Taiwanese official indicted on spying for China

A senior employee of Taiwan's presidential office was indicted Friday on charges of providing classified information to rival China... Taiwan and China have routinely engaged in espionage against each other since they split amid civil war in 1949. Both have used financial aid in an attempt to lure away the other's allies. (more)

If only lottery numbers were so predictable.

Colombia spyservice to be allowed wiretaps again...
Colombia President Álvaro Uribe signed a law that returns the authority to conduct wiretaps to intelligence agency DAS, lawmakers say. The DAS was relieved from that authority ten days ago after news broke the agency was illegally wiretapping political opponents, judges and journalists. (more) (background 2007) (background 2009)

Employee Surveillance - Cameras in the Sandbox

NY - Highway department workers in several Lower Hudson Valley municipalities are finding they will have an extra set of eyes watching as they go about their work.

Clarkstown will become the latest to have surveillance cameras installed in its highway department. Spring Valley recently put in cameras in the village's Department of Public Works, much to the work crews' chagrin...

Workers at the highway department's mechanic shop said that cameras would be put in the area where they repair equipment, and that the surveillance would be invasive.

"Why is it necessary to have these cameras put into the mechanics work area?" they asked in a statement. "This creates a hostile work environment because we don't know the intent of the camera surveillance... This leads us to believe this will be used for disciplinary action," the statement said. (Well, duh.) (more)

Employee Surveillance - Line Drawn in Sand

FutureWatch - Town employees complain of secret surveillance system allegedly installed at mayor's behest.

NY - From his comments in a Feb. 26 article, "Cameras' unannounced installation puzzles Spring Valley DPW employees," you'd think the law applies to everyone except for Spring Valley Mayor George O. Darden.

The last time we checked, eavesdropping was a felony in New York state. If what DPW head Neil Vitiello told our local president is true and Spring Valley DPW workers are being illegally recorded using audio equipment, the village could have legal problems coming that are far bigger than their latest violation of the CSEA contract.

Darden's arrogance knows no bounds. He claims not to know if audio surveillance has been installed. We don't buy that. Isn't this something Darden would be familiar with before using taxpayer dollars to buy or lease cameras? And when were these cameras secured? When CSEA questioned Village Attorney Bruce Levine about the cameras, Levine said he was unaware they had been purchased, let alone installed! (more)
Billy Riccaldo, Beacon, NY — The writer is president, CSEA Southern Region

Easy Mobile & Desk Phone Encryption

Rhode & Schwarz's Telephone Encryption System
The TopSec Mobile is a voice encryption device that can be connected to almost any commercially available mobile phone using a Bluetooth® interface. It provides confidential, tap-proof communications anywhere in the world.

The encryption has been embedded in the TopSec Mobile hardware to avoid the susceptibility of GSM phones to manipulation.

The TopSec Mobile is plug-and-play, compatible with most commercially available mobile phones, interoperable with other TopSec products in analog and digital fixed networks, as well as in mobile radio networks. (more)

Very cool concept. Easy to use with existing phones.
So... if what you have to say is so important, why aren't you using these?

Security Director Budget Booster - Proof a Counterespionage Budget increase is logical

excerpt from an excellent article by Burton and Stewart at stratfor.com...
...And one of the first functions cut during tough times often is corporate security...

Espionage is always a problem corporations must face. Competitors, criminals and even foreign governments often seek ways to gather proprietary information from companies, sometimes to boost their own operational capacities (e.g., to apply critical or emerging technologies to their weapons programs) and sometimes to sell on the open market...

When open source collection efforts fail, more invasive measures must be employed. Sometimes the required information can be obtained via technical surveillance. A faulty information technology system, for example, can expose the company's secrets via remote electronic intrusion conducted from a continent away. Other times, information can be obtained by eavesdropping on telephone calls made by corporate leaders or by using other technical surveillance measures...

With many corporate security departments being cut to the bone, many internal security services focused on the counterterrorism mission and many law enforcement agencies chasing white-collar criminals, it is a good time to be in the intelligence business.

One day we will look back on this time through a counterintelligence lens and see that, although it was a time of bear stock markets, it was a tremendous bull market for practitioners of human intelligence. (more)

Top Spy Stories of the Week

• Ugandan Government admits to illegal tapping (more)
• Turkish Government admits to illegal wiretaps (more)
• Singer Gloria Estefan says CIA tried to recruit her as a spy (more)
• Guyana - Roger Kahns' Spy Equipment Seized (more)
• UK Firms paid for spy files on workers (more)
• Finland Agrees To Let Companies Spy On Workers (more)
• Despite official ban, spyware is hot seller in China (more)
• Obama's Secret Letter to Russia Leaked (more)
• Obama's Secret Helicopter Blueprints Leaked (more)
• Demand for Predator spy planes continues (more)

Bell a phoney? Espionage or not? You decide...

Seth Shulman writes...
"My latest book, The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret, is a nonfiction detective story. It recounts my experience, while working for a year as a science writing fellow at MIT, of stumbling upon a twisted mystery surrounding Bell's role in the invention of the telephone. Working from Bell's laboratory notebooks and his voluminous correspondence, I fell through a kind of historical trap door to becoming increasingly intrigued by the surprising story behind the invention of the telephone: a tale of romance, corruption, and unchecked ambition.

In the book, I try to capture the feel of the rich and exciting time in which Bell lived, as well as to tell my own story of chasing down clues about Bell’s life and times in rare archives and artifact collections around the world to unravel the surprising and long-hidden truth about him.

In the course of my research, I unearth a “smoking gun” that leaves little doubt that Bell furtively—and illegally—plagiarized his initial telephone design from his major competitor, Elisha Gray in his quest to secure what would become the most valuable U.S. patent ever issued. Afterwards, as Bell’s device led to the world’s largest monopoly, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, I trace how he hid his invention’s illicit beginnings." (more)

Note: Bevis's great grandfather was not the model.

Teeny Tiny SpyCams

via the manufacturer...
"The smallest camera in the world." 1/18" Color CMOS Camera Pixel: 320 x 240 (NTSC) 240 TV Lines 2 Lux / F1.2 DC 3.3 V Dimension: 3.9 x 19 (mm) LENS: 0.96mm/F3.0 (55 Degree) Stock #: MO-R833-55 (more)

Why do we mention it?
So you know what you're up against.

Analog Cordless Phones - "Throw the bums out!"

"I do all my banking on the phone. A friend told me my cordless phone was a security risk because I have had it for quite a few years. Is she right?" T.Y., Durham

Simon Moon from This is Money replies: I put your question to First Direct, which has 1.2m customers who run their accounts by phone or online.

It pointed to a possible risk from using a non-digital cordless phone when speaking to your bank.

First Direct said: ...'In addition to ensuring that nobody nearby is listening in, customers should be aware that older generations of cordless telephones (so-called analogue cordless) are potentially susceptible to eavesdropping by someone with an appropriate receiver.

'The majority of home cordless phones sold over the past few years are digital and are far less vulnerable to eavesdropping than the older type.' (more)

Cordless Telephone Security 101
Some people are still unaware it is fairly easy to eavesdrop on the older cordless phones. Amazing. Even more amazing, however, is that conversations made with some of the new 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz are just as easy to intercept! These phones may say "digital" but the wireless portion of the voice channel is still FM analog transmission.

How can you tell the difference without hiring us?
Easy. Simply make a call and walk away from the base part of the phone. If you start to hear static and fading, one or both parts of the transmission path is using FM analogue modulation; an eavesdroppers delight. If your call suddenly ends, it is most likely digital modulation.

Your call ends abruptly. Are you safe? Not yet. Digital transmission is eavesdropper-resistant, not eavesdropper-proof.

Phones using the Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT), for example, use digital encryption... which can now be hacked.

Cordless phones which use Digital Spread Spectrum (DSS) modulation are very secure if the circuit was designed properly. Unfortunately, we have found a few DSS models where the manufacturer economized to the point of making the circuit unbalanced, thus making interception possible again. Most DSS cordless phones, however, provide an adequate level of security for the average user.

Still concerned?
Want to know for certain if your cordless phone is a leaker?
Have it tested.

Murray Associates has a flat fee ($99.00) evaluation program.
Your phone, cordless or hardwired (no cellular at this time), is inspected by a Murray Associates certified technical investigator, using over $120,000.00 of lab instrumentation.

Inspection Protocol:
• Open, and examine phone for bugging devices and tampering.
• Reassemble phone and discretely seal it with serial numbered security tape. This is done to detect and deter future tampering.
• Electronically test the phone using a professional telecommunications analyzer (instrument and test details here)
• Cordless phone wireless transmissions are viewed and analyzed using a Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer (instrument details here).
• Corded phones are also checked for unintended emissions.

Phones are returned with a written report, and an eavesdropping vulnerability rating. Reports detail vulnerabilities discovered and make recommendations for improving security. Turnaround time is typically one week or less. Contact Murray Associates for further details.

Corporate clients have been using this inspection service for years. They send in brand new phones for inspection and sealing, then keep them on-the-shelf as instant replacements in environments we previously secured for them!

Surveillance Court Quietly Moving

First, the workers encased the room in reinforced concrete. Then came the thick wood-and-metal doors that seal into the walls. Behind those walls they labored in secret for two years, building a courtroom, judge's chambers and clerk's offices. The only sign that they were done came recently, when biometric hand scanners and green "Restricted Access" placards were placed at the entrances.

What workers have finally completed -- or perhaps not; few really know, and none would say -- is the nation's most secure courtroom for its most secretive court. (more)

Wife Uses Wiretap to Hit Husband's Pocketbook

NM - A former Hobbs assistant junior high principal has lost an appeal of his lawsuit against the school board and others. David Castillo sued after he wasn't offered a contract for the 2004-2005 school year. He alleges the action came after his estranged wife turned over a tape which the court describes as a graphically sexual telephone conversation between him and a secretary. (more)

"There oughta be a law!"

Uganda - The government has been tapping private telephone conversations illegally, the Minister for Security, Mr Amama Mbabazi, admitted before Parliament yesterday.

Mr Mbabazi becomes the first top government official at his level to admit eavesdropping on conversations and other communication of private citizens, though the practice mainly by security agencies, has for long been known to exist.

Mr Mbabazi made the admission as he appeared before Parliament’s Information, and Communication Technology Committee to defend a draft Bill that seeks to legalise tapping private communication. (more)

SpyCam Story #520 - The Commish goes to Court

PA - A former central Pennsylvania officeholder will face trial on charges he secretly videotaped men having sex in his home. Prosecutors say ex-Cumberland County Commissioner Bruce Barclay used hidden cameras to make 176 recordings of 13 different men... Barclay is also charged with unlawfully using a computer and wiretapping. (more) (background)

Here's a plasma TV deal so hot, it's crepitus!

Scotland - Undercover cops smashed a suspected Scots drug gang - after selling the ringleaders bugged plasma screen TVs.

Drug barons were amazed by the amount of information the arresting officers seemed to have. They were then given the shock news that they had been secretly taped for months.

One police source said last night: "We knew everything they were up to. We even know how loud they fart."

The source added: "When the cops came to arrest one of the suspects, he asked them how they knew so much. The cop told them they'd been getting bugged through the telly. The TVs were top-of-the-range stuff but nobody suspected."

The news has spread like wildfire through the areas where the gang operated. (more)

Hey! Mukker! Back to school with you...
Rule #1: Shut ye mooth. Gud technique. Coulda used it for'er. But noooo... ya bragged lika bagpipe.