I didn't expect it to be that quick. While I was on a Google Hangouts call with a colleague, the hacker sent me screenshots of my Bumble and Postmates accounts, which he had broken into. Then he showed he had received texts that were meant for me that he had intercepted. Later he took over my WhatsApp account, too, and texted a friend pretending to be me. more
We are watching a death of a thousand cuts, but it can be stopped. This paper examines how to do it... more
... in Tesla factories, jails, and more.
According to Tillie Kottmann, one of the members of the international hacker collective that breached the system, the hack was meant to show how commonplace the company’s security cameras are and how easily they’re able to be hacked. In addition to the live feeds, the group also claimed to have had access to the full video archive of all of Verkada’s customers... more
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” ―
Certain features pointed in that direction…
Could it be useful as a spy device?
Could a TSCM bug sweep detect it?
We tested and found... more
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
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.
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.
via David Koff, Tech Talk - The Technology Newsletter for Everyone...
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
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
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
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.
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
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.
Abstract
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
...and Now They Share a Brain.
...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