EU Hands Out Burner Phones to US-bound Staff Over Spying Fears

Is today's US-EU alliance truly trusted? Who would have thought that today, nothing better illustrates what "trusted ally" really means than EU officials being handed burner phones before visiting the US to protect themselves from potential "espionage." 

 
The Financial Times reported on Monday that European Commissioners and senior officials travelling to the IMF and World Bank spring meetings next week have been given the new guidance to take basic phones and laptops. "They are worried about the US getting into the commission systems," FT quoted one official as saying. "The transatlantic alliance is over," the report said, quoting another anonymous EU official. more

Cameras Are Popping Up in Eldercare Facilities

Roughly 20 states now have laws permitting families to place cameras in the rooms of loved ones. Facility operators are often opposed...

Though they remain a contentious subject, cameras in care facilities are gaining ground. By 2020, eight states had joined Minnesota in enacting laws allowing them, according to the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care: Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington.

The legislative pace has picked up since, with nine more states enacting laws: Connecticut, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nevada, Ohio, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming. Legislation is pending in several others. California and Maryland have adopted guidelines, not laws. The state governments in New Jersey and Wisconsin will lend cameras to families concerned about loved ones’ safety. more

Spy Quote of the Week

via The Hustle...

"I smashed my old phone with an axe and put it down the drain at my mother-in-laws's house."

Not a movie scene, but: the directions former Rippling employee-turned-corporate spy Keith O’Brien said he received from a Deel attorney (and carried out) to destroy evidence in an ongoing legal battle between the two HR tech companies, according to a recent court filing via TechCrunch.

Deel CEO Alex Bouaziz is accused of hiring O’Brien to collect intel on competitor Rippling — product road maps, customer accounts, sales leads, etc. — in a four-month-long scheme, according to the lawsuit. O’Brien’s compensation? Allegedly just $6k a month. Not exactly hush money, it seems.

Google: Human Surveillance Isn't Enough - Target Dolphins

Imagine trying to crack a language where every "word" is a complex pattern of clicks, whistles, and burst pulses. That's what Google's DolphinGemma AI model is tackling, running on waterproofed Pixel phones in the waters of the Bahamas.

The system, announced on Google's blog, makes use of 38 years of underwater recordings from the Wild Dolphin Project (WDP), the longest-running study of its kind. These recordings capture everything from mother dolphins calling their calves with unique signature whistles to aggressive "squawks" during confrontations. The AI processes these vocalizations in real-time, searching for patterns that could unlock the dolphins' communication code. more

Is Your Phone Secretly Listening to You?

Here’s a simple way to find out...

To test if your phone is listening to your conversations, start by openly discussing a unique topic that you’ve never searched for or discussed previously while your phone is turned on next to you. It’s crucial that this be something that isn’t related to your usual interests or search queries.

Spend a day or two discussing this topic out loud with your phone next to you the whole time. Make sure that you don’t search about this topic on any of your devices—not just your phone.

During this time, pay close attention to the ads you’re served while online—ads on social media feeds, websites you visit, apps you use, and those on your smart TV if you have one. Then, if you begin seeing ads about the topic you chose to discuss, chances are you’ve confirmed the eavesdropping and caught your phone red-handed. more

Not Far from Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems in Grover's Mill, NJ

“Sushi John"-  SPYcy Roll'ed by ICE

An alleged sushi-slinging spy is in ICE custody. 

Ming Xi Zhang, known as “Sushi John,” the 61-year-old owner of Ya Ya Noodles in Montgomery Township, NJ, was arrested March 24 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Newark.

Zhang was convicted in April 2024 of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government and sentenced to three years’ probation. In May 2021, he pleaded guilty to having served as an agent of China in 2016 without notifying the U.S. Attorney General.

ICE says he legally entered the U.S. in 2000 but later “violated the terms of his lawful admission.” more

"Sushi John" + "Ya Ya" = "John Ya Ya" 

One of the 46 Yoyodyne Employees (Red Lectroids)?

We checked. No relation.

Installing Hidden Cameras Around the Office - MrBeast Sues

MrBeast has a new game: work for Beast Industries without stealing company secrets. 

According to Jimmy Donaldson (better known as MrBeast) and his company, a former employee failed the challenge. In a complaint first spotted by Polygon, MrBeast is suing a former contractor for allegedly breaching his contract, stealing trade secrets, and—certainly the most creepy of the accusations—installing hidden cameras throughout the company offices...

In addition to discovering the documents had been downloaded, Beast personnel apparently also spotted cameras installed around the office after Nabors’ departure. According to the complaint, Nabors was “well-known among colleagues to surreptitiously record meetings.” The complaint accuses Nabors of installing and operating the cameras. more

When was the last time you checked your offices for covert cameras and bugs. Find out.

The Affidavit of a Rippling Employee Caught Spying for Deel Reads Like a Movie

On Wednesday, Rippling publicly released the affidavit of the Rippling employee who testified that he was working as a spy for the HR tech company’s arch rival Deel.

And the account, coupled with Rippling’s lawsuit filed against Deel a couple of weeks ago, reads like a corporate espionage movie script, complete with a sting operation and a smashed phone.

It’s the latest escapade between the two. TechCrunch has documented the most Hollywood-esque parts of the testimony below, but be aware that this is only one side of the story — the side Rippling wants everyone to know, as its PR machine has blasted it out, and CEO Parker Conrad tweet-stormed about it.

To recap: Rippling, a workforce management platform, very publicly announced on March 17 that it was suing Deel over this alleged spying, leveling charges ranging from violation of the RICO racketeering act (often used to prosecute members of the Mafia) to misappropriation of trade secrets and unfair competition. more

This Week in Spy News

• Trump fires top boss at NSA, nation's elite spy agency

• Where and Why to Spy? How does the Intelligence Community focus its collection and analysis?

• Russia Releases Mysterious Objects In Earth's Orbit, Internet Abuzz With Spy Mission Claims

• The alleged Deel spy just admitted to corporate espionage in a major scandal rocking the HR world

• Secrets, spy tools and a 110-year-old lemon are on show in an exhibition from Britain’s MI5

I Asked AI How to Bug a Room...

I asked AI how to bug this room. It did. 

Then, it tried to take my job! https://lnkd.in/eUCaiCDj

Threat Actors Allegedly Selling SnowDog RAT Malware With Control Panel on Hacker Forums

A new Remote Access Trojan (RAT) dubbed “SnowDog RAT” is malicious software purportedly marketed for $300 per month. It appears to have been specifically developed for corporate espionage and targeted attacks on business environments.

The malware advertisement, discovered on Thursday, April 3, 2025, describes sophisticated capabilities that could threaten organizations worldwide.

According to a ThreatMon post shared on X, the advertisement claims that SnowDog RAT offers an extensive array of intrusion and persistence features that make it particularly dangerous. more

Lawsuit Alleges Pharmacist Hacked Hundreds of Computers to Watch Women Undress

A recently filed class action lawsuit accuses a former pharmacist at the University of Maryland Medical Center of having hacked into hundreds of computers.

Court documents say Matthew Bathula targeted at least 80 of his coworkers, most of whom are women pharmacists, residents, and other medical professionals.

Bathula allegedly accessed their computers using passwords and usernames extracted from UMMC computers and was able to gain access to their personal email, texts, photo libraries, and "private and sensitive electronically stored information."

He also allegedly downloaded partially nude photographs and recordings, photographs, and recordings depicting the women breastfeeding their children.

The complaint states Bathula activated internet-enabled cameras in patient treatment rooms to watch and record his coworkers he knew to be pumping breast milk at work and accessed home security cameras remotely to spy on the women in their homes, recording all of them in multiple stages of undress, in private family interactions, and having intercourse with their husbands.

Bathula accessed at least 400 computers, per court documents, and the active spying went on for at least a decade. more

Spying on Children: Dino, the Stool Pigeon Dinosaur

Dino is a plush toy recommended for children ages 4-9. They play with it. It plays back, as only an AI chatbot can. It answers questions, creates interactive stories, can handle jokes, and even help with math homework. Pretty clever, and only $249.00, if you can get one. Production is currently not mass. 

Cute idea. Innovative, but not totally original. Toy companies have been offering "interactive" dolls for a long time. I am guessing we are all too young to have had a Thomas A. Edison talking doll, introduced in 1887. Zipping into the early 1960's there was Chatty Cathy, by Mattel. Still drawing a blank? How about Furby from the late 1990's. All these toys were "interactive" in that the child made them speak, and these responses were limited.

Welcome to the 21st Century! Interactivity is really here. Dino supposedly can "AI think" and answer. Since I have never seen a Dino in the wild, supposedly will have to do based on the website's claims.

"So, Kevin, how is this Spy News?!?!"

Dino has another talent. It can squeal. Its interactions zap to an app faster than you can say, "You dirty rat." 

• Tell Dino you raided the cookie jar, your parents will know. 
• Ask Dino where to hide the [fill in the blank] you stole, they will know. 
• Tell Dino you hate your parents and are plotting revenge, they will know. 

The gotchas are infinite, kid. Keep your knees loose. (JS)

This Week in Corporate Espionage News

• Corporate espionage in Canada: how HR leaders can guard against insider threats

• Deel and Rippling corporate espionage case takes a turn as accused ‘spy’ agrees to cooperate

• US is increasingly vulnerable to espionage threats, analysts warn

• Former Spy: Unstoppable AI-Powered Threats Target All

• Russian espionage group focused on corporate espionage, mainly targeting organizations in the US

• North Korea hackers go after business executives in latest info-stealing scheme

• DOGE Purge Is Boosting China’s Espionage Activities Against U.S.

• '$35 million gone in one call': Deepfake fraud rings are fooling the world's smartest firms: Impersonating CEOs for wire fraud to creating fake hostage videos for extortion

This Week in Spy News

• Putin’s Spy Hunters Grab Ukrainian Informants On Mission To Infiltrate Russian Military

• Trump administration is pointing spy satellites at US border

• Your TV is watching you

• Texas AG investigating insurance company accused of spying on lawmakers, journalists, other Texans

• FBI director avoids committing to investigate Signal leak

• Czech Republic blocks Chinese satellite investment over fears of espionage