Excellent Video on Early Law Enforcement Spy Tech

On January 18th AWA Wireless Museum published this video. As per its description, “during Mike Murphy’s career he had the opportunity to be involved with the design of law enforcement surveillance radios, and he met some of the colorful personalities who pioneered these controversial technologies. In this presentation Mike tells the story of the people and companies that created surveillance devices that remained secret for decades, some of which still haven’t seen the light of day.”

Weird Spy News: Stool Pigeon Jailed in Vet Hospital

A pigeon caught in Mumbai with a message in an illegible language on its wings has been kept in a hospital for eight months while police investigated.

Bought on 18th May 2023 by RCF Police personnel, due to the message written in red and green on his wings , suspected to be Chinese language, the pigeon has in custody of BSPCA animal hospital ever since... Suspecting the language to be Chinese, police handed it over to the hospital to run a medical test on the bird while they sent the two rings on its leg for a forensic examination to rule out the possibility of it spying in the Indian territory. more

UPDATE: After eight months in state custody, an athlete has been freed from jail following allegations of espionage... An open-water racing pigeon from Taiwan was set free in Mumbai last Tuesday after being held for eight months on suspicion of spying for China. more

CISA & FBI Release Chinese Drone Awareness Paper

Cybersecurity Guidance: Chinese-Manufactured UAS is a Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) resource that raises awareness on the threats posed by Chinese-manufactured UAS and provides UAS cybersecurity recommendations that reduce risks to networks and sensitive information. This guidance also provides additional resources to augment an organization’s preparedness, response, and resilience.

"The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has enacted laws that provide the government with expanded legal grounds for accessing and controlling data held by firms in China. The use of Chinese-manufactured UAS in critical infrastructure operations risks exposing sensitive information to PRC authorities."  more  / download

A Corporate Espionage Gamble

Ivans Ivanovs, a former employee at OnAir Entertainment, has claimed that the company illegally accessed Playtech’s internal systems for two years. The illegal access is said to have continued even after Igor Veliks, who was instrumental in the scandal, left his job with Playtech Live Latvia. Ivanovs asserts that Veliks, together with accomplices, made use of unauthorized access to clandestine monitor Playtech’s future games and features...

The impending release of OnAir Entertainment’s ‘Diamond Rush Roulette’, overseen by Veliks, is now under scrutiny amidst these industrial espionage claims. As the legal proceedings progress, Ivanovs pledges to divulge more details concerning the purportedly unethical operations at OnAir Entertainment. more

Corporate Espionage: A Very Basic Cautionary Tale

Aesop’s fable, “the Tortoise and the Hare,” famously warns us about the dangers of arrogance and complacency in the face of a determined adversary. 

Unfortunately, in the modern race for supremacy between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), it appears that American policymakers and executives have failed to heed this warning, bearing disastrous consequences for industries vital to U.S. national security.

Like the hare, the United States had long enjoyed a substantial lead in developing defense-industrial sectors and innovating dual-use technologies. However, Washington has since rested on its laurels and exposed itself to theft through its lax counterintelligence posture. 

Meanwhile, the PRC — marrying the patience and long-term vision of the fabled tortoise with the remarkable leapfrogging ability enabled by its pervasive industrial espionage — has now caught up and even surpassed the United States across a plethora of key defense and technology sectors. Therefore, if spying and stealing are how the PRC plans to ‘win the race’ in modern strategic competition, the United States can only hope to prevail by investing far more robustly in counterintelligence. more

Maybe this could help.

Ukraine's Security Service Investigates Bihus.Info Bugging

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has announced that it is investigating the circumstances of the illegal bugging and filming of representatives of the investigative journalism project Bihus.Info...

(Numerous of individuals were implicated in monitoring activities, utilizing strategically placed cameras in various rooms. )

On 16 January, a video was leaked online showing employees of the Bihus.Info investigative project apparently using drugs. The project's head, Denys Bihus, recorded a video message giving explanations and stated that everyone who works with Bihus.Info would take drug tests.

Later, Bihus said that after talking to the people involved in the video, it transpired that members of the Bihus.Info editorial team had been under surveillance for about a year, and that fragments of intercepted conversations had been edited together from several episodes that were months apart. more

UPDATE: The media outlet Narodna Pravda, which published an illicitly sourced surveillance video the Bihus.Info team, has removed the video and closed its YouTube channel, Bihus.Info reported on Jan. 19. more

The Future of AI that Never Was (from 2012)

Enjoy the weekend!

The first 1:54 is all you need...

Grandmother’s Abusers Caught by Hidden Camera

Two sisters caught four care workers abusing their 89-year-old grandmother after hiding a camera in her bedroom... they put a photo frame with a hidden camera in her room at a care home... 

It caught the workers shouting in dementia sufferer Mrs Wall's face, making fun of her, holding her legs in the air and hitting her in the face with a pillow... "Without the footage we wouldn't have known it was going on let alone prove it happened," she said. more

China Says It Has Detained Spy Working for the U.K.

China has taken into custody an alleged British spy, the country’s national security agency said, as Beijing steps up warnings over national security and the infiltration of foreign spies in the country.

In a social-media post on Monday, China’s Ministry of State Security alleged that MI6, the U.K. foreign-intelligence service, in 2015 recruited a foreign national surnamed Huang and provided both training and “specialized spy equipment for intelligence liaisons.”

According to the MSS, the British instructed Huang to enter China as a representative of a consulting agency and send back intelligence. The Chinese agency didn’t specify Huang’s nationality or name the consulting firm. more

This is not the first time a business consultant has been detained there on charges of spying.

Recent Spy News

• A Russian man working for a state firm was arrested for allegedly planning to pass sensitive information to Poland in exchange for help in fleeing the country, the security services said Friday. Russian security services have detained a slew of foreigners and its own nationals for working with foreign intelligence since it launched the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022. more

• Algeria caught up in spying drama on the eve of Africa Cup of Nations as police quiz man who flew a DRONE over their training session more

• The sentencing of a US Navy sailor is a window into Chinese espionage. more

• In a decision reflecting rising espionage concerns and a penchant for time-tested technologies, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has chosen to keep alive the chancellery’s vintage pneumatic tube system. 

This unconventional yet highly functional method of document distribution, planned for phase-out by 2025, has been given a new lease of life. more  However: Researchers have found almost a dozen vulnerabilities in a popular brand of pneumatic tube delivery system more  Fun video clip.

• Belarusian Spy-Nude Model Detained in Poland - Polish state security services arrested a Belarusian OnlyFans model for allegedly engaging in espionage – something that she had admitted to friends while drunk. more

• 20 Best Spy Comedies – From 'Austin Powers' to 'Spies Like Us,' Moviefone counts down the 20 best spy comedies of all time. more

AI is Helping US Spies Catch Chinese Hacking Ops

Artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies are helping the National Security Agency and other U.S. government agencies detect malicious Chinese cyber activity, a top U.S. intelligence official said in remarks on Tuesday that indicate how U.S. security agencies are using the technology to improve computer defenses. 

Speaking Tuesday at the International Conference on Cyber Security at Fordham University, Rob Joyce, the director of the NSA Cybersecurity Directorate, said that AI is helping his agency detect Chinese operations targeting U.S. critical infrastructure that might evade traditional defensive measures. more

Spy History: When Furbys Caused National Security Fears

In the late 90s, the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) banned Furbys on its premises over fears they could record and repeat top-secret information.

When it first hit toy stores in 1998, Furby was an immediate sensation. The animatronic furball would eventually be recognized by Time Magazine as one of “History’s Best Toys.” And just as it spiked in popularity among children looking for a new robotic friend, security officials were reportedly concerned over the robot’s potential to record top-secret information.

All such stories stemmed from reporting by The Washington Post. On Jan. 13, 1999, The Post published an article titled “A Toy Story of Hairy Espionage” more

Ivanti Attacks Part of Deliberate Espionage Operation

Researchers warn the previously unknown actor has developed custom malware designed to maintain persistent access on targeted networks and evade detection.

The threat actor behind the monthlong exploitation of Ivanti Connect Secure VPN is conducting an espionage campaign using custom malware with the goal of maintaining continued access to the appliances, according to research released Thursday by Google Cloud’s Mandiant unit. 

Multiple suspected APT actors have used similar methods with appliance-specific malware in order to engage in post-exploitation threat activity and evade detection. However, Mandiant researchers said, at the moment, this exact activity is not linked to a known actor and they don’t have enough information yet to pinpoint the origin. more

Spybuster Tip #629: Delete Apps that are 'Spying' Using 'One Day Rule'

Security experts have explained how your phone apps track and collect your data even if they remain unused, but there's a handy hack to avoid data harvesting and potential spying...

The rule involves simply deleting one unused app a day which the expert says can massively improve your phone efficiency and free up your storage space. Doing this will help you manage how your data is used and stop it from being harvested...

To delete an app on the iPhone, find the app on your home screen, touch and hold down the icon and tap "Remove app." If you are an Android user, go to the Google Play store, tap the profile icon in the top right, and go to Manage Apps and Devices > Manage. Tap the name of the app you want to delete and choose to uninstall. more

Download a Free 2024 Chinese Espionage Calendar

Looking for that perfect addition for your office? 

A year long reminder of the threat? 

Download and print a 2024 Chinese Espionage Calendar for that special counterintelligence or insider threat specialist. 

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