The Sticker on Your Smartphone Battery is Not a Spy

A video showing an NFC-clad sticker on a battery in a smartphone has gone viral today. This video suggests that this smartphone was using an NFC sticker to "record every photo of yours on your battery."

What we're going to need to do right now is get very serious and very clear about this situation. Your battery - and the NFC antenna that may or may not be attached to it - is not stealing your photos and sending them to our estranged government overlords. It's just not. more

What's Dumber than the Coach Spying on his Team?

(Admitting it?)

In Internet lingo, Mike Krzyzewski is actually a "creeper."

The Blue Devils head coach confessed to ESPN.com that he has set up a secret Twitter account so he can monitor what his players are up to.

This was Krzyzewski's response when asked if he's on social media:

"I follow guys. I don't want to be on Twitter because I don't care. I don't want their opinions. I don't need to show that I have X amount of followers. But I follow a lot of people on Twitter, under an alias. I tell my guys, 'I'm following you.' Then if I see something, you text them, you gotta watch. But there are a lot of cool things that they do. I do like that they do it." more

Bugging Devices Found in 2 CHP Deputies’ Offices in Parliament

Turkey - Security at Parliament found bugging devices in the parliamentary offices of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputies Mustafa Balbay and Özgür Özel on Thursday and Friday.

Deputies who took their oaths in Parliament following their election in the June 7 general election began to move into their new rooms in Parliament. CHP İzmir deputy Balbay also moved into his room and an ordinary security search was conducted. During the search, security officers received strong signals from the frame of a photo of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey.

Parliament security recorded the findings of the search and decided to request assistance from the police to search the room again with more advanced devices.

After Balbay's room, a bugging device was also found in the former office of the new CHP parliamentary group chairman, Özel. Security officers found the bugging device installed in an electrical socket in the room. Speaking to reporters about the device, Özel said no one had being using the room before him, and added that he will request that Parliament's security officers search all the parliamentary offices being used by CHP deputies. more

Exit Interiew, or why we love the 4th of July

A raft of recent executions and forced disappearances in North Korea linked to the secret wiretapping of high-ranking officials has prompted members of the leadership to abandon their homes, according to sources inside the country.

Since assuming control of North Korea following the death of his father and predecessor Kim Jong Il in December 2011, regime leader Kim Jong Un has carried out a near-continuous series of high-level purges, including his own uncle last year.

The practice has sparked a debate among residents of the capital Pyongyang about what has led to the executions and disappearances, with the consensus being that the homes of the officials had been wiretapped by North Korea’s formidable State Security Department. more

Radio Bug in a Pita Steals Laptop Crypto Keys

The list of paranoia-inducing threats to your computer’s security grows daily: Keyloggers, trojans, infected USB sticks, ransomware…and now the rogue falafel sandwich.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University and Israel’s Technion research institute have developed a new palm-sized device that can wirelessly steal data from a nearby laptop based on the radio waves leaked by its processor’s power use.

Their spy bug, built for less than $300, is designed to allow anyone to “listen” to the accidental radio emanations of a computer’s electronics from 19 inches away and derive the user’s secret decryption keys, enabling the attacker to read their encrypted communications. And that device, described in a paper they’re presenting at the Workshop on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems in September, is both cheaper and more compact than similar attacks from the past—so small, in fact, that the Israeli researchers demonstrated it can fit inside a piece of pita bread.

“The result is that a computer that holds secrets can be readily tapped with such cheap and compact items without the user even knowing he or she is being monitored,” says Eran Tomer, a senior lecturer in computer science at Tel Aviv University. “We showed it’s not just possible, it’s easy to do with components you can find on eBay or even in your kitchen.” more / research paper

Imagine these being built into restaurant and hotel room table tops.

Is Someone Listening? - Infographic History of Electronic Surveillance

Is Someone Listening? - Infographic History of Electronic Surveillance
 

Source: SecurityDegreeHub.com

Espionage in the Sports World

A lawsuit accuses a Sporting Innovations co-founder of corporate espionage.

Sporting Innovations, which develops technological applications for professional sports teams and entertainment groups, fired its co-CEO, Asim Pasha, June 16 and then took him to court a day later. The company says he spent the last year there using its resources to prepare the launch of a competing business.

The firm, affiliated with the owners of Major League Soccer's Sporting Kansas City, filed suit June 17 in the U.S. District Court of Western Missouri, accusing Pasha and his son, Zain Pasha, of colluding with a New York company to create a similar enterprise and misappropriating Sporting Innovations' proprietary business information in the process. The 28-page filing also accuses Pasha of running up "tens of thousands" of dollars in charges on company-issued credits cards to fund personal expenses. more

Cardinals Hack Astros - Baseball Spygate

More details are emerging about the federal investigation into whether Cardinals employees may have hacked into the Houston Astros database. 

The latest revelations come from an unnamed law enforcement official who is reportedly familiar with the FBI’s investigation into the Cardinals. That official told Yahoo Sports that the computer used to allegedly hack into the Astros network was located in a Jupiter, Florida house. Jupiter is of course where the Cardinals hold spring training.

The law enforcement official also told Yahoo Sports that a number of Cardinals employees used the house and that the data stolen during the alleged hacking provided insight regarding the Astros opinions on players and the teams trade talks. The New York Times initially broke the story about the alleged hacking investigation on Tuesday. more

How The Simpsons Predicted Major League Hacking

via uproxx.com
It appears as though The Simpsons knew the St. Louis Cardinals would get caught hacking all along. In this episode “Brother’s Little Helper,” Bart Simpson takes behavioral medicine after repeatedly acting out at school. As a result, he turns into a paranoid conspiracy theorist and believes Major League Baseball is spying on his town using satellites.



His theory turns out to be true, after he shoots down an MLB satellite towards the end of the episode. The Cardinals’ Mark McGwire appears and informs the town that Major League Baseball was spying on them “pretty much around the clock.”

Then, he socks a few dingers. People love dingers. more

The Dr. MegaVolt Documentary is Coming

Five years in the making!  Mega volts spewed into the atmosphere! The Dr. MegaVolt documentary is about to zap out. The world premier screening... (drum roll)

"Dr Megavolt: From Geek to Superhero"
Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival 
Saturday July 11, 2015 2:35pm - 4:05pm,
Grand Ballroom D, Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego

Meet Dr. Austin Richards, aka Dr MegaVolt, a Ph.D. in physics who has been performing in a metal Faraday suit with Tesla coils since March 1997. This documentary chronicles Dr MegaVolt's high-voltage adventures.

This is a new 71 minute long feature film from writer/producer/director Victoria Charters. The film is currently being submitted to various film festivals. It will be commercially available soon.

I received my advance copy of the movie and watched it last night. Not only is it technically interesting (all things Tesla are cool), but there is a surprising amount of human interest, drama and intrigue.

Disclaimer: So why am I hyping something that has nothing to do with spying? #1 this is a great flick. #2 they mentioned me in the credits.

Handy Bluetooth Store and Forward Mini Microphone (OK, who said bug?)

A new device is aiming to do for audio recording what the GoPro did for video recording. The Instamic is a small, self-contained, high-quality sound recorder. It is aimed at musicians, filmmakers, journalists, bloggers and other people who need a simple and effective means of capturing sound.


There are two versions of the Instamic: the Go and the Pro. Both offer mono and dual mono recording, with the Pro boasting stereo recording as well. The Pro is also waterpoof up to 5 ft (1.5 m) for a maximum three hours (in accordance with IP68), whereas the Go is only splash-proof. Other than those differences, the models are pretty much identical.

They each provide ultra-low power digital signal processing, with a sample rate of 48 kHz and a 24-bit bitrate. Their microphones capture between the frequencies of 50 and 18,000 Hz, with a reasonable signal-to-noise ratio of 67 dB and and maximum sound pressure level of 120 dB. more

This Month's Spy World Fails

A former police intelligence chief is required to serve up to 860 years in prison in a wiretapping case, in which he has been found guilty of wiretapping 48 people, including several government officials, journalists, judiciary personnel and businessmen. more  

China's ex-security chief Zhou Yongkang has been jailed for life - the most senior politician to face corruption charges under Communist rule. more

Pigeon arrested and jailed after police believe it’s a Pakistani spy. The would-be feathered James Bond was taken to a police station by a 14-year-old, after he discovered a mysterious note attached to the animal – which was written in Urdu and listed a Pakistani phone number. more

The former chief of the feared spy agency responsible for kidnapping, torturing and killing thousands during Chile's military dictatorship has accumulated 500 years in prison sentences. more

Paris court sentences Gilbert Chikli to prison in absentia for bamboozling 33 banks and companies in France out of millions by passing himself off as a CEO or intelligence agent. more (FutureWatch - Coming to a theater near you.)

Accused spy Thomas Rukavina killed himself Friday evening in his Plum home, but the federal probe involving industrial trade secrets, Chinese espionage and possible co-conspirators here and abroad continues. more

A Russian citizen who worked in Manhattan as a banker asked a federal judge June 11 to toss out charges that he participated in a Cold War-style Russian spy ring. Lawyers for Evgeny Buryakov, who remains in jail after his arrest in January, said the case should be disallowed despite an avalanche of video and audio recordings of his alleged spying activities collected by prosecutors. more

Care to reconsider your dream of becoming a spy?

Spycatching Give-Ups

East Timor has officially dropped its case against Australia before the UN's International Court of Justice, after Canberra returned sensitive documents relating to a controversial oil and gas treaty. more

Germany has dropped an investigation into alleged tapping of Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone by the US National Security Agency (NSA). more

Three Polish government ministers and the speaker of parliament resigned June 10 over a high profile eavesdropping scandal just four months ahead of a general election which polls show could usher the conservative opposition into power. more

This Week's Questions from the Media

Q. How did you come to be in PI?
A. A long time ago, I interviewed Jackie Mason for my college radio station and phrased a similar question to him. He stopped me and said, "don't ask how, ask why, that's what's interesting." I never forgot it.

With that in mind... The short story is I had a high school interest in radio-electronics. During college, I took a summer job in law enforcement which involved surveillance electronics. Really interesting! I switched majors from mass media to criminal justice. I obtained employment as a private investigator with Pinkertons Inc. (where I got to use surveillance equipment and concoct custom surveillance solutions). I advanced to become the director of their commercial investigations department in NJ, and then director of their electronic countermeasures department worldwide. In 1978, I opened my own firm specializing in electronic countermeasures (aka Technical Surveillance Countermeasures or TSCM). "How," was just a pinball path of following my interests and being ready to take advantage of opportunities that came my way. "Why," because I am inquisitive, fascinated by technology, and most of all, I like helping people solve their problems.

Q. What kind of services do you/company offer?
A. • TSCM; detecting electronic surveillance devices for business and government.
• Counterespionage consulting; providing advice to help detect and deter business espionage.
• Training; specialized training for keeping the workplace free from video voyeurism.
• Smartphone spyware detection and prevention; a book, an Android app, an iPhone app and a smartphone anti-spyware security kit.

Q. What is your day-to-day routine like?
A. There is nothing routine about my day except that every day is a work day. I'm not sure whether this is a factor of being in one's own business, or this particular business demands it. We are available to our clients 24/7, including holidays and weekends. Vacations are taken during slow periods, usually 7-10 days, once or twice a year. The days are divided into two types, office days and field days, when my team and I are conducting inspections for our clients. On office days the work includes: report writing, invoicing, marketing, servicing instrumentation, working on research projects for clients, bookkeeping, creation of books, training, apps, etc.

Q. How has technology affected your day to day, if at all, in recent months/years?
A. My business is heavily technology oriented. Technology change always affects what we do, how we do it, and what new countermeasures we need to develop to keep ahead-of-the-curve. People mistakenly believe that technology changes the things on which we focus. Wrong. It adds to them. All prior espionage techniques still work, and are still used. Spies just have more tricks in the black bag these days.

Q. What is the biggest misconception about being a PI?
A. (Laughter) Pretty much everything you see on TV and the movies. Having worked in all aspects of private investigations before settling into my specialization, I can generalize and say... "Private investigations has a very long flash to bang ratio." That is to say, any investigation involves long periods of quiet work before the last 5% of excitement. That being said, the extremely well-worth-the-wait excitement reward is an intense bit at the end. The greater reward is the satisfaction of having helped someone. That part lasts, and accumulates.

Q. Is there a particular issue facing your industry as a group that you’re concerned with right now?
A. Yes. Video voyeurism in the workplace is the hottest issue around right now. The problem started gaining logarithmic traction about 10-15 years ago. In the past year, the epidemic hit critical mass. I began receiving "what can we do" calls from my clients, similar to the flood of calls about cell phone spyware which prompted the book, app and security kit. At first, places like small businesses, private schools and country clubs called us in to conduct inspections. Once our larger clients began to call, it became obvious that sending us to check restrooms and changing rooms at all their locations (around the world in some cases) was impractical. The solution was to develop an on-line training course for their local security and facilities people.

Q. Why do you think video voyeurism reached critical mass in the last year?
A. Two factors...
1. Over the years, spy cameras have evolved from cheap low-resolution devices, to inexpensive, well-made, high-resolution devices.

2. Voyeurs have also evolved. The early video voyeurs targeted areas over which they had full control, e.g. their bedrooms, bathrooms. Emboldened by these successes, they began to include semi-controllable area targets, e.g. significant others' bedroom and bathrooms, and we also started to see media reports about landlords spying on their tenants.

Keep in mind, any media report about video voyeurism represents a failed (discovered) attack; the majority of video voyeurs are successful.

The next target expansion happened when these people began to coagulate on-line, swapping video files, war stories, and how-to tutorials on YouTube.

Now, emboldened by previous successes, camaraderie, better technology, and honed tradecraft, their hunting grounds expanded to business locations with public expectation-of-privacy areas – restrooms, changing rooms, locker rooms / showers, tanning salons, etc. Huge mistake.

In the past year or so, enough video voyeurs have been caught in corporate venues (Walmart, Starbucks, for example) to make this a legal "foreseeability" issue, with sexual harassment in the workplace implications. The dollar losses — employee morale, business goodwill, reputation and lawsuits — tipped the scales. Invading the corporate landscape was the final straw. With big money at stake, businesses beginning to fight back.

Book: HOW TO CATCH A RUSSIAN SPY: The True Story of an American Civilian Turned Double Agent

How an American slacker caught a Russian spy at a New Jersey Hooters

Naveed Jamali, a smart, young New York techie, somehow spent three years going toe to toe with a Russian intelligence officer who thought he was developing an asset, even though all the while Jamali was quietly collaborating with U.S. federal agents.

The fast-paced, occasionally stressful, often hilarious and invariably self-involved story of how it all went down is the subject of “How to Catch a Russian Spy.” more