Scientists Develop Tiny Tooth-Mounted Sensors That Can Track...

...what you eat!

Monitoring in real time what happens in and around our bodies can be invaluable in the context of health care or clinical studies, but not so easy to do. That could soon change thanks to new, miniaturized sensors developed by researchers at the Tufts University School of Engineering that, when mounted directly on a tooth and communicating wirelessly with a mobile device, can transmit information on glucose, salt and alcohol intake...

Tufts engineers sought a more adoptable technology and developed a sensor with a mere 2mm x 2mm footprint that can flexibly conform and bond to the irregular surface of a tooth. In a similar fashion to the way a toll is collected on a highway, the sensors transmit their data wirelessly in response to an incoming radio-frequency signal. more

Just in case you were disappointed that this was not a story about a mysterious tooth implant...

Caught on Surveillance Camera: Homeless Dog Nips Book...

...about abandonment, and gets adopted.
We've all seen some pretty weird surveillance camera footage. This one should make your holiday weekend. more

Extortionography: Group Planted an Intern to Take Covert Video

The American Phoenix Foundation — a now-defunct conservative activist group known for attempting undercover stings of lawmakers and lobbyists — planted an intern in a Texas state lawmaker’s office during the 2013 legislative session in an effort to expose misdeeds, testimony in federal court revealed Thursday.

Shaughn Adeleye, testifying in Houston in the federal fraud case against former U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman, said in court Thursday that he was planted in the office of state Rep. James White to obtain footage of the Hillister Republican engaged in “fraud and abuse” and also in more mundane activities like cursing or failing to tidy his messy car... more

What is Extortionography?

Building Maintenence Man Accused of Hiding Spycams in Office Building Bathrooms

FL - A Largo man has been accused of using video cameras to record multiple women and two men while using the women’s restrooms in an office building, the Pinellas Park Police Department said.

John Phillip Gibbs, 49, of Largo, was charged with 14 counts of video voyeurism, a felony. The investigation is ongoing as police officers continue to identify others who were video recorded. Additional charges are expected, officers said.

The investigation began March 2 when Pinellas Park Police were called to an office building at 12360 66th St. N to investigate a suspicious incident in one of the women’s restrooms inside the building. During the initial investigation officers said they found two separate video recording devices above the ceiling tiles inside two different women’s restrooms...

Detectives said they were able to identify Gibbs from images on the video as being a maintenance worker for the office building.

The building management has notified the 60 different small businesses inside the building where the common restrooms are located. more

Don't become a lawsuit defendant, or a spy camera victim.
Learn how to protect your guests, customers, employees and yourself.

FutureWatch: Eavesdropping... telepathically

Mary Lou Jepsen believes her technology will be 99.9% cheaper than MRIs (that’s an actual estimate, not a euphemism); radically smaller (the size of a ski cap, not a bedroom); and that its resolution will exceed that of MRIs by a factor of a billion. Yes, that’s an actual “b,” not a typo. And the really cool thing? Her creation might also enable telepathy.

If your mind rebels at the scale of these claims, reread Mary Lou’s credentials, then give an interview with her a listen. You can hear it by searching “After On” in your favorite podcast app...

Here’s where telepathy comes in...

Neurons range from 4 to 100 microns in diameter. This makes them invisible to MRIs, CAT scans, PET scans – pretty much anything other than a scalpel and a microscope. But Mary Lou’s technology could monitor them, if it delivers on its maximum promise. Add some clever machine learning, and the system could closely infer what those neurons are contemplating.

Might all this raise an ethical issue or two? To quote a one-time would-be VP, yooooou betcha! more

Spycam: John E. Lola kinks aim him to The Clink

MA - A former Framingham supermarket employee installed a spy camera in an employee ladies room last year, recording unsuspecting co-workers as they used the toilet, authorities said.

John E. Lola Jr., 47, of Holliston, pleaded not guilty to the charges at his Framingham District Court arraignment on Tuesday.

Lola was a longtime employee at the Stop and Shop on Temple Street. On Nov. 18 of last year, a female employee discovered the camera in a unisex employees-only restroom...

The camera was disguised as an electrical outlet. According to the report, the female employee was suspicious when she saw a new outlet in a stall. When she touched it, the outlet fell to the floor and revealed the camera, which was aimed at the level of someone sitting on a toilet, police wrote.

The small video camera had a disc attached to it. Police got a warrant to view the contents of the disc, which contained 34 videos, mostly about one-minute long each.

"Most were of females using the bathroom, primarily of the private parts are visible," police wrote in the report.



The videos did not show any of the people's faces. However, the video did catch a closeup of the person installing the camera. It appeared the camera was turned on as the man attached the camera to the stall's wall, police wrote in the video. more  The Clink

Note to businesses: This spy camera was found by chance. Lawsuits often follow this type of embarrassing discovery. Periodic inspections for hidden cameras in expectation of privacy areas by trained staff is a nice defense to have.

From Those Wonderful Folks Who Killed Air-Gap Security - This Bud Screws You

A research team from Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's cybersecurity research center has discovered a new way of data extraction from air-gapped computers via using passive devices like earbuds, earphones, headphones, and speakers.

Now, the same research center has claimed to be able to use computer speakers and headphones to act as microphones and receive data. The devices can be used to send back the signals and make the otherwise safe practice of air-gapping less secure.

As per the new technique [PDF], data is extracted in the form of inaudible ultrasonic sound waves and transmission occurs between two computers installed in the same room while data is shared without using microphones. more

Off-the-shelf Smart Devices Easy to Hack

Off-the-shelf devices that include baby monitors, home security cameras, doorbells, and thermostats were easily co-opted by cyber researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU). As part of their ongoing research into detecting vulnerabilities of devices and networks expanding in the smart home and Internet of Things (IoT), the researchers disassembled and reverse engineered many common devices and quickly uncovered serious security issues.

"It is truly frightening how easily a criminal, voyeur or pedophile can take over these devices," says Dr. Yossi Oren, a senior lecturer in BGU's Department of Software and Information Systems Engineering and head of the Implementation Security and Side-Channel Attacks Lab at Cyber@BGU. "Using these devices in our lab, we were able to play loud music through a baby monitor, turn off a thermostat and turn on a camera remotely, much to the concern of our researchers who themselves use these products."

"It only took 30 minutes to find passwords for most of the devices and some of them were found only through a Google search of the brand," says Omer Shwartz, a Ph.D. student and member of Dr. Oren's lab. "Once hackers can access an IoT device, like a camera, they can create an entire network of these camera models controlled remotely." more

Combatting Corporate Espionage -- Warning Signs

by Adam Brown
In the modern age of relatively cheap and ever-evolving technology, corporate espionage is a real threat that could be perpetrated by any employee or other insider at any time. 

The term “corporate espionage” covers many different types of behavior, ordinarily taking the form of a malicious company insider secretly stealing confidential company information, usually for use in a competing business. The insider may be planning on joining an existing competitor, or may be planning on founding a new competing business of their own.

Hiding a bug in a book binding.

In essence, however, the term refers to any act of spying that is carried out for commercial purposes. Regardless of the form it takes, the wrongdoer will be looking to exploit the time, money, and hard work you have put in to make your business successful for their own malicious purposes.

Corporate espionage comes in many forms, some more sophisticated than others. While there is no foolproof way to spot all transgressions before it is too late, here are some general warning signs to watch for:

• The employee begins working from home or out of the office more often;
• You see an increase in after-hours work or unusual office or remote computer access;
• The employee begins meeting with customers without recording meetings in company systems;
• The employee knows about business matters they are not directly involved in;*
• The employee becomes disgruntled or has a sudden change in attitude;
• Files or other materials are missing from the office with no explanation;
• The employee unexpectedly resigns without advance notice; and
• The employee refuses an exit interview or does not want to discuss post-resignation employment plans. While not necessarily indicative of any improper actions, any of these behaviors should be considered “red flags” that merit further investigation or research. more

* Electronic eavesdropping.
Time for a technical surveillance countermeasures (TSCM) inspection.

You may also want to read... Business Espionage: The Employee Competitor… and what to do about it.

What is the Salary for a Female Spy in Australia?

Australia - The anti-corruption watchdog sought special exemption from the Anti-Discrimination Board of NSW to advertise for the $127,627 ($100,440.71 USD) job which requires women to be sent into the field in “covert” spying operations.

“The exemption is required to ensure operational effectiveness and flexibility,”... more ($)

Cameras at Women’s Apparel Shop Hacked

A viral Peeping Tom who hacked into the closed-circuit TV surveillance camera at a women’s bathing suit shop has led to a warning from the Israel Police Cybercrimes Unit that similar systems may be compromised and violate the privacy of unsuspecting persons.

According to police, an unidentified 41-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday after he allegedly used his computer to hack into the CCTV system at a high-end boutique in northern Tel Aviv and recorded customers as they undressed and tried on bathing suits.

While details of the incident remain unclear due to a gag order, police said the suspect subsequently posted the videos to a social media page. more

So, uh, why were there cameras in the changing areas in the first place? Better learn how to spot the cam.

Has Your Information Been Compromised? Check Here to See

via peerlyst.com
"We build NoSecrets to inform the public that their information is being traded and sold not just on the dark web, but between data brokering companies."

Do data brokers hold information about you that they should not hold, thus putting you at risk?

You can check here.

Pruitt Do It In a SCIF

African Union Bugged by China: Cyber Espionage as Evidence of Strategic Shifts
A number of African leaders have turned to Chinese investment as a viable alternative to Western development aid. The recent allegations of Chinese cyberespionage of the African Union's headquarters might prompt them to reconsider... Although this sort of spycraft is fairly routine, it signals Africa’s growing strategic importance to China. In a world of finite resources, states spy on states that matter to them. more

Russia has found yet another way surreptitiously to influence U.S. public policy: Stealing the identities of real Americans and then using these identities to file fake comments during the comment submission period preceding the formulation of public policies... Researchers, journalists, and public servants have found a wide range of fake comments and stolen identities in the public proceedings of the Labor Department, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and Securities and Exchange Commission. more

The impact of a data breach should not be underestimated. A breach can lead to regulatory investigations by a number of agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Secret Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as through enforcement actions by regulators including State Attorneys General, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), among many others. more

So, is it any wonder paranoia is forcing SCIF spending...

The Environmental Protection Agency is spending nearly $25,000 to build a soundproof communications booth in Administrator Scott Pruitt’s office, according to media reports.

The Washington Post first reported details of the contract on Tuesday evening, which will cost the government $24,570.

The “privacy booth” will be installed by Oct. 9, so Pruitt can have “a secured communication area in the administrator’s office so secured calls can be received and made,” EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman told the Post in a statement.

“Federal agencies need to have one of these so that secured communications, not subject to hacking from the outside, can be held,” Bowman continued. “This is something which a number, if not all, cabinet offices have and EPA needs to have updated.” more sing-a-long (for what it's worth)

A Very Weird Tale of Corporate Espionage and Murder and More Corporate Espionage

Apotex claims longtime chemist went rogue and stole drug secrets...

Apotex Inc., the generic-drug giant founded by murdered billionaire Barry Sherman, has been waging a year-long court battle against an ex-employee who was fired for allegedly stealing millions of dollars’ worth of pharmaceutical trade secrets from a laboratory computer—in the hopes of launching a rival company in his native Pakistan...

Barry Sherman, 75, and his wife, Honey Sherman, 70, were discovered strangled inside their North York mansion nearly three months ago, the victims of what police have labeled a “targeted” double homicide. Since then, detectives have said little else about the high-profile murders...

News of the lawsuit comes at the same time as Apotex tries to defend itself against similar allegations of corporate espionage. In a court action launched last July in the United States, Sherman’s company is accused of using sex, lies and USB drives to illegally obtain valuable trade secrets from the world’s largest generic drug-maker, Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. As Maclean’s reported last month, a Pennsylvania judge denied Apotex’s attempt to throw out the sensational lawsuit, which accuses a former Teva executive of leaking confidential information to her boyfriend—then-Apotex CEO Jeremy Desai. Desai abruptly resigned in January, six weeks after the Shermans were killed, “to pursue other opportunities.” more

Further insights... Business Espionage: The Employee Competitor… and what to do about it.

Australian Spy Who Revealed Bugging Under 'Effective House Arrest'

The spy who blew the whistle on Australia’s bugging of Timor-Leste’s cabinet room during sensitive oil and gas negotiations is still under “effective house arrest” and has been treated disgracefully by Australia in retaliation for his actions, his lawyer says.

The Australian secret intelligence service agent, known only as Witness K, had his passport seized in 2013 as he prepared to give evidence in The Hague on an Australian bugging operation.

In 2004, Witness K was involved in a covert mission to listen in on the Timor-Leste cabinet aimed at giving Australia the upper hand during negotiations to carve up oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea, estimated to be worth about $53bn. more

Secret Agent Man & Daughter

Intrigue continues to swirl as the “poisoned spy”, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter, Yulia, remain in intensive care. Counter-terrorism police have taken over the investigation. Boris Johnson has said the possibility of a Russian assassination attempt means UK officials might boycott the World Cup.

This morning, Shaun Walker examines how the Skripal case looks like a warning about the fate awaiting those who collaborate with western intelligence agencies.

And more details are emerging about the life of the former double agent, known in his Salisbury neighborhood as a genial man with a penchant for Polish sausage and lottery scratch cards. more video sing-a-long

Court Admits Husband's Illegal Bugging into Evidence

Turkey - A top appeals court decided that evidence collected through illegal bugging could not be used by itself to prove guilt but could be used in conjunction with other evidence in a 2015 case where a man in the Aegean province of Aydın believed his wife was cheating on him and installed a bugging application onto her cell phone.

The application turned the cell phone into a recording device. The recordings showed the woman really was cheating on him with a colleague from work. The man immediately filed for divorce, demanding compensation from his wife and the custody of their child. more


An app that can help determine if an Android phone is infected with spyware.

10 New Attacks on 4G LTE Discovered

A group of researchers has uncovered ten new attacks against the 4G LTE wireless data communications technology for mobile devices and data terminals.

The attacks exploit design flaws in the communications protocol and unsafe practices employed by the stakeholders and can be used to achieve things like impersonating existing users, spoofing the location of the victim device, delivering fake emergency and warning messages, eavesdropping on SMS communications, and more.

Among the uncovered attacks they consider one particularly worrying: an authentication relay attack that allows an adversary to impersonate an existing user (mobile phone) without possessing any legitimate credentials.

“Through this attack the adversary can poison the location of the victim device in the core networks, thus allowing setting up a false alibi or planting fake evidence during a criminal investigation,” they pointed out. more

Cuba's Sonic Attacks - Possibly a Side-Effect of Spying

Its surveillance tools may have transmitted ultrasonic sounds by mistake...

Remember those 'sonic attacks' against the American and Canadian embassies last summer, making staff queasy and raising all kinds of questions as to what happened? There might have an answer. University of Michigan researchers have theorized that the incidents were really the result of ultrasonic signals from poorly functioning surveillance equipment. While individual ultrasonic signals can't harm people outside of extreme circumstances, multiple signals can clash with each other and produce a sound that's just low enough to be audible.

The scientists tested their hypothesis by replicating the "chirping" from an AP video using two ultrasonic emitters that combined tones, one at 25kHz and another at 180Hz. That produced a similar-sounding 7kHz frequency with ripples of sound at an even 180Hz spacing. The team even built a device that would simulate eavesdropping by playing a song instead of the 180Hz tone. more

Security Scrapbook fans knew this might be a botched spying attempt, and how it worked, last August. ~Kevin

Invention: Simple Device Allows Fast Lockdowns in Schools

As school carpenter Cory Webster replaced dozens of deteriorating rubber door stoppers that were installed to help keep Palos Verdes Peninsula classrooms safe in the event of a lockdown, he thought there must be a better way...

The 123 Lock-down Latch works much like a hotel door bumper: a teacher simply slides the metal lever to prevent a locked door from closing. When a lockdown happens, anyone inside the classroom can slide the lever back and the door closes and locks...

Because most classroom doors can only be locked from the outside with a key, the teacher can leave the door locked but with the latch engaged during passing period to allow students in and out easily. In the event of an active shooter, it’s not always safe for a teacher to step outside to lock the door. With the latch, there’s no need to fumble for keys or leave the classroom to secure the door. more

Austria: Bugging Devices Found... and then, a break-in!

The office of Austrian far-right leader and vice chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache was broken into this week, shortly after bugging devices were discovered there, and a criminal inquiry has been launched, prosecutors said on Thursday.

The break-in occurred on Wednesday night while Strache, whose Freedom Party entered the governing coalition after elections in October, was out for dinner, his spokesman said, confirming an earlier report by broadcaster Oe24.

The spokesman said the electronic surveillance devices had been discovered last week behind a mirrored wall by intelligence service specialists. “This was a routine check after moving into a new office,” he said. more

TSCM 101 - When you find one bug, don't stop looking. A post-discovery break-in may indicate the removal of additional, and more sophisticated bugs. Later discovery of these devices might implicate who planted them in the first place.  ~Kevin

Smartphone Goes Dark at the Flip of a Switch

Cybersecurity firm DarkMatter has launched its first smartphone, designed to stop spy agencies listening to you.

An Android device called Katim, it was made available commercially Monday at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, and has a 5.2-inch display, as well as a high level of encryption...

One security feature built by the Middle East-based firm is called "shield mode," which disconnects power from the microphone and camera on the device so that nobody can spy on your conversations. more

The Case of the License Plate ICE Pick

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has officially gained agency-wide access to a nationwide license plate recognition database, according to a contract finalized earlier this month. The system gives the agency access to billions of license plate records and new powers of real-time location tracking, raising significant concerns from civil libertarians...

ICE agents would be able to query that database in two ways. A historical search would turn up every place a given license plate has been spotted in the last five years, a detailed record of the target’s movements. That data could be used to find a given subject’s residence or even identify associates if a given car is regularly spotted in a specific parking lot. more

As foreshadowed...

Personal Phone Calls at Work Can Put Employers in Jeopardy

This from a California court: Employers unwise to permit use of company telephones for personal calls—at least if the employer plans to record those calls.

• Two-party consent means two-party consent: All parties to a call must be told the call is going to be recorded and must consent.
• Employers with recording systems should consider barring use of company telephones for personal calls and making sure that people receiving calls on a recorded line automatically are informed, up front, that the call will be recorded.
• Barring all personal calls is not necessary, but it may offer some protection against the legal consequences of a breakdown in the employer’s system of ensuring notice to all parties before the recording begins.

In a for-publication opinion, the California Court of Appeal has warned employers that it is not enough to tell employees they have no right of privacy if they use the employer’s telephones for personal calls: the employer might still be liable to third persons whose telephone calls are recorded. Rojas v. HSBC Card Servs. Inc., ___ Cal. App. 4th ___, No. D071442, 2018 WL 802094 (Cal. Ct. App. Fourth Dist. Jan. 16, 2018). more

Note: Many other states follow the more restrictive version of Federal law–two party consent–as well. ~Kevin

Extortionography and the Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens Felony Indictment

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, who was once considered a rising star in the Republican Party, has been under siege since January, when accusations emerged that he threatened to use a nude photo to blackmail his former hairstylist, with whom he was having an extramarital affair.

Greitens had allegedly threatened the woman by saying he would distribute a nude photo he had secretly taken of her if she exposed their relationship.

The accusations stemmed from a covert recording by the woman’s ex-husband published by KMOV in St. Louis, in which the woman is heard describing how Greitens invited her to his home in 2015 and, with her consent, taped her hands to exercise rings and blindfolded her. He then allegedly took a photo of her naked. more

What is extortionography?

Mystery 911 Calls from Apple Repair Center

Apple is working with local police to remedy a surge in unintentional emergency calls to 911 that are originating from the company’s distribution and repair center in Elk Grove, California.

The influx of calls has been ongoing for months, averaging 20 accidental calls a day and totaling over 1,600 since October.

911 dispatchers hear silence and intermittent employee chatter when the calls come in. more

FutureWatch: Tomorrow's Spys Today

"Help young people. Help small guys. Because small guys will be big. Young people will have the seeds you bury in their minds, and when they grow up, they will change the world." 
~Jack Ma

Teens at the Library for grades 6-10: Spy Academy 
Categories: Community
Date: Thursday, February 22, 2018
Start Time: 6:30 PM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
End Time: 7:30 PM
Location Northeast Regional Library, 14401 Green Elm Ln, Raleigh, NC 27614
Google Calendar Yahoo! Calendar Windows Live Calendar iCal/Outlook

Put your sleuth skills to the test. Come for a night of code breaking, laser-beams, memory, and more!

For more information...

Dronebusters

Two drones headed north above Capitol Boulevard toward the Idaho statehouse. Lt. Gov. Brad Little stood to Gov. Butch Otter’s right at the top of the Capitol steps and watched...

The demonstration by Black Sage Technologies showed off the Boise company’s system to immobilize drones that might be carry a bomb, drop contraband or weapons into prison recreation yards, or spy on sensitive operations.

Black Sage uses cameras, radar and other tools to detect drones. It can see them at least three and a half miles away. The company sometimes demonstrates its anti-drone system at military bases. Wednesday’s exhibition was one of the few times the public has gotten to see it. more

The Employee Competitor: Spy in the Yogurt

Click here.

The American yogurt market has remained pretty steady over the past few years, yet the yogurt areas in all my go-to grocery stores keep expanding, meaning it’s an increasingly competitive industry, and this fosters the sort of tense environment that sometimes can lead to suspicions of corporate espionage.

On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that Dannon Co. sued its former senior vice president, Federico Muyshondt, alleging he divulged trade secrets to colleagues at his new job, which is with Chobani LLC. Both of these companies, obviously, are renowned for their yogurt.

According to the complaint—filed in a federal court in White Plains, New York—Muyshondt stands accused of pilfering details of Dannon’s business strategy, plans for forthcoming products, and lists of customers before he left the company in January to take a job with Chobani, which was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. more

Report Reveals 50% of Organizations Don't Provide Employee Information Security Training

New cybersecurity reports just released by Cisco and Verizon Wireless say that businesses are faced with more sophisticated security threats from wireline and wireless devices running on their networks.

Perhaps the more disturbing revelation of Verizon’s study is that it’s not hacktivists, criminals or those engaging in corporate espionage that pose the greatest threat, but a company’s own employees. However, only 50% of all organizations provide IT training when a new employee joins a company. more

Observation: Interestingly, even fewer businesses proactively check for all the other methods of corporate espionage, e.g. regular information security surveys and technical surveillance countermeasures inspections. 

Coincidentally, the few that are pro-active seem to be among the most successful and profitable companies in America. Just coincidence?

You Are Never a Stranger in Our City - Facial Recognition Street Cams

Nvidia has partnered with AI developer AnyVision to create facial recognition technology for "smart cities" around the world. The two companies will work to install automatic facial recognition into CCTV (closed-circuit television) surveillance cameras.

AnyVision claims the technology enables cameras that can continuously scan for faces 24/7, automatically identifying and tracking individuals within a large crowd with 99% accuracy.

Algorithms working with human monitors can then compare the faces identified against a database of known terrorists or criminals.

The company also says it's committed to protecting the personal data that CCTV cameras collect.

So... is this technology terrifying, and possibly everything Orwell warned us about? Absolutely.

But it could also save thousands of lives. The technology could be useful not only for catching at-large criminals, but also for quickly identifying suspects, and tracking down individuals who have gone missing. more

You may recall, this has been tried before and its comeback was predicted here in 2008.

Slick and Wise Espionage Ethics Discussion

NM - Two former U.S. intelligence officials will discuss the cloak-and-dagger world of espionage and the difficult ethical dilemmas it poses for U.S. spies at a lecture in Albuquerque on Feb. 25.

Stephen Slick, director of the University of Texas at Austin’s Intelligence Studies Project, and Douglas Wise, retired senior CIA operations officer, will wrestle with the question of whether a profession that requires lying, cheating, stealing, manipulating, exploiting and deceiving should have ethical boundaries. In a Journal interview, Slick said every potential intelligence officer must answer that question for themselves, and that their ultimate responsibility is adhering to U.S. and international law.

The panel discussion – part of the Albuquerque International Association’s ongoing lecture series – is Sunday, Feb. 25, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the UNM Continuing Education Auditorium.

Slick said the subject of espionage and ethics is popular among his students, who are often contemplating careers in intelligence. more

Just when you thought there were no more places to hide a spycam...

FL - A 54-year-old Southside man is behind bars after a young woman found a tiny camera hidden inside a loofah as she was taking a shower in their home, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

Kelly Lloyd Birkley remains jailed on $25,000 bail after being charged Monday with video voyeurism of someone 19 or older. Responding officers found Birkley sitting in a car in the driveway, reporting that he told them “I’m a dirty old man” when they approached, according to his arrest report...

Court records show Birkley’s wife filed a temporary injunction for protection against him the same day he was arrested. more

Hacktivists - Hackers Who Hack For Privacy

Another day, another data breach – This time it is Retina-X Studios, a well know spyware developing firm.

There are different types of hackers, some hack for profit while some hack for good and then there are hacktivists who do it for the cause...

...the company suffered a security breach in April 2017 revealing that Retina’s software are also used to spy on customers to keep an eye on their partners without their consent which is unlawful...

Retina-X has once again suffered a data breach in which a hacker going by the online handle of Precise Buffalo on Mastodon server has targeted Retina-X and completely erased 1 terabyte of data from its cloud server including photos customers stole from unsuspecting users including kids who installed Retina-X’s Phonesheriff application on their smartphone...

“None of this should be online at all. “Aside from the technical flaws, I really find this category of software disturbing. In the US, it’s mainly targeted to parents,” the hacker said, explaining his motivations for going after Retina-X. “Edward Snowden has said that privacy is what gives you the ability to share with the world who you are on your own terms, and to protect for yourself the parts of you that you’re still experimenting with. I don’t want to live in a world where younger generations grow up without that right,” said the hacker.

This is not the first time when a spyware developer has been hacked. Previously mSpy was compromised when a hacker stole personal data of 400,000 users and leaked it online. more

EU Kills Nanny, and other covert cams used to spot theft and wrong-doing.

Translation

EU - Employers looking to monitor the conduct of their employees should consider their actions carefully, particularly in light of the requirements of the new data protection laws coming into force in May.

In a recent legal case, a Spanish supermarket set up hidden CCTV cameras to monitor its employees after it uncovered theft at one of its stores. The footage collected showed five employees stealing items. The employees were confronted and admitted to theft, after which they were dismissed.

They pursued unfair dismissal claims, arguing that the use of the covert video evidence was an infringement of their privacy rights. The European Court of Human Rights agreed that the use of covert cameras constituted a violation of the employees' right to privacy and breached Spanish data protection law.

How does this apply in the UK? more

Minion nanny cams. Soon to be discounted.

Sunshine Disinfects Fortune Over iPhone Spyware, or Tobacco Rode... away.

Fifty dollars worth of spy gear just cost this Yale grad a fortune.

Brooklyn Heights dad Crocker Coulson forfeited any claim to his estranged wife’s tobacco fortune after he bugged her iPhone with $50 software that allowed him to record confidential meetings with her lawyer and shrink to gain an advantage in their divorce.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Sunshine doled out the “drastic” punishment because of the “unprecedented, contumacious conduct” of the Yale-educated investment consultant. Sunshine added that the punishment was a signal to other divorcing spouses not to violate attorney-client and doctor-patient confidentiality by playing private eye. more

Concerned about your smartphone?

Spyscape Opens in New York City Today

Calling all spies: Announcing the opening of SPYSCAPE, a truly unique permanent destination that combines three distinct elements:
• a contemporary museum,
• an immersive experience,
• and a journey of personal discovery. 

SPYSCAPE opens at 10am ET on Friday, February 16.  (928 8th Avenue, New York, NY)
 
Students (with valid student ID) can reserve free admission online for the opening weekend (February 16-19).

The Experience:
Upon entry, visitors will receive a unique Identity Band, which uses RFID technology to personalize their experience. They then enter the Briefing, a high-tech theater which rises up through the building as it introduces the world of secret intelligence via an immersive film developed with the studio that creates VFX for films such as Avengers, Ex-Machina and Blade Runner 2049.

Their Spy Profiles are then analyzed in Debrief, where they discover which of the 10 archetypal Spy Roles they are best suited to. This authentic profiling system was developed with a former Head of Training at British Intelligence and top industrial psychologists. The Spy Roles are: Agent Handler, Cryptologist, Hacker, Intelligence Analyst, Intelligence Operative, Special Ops Officer, Spycatcher, Spymaster, Surveillance Officer, Technical Ops Officer. more

Cuba - Concussion-like Symptoms Found in US Diplomats - Updates

Members of the US diplomatic community in Havana began visiting the embassy’s medical unit in late December 2016 with symptoms, such as headache and ear pain, that they said began after they encountered strange sounds or sensations...

In this preliminary report of a retrospective case series, persistent cognitive, vestibular, and oculomotor dysfunction, as well as sleep impairment and headaches, were observed among US government personnel in Havana, Cuba, associated with reports of directional audible and/or sensory phenomena of unclear origin. These individuals appeared to have sustained injury to widespread brain networks without an associated history of head trauma...

Neurological Manifestations Among US Government Personnel Reporting Directional Audible and Sensory Phenomena in Havana, Cuba 

More Questions Raised by Concussion-like Symptoms Found in US Diplomats Who Served in Havana

Neurological Symptoms Among US Diplomats in Cuba

Health Alert – U.S. Embassy Havana, Cuba (February 14, 2018)

Email Bugs Are Tracking You

Do you want to know exactly when a friend or colleague opens your email? How about where they are when they do?

Free services now allow us to do a little spying through the email we send. But it's raising some questions about privacy.

A growing number of people are using this technology. One More Company OMC, a company that makes software to detect this kind of email bugging, released a report last year. It says marketers put bugs in virtually all of the email they send.

But surprisingly, last year 16 percent of all conversational email-- the messages you send to friends, family and colleagues-- was also tracked. And that's up from 10 percent the year before. video more

---

Counter Measures for Users
Possible measures to restrict the functioning of tracking pixels:

• Set browser and email settings to be as restrictive as possible such that external graphics are only supported after permission, and HTML emails are not supported. Appropriate firewall settings can also be used to do this.
• Some browser extensions can be used to make tracking pixels visible.
• Anonymous surfing with the Tor Browser or use of proxy servers to prevent the download of tracking pixels.
• In order to prevent the collection of additional user data such as browser type or operating system, the support of scripts in the browser can be deactivated. This can however restrict other functions on the Internet under certain circumstances. more

Rango - Spy Mission in Iran

A former high-ranking Iranian military leader recently claimed that Israel used lizard spies that "attract atomic waves" in order to identify the location of Iranian uranium mines.

The remarks, by Hassan Firuzabadi, a military advisor to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were made in response to the recent arrest of local environmentalists, The Times of Israel reported.

"We found out that their skin attracts atomic waves and that they were nuclear spies who wanted to find out where inside the Islamic Republic of Iran we have uranium mines and where we are engaged in atomic activities," Firuzabadi told the Iranian Labour News Agency...

...the bizarre claim is ridiculous, two reptile experts told Live Science.  more

Seattle's $3,750,000.00 Lightpole Art Exhibit Closes, or Sightless in Seattle

Back in 2013, the Security Scrapbook featured Seattle's new citywide surveillance system.

"A New Apparatus Capable of Spying on You Has Been Installed Throughout Downtown Seattle. Very Few Citizens Know What It Is, and Officials Don’t Want to Talk About It."

2018...
Five years after activists forced Seattle's mayor to return the city's surveillance drones to their manufacturer, the city has announced that it is terminating its warrantless mass-surveillance program altogether.

The DHS gave the city a $3.6m grant to build out a mesh wireless network that could be enjoyed by the public and also provide communications services during emergencies -- but it was also specked to do continuous location-based surveillance as well as CCTV surveillance from lightpoles all over the city.

Activists worked with the ACLU to pressure the city to work with police to produce a privacy policy that would explain when this data would be gathered, how long it would be retained, and how it would be used. The devices were switched off while these questions were to be answered.

Five years on, the police and city were unable to articulate an answer to these questions, and so now they're spending $150,000 to tear all the gear (including the mesh networking access points) out, rather than accept any limitations on their use. more

Spying is Turning Us into a Stalking Society

Bugging and GPS-tracking used to be so expensive that they were only used by governments and private investigators, but a quick Amazon search offers up a hidden car-tracking device for US$27 (£19).

In the related items: a spy cam disguised as a USB charger, $52. These items are marketed as a “real-time teen-driving coach”, nanny cams or parental control software, but there is nothing to stop them being used for nefarious purposes.

Meanwhile, law enforcement struggles to keep up: victims of stalking or online harassment are frequently told simply to stop going online, which for a 19-year-old in 2018 is like being told not to breathe air.

As the National Stalking Helpline’s manager, Clare Elcombe Webber, points out, it feels like there are near-infinite technologies to help stalkers but few to help victims. more

Quote of the Week

“If you're a company doing business with other countries, you can expect that you're being hacked – because they want to know your negotiating position,” Charles Widdis, Security Strategy and Planning Manager at CitiPower and Powercor

Number Stations, Spies... and The Sultans of Swing (?!?!)

Numbers stations: The 'spy radio' that anyone can hear...

For decades, people around the globe have been able to listen in to mysterious spy broadcasts from all over the world with just a radio.

Gordon Corera has been investigating the strange world of number stations. more

The Next Generation of Corporate Spies Begins Training in May

The trailer for a career in spying used to come from movies and TV shows. In May 2018, it will come from gaming. The new game is called Assault Spy.

"The self-proclaimed elite corporate spy Asaru and his deadweight partner Kanoko are hired for a new job in a dreary world dominated by corporations. Their mission? Infiltrate the mega corporation, Negabot. Dash, evade, and smash your way to the truth in this fast paced action game. No secret is safe from THIS bombastic spy duo!"