted installing a camera in toilets where people, including youngsters, got changed. more

Surveillance in Tombstone Territory

It's the Wild West when it comes to modern surveillance tech. 

One recent example we've come across is the Tombstone Cam... Click to enlarge. more  The last time we heard of a bugged funeral.