Privacy and the Clubhouse App

Clubhouse might be the hottest app that's not even publicly available yet, but privacy issues are already being discussed online. Some of the people who are particularly upset? Those who say they have profiles without even having used the app before...

Clubhouse reportedly requests access to your phone's contacts, under the pretense that you can connect with other users of the social network. But people are claiming that Clubhouse takes information from your contact list and builds "shadow profiles" of people who have never signed up...

If you allow Clubhouse to use your contact list, the app then reportedly has access to your contacts' names, phone numbers and how many friends they have on Clubhouse. But that's not all. Privacy advocates note Clubhouse records voice chats of the virtual rooms, which also doesn't sit well with some current users of the app.

Clubhouse's Community Guidelines states: "Solely for the purpose of supporting incident investigations, we temporarily record the audio in a room while the room is live." more

More privacy considerations...
• Clubhouse app technology runs on the platform of Agora.io, an audio tech startup in Shanghai, China.
• Voice recordings may be paired with personal account details, and transferred into a government dossier for future voice identification surveillance purposes.
• What is said using the app may not be very private given hackers, lurkers and government interests. Not a good way to communicate confidentially.

“I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member” ― Groucho Marx

 

TSCM Detection Evaluation of the AudioWow Wireless Microphone

AudioWow advertising is enticing, a Wireless Audio Studio Microphone in a Matchbox Size.

Certain features pointed in that direction…

• Nano sized.
• Records directly to a smartphone.
• Up to 50 foot range. Good enough for some operations.
• Bluetooth transmission. Low probability of intercept.
• Professional quality sound.
• Equalization capabilities.
• Noise reduction capabilities.
• Audio to text transcription… in 120 different languages!

Could it be useful as a spy device?
Could a TSCM bug sweep detect it?
We tested and found... more

Spy Tech - Molar Mic - No more finger to ear and mouth to sleeve.

Next time you pass someone on the street who appears to be talking to themselves, they may literally have voices inside their head…and be a highly trained soldier on a dangerous mission. 

The Pentagon has inked a roughly $10 million contract with a California company to provide secure communication gear that’s essentially invisible.

Dubbed the Molar Mic, it’s a small device that clips to your back teeth. The device is both microphone and “speaker,” allowing the wearer to transmit without any conspicuous external microphone and receive with no visible headset or earpiece. 

Incoming sound is transmitted through the wearer’s bone matter in the jaw and skull to the auditory nerves; outgoing sound is sent to a radio transmitter on the neck, and sent to another radio unit that can be concealed on the operator. From there, the signal can be sent anywhere. more

How the Cincinnati FBI Cracked the Chinese Spy Case at GE Aviation

The GE Aviation engineer was deeply involved in the design and analysis of new commercial jet engines, a technology at the top of the shopping lists of Chinese intelligence operatives.

It took the spies only a few months to get him to accept their offer: A $3,500 fee paid in U.S. currency, and free travel, lodging and meals for a one-hour presentation in China. more

GE Aviation takes their information security seriously. Applause. Most companies aren't doing all they can. Too few employ Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM) / counterespionage consultants, for example. The result... They don't know what they are missing, in more ways than one.

What Work From Home is Doing to Corporate Security

Behavox, AI-based data operating platform used by firms to catch misconduct before it causes massive regulatory fines and company crises, has found a startling increase in corporate misbehavior and decline in employee morale as a result of working at home indefinitely...

The ECR Report reveals numerous misconduct and morale issues resulting from loosening professional standards, widespread frustration, and mounting stress. 

Prominent findings include the prevalence of illegal misconduct, such as employees willingly breaking security policies, corporate theft, and espionage, as well as harmful behavior like racism, sexual harassment, and bullying... 

Key Findings

Illegal Misconduct: Pornography, Drugs, And Espionage - the report cites instances of employees who:

● Intentionally broke the company's security policy (19 percent)

● Witnessed employees stealing corporate information (16 percent in U.S., 8 percent overall)

● Know an employee who willingly introduced a security threat to sabotage their company (16 percent)

● Know actual employees arrested for suspected corporate or international espionage (11 percent)
more

.....Word on The Street.....

Goldman Sachs: Bank boss rejects work from home as the 'new normal'
“I do think for a business like ours, which is an innovative, collaborative apprenticeship culture, this is not ideal for us. And it’s not a new normal. It’s an aberration that we’re going to correct as soon as possible,” he told a conference on Wednesday. more

.....What Smart Corporations Will Be Doing Soon.....

Electronic Eavesdropping Detection – The Other Corporate Covid Deep Clean
"The reality is, organizations just don’t know if employees will be returning to hot-wired offices."

.....UPDATE 3/10/2021.....  

A Quarter of American Workers Are Already Back at the Office
Employers are hoping FOMO gets you to come in, too.

The Most Secure and Anonymous Communication Tools Available

 via David Koff, Tech Talk - The Technology Newsletter for Everyone...

What I’m about to share with you here is… kind of fringe. Like, “Edward Snowden” fringe.

Hopefully, that got your attention.

For some years now, the hacker, privacy, and journalism communities have all been debating, discussing, and using the tools I’m about to share with you in this installment. These tools are used not only to lock down your security and anonymity on the known internet, but also to access the portions of the internet that are normally hidden — “The Dark Web.” 

Despite their usefulness, I haven’t really seen information about these tools shared with the general public in a straightforward, easy-to-understand way. I think it’s worth changing that; while most of us don’t need the same high-privacy, high-security tools that confidential informants, journalists, and whistleblowers use, we should all know about these tools in case the time comes when we actually need them. more

New iOS 14.5 Security Feature Will Stop Hackers in Their Tracks

...it looks like Apple is making some pretty big sweeping steps in iOS 14.5 to lock the whole system down even further.

In fact, Apple has already been taking steps to harden iOS 14 against one of the most common exploits — iMessage vulnerabilities — thanks to a very cool new technology dubbed ‘Blastdoor’. However, it looks like Blastdoor was only the beginning, with iOS 14.5 adding some new defences against “zero-click” attacks in general...

As the name implies, a “zero-click attack” is a method by which hackers can take advantage of security vulnerabilities to get into your iPhone or iPad without requiring any interaction on your part. more

 

Hot Microphone Strikes Again – School Board Resigns

The president and three members of a school board in Northern California have resigned after they were heard making disparaging comments about parents in the school district during a virtual board meeting last Wednesday. 

Members of the Oakley Union Elementary School District (OUESD) Board of Trustees apparently believed they were speaking privately in the moments before the meeting started, CNN affiliate KPIX reported, when in fact, community members had already logged on to watch. 

In a recording of the meeting posted anonymously to YouTube, the superintendent and board members are heard discussing the agenda for the meeting before then-board member Kim Beede says, "Are we alone?" more  sing-a-long

This Week in Spy News

Electronics shops in Hong Kong have seen a sharp increase in demand for cheap burner phones as the Chinese-ruled city’s government eases coronavirus restrictions but pushes the use of a Covid-19 contact-tracing app which has raised privacy concerns. more 

Congressman Murphy reintroduces legislation to crack down on foreign spying at universities... According to the Intellectual Property Commission, they estimate foreign groups steal $300 billion in American intellectual property annually, and the Commission says China is responsible for 70% of that theft or $210 billion annually. more

Critical Flaw in Agora SDK Lets Hackers Eavesdrop on Live Video Calls...
Agora works with MeetMe to integrate its live video streaming features with the popular dating app and online therapy platform Talkspace to facilitate online mental health therapy sessions. more

SolarWinds attack hit 100 companies and took months of planning, says White House...
Anne Neuberger, deputy national security advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology at the White House, said in a press briefing that nine government agencies were breached while many of the 100 private sector US organizations that were breached were technology companies. more

WARNING: Web Tracking Might Expose Businesses to Wiretapping Lawsuits...
Imagine this. A consumer goes to your website to buy your goods or services. Your website works great, thanks in part to a small bit of code your company licenses that allows you to track a consumer’s experience on your website, commonly called “session replay” software....A few weeks later you’re being served with a class action lawsuit alleging violations of the Federal Wiretap Act and/or analogous State statutes... more

Top 9 Surveillance Videos of the Week: Naked Man Breaks Into House With Baseball Bat...
Other top surveillance videos of the week include the “world’s worst Door Dash driver,” an armed dog theft and more. 

(Man identified as Guy Dixon. You can't make this up.)

'Spy pixels in emails have become endemic'...
Emails pixels can be used to log:
• if and when an email is opened
• how many times it is opened
• what device or devices are involved
• the user's rough physical location, deduced from their internet protocol (IP) address - in some cases making it possible to see the street the recipient is on. more

Former Union Spy & Freedom Crusader, Harriet Tubman Inducted Into Hall of Fame...
One hundred and fifty years after her work as a Union spy, Harriet Tubman is being inducted into the U.S. Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame, The Washington Post reports. more

James Bond Theory: 007's True Mission Is to Distract From OTHER Spies...
For those wondering how such a non-secretive spy became so prominent, a recent Reddit theory looks to provide an answer — and it's pretty convincing. James Bond isn't meant to be a successful agent; he is a distraction that allows other truly secret MI6 operatives to complete their missions. more

Electronic Eavesdropping Detection – The Other Corporate Covid Deep Clean...
Corporate espionage has never been easier. Workplaces—unpopulated for months— became easy targets for corporate spies and foreign government types. The pandemic created a golden opportunity to Deep Plant their electronic surveillance devices...The reality is, organizations just don’t know if employees will be returning to hot-wired offices. more

Spymaster’s Prism by Jack Devine (book)

In Spymaster’s Prism the legendary former spymaster Jack Devine details the unending struggle with Russia and its intelligence agencies as it works against our national security. 

Devine tells this story through the unique perspective of a seasoned CIA professional who served more than three decades, some at the highest levels of the agency. He uses his gimlet-eyed view to walk us through the fascinating spy cases and covert action activities of Russia, not only through the Cold War past but up to and including its interference in the Trump era. Devine also looks over the horizon to see what lies ahead in this struggle and provides prescriptions for the future.

Based on personal experience and exhaustive research, Devine builds a vivid and complex mosaic that illustrates how Russia’s intelligence activities have continued uninterrupted throughout modern history, using fundamentally identical policies and techniques to undermine our democracy. He shows in stark terms how intelligence has been modernized and weaponized through the power of the cyber world.

Devine presents his analysis using clear-eyed vision and a repertoire of better-than-fiction spy stories, giving us an objective, riveting, and candid take on U.S.-Russia relations. He offers key lessons from our intelligence successes and failures over the past seventy-five years that will help us determine how to address our current strategic shortfall, emerge ahead of the Russians, and be prepared for what’s to come from any adversary. more

• Hardcover : 304 pages
• ISBN-10 : 1640123784
• ISBN-13 : 978-1640123786
• Item Weight : 1.74 pounds
• Dimensions : 5.98 x 9.02 inches
• Publisher : Potomac Books (March 1, 2021)
• Language: : English

 

Pretty Good Phone Privacy - Protects Both User Identity and Location

Abstract

To receive service in today’s cellular architecture phones uniquely identify themselves to towers and thus to operators. This is now a cause of major privacy violations as operators sell and leak identity and location data of hundreds of millions of mobile users. 

In this paper, we take an end-to-end perspective on the cellular architecture and find key points of decoupling that enable us to protect user identity and location privacy with no changes to physical infrastructure, no added latency, and no requirement of direct cooperation from existing operators. 

We describe Pretty Good Phone Privacy (PGPP) and demonstrate how our modified back end stack (NGC) works with real phones to provide ordinary yet privacy-preserving connectivity. We explore inherent privacy and efficiency trade-offs in a simulation of a large metropolitan region. We show how PGPP maintains today’s control overheads while significantly improving user identity and location privacy. more

BONUS... "It protects users from fake cell phone towers (IMSI-catchers) and surveillance by cell providers." a good summary explanation

There Are Spying Eyes Everywhere...

 ...and Now They Share a Brain.

Security cameras. License plate readers. Smartphone trackers. Drones. We’re being watched 24/7. What happens when all those data streams fuse into one?

...it’s a mistake to focus our dread on each of these tools individually. In many places across the world, they’re all inputs for a system that, with each new plug-in, reaches a little closer to omniscience.

That idea—of an ever-expanding, all-knowing surveillance platform—used to be a technologist’s fantasy, like the hoverbike or the jetpack. To understand how this particular hoverbike will finally be built, I began by calling up the people who designed the prototype. more

Is Russia Targeting CIA Spies with Secret Weapons?

Marc Polymeropoulos woke up in his hotel room with his head spinning and ears ringing. "I felt like I was going to vomit. I couldn't stand up. I was falling over," he recalls. "I have been shot at numerous times and this was the most terrifying experience in my life."

Polymeropoulos had spent years in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan as a senior officer of the CIA fighting America's war on terrorism. But that night in Moscow he believes he was targeted by a secret, microwave weapon. more

Spyware in Wallpaper, Restaurant and Games Apps

Iran is running two surveillance operations in cyber-space, targeting more than 1,000 dissidents, according to a leading cyber-security company.

The efforts were directed against individuals in Iran and 12 other countries, including the UK and US, Check Point said.

It said the two groups involved were using new techniques to install spyware on targets' PCs and mobile devices.

And this was then being used to steal call recordings and media files.

One of the groups, known as Domestic Kitten or APT-50, is accused of tricking people into downloading malicious software on to mobile phones by a variety of means including:

• repackaging an existing version of an authentic video game found on the Google Play store
• mimicking an app for a restaurant in Tehran
• offering a fake mobile-security app
• providing a compromised app that publishes articles from a local news agency
• supplying an infected wallpaper app containing pro-Islamic State imagery
• masquerading as an Android application store to download further software more
  

Snatched from a Beach to Train North Korea's Spies

15 November 1977, Niigata, Japan: It was after sunset on a crisp November evening when Megumi Yokota left her last badminton practice. Sharp winds chilled the fishing port of Niigata, and the grey sea rumbled at its brink.

The lights of home were seven minutes' walk away.

Megumi, 13, with her book-bag and badminton racquet, said goodbye to two friends 800ft from her parents' front door. But she never reached it...

Out on the Sea of Japan a boat manned by North Korean agents was speeding towards the Korean Peninsula with a terrified schoolgirl locked in the hold...

The country's future leader Kim Jong-il, then head of its intelligence services, wanted to expand his spy programme. Kidnapped foreigners weren't just useful as teachers. They could be spies themselves, or Pyongyang could steal their identities for false passports. They could marry other foreigners (something forbidden to North Koreans), and their children, too, could serve the regime. more