Corporate Security News: Employees Offered $$$ for Planting Ransomware

In August, KrebsOnSecurity warned that scammers were contacting people and asking them to unleash ransomware inside their employer's network, in exchange for a percentage of any ransom amount paid by the victim company. This week, authorities in Nigeria arrested a suspect in connection with the scheme -- a young man who said he was trying to save up money to help fund a new social network. more

New Holographic Camera Can See Around Corners – Or Inside Your Skull

It sounds like something out of Star Trek: the doctor aims a camera at your chest, and a computer generates a hologram of your heart and blood vessels. She enlarges the image and takes a look at some of your smallest capillaries, each beautifully rendered in sub-millimeter detail. 

But thanks to a team at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering, that may soon be a reality. They’ve created a prototype technology capable of seeing around corners and through everything from fog to the human skull. Their results are published in the journal Nature Communications...

“Our technology will usher in a new wave of imaging capabilities,” he said. “Our current sensor prototypes use visible or infrared light, but the principle is universal and could be extended to other wavelengths. For example, the same method could be applied to radio waves for space exploration or underwater acoustic imaging.”...

“It’s like we can plant a virtual computational camera on every remote surface to see the world from the surface’s perspective,” explained Florian Willomitzer, first author of the study. “This technique turns walls into mirrors.”...

“It can be applied to many areas, and we have only scratched the surface,” he added. more

Just think of the benefits to the CIA... 
and eventually the trickle down to corporate espionage types.

 

RedCurl Corporate Espionage Hackers Return

A corporate cyber-espionage hacker group has resurfaced after a seven-month hiatus with new intrusions targeting four companies this year, including one of the largest wholesale stores in Russia, while simultaneously making tactical improvements to its toolset in an attempt to thwart analysis.

"In every attack, the threat actor demonstrates extensive red teaming skills and the ability to bypass traditional antivirus detection using their own custom malware," Group-IB's Ivan Pisarev said. 

Active since at least November 2018, the Russian-speaking RedCurl hacking group has been linked to 30 attacks to date with the goal of corporate cyber espionage and document theft aimed at 14 organizations spanning construction, finance, consulting, retail, insurance, and legal sectors and located in the U.K., Germany, Canada, Norway, Russia, and Ukraine. more

Israel Accuses Defence Minister's Household Staffer of Espionage

In a statement, the Shin Bet security service said the suspect corresponded with the unnamed person over social media. It said he provided photographs taken in the house as proof he had access and proposing installing malware on Gantz's computer.

Tensions run high between Iran and Israel over Tehran's nuclear programme and what Israeli officials describe as its military entrenchment and support of Israel's enemies in the region.

The Shin Bet said the suspect, who performed housekeeping and cleaning tasks in Gantz's residence, was indicted on espionage charges by a court in Lod, a city near Tel Aviv. It said he was arrested after an investigation earlier this month. more

Britney Spears' Attorney Seeking Possible Eavesdropping Evidence

Mathew Rosengart fired off a letter to Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group earlier this week repeating his demand for them to turn over a bunch of documents. Specifically, he's investigating exactly how Lou Taylor's company ran Britney's life financially and otherwise.

Rosengart's concern goes beyond money, though. He's also keyed in on the allegation Tri Star had a hand in spying on Britney by placing listening devices in her bedroom, as reported in the most recent NY Times documentary about Brit and the conservatorship.

He claims that reporting is more than enough to warrant Britney's desire to comb through any and all Tri Star docs related to the alleged electronic surveillance. more

Philly Cheesey Stakeout Comes Up Dry

 

 

Wiretapping Quote of the Week
Six years of wiretapping and this is what the Feds got? Cue Peggy Lee singing “Is that All There Is?"
~ Tom Cardella
more

 

Corporate Espionage: Executive Chairman Covertly Spycam'ed Meeting with Competitor.

JD Sports Fashion has launched an investigation into who covertly filmed Peter Cowgill, the group’s executive chairman, meeting his opposite number at Footasylum in a possible breach of competition rules. 

Britain’s biggest retailer of trainers is understood to believe that the meeting between Cowgill and Barry Bown, executive chairman of Footasylum, was filmed by a competitor keen to see JD’s £90 million takeover of its smaller rival blocked by the competition watchdog. more

This Week in Spy News

• German investigators probe riddle of the spy who fell from a window. more
  
  
• Apparent spy campaign targeting defense and other sectors uncovered. more
  
  
• Chinese convicted of spying on US aviation industry. more
  
  
• Beijing says U.S. spying charges against Chinese citizen 'pure fabrication' more
  
  
• (Football) Pat Narduzzi calls former Pitt player Carson Van Lynn ‘a spy’ more
  
  
• Britney Spears' Ex-Manager Denies Bugging Her Bedroom more
  
  
• Muslims Are Suing The FBI For Spying on OC Mosques more
  
  
• 77% of rootkits are used for espionage purposes. more
  
  
• FBI Observer Says China-linked Economic Espionage Cases Jumped By 1300% In Past 10 Years more
  
  
• 
  Parsons Corporation hiring Counterintelligence TSCM Officer/Technical Surveillance more
  
  
• Vickers & Nolan hiring Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM) Specialist Level II more
  
  
• Utahn working with DEA tried to tip off suspect that phone was bugged, prosecutors say. more
  
  
• Former elementary school principal faces indictment for spycam voyeurism. more
  
  
• Spy cam in washroom of a private school in Karachi. more
  
  
• ‘My phone is eavesdropping on me’: How we are being spied on, but not in the way you imagin. more
  
  
•  Former MI6 Spy Shares Her Secret of Living to 110: Lots of Red Wine more
  

A Veterans Day Salute to Radio Eavesdroppers & Code Breakers

At age 97, Marjorie Stetson has never told anyone her secret code number — until now.

That's the identity code — 225 — that she typed on every page of her highly classified work for the Canadian Armed Forces during the Second World War.

The retired sergeant's wartime work was so covert, she said, she had to sign 15 separate copies of Canada's Official Secrets Act...

"She was on the front line of the radio war," said military historian David O'Keefe, who studies Second World War code breaking and signals intelligence...

Stetson used a radio receiver to intercept Japanese army and air force communications. She used a special typewriter to transcribe the Japanese codes she heard. Those number-filled documents were sent to code breakers in the U.S. and sometimes England, said O'Keefe — giving the Allies an intelligence edge in the Pacific region. more

This Month in Spycam News

Australia - A woman who discovered she had been spied on for months by a cybersecurity expert, who was also her friend and housemate, by using a camera hidden in her room had one word that summed up how she felt: humiliated. more

FL - A registered sexual offender was arrested last week after he was accused of using his cellphone to record two students in a restroom at a Duval County high school, authorities said. more 

VT -  A federal judge has cleared at least part of the way for a plea deal involving a former emergency room doctor at the University of Vermont Medical Center, who ... hid a camera in a staff bathroom while working at the Burlington hospital, investigators said. He was later fired. more

Canada - A former New Glasgow doctor who was charged in 2016 for allegedly putting a hidden camera in a staff washroom at the Westside Medical Clinic, has left the profession. more

UT - A Utah man was arrested for voyeurism after an employee in the University Mall said he was recording people in dressing rooms at a clothing store. more 

FL - A University of Central Florida (UCF) student is speaking out, warning others after she said she discovered a spy camera was recording her through her bedroom window. more

CT - A city man with a history of voyeuristic criminal activity was recently arrested for allegedly trying to record a female shopper in a mall changing room earlier this year, according to an arrest warrant. more

WY - Trial Date Set for Sheridan County Man - Kobielusz was arrested in April  for allegedly placing video recording devices in a bedroom and bathroom of his home and using the devices to record three individuals, two minors and one adult, without their consent. more

UK - A man has been jailed for six months for voyeurism after he used a spy camera in his shoelaces and a phone to take video underneath skirts. more

Philippines - Policemen arrested a security guard for allegedly filming a woman while she was taking a shower Sunday evening in San Roque village, Tarlac City. more

WI - A Wisconsin teacher was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of attempting to produce child pornography, reports NBC News. David Krutchen, 39, hid cameras in air fresheners on a field trip. more 

FL - A Frontier Airlines pilot has been charged over allegations he recorded a 19-year-old Florida college student with a hidden spy camera hidden in her apartment, university police said. more 

Japan - Kyoto Prefectural Police have launched an initiative to show a non-skippable video ad on YouTube warning that "secret filming is a crime," targeting users who have searched for terms seemingly related to voyeurism. more

MA - Amazon driver in blonde wig filmed naked girls in women's bathroom with pen camera, police say. more

CT - Detectives investigating a child pornography tip discovered photographs of young female students apparently taken without their knowledge by a Rockville High School teacher, arrest records show. more 

IN - Schneider remains on unpaid suspension from the New Albany Police Department. He was arrested in June on charges of voyeurism. Investigators said he used his smartphone to record video of women changing in a dressing room at his Memphis, Indiana, home. more 

Canada - A personal support worker charged with voyeurism at a long-term care home in Guelph/Eramosa is no longer an employee after being accused of taking intimate images of a vulnerable resident. more

Singapore - A South Korean man who had served as an interpreter for the Singapore Police Force (SPF) during the Trump-Kim Summit here in 2018, was caught in February this year using a pinhole camera to take videos of women using a toilet. more 

LA - Man admits to taking 19 upskirt videos in College Drive Walmart more

WA - A former Arlington Christian School teacher who admitted to shooting hundreds of videos of female staff members and students without their permission will not see any more time in jail. more

WY - Lander resident Dudley Irvine pled “not guilty” to a charge of attempted voyeurism at his September 28th arraignment hearing... The charge was originally filed after a gym member reported to the Lander Police Department that she had found a “covert recording device that was plugged into an electrical outlet facing the shower within the women’s locker room.” more 

India - Hinjewadi police have booked a voyeurism case against the chairperson, secretary and treasurer of a housing society in Hinjewadi-Wakad road on charges of voyeurism. The accused have been charged for installing CCTV camera near the bedroom window of the woman resident and recording her private life for almost one month. more

Hong Kong - (new law) People who take non-consensual photographs up a woman’s skirt face up to five years in jail in Hong Kong under a law passed Thursday aimed at tackling voyeurism. more 

Our spycam detection services are being requested more often. Due diligence makes sense to businesses like: hotels, gyms, swimming pools, country clubs, educational institutions, clothing retailers, and all businesses offering private areas to their employees and guests.

We can not guarantee you will never be on the wrong end of a voyeurism law suit. However, we are sure our services will pay for themselves many times over if damages are assessed. Showing due diligence can mitigate damages. 

Businesses must proactively protect the privacy of employees and the visiting public.

Learn more: FREE Security White Paper (No questions asked. Just click to view.)
"Surreptitious Workplace Recording ...and what you can do about it."

CO Supreme Court - Nonstop Hidden Camera Spying Violated Fourth Amendment

Using a hidden pole camera without a warrant to spy on and record a man’s home for more than three months violated the Fourth Amendment, the Colorado Supreme Court unanimously declared last month. “A camera monitoring all of a person’s backyard activities,” Chief Justice Brian Boatright wrote for the court, “provokes an immediate negative visceral reaction: indiscriminate video surveillance raises the spectre of the Orwellian state.”

With its decision, the Colorado Supreme Court widens a growing split on the constitutionality of long-term pole camera surveillance. The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, as well as the South Dakota Supreme Court, have both ruled against warrantless surveillance, while the Sixth and Seventh have ruled the opposite. more

Fluffer & Nutter - The Peanut Butter Sandwich Spies

A nuclear engineer for the U.S. Navy and his wife have been charged with trying to share some of the United States’ most closely held secrets on submarine technology with another country, according to court documents unsealed on Sunday.

The engineer, Jonathan Toebbe, was accused of trying to sell information on the nuclear propulsion system of Virginia-class attack submarines — the technology at the heart of a recent deal that the United States and Britain struck with Australia...

Over a series of exchanges, the F.B.I. persuaded the sender to leave information at a dead drop in return for cryptocurrency payments. The F.B.I. then observed Mr. Toebbe and his wife, Diana Toebbe, at the location of the drop, in West Virginia.

With Ms. Toebbe acting as a lookout, Mr. Toebbe left an SD card concealed inside half a peanut butter sandwich in a plastic bag, according to the court documents. After the undercover agent retrieved the sandwich, Mr. Toebbe was sent $20,000. more

Entry Level TSCM Tech Job Posting (UK)

Technical Surveillance Counter Measures (TSCM) Engineer
UK Ministry of Defence Tarrant Rawston, England, United Kingdom

About the job

This role is within the Technical Surveillance Counter Measures (TSCM) team, part of the Spectrum team within Operations, Defence Digital. We are looking for people who will be able to assist with conducting TSCM Assessments which are technical and physical counter surveillance assessments with highly sophisticated equipment for the detection of concealed devices and identification of security vulnerabilities within offices, building infrastructure, furniture and office equipment. This is to reduce the MOD’s exposure to eavesdropping and information exploitation.

Responsibilities

You will be part of a small team conducting TSCM activities to protect, detect and respond to the technical exploitation of the MOD’s facilities by a range of threats including adversaries and insider threats to prevent unwanted exposure to Defence sensitive information.

Key Responsibilities

• Assist in the scoping and planning tasks as appropriately to conduct the task effectively.
• As a team member, assist with conducting Technical Surveillance Counter Measures (TSCM) Assessments of areas as tasked.
• Assist with the completion of reports on tasks that identify the activities undertaken in a timely manner.
• Manage the equipment holdings of the section, ensuring all equipment is working correctly, calibrated, packed and ready to deploy on trial at short notice.
• Support the C2 Senior TSCM Engineer in the output of TSCM tasks as appropriate.
  

This job will involve significant travel away from home, at locations both in the UK and abroad but this is expected to be no more than 2 weeks at a time, and no more than 16 weeks per year.  more

 

PS - This is an unusual and interesting career. Rarely is an entry level position offered. 

PI & Security Director Alert - Camera Smartband for Apple Watch

A dream for professional investigators.
A nightmare for security directors.
The Apple watch band wristcam!

The scoop...
• Apple MFi-Certified Modular Camera Smartband for Apple Watch,
• 42mm-44mm, Black,
• TWO CAMERAS: 8MP + 2MP, 4K Photo, 1080p Video,
• 2 Microphones (underwater support for water adventures)
• 8GB Storage, WiFi, Bluetooth 5,
• IP68 Water Resistant

"Now you can go without your phone, and use your Apple Watch to capture 4K photo, 1080p video, and even video live chat with the Wristcam App." more

LANTENNA: Exfiltrating Data from Air-Gapped Networks via Ethernet Cables

via Cyber Security Labs @ Ben Gurion University

Air-gapped networks are wired with Ethernet cables since wireless connections are strictly prohibited. 

 LANTENNA - a new type of electromagnetic attack allowing adversaries to leak sensitive data from isolated, air-gapped networks. 

Malicious code in air-gapped computers gathers sensitive data and then encodes it over radio waves emanating from the Ethernet cables, using them as antennas. A nearby receiving device can intercept the signals wirelessly, decode the data, and send it to the attacker. 

We discuss the exfiltration techniques, examine the covert channel characteristics, and provide implementation details. Notably, the malicious code can run in an ordinary user-mode process and successfully operate from within a virtual machine. We evaluate the covert channel in different scenarios and present a set of countermeasures. 

Our experiments show that with the LANTENNA attack, data can be exfiltrated from air-gapped computers to a distance of several meters away. more & video