Wiretapping - Public Reaction Documentary

Wiretapping Sweden (2008) - Documentary about the blogosphere reaction to surveillance laws passed earlier this year in Sweden. (video)

"Hole-y wallet, Batman!"

A six-inch robotic spy plane modeled after a bat would gather data from sights, sounds and smells in urban combat zones and transmit information back to a soldier in real time.

The bat robot's body would be about six inches long. It would weigh about a quarter of a pound and use about 1 W of power.

That's the Army's concept, and it has awarded the University of Michigan College of Engineering a five-year, $10-million grant to help make it happen. The grant establishes the U-M Center for Objective Microelectronics and Biomimetic Advanced Technology, called COM-BAT for short. The grant includes an option to renew for an additional five years and $12.5 million.

U-M researchers will focus on the microelectronics. They will develop sensors, communication tools and batteries for this micro-aerial vehicle that's been dubbed "the bat." Engineers envision tiny cameras for stereo vision, an array of mini microphones that could home in on sounds from different directions, and small detectors for nuclear radiation and poisonous gases. (more)

409,686 – available today for the same price!
The Vamp differs from most other flying toys because it’s an ‘Ornithopter’ – which means it flaps its wings to fly through the air – just like a real bat. The flapping wings and glowing red eyes give the eerie illusion that it’s a living (or undead!) thing, swooping through the darkness. (more)

"See, I’m a man of simple tastes. I like gunpowder…and dynamite…and gasoline! Do you know what all of these things have in common? They’re cheap!" – The Joker

What The 'Former' Spies Are Doing This Week

Former spy criticizes IRA involvement in film about his life...
Canada - Former British spy Martin McGartland may have dropped legal proceedings over Fifty Dead Men Walking, the film based on his life story. But that hasn't stopped him from continuing his criticism of the film and its Canadian director Kari Skogland. (more)

Former spy boss Masetlha's trial postponed...
South Africa - The fraud trial of former spy boss Billy Masetlha and his two co-accused was postponed in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Thursday. Masetlha, former National Intelligence Agency manager for electronic surveillance Funokwakhe Madlala and IT expert Muziwendoda Kunene face fraud charges. (more)

Former spy, mom of 2, takes over party...
Israel - Tzipi Livni, 50, now on the road to become nation's second female PM (more)

Shift-Tense Spook-Speak Code... Decyphered

Australia - The deputy-director general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, who cannot be named under Australian law, warned attendees of Australia's Security in Government Conference 2008 earlier this week that commercial and national espionage are becoming more intertwined.

The deputy-director general, Australia's No. 2 spy, said that geopolitical tensions and ongoing globalization will fuel espionage activity in the years ahead and that spying will affect(s) both the public and private sectors. (more) (speech)

SpyCam Story #467 - Hong Kong "Wrong"

A Hong Kong primary schoolteacher was arrested after spy cameras were found in a girls changing room, a newspaper reported Saturday. Pinhole cameras were put in a room where girls changed for dance classes at a primary school in the city's Mongkok district, the South China Morning Post said.

A 32-year-old teacher who helped teach dance was arrested in connection with the incident and has been sacked by the school. Police have released him on bail and have not yet charged him.

The school's principal told the newspaper that the teacher said he wanted to film dancing for future use in lessons but added, "Personally, I found the explanation very unconvincing." (more)

Quote of the Week - $200 Billion Loss

"Industry's annual loss of intellectual property has been estimated at more than $200 billion a year."
~ Paul B. Kurtz - cyber security expert

U.S. intelligence agencies are unable to share information about foreign cyber attacks against companies for fear of jeopardizing intelligence-gathering sources and methods, cyber security expert Paul B. Kurtz told (congressional) lawmakers yesterday.

Kurtz, who served on the National Security Council in the Clinton and Bush administrations, spoke at the first open hearing on cyber security held by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence...

Kurtz expressed concern about the breadth of the attacks. "American industry and government are spending billions of dollars to develop new products and technology that are being stolen at little to no cost by our adversaries," he said. "Nothing is off limits -- pharmaceuticals, biotech, IT, engine design . . . weapons design." (more)

License to Shoot - Coming Soon

Seeing this camera makes most people immediately think of Bond, James Bond. This is small, really small. It's so wee it disappears in a clenched fist. Or in the heel of a shoe or other ingenious hiding place.

The legendary MINOX spy camera has now reached the digital age and its launch at the photokina 2008 is causing a sensation. Leisure "secret agents" have something to look forward to: The legend lives on! Further information will be available soon... (more)

Spys love it: small, intelligent and very reliable. MINOX cameras have been the dream tool of undercover agents for almost 75 years.

To allow this legend to continue in the digital age, miniature optics specialists from Wetzlar have designed the MINOX DSC. This is a miniature camera that features the former 8x11 dimensions and at the same time boasts state-of-the-art technology.

This world premiere with cult potential is on show for the first time at the photokina 2008: This is also where MINOX is presenting everything the future “private-eye” needs for capturing spontaneous, candid digital images, from belt buckle cameras to a filming fountain pen.

The MINOX booth - designed as a spy workshop – focuses on the new MINOX DSC. Here the visitor can discover the possibilities offered by this new License to Shoot.

The Spy Who Loved Me

WowWee unveiled the exciting Rovio Spy Robot at the CES 2008 in January. Now gadget shop Hammacher Schlemmer is first to put the Rovio on sale for $299.95. The robotic sentry will ship on September 26th.

The WowWee Rovio allows you to monitor your home from anywhere in the world. Audio and high-resolution (640 x 480px) video is streamed in MPEG4 format, and it can take still pictures and e-mail them to you; it has a two-way microphone and speaker that enables real-time interaction with subjects - for instance your cat. (more)

New York Issues RFID-Encoded Drivers Licenses

NY - Anyone who lives in fear of an Orwellian future had better put on their tinfoil hats and stock up on bunker supplies, because with the new drivers licenses introduced in New York we are one step closer to that reality. What makes these licenses so special is the inclusion of radio frequency identification chips. RFID chips are already found in credit cards and passports, but New York is the first state in the U.S. to put these chips into its drivers licenses. (more)

OMG!

Scotland - The government were yesterday urged to hand over intelligence tapes of calls made by the Omagh bombers.

Relatives have been horrified at claims the atrocity may have been stopped by security staff, who were eavesdropping.

A total of 29 people, plus two unborn babies, were killed in the town centre blast in 1998. (more)

Terry and the Pirates (update)

CA - With costs related to a rogue network administrator's hijacking of the city's network now estimated at $1 million, city officials say they are searching for a mysterious networking device hidden somewhere on the network.

The device, referred to as a "terminal server" in court documents, appears to be a router that was installed to provide remote access to the city's Fiber WAN network, which connects municipal computer and telecommunication systems throughout the city. City officials haven't been able to log in to the device, however, because they do not have the username and password. In fact, the city's Department of Telecommunications and Information Services (DTIS) isn't even certain where the device is located, court filings state.

The router was discovered on Aug. 28. When investigators attempted to log in to the device, they were greeted with what appears to be a router login prompt and a warning message saying "This system is the personal property of Terry S. Childs," according to a screenshot of the prompt filed by the prosecution. (more) (history)

16 Extra Eyes in the Florida Eye Institute (update)

FL - Florida Eye Institute founder Dr. Paul Minotty says he had a security system installed in the three-story building because he believed there was a conspiracy against him, threatening his well-being.

Minotty told jurors on Tuesday he wanted protection fearing that he was going to set up for an arrest for drunken driving following a Christmas party in 2007.

He also told jurors he heard a clinic employee bought a 50-caliber military rifle.

Minotty is on trial in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit brought by three of the institute's six doctor-owners. The three contend Minotty financially mismanaged the firm, over their objections, and allegedly resorted to having electronic surveillance equipment secretly installed in their private offices in violation of state law. (more) (history)

Bavarian Police Seeking Skype Trojan Informant

Germany - Bavarian police searched the home of the spokesman for the German Pirate Party (Piratenpartei Deutschland) looking for an informant who leaked information about a government Trojan used to eavesdrop on Skype conversations. (more)

More Countries Flex Surveillance Muscle

NEW ZEALAND - Police search and surveillance powers are to be broadened under legislation introduced to Parliament. (more)
On second thought...
A bill to give police stronger powers to snoop and search, including in some serious crime cases without a warrant, has been tabled in Parliament. The Search and Surveillance Powers Bill reforms search and surveillance powers and follows a Law Commission report which described the current situation as a mess. (more)
Look for a rewrite, and re-introduction soon.

MACEDONIA - New amendments to laws governing surveillance of communications came into effect earlier this month after parliament adopted what many considered controversial changes earlier this summer. (more)

GEORGIA - Georgia’s eavesdropping operation was made possible because many South Ossetians — including the border officials whose calls were intercepted on Aug. 7 by Georgia’s intelligence services — used the Georgian cellphone network of MagtiCom, a United States-owned Georgian mobile operator. (more)

SWEDEN - Several hundred demonstrators marched from Sergels Torg in central Stockholm to the steps of the Riksdag on Tuesday to protest Sweden’s surveillance law. (more)

SpyCam Story #466 - CERN PARTICLE ACCELERATOR

Watch scientists create Black Holes. (more)

The Second Cold War and Corporate Security

from stratfor.com...
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, foreign corporations have been very busy in Russia as they scramble for market share, attempt to profit from Russia’s massive natural resources and seek to meet growing demand for consumer products. For these companies, growing Russian nationalism and tension with the West increases both the chance of regulatory and legal hassles and the possibility that Russian intelligence activity might be directed their way. In other words, as tensions rise, so could the risk for Western corporations.

Not all these problems are new. As a young KGB officer, Putin earned his living by stealing technology from the West. And he has since encouraged Russian intelligence agencies to expand their collection programs with the awareness that such information can assist the Russian economy and specifically the revival of the defense sector. While the Russians have an advanced weapons research and development infrastructure, they are very pragmatic. They do not see the need to spend the money to develop a technology from scratch when they can steal or buy it for a fraction of the cost and effort. This pragmatism was clearly demonstrated in their early nuclear weapons program...

This surveillance of Western businesses may apply to both corporate offices and employees’ residences. Businessmen may be physically surveilled and their residences subjected to technical surveillance and mail/garbage covers. Domestic workers may also be recruited in an effort to collect information on their employers. Known or suspected NOCs will be carefully watched and will likely even be overtly harassed. (more)

GSM Bug Roundup - September

Catching top honors for the GSM Bug Of the Month is the WT-2803-CV Rearview Mirror Bug.

• Direct dial-in.
• Or, have it call up to three numbers when it hears sounds in the car.
• Uses the vehicle's power.
• Controls may be set remotely.

This is only one of eight covert GSM Bugs found here.
(Rearview Mirror Bug spec. sheet) (August's GSM Bug Roundup)

Industrial Espionage - Other Auto Parts

MI - A Kent County couple likely is headed to federal prison after they pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to steal trade secrets from auto parts supplier Metaldyne Corp. and sell the knowledge to Chinese competitors.

Anne Lockwood, 55, and her husband, Michael Haehnel, 53, were charged in 2006 with stealing Plymouth-based Metaldyne's technology for manufacturing connecting rods and other parts. (more)

How to Bug & Wiretap... Legally.

Kayo Games has announced the launch of PlayDetective: Heartbreakers.

The game puts gamers in the gumshoes of a private investigator as he attempts to solve a series of infidelity cases. To succeed players must conduct surveillance using a range of tools and gadgets, collect and analyze evidence, and solve difficult puzzles.

Features include:
• Investigate 15 unique cases.
• Eavesdrop using phone tapping devices to catch your suspects.
• Recover deleted text messages to form evidence.
• Conduct polygraph tests during interviews to unearth the truth.
• Buy and sell investigation gadgets – the tools of your trade.
(MAC or PC - $9.95) (more)

Your Trade Secrets Are At Constant Risk

Make your boss open that security budget wallet... Visit and bookmark the Trade Secret Vault for the latest horror stories. Proof, funding proactive security is a no-brainer.

Professor Jon Cavicchi has opened the Vault to the world and shares a wide range of information on trade secrets. The intent of this blog is to raise consciousness as to the range, extent, predominance and role trade secrets play in day to day business and legal environments.

The sources of the blogs vary from news on the web, proprietary sources on the hidden web, jury verdicts, court opinions, reports by government and NGOs around the globe as well as fun stuff such as trivia questions about products that are the subject of trade secrets.

It is designed as a blog to keep anyone interested in trade secrets coming back for more up to date news and data.

Regular Counterespionage Audits Are Cheap Insurance, compared to this...

TX - Jim Damman thought somebody was looking over his shoulder for months. Little did he know that his office was routinely broken into and more than 150-million dollars worth of trade secrets were stolen without a visible trace according to a federal lawsuit. The President of Exel Transportation Services says his suspicion grew so strong that he took the unusual step of sweeping the company's Addison offices for electronic bugs.

Exel is not a business typically considered a target of corporate spying. It's a shipping broker. Inside its offices, logistic agents sit in front of computer terminals with telephones cradled to their ears. Hundreds of times a day, they match-up shippers to freight carriers and move loads of everything from potatoes to computer chips around the world...

Damman says a new start-up competitor in Plano named Total Transportation Services (TTS) stilled seemed to have an uncanny knack of taking away Exel's customers, "the competitor was like one step ahead of us but they could not have known we were going to see a certain person, they could not have known what we were going to talk about when we were going to see that person unless they were getting information somewhere. We knew something was wrong."

Two of the former Exel executives, Mike Musacchio and Roy Brown, are accused of installing a backdoor into Exel's computer system according to the lawsuit. An exhibit in the lawsuit features a series of email messages titled "You will enjoy this" that were exchanged between Musacchio and Brown last October. Musacchio who had left Exel a month earlier to set-up TTS asked Brown who was still working at Exel, "...how are we going to get into email after you leave?" Brown left Exel three days later for TTS after replying, "Not a problem. I have the back door password that only I know and no one else can change." Musaccho replied, "Beauty!"

The lawsuit alleges that the hackers brazenly created exact replicas of Exel's documents, such as contracts, budget templates, and spreadsheets, for use in connection with TTS's business. Damman says the looted information included a $300-thousand dollar marketing study, "It's scary...it's something we all have to watch out for in this electronic day and age that we are in." (more)

Counterespionage Audits are an important element of corporate security programs. If you don't conduct Counterespionage Audits, you need to. Please contact me for assistance.

Cops Shot While Installing Bug

NZ - The two South Auckland men charged over the shooting of Sergeant Don Wilkinson have been granted name suppression.

One man has been charged with murdering Mr. Wilkinson and another man has been charged with assault. Both have been remanded in custody.

A second police officer is undergoing surgery in hospital after being shot several times. His injuries are not life threatening.

The two police officers were installing a bugging device in a car outside a suspected P lab in the suburb of Mangere in the early hours of this morning when they were attacked. (more)

SpyCam in Cell Phone Headset

from mostreviews.com...
Sometimes the best place to hide something is in plain site. That’s the theory behind this camera set from Brando, which puts its lens inside a clip-on Bluetooth headset...

So, if someone's "Bluetooth" headset is not wire-less, beware.

eyePhone Is Watching You

Have you heard the latest surveillance concern floating around the tech world? Your iPhone may be storing an electronic log of your virtual footsteps, and it could one day be used against you.

iPhone hacker/data forensics expert Jonathan Zdziarski explained the issue in a webcasted demo. (more)

A-Bomb of a Confession, "Yeah, yeah, yeah..."

NY - In 1951, Morton Sobell was tried and convicted with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on espionage charges. Through it all, he maintained his innocence.

But on Thursday, Sobell, 91, dramatically reversed himself, shedding new light on a case that still fans smoldering political passions. In an interview, he admitted for the first time that he had been a Soviet spy.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, call it that, I never thought of it as that in those terms," said Sobell. (more)