The advisory, which was nine pages long, was issued by the Departments of State, Treasury, Commerce and Homeland Security. It alerted businesses to the possible risks associated with doing business in Hong Kong. According to the advisory, businesses are at risk from electronic surveillance without warrants and the disclosure of customer and corporate data to authorities. more
India Today... Pegasus spying: how Pegasus is installed on phone, what it does, and how to get rid of it...
Pegasus, developed by Israeli cybersecurity firm NSO Group, is a highly sophisticated spyware that has been referred to as the "most sophisticated smartphone attack ever". It was first noticed in 2016 but created a lot of buzz in late 2019 when it was revealed that the spyware was used for snooping on journalists and human rights activists across the globe, including in India. more
Tech Xplore... Pegasus spyware: how does it work?More recent versions of Pegasus, developed by the Israeli firm the NSO Group, have exploited weak spots in software commonly installed on mobiles.
In 2019 the messaging service WhatsApp sued NSO, saying it used one of these so-called "zero-day vulnerabilities" in its operating system to install the spyware on some 1,400 phones.
By simply calling the target through WhatsApp, Pegasus could secretly download itself onto their phone—even if they never answered the call.
More recently, Pegasus is reported to have exploited weaknesses in Apple's iMessage software.
That would potentially give it access to the one billion Apple
iPhones currently in use—all without the owners needing to even click a
button. more
via Futility Closet... (worth subscribing)
‘A dry martini,’ he said. ‘One. In a deep champagne goblet.’
‘Oui, monsieur.’
‘Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?’
‘Certainly monsieur.’ The barman seemed pleased with the idea.
‘Gosh, that’s certainly a drink,’ said Leiter.
Bond laughed. ‘When I’m … er … concentrating,’ he explained, ‘I never have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that one to be large and very strong and very cold, and very well-made. I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad. This drink’s my own invention. I’m going to patent it when I think of a good name.’
The name he thinks of is the Vesper, ostensibly inspired by the character Vesper Lynd. But in fact the recipe wasn’t original to Bond — Fleming had first received the drink from the butler of an elderly couple in Jamaica — it was named after vespers, a service of evening prayer. Bond says, “It sounds perfect and it’s very appropriate to the violet hour when my cocktail will now be drunk all over the world.” He’d have trouble getting one today — Kina Lillet was discontinued in 1986, and the strength of Gordon’s Gin was reduced in 1992.
Those are the details and allegations that are now emerging about Operation Trojan Shield, an international effort coordinated by the FBI that has resulted in more than 800 arrests.
With the help of Europol, the FBI identified "over 300 distinct TCOs [transnational criminal organizations] using Anom, including Italian organized crime, Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, and various international narcotics source, transportation, and distribution cells," according to a search warrant affidavit filed in court by Nicholas Cheviron*, an FBI special agent in San Diego. The document was unsealed Monday.
In addition to heading the investigation, FBI Special Agent, Nic Cheviron (son of the best corporate security director ever), wrote the search warrant. It is a fascinating read.
In theory, quantum cryptography enables two or more people to communicate with one another in complete secrecy. In practice, eavesdroppers can exploit weaknesses in the equipment used to send and receive secret keys.
Their device exploits an acrylic prism with a negative thermo-optical
coefficient. Incoming light generates a gradient in temperature, and
therefore in refractive-index, inside the prism that turns the acrylic
into a concave lens. A small aperture placed behind the prism blocks
most of the resulting diverged light beam, diminishing the beam power. more
Radio frequency defense film, also known as RF
attenuation window film or anti-eavesdropping film, protects homes or
workplaces against radio frequencies and electromagnetic radiation. The
RF film that the customer requires meets strict security requirements
for facilities handling classified or other sensitive information. The
government customer has requested to remain anonymous for security
reasons. more
We've been down this road before, in 2007 and 2009.
•••
"The accused doctor is a neurologist lecturer at a city-based medical college," said Jagannath Kalaskar, senior police inspector, Bharti Vidyapeeth police station.
Last week, the trainee doctor had tried to switch on the bulb in her bathroom, however, it did not work. She then called an electrician who spotted a spy camera installed in the bulb. The doctor found another spy camera in her bedroom too, following which she lodged a police complaint. more
Using their access to troves of user data through Facebook’s internal systems, male engineers were able to view women’s locations, private messages, deleted photos and more, according to a bombshell report in the Telegraph...
While 52 employees were fired for such transgressions in 2014 and
2015, Facebook’s then-chief security officer Alex Stamos reportedly
warned that hundreds of others may have slipped by unnoticed. more
Twelve (12) states require the consent of everybody involved in a conversation or phone call before the conversation can be recorded. Those states are: California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington. These laws are sometimes referred to as “Two-Party” consent laws but, technically, require that all parties to a conversation must give consent before the conversation can be recorded.
What constitutes “consent” is also an issue of contention when you are considering recording a conversation. In some states, “consent” is given if the parties to the call are clearly notified that the conversation will be recorded, and they engage in the conversation anyway. Their consent is implied. For example, we have all experienced calling a customer service department only to hear a recorded voice warning, “This call may be recorded for quality assurance or training purposes.” It is usually a good practice for practitioners to let the witness know they are recording the call in order to accurately recall and commemorate the testimony being given – such as during the taking of a witness’ statement.
Nearly all states include an extensive list of exceptions to their consent requirements. Common exceptions found in a majority of states’ laws include recordings captured by police, court order, communication service providers, emergency services, etc...
Telephone calls are routinely originated in one state and participated in by residents of another state. In conference call settings, multiple states (and even countries) could be participating in a telephone call which is subject to being recorded by one or more parties to the call. This presents some rather challenging legal scenarios when trying to evaluate whether a call may legally be recorded. A call from Pennsylvania to a person in New York involves the laws of both states. Which state’s laws apply and/or whether the law of each state must be adhered to are questions parties to a call are routinely faced with...
More information on the laws in all 50 states regarding the recording of phone conversations found here.
You may be able to bring a misappropriation of trade secrets claim even if you do not actually own the misappropriated trade secret. A growing number of federal cases indicate ownership of a trade secret may not be required in order for a plaintiff to sue for misappropriation; possession alone may be enough to confer standing.
In Advanced Fluid Systems, Inc. v. Huber, the Third Circuit affirmed a district court ruling holding that a plaintiff suing for misappropriation under the Pennsylvania Uniform Trade Secrets Act (“PUTSA”) need only demonstrate lawful possession of the trade secret at issue, and not legal ownership, to maintain a claim. There, Advanced Fluid Systems (“AFS”), a designer and installer of hydraulic systems, filed suit against defendants alleging they had conspired to misappropriate AFS trade secret information to divert business to a competitor.
One of the more interesting aspects of Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM), or sweeping for bugs, is looking into the future. Seemingly an exercise in entertainment at first glance, looking forward has a serious purpose—staying ahead of the bad guys, not one step behind (as some TSCM’ers seem to be proud to say). Smart contact lens technology caught my eye for this episode of FutureWatch.
Taking a look at “future vision” we see… more
While we don’t have smart contact lenses yet, we do have X-ray vision.
... more mundane items like smart speakers and cell phones...
Clerks at 7-Eleven and other convenience stores are being constantly
monitored by a voice of god that can intervene from thousands of miles
away.
In a short CCTV video, a clerk at a small convenience store can be seen taking a bottle of coffee from a cooler and drinking it. When he returns to the cash register, an unseen person's voice emits from a speaker on the ceiling and interrogates him about whether he scanned and paid for the item.
The videos are just a few examples that Washington-based Live Eye Surveillance uses to demonstrate its flagship product: a surveillance camera system that keeps constant watch over shops and lets a remote human operator intervene whenever they see something they deem suspicious.
For enough money—$399 per month according to one sales email
Motherboard viewed—a person in Karnal, India will watch the video feed
from your business 24/7. The monitors “act as a virtual supervisor for
the sites, in terms of assuring the safety of the employees located
overseas and requesting them to complete assigned tasks,” according to a
job posting on the company's website. more
A supply-chain component lays open camera feeds to remote attackers thanks to a critical security vulnerability.
For critical infrastructure operators and enterprises:
And for home users, the privacy implications are obvious. more
IN - A former Indiana police officer awaiting sentencing for recording young girls in a bathroom died by suicide Monday. more
Ireland - Devout Christian busted for filming men and boys using toilet and setting up secret cameras in B&B more
FL - A Florida youth pastor who was previously accused of hiding a camera in a church bathroom has now been charged with possession of child pornography. more
Canada - A Cold Lake high school teacher was charged by RCMP with making child pornography and voyeurism. Assumption teacher James Neil Morrison allegedly installed a camera in a student changeroom and recorded inappropriate imagery of a 16-year-old. more
FL - Robert Sampson, 52, of Gulf Breeze, Florida, pled guilty today to charges of Video Voyeurism and Disorderly Conduct. Sampson surreptitiously videoed eight fellow Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employees using a hidden recording device that he placed in a restroom at the Veterans Affairs Joint Ambulatory Care Center in Pensacola, Florida, on multiple occasions. more
PA - A Pennsylvania florist has been accused of hiding a small camera in a flower arrangement so that he could spy on a woman. According to local reports, this was learned after a relative of the victim found nude images downloaded on the florist’s computer. more
Japan - Police in Tokyo have arrested a 33-year-old elementary school teacher on suspicion of violating the child pornography law and forcible obstruction of business after he allegedly installed a spy camera inside the girl’s toilet. more
UK - A man has been charged with voyeurism offences involving 107 alleged victims over a period of six years. David Glover, 47, of Edelweiss View in Tallington, is accused of installing camera equipment to observe women doing a private act, without their consent, for his own sexual gratification. more
FL - A bartender in Islamorada was arrested after reportedly placing a video camera that captured photos of a woman in a bathroom... The device was disguised as a USB charging adapter, according to deputies. more
Canada - A former maintenance worker at Royal Oaks Country Club who hid a cellphone in a restroom to secretly record a woman using the toilet was sentenced Monday to 30 days on a work crew. more
CT - A city man accused of recording guests in his Glenbrook condo while they used the bathroom has pleaded guilty to multiple counts of voyeurism. more
SC - Riviere is named as a defendant in three separate lawsuits in state court that accuse the management of some Aiken short-term rental properties of secretly recording women who paid to stay there. more
US - A man has claimed he caught his girlfriend of six years cheating on him by using a hidden spy camera secreted away inside a USB plug that he left in their apartment. The anonymous man, from the US, went viral on TikTok earlier this week after he revealed he had bought a plug-in USB brick, which contained secret spyware... The video, which has been hashtagged #CheatersGettingCaught, has been viewed over 2.5million times and amassed over 432,000 likes. more
LA - Monroe man arrested on four counts of video voyeurism... The victim then stated she found a video of herself getting in and out of the shower at his residence. Fairly stated that he ordered a clock with a hidden camera on Ebay to record the inside of his house. more
CO - Denver Firefighter Paid $100K over Station Bedroom Spycam. The settlement comes after a former lieutenant was convicted last year in connection with setting up a hidden camera and recording a female firefighter changing clothes. more
S. Korea - There has been a public outcry over a recent case in which a male teacher allegedly installed hidden cameras in a restroom for female teachers at the high school where he works. more
New Zealand - A man who repeatedly planted a spy camera in an Auckland gym's changing rooms to film people naked was promoted to chief executive of Crown entity International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) after the offending took place. more
Japan - A staff member at a social welfare facility in the prefecture resigned after he was accused of illicit filming inside a bathroom, the facility revealed on Monday. The camera, which was hidden inside a pen... “I did it for thrills,” the staff member said in admitting to the allegations. more
UK - Judge James Burbidge QC, sentencing, described how the defendant had hidden a spy camera in an air freshener and had used it to take more than 10,500 photographs. more
You don't have to become a victim. Learn how to detect spy cameras.
