Bugged Office with Concealed Cameras by Persons Unknown

Australia - The Labor MP whose office was the scene of an elaborate 60 Minutes surveillance operation that brought down three Victorian Ministers has briefly surfaced to reveal he is co-operating with authorities.

In a stunning political sting that was conducted over months, veteran MP Anthony Byrne’s office was rigged up with broadcast quality concealed cameras by persons unknown.

The factional powerbroker Adem Somyurek was then led into a bugged office, an invitation the sacked minister now regards as an elaborate trap. more

Learn how to detect concealed cameras.

An Eavesdropping Story with a Ring to it...

Australia - Heavily-tattooed Jacob Nyrhinen has admitted to assaulting his ex-girlfriend after he eavesdropped on her conversations via a secret video doorbell, and concluded she was seeing another man. more

Industrial Espionage Case: U.S. Company Awarded $3.36 Million

United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), Taiwan's second largest pure wafer foundry operator, has been ordered to pay a fine of NT$100 million (US$3.36 million) by a district court in Taichung City which found the company and three of its employees guilty in a trade secret theft case brought by U.S.-based memory chipmaker Micron Technology Inc...

Prosecutors launched a probe into the alleged industrial espionage in February 2017 and decided to charge UMC and the three UMC employees in September, citing violation of Taiwan's Trade Secrets Act for sharing the information with Jinhua. more

‘My Spy’: Film Review

The long line of Hollywood tough guys appearing alongside cute kids continues with “My Spy,” a passable PG-13 action-comedy in which big ’n’ brawny Dave Bautista plays a CIA man whose nose-diving career and damaged emotions are rehabilitated by a clever nine-year-old girl with an aptitude for espionage and a matchmaking plan for her widowed mom. more

My Spy will premiere on the Amazon Prime Video streaming service on June 26, 2020.
Trailer.

In other spy film news... The closely watched arrival of Christopher Nolan's big-budget sci-fi espionage film “Tenet” will finally happen on July 31, Warner Bros. announced Friday.

'Spy City: The History of Espionage in New York City' Interactive

Secret Passphrase: "Your shoe is untied."

“Upon Secrecy, Success Depends.”
– George Washington

From the Revolutionary War to the present day, covert ops have flourished in the five boroughs of New York City — after all, its myriad of parks, miles of subway, and millions of residents have long created the perfect environment for espionage activity. This is the story of Spy City, your mission begins now.

Join our special guest as we explore the history of espionage in New York City over four centuries of covert activity, from government spies to top-secret programs. more

Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 1:00 PM
Click link for full info and to get tickets ($10, thanks for your support!):
https://bit.ly/SpyCityNYCJune

U.S. Security Director Sentenced to 16 Years Hard Labor in Russia

Ex-US marine Paul Whelan has been sentenced to 16 years of hard labour on spying charges in Russia.

He was arrested in a hotel room in Moscow 18 months ago with a USB flash drive which security officers say contained state secrets.

The Moscow City Court found him guilty of receiving classified information.

Whelan - who is also a citizen of the UK, Canada and Ireland - denounced the closed trial as a "sham" ahead of the verdict.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for Whelan's immediate release. more

Novel Eavesdropping Attack or The Bright Spy

The usual way of eavesdropping with a glass over the wall has come a long way: bugs in the wall, hacking weak passwords, wiretaps, and more. Now, as if there weren't enough ways of being an audio spy, the good old light bulb has become a nemesis to be feared: Any light bulb in a room that is visible from the window can be used to spy on your conversations from afar.

A team of researchers at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel has found that the vibration patterns in a light bulb can enable us to recover full conversations from hundreds of feet away.

But how can that be possible? The thing about the hanging bulb is that it acts both as a diaphragm and transducer. Apparently, these two, sound waves cascading on its surface and it converting air pressure from sound to small changes in light, means it is a useful gadget for intruders.

The paper states, "We show how fluctuations in the air pressure on the surface of the hanging bulb (in response to sound), which cause the bulb to vibrate very slightly (a millidegree vibration), can be exploited by eavesdroppers to recover speech and singing, passively, externally, and in real time." more

Senate Panel Says U.S. Telecoms Failed to Prevent Chinese Spying

The federal government failed for nearly two decades to properly guard against the cybersecurity risks posed by Chinese government-owned telecoms operating in the United States, a Senate report released this morning finds.

That resulted in four of China’s largest such telecom companies being able to operate subsidiaries here with almost no oversight, according to the report from the Senate Homeland Security Committee’s investigations panel.

It might also have allowed them to help the Chinese government spy on reams of data from U.S. companies by routing their phone and Internet traffic through China, the report finds. more

Lawsuit Disputes Google's Private or Incognito Mode

Search engine behemoth Google found itself in the middle of a proposed class action lawsuit filed in California for invading the privacy of users even when they are browsing the web in what is called the private or incognito mode.

The $5 billion class action suit alleges that the tech giant collects user's data by tracking his activity on the web even in the private mode through Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager and website plug-ins, a Reuters report said.

Users normally login through the incognito mode assuming that it's safe as their search history isn't being tracked. The petitioners have alleged that Google collects the private data even as the users are under the impression that their data is safe and that amounts to misrepresentation. more

Foreign Spies are Exploiting the Instability

Intelligence officials among US allies are deeply concerned that the political instability triggered by more than a week of occasionally violent clashes between police and protesters across the United States has opened a new front for hostile foreign intelligence collection.
..The situation will make it that much easier to determine potential targets for recruitment as much of these conflicts are playing out in the open. Social media is an excellent source for finding people who are disgruntled, disillusioned, or potentially ideologically suitable to recruit. more

Frederick Barclay’s Nephews Thought Bugging Ritz was ‘Necessary and Reasonable’

Sir Frederick Barclay’s nephews bugged the conservatory of the Ritz hotel after becoming “seriously concerned” about the billionaire property magnate “posing a significant risk of harm” to the family business, according to documents lodged with the High Court.


The 85-year-old businessman is involved in a bitter High Court battle with three of his twin brother Sir David’s sons over 94 hours of secret recordings made over a number of months as part of what his lawyers have described as “commercial espionage on a vast scale”.

Sir Frederick and his daughter Amanda are suing Alistair, Aidan and Howard Barclay, Aidan’s son Andrew, and Philip Peters – a director of a number of companies in the Barclay Group – after the “elaborate system of covert recording” was discovered in January.

Last month, Sir Frederick released footage appearing to show his nephew Alistair handling a listening device which is said to have been used to capture more than 1,000 separate conversations. more

On the techy side... Protest Surveillance, or How Bad Guys Eventually Get Caught

It has been interesting watching the amateur-on-the-street protest reporting on Periscope and YouTube, along with the police scanner and Filghtradar24 (to track the surveillance planes / helicopters). NYC police frequencies buzzed all week.

Here we see two helicopters and two planes circulating Philadelphia during the protest/riots (left).

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

N878ST (the red plane) belongs to the PA State Police. The others are government as well. Many of the rioters will be surprised when they are later charged.

NYPD helicopter (right) making spot checks.

Vice reports...
The Military and FBI Are Flying Surveillance Planes Over Protests
"Multiple federal agencies are flying surveillance planes over protests, and it's likely that some of these planes are outfitted with a Dirtbox or similar technology," Martin Shelton, principal researcher at Freedom of the Press Foundation told Motherboard. "What this means for protesters and journalists covering these events is that phone numbers, as well as voice calls and text messages, are likely being scooped up for analysis," he added. more

In NYC there were news helicopters mixed in throughout the week. Their soundless feeds to the newsroom could be seen on Periscope. People are monitoring in other cities as well.

Not that I think you need it, but... here is Wired's advice for when you are out there protesting.

A Fortnight of Spycam News

Singapore jails man who took 1,400 videos of women and girls. The 35-year-old used his mobile phone and spy devices to carry out the crimes in toilets and changing rooms on more than 800 occasions. more

UK- Victim living with anxiety after man set up hidden cameras in bedroom and bathroom.

S. Korea - KBS released an official statement on Wednesday saying it felt great responsibility for a spycam incident involving a comedian who appears on TV show “Gag Concert.” He is suspected of having installed hidden cameras (disguised as phone chargers) in the women’s restroom inside one of its buildings. more

FL - A man hired to install security systems inside a home along Florida’s Treasure Coast found himself behind bars after allegedly setting up a hidden camera inside a bathroom to spy on teenage girls. more

WY - One after the other on Tuesday, four women urged the District Court Judge Bill Simpson to impose the maximum sentence on the man who secretly videotaped them in a workplace bathroom last year...In a rare move, Simpson told the Park County prosecutor and Abraham’s defense attorney that he wanted to add four years of supervised probation onto the stipulated two to four years of prison time. more

KY - A lawsuit has been filed against an Elizabethtown-based tanning salon chain after police say a customer used a selfie stick to secretly shoot video of a nude woman tanning at a Louisville salon. more

WY - A suspect was arrested and is facing a felony charge of Voyeurism, after being accused of taking photos under the door of a Cheyenne store changing room. more

N. Ireland - A former contestant on TV talent show The Voice from Co Down has been revealed as a self-confessed sex offender who secretly recorded women for his own sexual gratification. more

LA - An Eros teen is facing multiple charges after he allegedly captured images of a juvenile nude by leaving his cell phone recording in a bathroom. more

VT - Eike Blohm, 38, (a UVM professor and doctor) was originally arrested on multiple counts of voyeurism April 17 for placing hidden cameras in staff bathrooms at UVMMC. He was charged with production and possession of child pornography May 22 and was subsequently fired from both the University and UVMMC. more

SC - A former Limestone College employee accused of recording women at a West Virginia university is now a person of interest in a voyeurism case on the Limestone campus. Gaffney Police Chief Chris Skinner said Collins Brandon Murphy, 32, has been named a person of interest in an incident which occurred at Limestone College. more

Learn how you can detect spy cameras. 

Top 10 Intelligence Agencies Of The World 2020

Intelligence agencies are assigned with the task of gathering intelligence, conducting various forms of surveillance activities, play a vital role in recommending the government specifically when it comes to national security matters, spreading fake information, and, in the case of some agencies, even carrying out assassinations.

However, not all of these intelligence agencies are the same.

Some of these are known better than others. These agencies will be based on absolute determination on dealing with problems swiftly. Many of us really don’t know about different intelligence agencies in the world. So here we have gathered details to classify the top 10 intelligence agencies in the world.

(List created by Dawood Hassan.)

• Ministry of State Security (MSS)
• Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS)
• Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS)
• Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE)
• Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI)
• Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)
• Federal Intelligence Service (BND)
• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
• Secret Intelligence Service (SIS)
• Mossad

Bonus points if you know every country they represent. more

In Case You Are Keeping Score

Pakistan Army hits 8th Indian spying quadcopter this year. more

Data Breach Report: 28% Involved Small Businesses

Almost a third or 28% of data breaches involved small businesses. The data comes from one of the most acclaimed cybersecurity reports in the industry, the Verizon Business 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report (2020 DBIR).

Currently, in its 13th year, the DBIR is an industry-standard when it comes to gauging the state of cybersecurity around the world...

Click to Enlarge

With small businesses making up 28% of the breaches, owners have to be more proactive in protecting their digital presence. Whether it is an eCommerce site, blog, V-log, podcast, or other digital assets, you have to protect your domain. This not only ensures your data is safe, but it is one more tool you can use to attract new customers; robust security. more

Spy Pigeon Arrested... again

A pigeon suspected of being trained to “spy” by Pakistan has been captured in India along the Kashmir border. Indian officials say the bird was carrying a “coded message” which they are trying to decipher. In 2016, police in India found a bird with a note attached to it inscribed with an alleged threat to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. more

UPDATE 6/8/2020 — Indian police have released a pigeon belonging to a Pakistani fisherman after a probe found that the bird, which had flown across the contentious border between the nuclear-armed nations, was not a spy, two officials said on Friday. more

Sheriff’s Office Communications Specialist Charged with Spying on Roommate

A Florida sheriff’s office employee hid a camera in his roommate’s bedroom to spy on her, authorities said.

Llewellyn Berkheiser III, a 28-year-old communication specialist for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, was busted Saturday after his roommate found a GoPro camera in a vent in her bedroom, according to an arrest report obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.

Berkheiser’s roommate, who was not identified, told deputies she discovered the recording device Friday when she noticed she couldn’t see light in the vent from an adjoining kitchen that was usually visible, deputies said. more

The Man Who Hacked Former President Francois Mitterrand's Phone

One of the richest men in France claims to be a former spy who once hacked former President Francois Mitterrand.

The billionaire co-owner of Le Monde newspaper, Xavier Niel, 52, told the Parliamentary Channel that as a teen in the 1980s he worked undercover for the Directorate of Territorial Surveillance after he was caught hacking the French channel Canal+...

Niel claims he was tasked with hacking into the mobile telephone of President Mitterrand in 1986 as well as the car company Renault. In the process he found that Renault was being hacked by people from Australia who were downloading large chunks of data.

“We were doing all this for ourselves as a game and we would pass on the information,” Niel said. “It was just fun. It was thrilling to get around the system. They told us it was impossible.” more

Yet Another Spy Movie List

The 58 Best Spy Movies of All Time

Were this a year like any other, we’d already have seen the year’s two most-anticipated spy movies: the 25th James Bond film No Time to Die and Marvel’s Black Widow solo film.

Both were scheduled for spring releases and will now open in theaters in November…if theaters are, in fact, open.

Fortunately, there’s no shortage of great spy movies to keep us occupied while we wait... The List

From The Very Practical News (VPN) File...

Hong Kong saw a spike in downloads of VPN software designed to mask internet usage Thursday after Beijing signaled plans to usher in a new national security law that could tighten its grip... more

Bosnian Leader Brags He Illegally Wiretapped - (WWHT)

Opposition parties and Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TIBiH) have filed criminal charges against the Serb member of the tripartite Bosnian state presidency member Milorad Dodik, whom they accuse of illegal wiretapping based on his own statements.

The charges were filed after Dodik told the parliament in the mainly Serb entity of Bosnia, Republika Srpska, on May 20 that he often listened in to telephone conversations between representatives of the opposition parties, saying it was normal practice.

Dodik stated that he was eavesdropping on the representatives of the opposition by phone, that every government was eavesdropping on the opposition, and he recounted the content of telephone conversations of opposition members...  more

Proposed Bill: Anti-Espionage Theft in Airports

U.S. Rep. Ross Spano (R-FL) signed on to co-sponsor a bill designed to protect the transportation infrastructure from espionage and intellectual property theft. 

The bill, HR 6917, the Airport Infrastructure Resources (AIR) Security Act, would prohibit federal airport improvement funds from being used in the purchase of passenger boarding bridges made by companies that have violated the intellectual property rights of the United States.

Introduced by Reps. Ron Wright (R-TX) and Marc Veasey (R-TX), the bill is intended to keep the Chinese Communist Party from spying on American airline passengers, and to prevent China from any further power grab, Wright said. more

Amsterdam School Bugging Incident

The director of the Cornelius Haga Lyceum in Amsterdam planted eavesdropping equipment in the office assigned to the Education Inspectorate for its investigation into the school...

This is not Soner Atasoy.

During the investigation, the school made an office available to the inspectors, where they had sensitive conversations with each other, with pupils, and with staff. These conversations were recorded and eavesdropped on multiple times...

NRC's sources said that school director Soner Atasoy wanted to keep an eye on the Inspectorate's investigation and on what employees of the school said about him and the school...

The Education Inspectorate told NRC that there was a "suspicion" that the room given to inspectors to use was being tapped. After that, the inspectors slightly adjusted their working methods at the school, switching rooms "with some regularity" and conducting confidential conversation by phone or outside.

The office in question was never searched for eavesdropping equipment because there was "insufficient cause" for it and it would have led to "unnecessary unrest", the Inspectorate said. more

Cheap TV Equipment Eavesdrops on Sensitive Satellite

An Oxford University-based security researcher says he used £270 ($300) of home television equipment to capture terabytes of real-world satellite traffic — including sensitive data from “some of the world’s largest organisations.”

James Pavur, a Rhodes Scholar and DPhil student at Oxford, will detail the attack in a session at the Black Hat security conference in early August...

It appears to boil down in large part to the absence of encryption-in-transit for satellite-based broadband communications.

It also reveals how some of the eavesdropping was conducted using a “75 cm, flat-panel satellite receiver dish and a TBS-6983 DVB-S receiver… configured to receive Ku-band transmissions between 10,700 MHz and 12,750 MHz. A set of 14 geostationary satellites were selected [and from them] over 350 transponders were identified using existing “Blind Scan” tools. more

German Intelligence Gets Wiener Schnitzel'ed

In the world of online spying, great power lies with those who can get their hands on the data flowing through the world’s Internet infrastructure.

So the fact that Germany is home to one of the world’s biggest Internet exchange points—where data crosses between the networks that make up the Internet—has given a lot of power to the country’s equivalent of the U.S. National Security Agency.

The Bundesnachrichtendienst, or BND, gets to freely sift through all the foreign traffic passing through that exchange junction in search of nuggets that can be shared with overseas partners such as the NSA. But now that power is in jeopardy, thanks to a Tuesday ruling from Germany’s constitutional court...

“With its decision, the Federal Constitutional Court has clarified for the first time that the protection afforded by fundamental rights vis-à-vis German state authority is not restricted to the German territory,” the court said in a statement.

The German chapter of Reporters Without Borders, which brought the case in partnership with the Berlin-based Society for Civil Rights (GFF) and a few other journalists’ associations, is overjoyed. more

Alliance Trust Savings Censured After Whistleblower’s ‘Spying’ Concerns

A Dundee-based financial firm has been censured by the Information Commissioner over the use of a mobile app which allowed it to access an “excessive amount” of employees’ sensitive personal data...

Alex Forootan, 36, began investigating after receiving an unexpected text message from Microsoft saying someone had attempted to access his email account.

Mr Forootan worked as a database administrator at ATS’s Dundee headquarters between October 2017 and October last year and is set to take the company to an employment tribunal next month.

He recently rejected a £10,000 pay out from ATS over the issue, citing concerns about his ability to raise it to public attention should he accept. more

Regulator Ask for Credit Suisse Directors' Mobile Data in Spy Inquiry

Swiss regulators have requested electronic messaging data from the mobile phones of several Credit Suisse managers and supervisory board directors as part of a probe into spying at the bank, three people familiar with the matter said. more

ADT Employee Had Access to Hundreds of Home Security Camera Streams, Lawsuit Alleges

Hundreds of ADT customers are suing the home-security firm after it admitted that a former employee gained unauthorized access to their systems over the last several years—including the live video streams of their in-home cameras. 

Two federal class-action lawsuits have been filed on behalf of the customers, The Dallas Morning News reports.

The employee was able to add his email address to customers’ accounts during home-service visits, according to the company. With his email address added to the accounts, he was then able to use the company’s mobile app to snoop on in-home security cameras. 

“Moments once believed to be private and inside the sanctity of the home are now voyeuristic entertainment for a third party,” the lawsuits state. “And worse, those moments could have been captured, shared with others, or even posted to the internet.”

ADT reportedly fired the employee after discovering the abuse, and said it brought in measures to prevent a similar incident from taking place in the future. more

Leaked Phone Call Uncovers Possibly Moldy Marijuana | Fact or Business Espionage Trick?

An audio recording of a detailed phone conversation between two people in the Alaska marijuana industry surfaced on YouTube this week, posted by an account that goes by the name of “Bobb Dogg.”

The conversation cannot be confirmed as legitimate, and could even be business espionage...

In the audio, a person who appears to be a manager of one of Anchorage’s largest marijuana stores admits that his company sold 100 pounds of possibly moldy marijuana, and that CBD oil that was supposed to have a low psychoactive level of THC was found to, in fact, contain high amounts...

The video can be viewed by searching for Bobb Dogg on YouTube. The audio is labeled “Weedileaks.” more

Sir Frederick Barclay's Nephew 'Caught with Bugging Device' at Ritz Hotel

The footage is at the centre of a bitter legal row between the families of the billionaire Barclay twins.

Sir Frederick, 85, and his daughter Amanda are suing three of Sir David Barclay's sons for invasion of privacy.

They claim the surveillance gave the men commercial advantage and they sold the Ritz for half its market value.

The Barclay brothers' businesses include the Telegraph Media Group, the online retailer Very Group, the delivery business Yodel, and - at the time of the bugging - the Ritz hotel in London.

Sir Frederick, the elder twin by 10 minutes, and his daughter Amanda are suing Sir David Barclay's sons - Alistair, Aidan and Howard, Aidan's son Andrew, and Philip Peters, a board director of the Barclay group for invasion of privacy, breach of confidence and data protection laws.

The claim stems from a falling out between the children of the famously private twins...


The CCTV footage allegedly shows Alistair Barclay handling a bugging device at the Ritz hotel on 13 January this year. The recording shows Mr Barclay inserting a plug adaptor, which is claimed to contain a listening device, into a socket.

In court documents lodged by Sir Frederick and Amanda Barclay, it is claimed the bug - which was placed in the hotel's conservatory where Sir Frederick liked to conduct business meetings and smoke cigars - captured more than 1,000 separate conversations amounting to some 94 hours of recordings.

The pair claim the recordings amount to "commercial espionage on a vast scale"....

Voice Activated Wireless GSM Spy Bug SIM Mains 2 Way Adapter Plug Doubler Surveillance Adaptor

Second bug

It is also claimed a separate Wi-Fi bug was supplied by private investigation firm Quest Global. Its chairman is former Metropolitan Police commissioner Lord Stevens.

The claimants' documents say that Quest invoiced for 405 hours of listening and transcribing.

The recordings, it is alleged, captured "private, confidential, personal and Sir Frederick's privileged conversations with his lawyers, and with his daughter's trustees, bankers and businesspeople".  more

Oddly, there is no mention of the video bug which recorded the incident. It does however make the nephew eligible for our Darwin Award for capturing himself with his own bug. ~Kevin

And, The Number One Spy Job Nobody Would Want Is...

North Korea has axed its spy chief as well as the long-running head of Kim Jong Un’s security — signs of a major shakeup during the ongoing mystery over the dictator’s status.

Jang Kil Song was ousted as head of the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), the North’s military intelligence agency, according to the Korea Herald, citing a report by South Korea’s Unification Ministry.

The RGB is behind the Hermit Kingdom’s most high-profile attacks as well as spy missions, including those against the US, the report says...

(Surprise) No reason was given for the switch. more

Assembling an Ikea Spy Case

Ikea and some of its former executives were ordered to face trial in France over accusations they conspired with police officers to spy on staff.

An Ikea unit in France was accused of collecting information on employees and people applying to work for the furniture giant, according to an indictment dated April 30.

In exchange for a fee, police officers provided confidential information to former Ikea executives on past convictions.

This was in turn used to dismiss staff or turn down applications.

Ikea France said it has “always firmly disapproved” of such practices. more

NJCCIC Publishes: Tips for Teleworkers, Remote Access Security

For many organizations, telework programs have been in practice for years – whether as part of the organization’s everyday work program or as a component of their business continuity plans.

For those organizations, policies, educational programs, technologies, and support services for the remote workforce are well established. For organizations engaging in telework for the first time, defining expectations is a good starting point.

First, create a telework policy that addresses the following:

• The scope of the telework program, roles and responsibilities, eligibility to telework (not all jobs can be performed remotely), 
• work hours and paid time-off, 
• the suitability of the alternate workplace and its related safety requirements, 
• responsibility for equipment and supplies, 
• operating costs and expenses, 
• and requirements for physical and information security. more

NSA Publishes: Survey of Videoconferencing Apps

Selecting and Safely Using Collaboration Services for Telework
During a global pandemic or other crisis contingency scenarios, many United States Government (USG) personnel must operate from home while continuing to perform critical national functions and support continuity of government services. With limited access to government furnished equipment (GFE) such as laptops and secure smartphones, the use of (not typically approved) commercial collaboration services on personal devices for limited government official use becomes necessary and unavoidable. survey

Agribusiness Espionage: The Scientist and the Spy

Deputy Cass Bollman was about to enjoy a coffee break at a gas station in Iowa when the alert came across his radio: “Asian male wearing a suit walking through a farm field. … Nature of incident: suspicious.”

Bollman raced to the scene, a little northeast of Des Moines, where he talked to a farmer who had spotted the odd figure in the field. A few minutes later, Bollman had pulled over an SUV driven by Robert Mo, a Chinese national.

So begins one of the most unexpected stories of espionage ever told—in this case, by Minnesota journalist Mara Hvistendahl in her new book, “The Scientist and the Spy.”

Wi-Fi Internet Communicator Hidden in a Calculator Hack

Sometimes a device is just too tempting to be left untouched. For [Neutrino], it was an old Casio calculator that happened to have a perfectly sized solar panel to fit a 128×32 OLED as replacement.

But since the display won’t do much on its own, he decided to connect it to an ESP8266 and mount it all inside the calculator’s housing, turning it into a spy-worthy, internet-connected cheating device, including a stealthy user interface controlled by magnets instead of physical buttons. more


It wouldn't take much to turn this into a Wi-Fi bug.

"Recording suspects is his hobby, Your Honor, an innocent hobby."

CA - An Alameda County sheriff's sergeant pleaded no contest this week to four misdemeanor eavesdropping counts for recording conversations between juvenile suspects and their attorneys in 2018.

The plea agreement for Sgt. James Russell, who originally was charged with four felony counts, calls for him to be placed on 3 years'
probation and perform 180 hours of community service...

Odbert (Russsell's attorney) said at the hearing that Russell wasn't present when the recording began and had no intent of using the conversations between Plaine and the juveniles as a way of building a case against them. more

Pew Comments on Relationship Health - It Stinks

Most Americans think snooping on a partner’s phone is a bad thing to do, but that hasn’t stopped more than a third of people in committed relationships from doing it anyway, according to Pew research published Friday.

Of those surveyed, 34 percent of people in committed relationships admitted to snooping on their partner’s phone without their knowledge. Interestingly, the survey also found that 42 percent of women (who are in relationships) say they’ve snooped through their current partners’ phones without them knowing, while just 25 percent of men say they have.

As many of us find ourselves cooped up with our partners and our phones for the foreseeable future, the researchers suggest that using this technology is not necessarily great for the health of our long-term relationships. more

WeChat - More Than Just Chat - You're Teaching it Censorship Skills

The incredibly popular Chinese chat app WeChat is being put under a microscope by The Citizen Lab.

In a study, the researchers found that not only is WeChat spying on the chats of Chinese users, but it’s also looking in on chats from foreigners with the goal of fueling its censorship algorithms...

The company has been known to monitor all of the chats of Chinese users as they come through.

However, the study found that images and documents shared between users outside of China are scanned and flagged for potentially politically sensitive content.

Anything that matches is hashed and flagged when someone shares them with a Chinese account. The flagged content is fed to a machine-learning system that is used to censor content in China. That means WeChat spying isn’t limited to Chinese users, which is quite scary for anyone using the app. more

Spy Satellite NROL-44 Victum of Lockdown... Perhaps

The next flight of United Launch Alliance’s triple-barrel Delta 4-Heavy rocket has been delayed from June to late August, military officials said Friday.

The heavy-lift rocket will carry a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload into orbit ... capable of eavesdropping on foreign communication signals.

Military officials did not disclose a reason for the two-month delay. more

Google Searches for TSCM and Wiretap up in Past Week