New York to Dublin in Milliseconds

A new interactive art installation in New York City is allowing viewers to communicate with people 3,000 miles away in Dublin, Ireland.

The brainchild of Lithuanian artist Benediktas Gylys, “the Portal” was unveiled on Wednesday and allows people on either side of the Atlantic to interact with each other via a video link.

New Yorkers can head to Flatiron South Public Plaza at Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and 23rd Street, next to the Flatiron Building, to see people on Dublin’s O’Connell Street on the 24/7 visual livestream, according to a Wednesday press release. more
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From the Security Scrapbook... “Good artists copy, Great artists steal” files.
This isn't the first time an artist has connected New York City with Europe. You can read our May, 2008 post here. Links to the picture have evaporated, but the WSJ covered it as well...

UPDATE 3/15/24: The video portals connecting Dublin and NYC have been shut down to address inappropriate behavior, which apparently included flashing, showing porn, and mocking 9/11.

UPDATE 5/20/24: Dublin-New York portal reopens with set hours. A live video "portal" between Dublin and New York has reopened after it was temporarily closed due to "inappropriate behaviour".

Havana Syndrome Update - March 2024

CNN Update: Journalists tie Russian assassination unit to Havana Syndrome more

CBS 60 Minutes Update: Havana syndrome, which now goes by another name. 
5-year Havana Syndrome investigation finds new evidence of who might be responsible. more

Previously on Security Scrapbook

6 Ways Remote Workers Can Stop Bosses Spying on Them

1. Separate Personal Devices From Company Ones
2. Mouse Jigglers
3. Avoid Email and Social Account Monitoring
4. VPNs
5. Secure Browsers
6. Know Your Rights
Details here.

As seen on X this week…

As seen on X this week…

Book: Monroe affair with JFK Confirmed on Wiretap

For decades, Fred Otash was alleged to have kept the darkest secrets of Hollywood stars, including America’s most famous sex symbol.

Tinseltown’s most notorious private detective died in 1992 at age 70. The World War II Marine veteran is the subject of a new book, "The Fixer: Moguls, Mobsters, Movie Stars, and Marilyn."

It delves into shocking revelations from his never-before-seen investigative files.

For the book, co-author Manfred Westphal was given access to Otash’s archives with the blessing of his daughter Colleen. Westphal, who first met Colleen at Otash’s funeral, developed a close friendship with her over the years. more

Otash was notorious for bugging the homes, offices, and playpens of movie stars, kingmakers, and powerful politicians, employing then state-of-the-art methods of electronic surveillance and wiretapping for a who’s who list of clients for whom he’d do “anything short of murder.”

Pierce Brosnan Returns: In "A Spy's Guide to Survival"

If you love the modern James Bond-style spy movies, you can thank Pierce Brosnan that Hollywood keeps making them. If it weren't for the "Remington Steele" star's turn as 007 in the beloved 1995 film "GoldenEye," the Bond franchise might have ended up dead... 

Brosnan is returning to the spy game (at least, the on-screen spy game) in a new film from the creator of Netflix's "Warrior Nun" and "Ghost Wars." In "A Spy's Guide to Survival," 

Brosnan will play a retired undercover agent who tries to keep a low profile but is brought out of his reclusive life by a strange new neighbor with secrets of his own... 

"A Spy's Guide to Survival" does not yet have an official release date. Until then, viewers can and should catch "GoldenEye," streaming on Amazon. more

The Captured Spy Was an Animal

Dolphins are known to be smart animals, and one of them may have become an unwitting part of a heated regional conflict. 

Several media outlets are reporting that Hamas has detained a dolphin for allegedly spying on behalf of Israel. 

While the Islamic group has yet to officially confirm the capture, there are accounts of the incident that involve the animal having cameras and even a dart gun on it. more

His Nickname is Mikey

A New Jersey federal judge has agreed to vacate a $361,000 verdict against a law professor who a jury determined illegally wiretapped her former son-in-law and invaded his privacy. 

The court offered no reasoning for its decision. 

The law professor's former son-in-law, Andrew Burki, had argued that there was enough evidence presented at trial for jurors to determine that conversations between him and his son recorded on a secret device sewn into the boy's overalls by the law professor, Claire LaRoche, were not meant for public consumption and that he had an expectation of privacy regarding them. more

Trade Secret Cases On the Rise

Barnes & Thornburg LLP - Mitchell Berry

In recent years, there has been a noticeable uptick in trade secret litigation, signaling a shift in how businesses safeguard their valuable intellectual property...

Clients are increasingly turning to trade secrets as a means of protecting their innovations, particularly in sectors where rapid technological advancements and short product life cycles render patents less effective. Trade secrets offer perpetual protection as long as the information remains confidential, providing a valuable alternative for companies operating in dynamic and fast-paced markets.

The rise of trade secret litigation also highlights the need for robust internal policies and procedures to safeguard confidential information proactively. Companies must invest in measures such as employee training, restricted access controls, and non-disclosure agreements to mitigate the risk of inadvertent disclosure or theft of trade secrets. more

Did You Know: The legal system does not automatically protect Trade Secrets just on your say-so. You need to prove a history of special protections, like TSCM.

Hamas Hacked Settlement Cameras Prior to 10/7

Hamas broke into dozens of cameras in the surrounding settlements before October 7

IDF's Military Intelligence Directorate knew for some time that ISF managed to break into some civilian security cameras in Israel and collect information through them. Only when the soldiers investigated MID's large underground server rooms did the IDF discover that dozens of cameras had been hacked, some of which were inside the surrounding kibbutzim. more

Now, will you change your cameras' default passwords?

Signal App - New Usernames Keeps Cops Out of Your Data

Ephemeral usernames instead of phone numbers safeguard privacy — and makes Signal even harder to subpoena...

Signal is the gold standard for secure messaging apps because not only are messages encrypted, but so is pretty much everything else. Signal doesn’t know your name or profile photo, who any of your contacts are, which Signal groups you’re in, or who you talk to and when...

With the long-awaited announcement that usernames are coming to Signal — over four years in the making — Signal employed the same careful cryptography engineering it’s famous for, ensuring that the service continues to learn as little information about its users as possible. more

Your Doctor’s Office Might Be Bugged

It used to be safe to assume your doctor’s visit was a completely private affair between you and your physician. This is changing with ambient artificial intelligence, a new technology that listens to your conversation and processes information. Think Amazon’s Alexa, but in your doctor’s office. 

An early use case is ambient AI scribing: it listens, then writes a clinical note summarizing your visit. Clinical notes are used to communicate diagnostic and treatment plans within electronic health records, and as a basis to generate your bill...

Okay, your conversation just got recorded. But where does it go? Is it stored somewhere? How is it used beyond writing my note? The AI technology companies need to address these questions and comply with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act laws. Additionally, new regulations may be needed as the technology evolves. more

Intel Patent Addresses Privacy Issues with Voice Assistants

Intel wants to give you peace of mind when talking to your digital assistant.
The company filed a patent application for a “privacy preserving digital personal assistant.” Rather than sending your raw voice data to the cloud for processing, Intel’s tech encrypts that data to keep your personal information and identity from being shared in that environment.

“Existing digital personal assistant technologies force users to surrender the content of their voice commands to their digital personal assistance provider, and most actions of the available digital personal assistants are performed in the cloud,” Intel said in the filing. “This presents a large privacy and security concern that will only grow (over time) with increased adoption.” more

How to Hunt Down Malware on Mobile Devices

co-authored by Josh Hickman, Subject Matter Expert Collect and Review, Cellebrite

The ubiquity of mobile devices makes them prime targets for malware attacks. Despite the expertise in incident response and malware detection for PCs and Macs, mobile security, on the other hand, often remains uncharted territory for many organizations and users alike. No longer a question of if but when an attack is going to happen, there is a pertinent need for education in identification, resolution and bolstering defences against future attacks.

What Malware Looks Like and How it Gets There

Mobile malware manifests in various forms, from ransomware encrypting data to spyware surreptitiously monitoring activities. Understanding the modus operandi of mobile malware is critical for detection and mitigation efforts...How it lands on a device and what you can do... more

Havana Syndrome: All in Your Mind?

A new study found no evidence of brain injuries among U.S. diplomats and government employees experiencing mysterious health problems known as Havana syndrome. The symptoms, which include headaches, balance problems and cognitive difficulties, were first reported in Cuba in 2016. Havana syndrome participants also reported higher levels of fatigue, posttraumatic stress symptoms and depression.

An array of advanced tests found no brain injuries or degeneration among U.S. diplomats and other government employees who suffer mysterious health problems once dubbed "Havana syndrome, " researchers reported Monday.

The National Institutes of Health’s nearly five-year study offers no explanation for symptoms including headaches, balance problems and difficulties with thinking and sleep that were first reported in Cuba in 2016 and later by hundreds of American personnel in multiple countries. more previously in the Scrapbook