Cell phones belonging to hospital staff were found to be tainted with bacteria, including the drug-resistant MRSA superbug, and may be a source of hospital-acquired infections, according to a new study.
Ninety-five percent of the mobile phones were contaminated with at least one type of bacteria, with the potential to cause illness ranging from minor skin irritations to deadly disease.
Most worrying, one in eight of the handsets showed methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), a virulent strain that has emerged as a major health threat in hospitals around the world. (more)
Why mention this?
I like to keep my clients safe, healthy, happy and alive.
Your cell phone, desk phone, keyboard and mouse could probably 
use a cleaning - like right now. Solutions: compressed air, cotton swabs, lint-free cloth, cleaning fluids, antibacterial wet wipes and sprays. "But wait." Look what I found! A new crud-goop product which is easier and more fun to use. (video) (ebay)
Michael Strahan An Example Case Of Surveillance Spyware Used On Loved OnesAn estimated 3.4 million Americans have been subjected to stalking...When former Giants defensive end Michael Strahan reportedly suspected his girlfriend Nicole Murphy, actor Eddie Murphy's ex-wife, of cheating on him, he allegedly installed a tracking device in her car on two separate occasions, reports CBS News science and technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg reports.And those weren't the only times Strahan has been accused of using technology to monitor those around him. His ex-wife has accused him of tapping her phone and installing a secret video camera... (more) (video)
New Zealand - A promising engineering student who deliberately deleted crucial information from his employer's computer backup systems cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost business and data recovery. Gareth Pert, 23, nearly crippled Hamilton business Progressive Hydraulics while acting out of "pure vindictiveness", said company director Rodney Sharp...
Pert was arrested last month at Auckland International Airport upon his return from Afghanistan where he had been working since the sabotage was reported."His motivation was that he believed he was worth more than he was getting paid. Instead of talking to us, he started adding on five hours on his time card, so we pulled him up on it," Sharp says. "I was probably the first person to sit him down and put him in his place... I said, `You've cribbed your time cards.' He said, `I'm worth it'. I said, `I don't care how good you are, it's just dishonest'." Pert then wiped the backups and never returned to work.
There is evidence he also copied some of the commercially sensitive data but he told police he couldn't remember what he did with it. (more)
Try saying "Afghanistan banana stand" to him.
Scotland - A USB drive is missing from Lothian and Borders Police with details of hundreds of police investigations... “It is understood that the information contained on the stick was not encrypted as it was information being transferred within a secure compound within Police Headquarters,” the police spokesman revealed. (more)How to Crypt Your Stick for FREE.
The universe of private eavesdropping detection practitioners is small, maybe several hundred.The world of knowledgeable private practitioners is smaller, maybe fifty.Then, there is a tiny archipelago of knowledgeable and respected specialists who gravitated to this profession by their innate desire to help others.
Patrick Allan Bennett was one of these Islands. All who knew him, miss him. All who might have known him suffer the loss, unaware.It is not surprising that one of Patrick's outstanding accomplishments was that he was the first Eagle Scout of Troop 74 in Marinwood, CA.Professionally, he was a private investigator and Vice President of Walsingham Associates – one of the very best TSCM companies in the business. I know. I regularly entrust my clients to their care; for over 15 years. Fortunately, Walsingham Associates continues under the guidence of William Bennett.His family's description is moving, "Patrick was a kind, gentle man who loved his family and valued his friendships." You can see it in his face, can't you?There will be a Memorial Service from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, Tuesday, March 10 at the Lima Family Mortuary Chapel, (408) 263-2868, located at 48800 Warm Springs Blvd, Fremont, CA 94539. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Marin Council Boy Scouts of America, 225 West End Ave. San Rafael, CA 94901
Good-bye, friend.
...all Symbian 60 handsets are at risk.
Taiwan - Authorities in Taipei raided a shop accused of selling mobile phone spying software on Friday, warning that many cellphones are vulnerable to surreptitious eavesdropping and monitoring of text messages...Police said that the cellphone spyware was used by private investigators to catch people in extramarital affairs, but that it had also been used in instances of industrial espionage. (more)
Turkey - Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Şahin has announced illegal wiretappings will be more severely punished through a planned amendment in the penal code.Turkey - Phone tapping and bugging scandals caused booming sales of GSM "jamming" device that jams GSM radio signals. Demand mostly comes from businessmen and artists. "The price range is between 380 TL and 30,000 TL for jamming devices which can stop all mobile phone conversations and bugging," says Mustafa Ender, executive of a company selling jammers. "Another device that spots hidden cameras starts from 575 TL," he says. (more)
TN - Goodyear called in the FBI when the company suspected someone was spying on closely guarded technology for making tires.The global security chief for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. said in a statement Saturday that the company alerted the FBI after an internal investigation into what he called an apparent attempt in 2007 to steal proprietary technology. (more)This is an excellent example of a properly run corporate security program. Spot the spies during their intelligence collection process. Result: Damage thwarted, cheaply. (formal version of this philosophy)Interesting back-story...The FBI probe was followed by federal charges Friday against two engineers for a Tennessee company, Wyko Tire Technology Inc. in Greenback near Knoxville. The engineers, Clark Alan Roberts and Sean Edward Howley, pleaded not guilty to counts including trade secret theft, wire fraud and conspiracy... Wyko, part of Netherlands-based Eriks Group, designs and builds tire making equipment for tire companies, including Akron, Ohio-based Goodyear... Wyko had contracted to provide Haohau South China Guilin Rubber Co. Ltd. under a $1.2 million order. Wyko had never built one of the machines, the indictment says.
For the past several years, we read in the news that the Taliban are killing "spies" at the rate of 1-7 per week. Discovery of this many "spies" at such a sustained and consistent rate strains credibility. More likely, spy demise is a scared-straight tactic with a personal vendetta side benefit.This week...Taliban militants in Pakistan's restive tribal area on Friday killed two men they accused of spying for US forces stationed across the border in Afghanistan, officials said.
The bullet-riddled bodies of Afghan refugee Sher Khan and Pakistani tribal elder Nazar Jan were found early Friday at separate places in the North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan, officials in those areas said.
"Notes found with the bodies said the men were killed for spying for the US," tribal police official Rukh Niaz Khan told AFP.
Islamist militants frequently kidnap and kill local tribesmen or Afghan refugees on charges of spying for the Pakistani government or US forces, who are battling a Taliban-led insurgency across the border in Afghanistan. (more)
A senior employee of Taiwan's presidential office was indicted Friday on charges of providing classified information to rival China... Taiwan and China have routinely engaged in espionage against each other since they split amid civil war in 1949. Both have used financial aid in an attempt to lure away the other's allies. (more)
Colombia spyservice to be allowed wiretaps again...
Colombia President Álvaro Uribe signed a law that returns the authority to conduct wiretaps to intelligence agency DAS, lawmakers say. The DAS was relieved from that authority ten days ago after news broke the agency was illegally wiretapping political opponents, judges and journalists. (more) (background 2007) (background 2009)
NY - Highway department workers in several Lower Hudson Valley municipalities are finding they will have an extra set of eyes watching as they go about their work.Clarkstown will become the latest to have surveillance cameras installed in its highway department. Spring Valley recently put in cameras in the village's Department of Public Works, much to the work crews' chagrin...Workers at the highway department's mechanic shop said that cameras would be put in the area where they repair equipment, and that the surveillance would be invasive."Why is it necessary to have these cameras put into the mechanics work area?" they asked in a statement. "This creates a hostile work environment because we don't know the intent of the camera surveillance... This leads us to believe this will be used for disciplinary action," the statement said. (Well, duh.) (more)
FutureWatch - Town employees complain of secret surveillance system allegedly installed at mayor's behest.NY - From his comments in a Feb. 26 article, "Cameras' unannounced installation puzzles Spring Valley DPW employees," you'd think the law applies to everyone except for Spring Valley Mayor George O. Darden.The last time we checked, eavesdropping was a felony in New York state. If what DPW head Neil Vitiello told our local president is true and Spring Valley DPW workers are being illegally recorded using audio equipment, the village could have legal problems coming that are far bigger than their latest violation of the CSEA contract.Darden's arrogance knows no bounds. He claims not to know if audio surveillance has been installed. We don't buy that. Isn't this something Darden would be familiar with before using taxpayer dollars to buy or lease cameras? And when were these cameras secured? When CSEA questioned Village Attorney Bruce Levine about the cameras, Levine said he was unaware they had been purchased, let alone installed! (more)Billy Riccaldo, Beacon, NY — The writer is president, CSEA Southern Region
Rhode & Schwarz's Telephone Encryption System
The TopSec Mobile is a voice encryption device that can be connected to almost any commercially available mobile phone using a Bluetooth® interface. It provides confidential, tap-proof communications anywhere in the world.
The encryption has been embedded in the TopSec Mobile hardware to avoid the susceptibility of GSM phones to manipulation.
The TopSec Mobile is plug-and-play, compatible with most commercially available mobile phones, interoperable with other TopSec products in analog and digital fixed networks, as well as in mobile radio networks. (more)Very cool concept. Easy to use with existing phones.
So... if what you have to say is so important, why aren't you using these?
excerpt from an excellent article by Burton and Stewart at stratfor.com...
...And one of the first functions cut during tough times often is corporate security...Espionage is always a problem corporations must face. Competitors, criminals and even foreign governments often seek ways to gather proprietary information from companies, sometimes to boost their own operational capacities (e.g., to apply critical or emerging technologies to their weapons programs) and sometimes to sell on the open market...When open source collection efforts fail, more invasive measures must be employed. Sometimes the required information can be obtained via technical surveillance. A faulty information technology system, for example, can expose the company's secrets via remote electronic intrusion conducted from a continent away. Other times, information can be obtained by eavesdropping on telephone calls made by corporate leaders or by using other technical surveillance measures...
With many corporate security departments being cut to the bone, many internal security services focused on the counterterrorism mission and many law enforcement agencies chasing white-collar criminals, it is a good time to be in the intelligence business.
One day we will look back on this time through a counterintelligence lens and see that, although it was a time of bear stock markets, it was a tremendous bull market for practitioners of human intelligence. (more)
• Ugandan Government admits to illegal tapping (more)
• Turkish Government admits to illegal wiretaps (more)
• Singer Gloria Estefan says CIA tried to recruit her as a spy (more)• Guyana - Roger Kahns' Spy Equipment Seized (more)• UK Firms paid for spy files on workers (more)• Finland Agrees To Let Companies Spy On Workers (more)• Despite official ban, spyware is hot seller in China (more)• Obama's Secret Letter to Russia Leaked (more)• Obama's Secret Helicopter Blueprints Leaked (more)
• Demand for Predator spy planes continues (more)
Seth Shulman writes...
"My latest book, The Telephone Gambit
: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret, is a nonfiction detective story. It recounts my experience, while working for a year as a science writing fellow at MIT, of stumbling upon a twisted mystery surrounding Bell's role in the invention of the telephone. Working from Bell's laboratory notebooks and his voluminous correspondence, I fell through a kind of historical trap door to becoming increasingly intrigued by the surprising story behind the invention of the telephone: a tale of romance, corruption, and unchecked ambition.In the book, I try to capture the feel of the rich and exciting time in which Bell lived, as well as to tell my own story of chasing down clues about Bell’s life and times in rare archives and artifact collections around the world to unravel the surprising and long-hidden truth about him.In the course of my research, I unearth a “smoking gun” that leaves little doubt that Bell furtively—and illegally—plagiarized his initial telephone design from his major competitor, Elisha Gray in his quest to secure what would become the most valuable U.S. patent ever issued. Afterwards, as Bell’s device led to the world’s largest monopoly, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, I trace how he hid his invention’s illicit beginnings." (more)
Note: Bevis's great grandfather was not the model.
"I do all my banking on the phone. A friend told me my cordless phone was a security risk because I have had it for quite a few years. Is she right?" T.Y., DurhamSimon Moon from This is Money replies: I put your question to First Direct, which has 1.2m customers who run their accounts by phone or online.It pointed to a possible risk from using a non-digital cordless phone when speaking to your bank.First Direct said: ...'In addition to ensuring that nobody nearby is listening in, customers should be aware that older generations of cordless telephones (so-called analogue cordless) are potentially susceptible to eavesdropping by someone with an appropriate receiver.'The majority of home cordless phones sold over the past few years are digital and are far less vulnerable to eavesdropping than the older type.'
(more)Cordless Telephone Security 101Some people are still unaware it is fairly easy to eavesdrop on the older cordless phones. Amazing. Even more amazing, however, is that conversations made with some of the new 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz are just as easy to intercept! These phones may say "digital" but the wireless portion of the voice channel is still FM analog transmission. How can you tell the difference without hiring us?Easy. Simply make a call and walk away from the base part of the phone. If you start to hear static and fading, one or both parts of the transmission path is using FM analogue modulation; an eavesdroppers delight. If your call suddenly ends, it is most likely digital modulation. Your call ends abruptly. Are you safe? Not yet. Digital transmission is eavesdropper-resistant, not eavesdropper-proof.
Phones using the Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT), for example, use digital encryption... which can now be hacked.
Cordless phones which use Digital Spread Spectrum (DSS) modulation are very secure if the circuit was designed properly. Unfortunately, we have found a few DSS models where the manufacturer economized to the point of making the circuit unbalanced, thus making interception possible again. Most DSS cordless phones, however, provide an adequate level of security for the average user.Still concerned?Want to know for certain if your cordless phone is a leaker? Have it tested. Murray Associates has a flat fee ($99.00) evaluation program.Your phone, cordless or hardwired (no cellular at this time), is inspected by a Murray Associates certified technical investigator, using over $120,000.00 of lab instrumentation.
Inspection Protocol:
• Open, and examine phone for bugging devices and tampering.• Reassemble phone and discretely seal it with serial numbered security tape. This is done to detect and deter future tampering.• Electronically test the phone using a professional telecommunications analyzer (instrument and test details here)• Cordless phone wireless transmissions are viewed and analyzed using a Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer (instrument details here).
• Corded phones are also checked for unintended emissions.Phones are returned with a written report, and an eavesdropping vulnerability rating. Reports detail vulnerabilities discovered and make recommendations for improving security. Turnaround time is typically one week or less. Contact Murray Associates for further details.
Corporate clients have been using this inspection service for years. They send in brand new phones for inspection and sealing, then keep them on-the-shelf as instant replacements in environments we previously secured for them!
First, the workers encased the room in reinforced concrete. Then came the thick wood-and-metal doors that seal into the walls. Behind those walls they labored in secret for two years, building a courtroom, judge's chambers and clerk's offices. The only sign that they were done came recently, when biometric hand scanners and green "Restricted Access" placards were placed at the entrances.What workers have finally completed -- or perhaps not; few really know, and none would say -- is the nation's most secure courtroom for its most secretive court. (more)
NM - A former Hobbs assistant junior high principal has lost an appeal of his lawsuit against the school board and others. David Castillo sued after he wasn't offered a contract for the 2004-2005 school year. He alleges the action came after his estranged wife turned over a tape which the court describes as a graphically sexual telephone conversation between him and a secretary. (more)
Uganda - The government has been tapping private telephone conversations illegally, the Minister for Security, Mr Amama Mbabazi, admitted before Parliament yesterday.Mr Mbabazi becomes the first top government official at his level to admit eavesdropping on conversations and other communication of private citizens, though the practice mainly by security agencies, has for long been known to exist.Mr Mbabazi made the admission as he appeared before Parliament’s Information, and Communication Technology Committee to defend a draft Bill that seeks to legalise tapping private communication. (more)
PA - A former central Pennsylvania officeholder will face trial on charges he secretly videotaped men having sex in his home. Prosecutors say ex-Cumberland County Commissioner Bruce Barclay used hidden cameras to make 176 recordings of 13 different men... Barclay is also charged with unlawfully using a computer and wiretapping. (more) (background)
Scotland - Undercover cops smashed a suspected Scots drug gang - after selling the ringleaders bugged plasma screen TVs.
Drug barons were amazed by the amount of information the arresting officers seemed to have. They were then given the shock news that they had been secretly taped for months.One police source said last night: "We knew everything they were up to. We even know how loud they fart."
The source added: "When the cops came to arrest one of the suspects, he asked them how they knew so much. The cop told them they'd been getting bugged through the telly. The TVs were top-of-the-range stuff but nobody suspected."
The news has spread like wildfire through the areas where the gang operated. (more)Hey! Mukker! Back to school with you...
Rule #1: Shut ye mooth. Gud technique. Coulda used it for'er. But noooo... ya bragged lika bagpipe.
A 125-year-old London hotel, which was used as a temporary base by the British secret service during World War I, has reopened after a £16m revamp. The Royal Horseguards Hotel is connected to Whitehall by underground passages used during the war. Guests will now be offered guided tours of the building to learn about its secret past. Also featured in the 1983 Bond film Octopussy, it now forms part of the Guoman Hotels chain. (more)
FL - A Panama City woman learned that recording phone calls is illegal when her soon to be ex-husband turned her into the Bay County Sheriff’s Office. The couple are going through a divorce and she recorded several of his phone calls without his knowledge in hopes of using them during the proceedings, deputies wrote in an incident report. But when he learned of the recordings he told his lawyer who told him to sign a complaint against his wife. She was arrested and charged with eavesdropping (illegal interception of communications.) (source)
FL - Detectives on Wednesday arrested a 55-year-old Jacksonville Beach man they said hid a camera in a bathroom to record video of a girl while she was naked.According to police, John Thomas Boyd Jr. put a "nanny cam" in the bathroom of a house to film a nude juvenile. Investigators said more than 60 video clips were found on Boyd's home computer.Boyd's wife found the video clips and contacted the Jacksonville Beach Police Department. (more)
Bugging and Recording Conversations in Arizona: Is it Legal?Lawyers often receive inquiries about the legalities of recording phone or other conversations in Arizona. In particular, the issue frequently arises in family law cases where child custody is at issue. Related to the recording issue is the “bugging” issue.There are a number of variables that affect the answer to the central question, whether it is legal to either record or even bug conversations. First, bugging and recording are two different issues under Arizona law, often related, but also potentially very different under the law. Second, the laws regarding bugging and recording vary significantly by jurisdiction so what is legal in one state may be illegal in another. As well, the federal law may vary from state laws.The following is a very brief analysis of the bugging and recording law in Arizona... (more)
A Quarterly Boardroom / Top Executive
Eavesdropping Detection Audit
The basic minimum for corporate security programs.
• Full Inspection - 4 times per year.
• Boardroom, A/V area and three executive offices.
(Additional areas may be added very economically.)
• Free – Wi-Fi Security & Compliance Audit included.
• Bonus – Radio-frequency test covers a much larger area at no extra charge.
"When was the last time we inspected for bugs and wiretaps?"
If you do not remember, it is time to call Murray Associates.
(more)
Colombia domestic spy chief probes alleged illegal wiretapping by 'mafia' withinColombia's new domestic spy chief said Saturday that he is probing whether agency employees have been eavesdropping on Supreme Court judges, prominent journalists and opposition leaders.Felipe Munoz, who took over the troubled DAS domestic intelligence agency last month, was reacting to a report by Colombia's leading newsmagazine of widespread interception of phone calls and e-mail by agency officials at least through late last year.Munoz said he was attempting to establish the existence of a "mafia network that's threatening the security of the state," at a news conference called after the report was published online. (more)
UPDATE: Colombia's General Attorney ordered on Sunday a raid on the Department of Administrative Security (DAS) headquarters in Bogota after the media reported that agency employees have been eavesdropping on Supreme Court judges, prominent journalists and opposition leaders. (more)
UPDATE: Felipe Muñoz, director of Colombia's intelligence service DAS sacked the deputy director of the service's counterintelligence department amid a growing scandal involving illegal wiretaps of judges, opposition politicians and journalists. More people are expected to be fired.
According to the Government, the mafia is behind the widespread illegal use of wiretaps and blames alleged drug lords like 'Don Mario', 'El Cuchillo' and 'El Loco Barrera' of having corrupted the service. (more)
UPDATE: Two more top deputies resigned from Colombia's domestic spy agency on Tuesday as prosecutors investigate allegations of improper eavesdropping on journalists, Supreme Court judges and opposition members... (more) Colombia has had issues in the past with wiretapping. In May 2007, the head of police intelligence and Colombia's police chief were forced to resign after an illegal interception of calls of political figures, government members, and, you guessed it, journalists... (more)
UPDATE: Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe says he was unaware of the telephone bugging activities reportedly practised by the DAS domestic intelligence service... (more)
UPDATE: Uribe fingered as heads roll in wiretap scandal
President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia has been accused of ordering his intelligence agency to engage in illegal wiretapping of opposition politicians, members of the government, judges and journalists in a scandal that has rocked Colombia’s law enforcement apparatus. (more)
UPDATE: President Alvaro Uribe said Thursday that he has ordered a halt to wiretapping by Colombia's domestic intelligence agency as the fallout from an eavesdropping scandal prompted a fourth agency official to resign.
UPDATE: DAS director Felipe Muñoz accepted the resignation of his intelligence director, Muñoz said Thursday. Fernando Tabares if the fourth high official of Colombia's intelligence agency that is forced to leave after the institution was hit by its second wiretap scandal in half a year... The DAS director acknowleged that "there are USB sticks and cd's that have some evidence stored" of the illegal wiretapping of Supreme Court magistrates, media directors and opposition politicans.
UPDATE: Colombia spyservice to be allowed wiretaps again...
Colombia President Álvaro Uribe signed a law that returns the authority to conduct wiretaps to intelligence agency DAS, lawmakers say. The DAS was relieved from that authority ten days ago after news broke the agency was illegally wiretapping political opponents, judges and journalists. (more) (background 2007)
OK... "copy" "steal" we get the connection. But, geeezzz... an Asian man furtively leaving an office building at night, with a cardboard file box and a stockmarket chart in the background?!?! Nerd dudes, you have just alienated over 13-million American potential customers, and Hewlett Packard won't be pleased either. Duh!
Nobody likes spies, no matter where they come from, but let's keep things in perspective. Want to know what a spy looks like? Click on "What Does A Spy Look Like?".
Turkey - Though it’s illegal and subject to three years imprisonment, it seems there is no end to the wiretapping records that have been leaked to some Web sites. The wiretapping and its leakage to certain Web sites of a mobile phone conversation between Soner Gedik, (CFO and also) deputy chairman of the Doğan Media Group, and Mehmet Akif Ulusoy, commissioner of the Revenue Administration, constitute a grave example of this crime, daily Milliyet reported yesterday.
The timing of the leak is also very important as it came days after the Finance Ministry issued a 826 million lira levy against the DMG due to alleged tax evasion, one of the largest penalties set against a media institution. (more)
(from their press release)
The German security and film technology specialist HAVERKAMP gets ready for electronic bugging and eavesdropping as well as attacks involving harmful electromagnetic radiation...
As Ulrich Haverkamp, director of HAVERKAMP, stresses, "We know all too well the risks that are associated with wireless and open forms of communication which government institutions and companies are exposed to every day." It is important to bear something in mind: Almost all electronic devices transmit RF signals, as this is either their quintessential function, e.g. mobile phones or wireless microphones - or as technically unavoidable side effect, e.g. computer monitors or hard drives.
Regardless of whether the message is encrypted or not, a broad ‘open' path is made available, upon which information can easily escape from the building and land in the hands of competitors and eavesdroppers. (more)
Can this possibly work?
Think about it...
Do radio waves only travel through windows?
Does "reduced" signal leakage prevent interception?
What are the attenuation measurements?
Perhaps this would be effective if it were presented as part of a larger architectural shielding effort.
In my opinion, the inventors worked hard and developed a clever and potentially useful product. But, to promote a window film as a simple paste-on eavesdropping solution is neither credible, nor honest. If anything, this is one small part of a holistic solution.
Before you go down this road, call me for a map.
Prior art: see The Emperor's New Shades.
P.S. Yes, I know. The press release photo seems to show a parabolic microphone - an acoustic, not RF, method of eavesdropping. This does not make sense technically vis-à-vis the product, or to portray a viable eavesdropping attack.
Professor Thomas Little of Boston University would like your house lighting to communicate with your computer, TV, and even the heating thermostat. By piggybacking data communications on to LED lightbulbs, he hopes "smart lighting" will become the next generation of wireless communications technology.
...smart lighting is faster and more secure than current Wi-Fi for some uses. An LED lightbulb also uses less energy than radio frequency technology and its light won't go through walls – helping to eliminate eavesdropping. Existing wiring could carry data to smart lightbulbs, providing easy network access points throughout home or office. (more)
Sensitive corporate data are walking right out the door with disgruntled former employees. More than half of workers who lost or left a job in 2008 said they stole confidential company data... (more) Call us. We can help you.
Microsoft is known for keeping its paid subscriber stats for Xbox live close to its vest, so when the company said it had topped the 17 million subscriber mark during back-to-back presentations at CES, it was hard to put a financial value on that. ...based on a leaked Excel spreadsheet detailing Xbox Live’s paid subscriber stats for early 2008, sheds a bit of light on this black box: The report found that 60% of Xbox Live members in the U.S. were paying either an annual, three-month or monthly fee to use the service last February; worldwide subscriptions were slightly lower at 56%. (more) (more)
New York City - The Queens mother accused of hiring a hit man to kill her estranged husband bought a $740 spy camera the night before the murder, prosecutors said Tuesday. Mazoltuv Borukhova, 34, picked up the button-sized hidden camera from a spy supply store just before 6 p.m. on Oct. 27, 2007, prosecutor Brad Leventhal said. She called several times to make sure the shop would be open, he said. (more)
The Law Pertaining to the Sale of Eavesdropping Devices...(1) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter, any person who intentionally—(a) sends through the mail, or sends or carries in interstate or foreign commerce, any electronic, mechanical, or other device, knowing or having reason to know that the design of such device renders it primarily useful for the purpose of the surreptitious interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications;(b) manufactures, assembles, possesses, or sells any electronic, mechanical, or other device, knowing or having reason to know that the design of such device renders it primarily useful for the purpose of the surreptitious interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications, and that such device or any component thereof has been or will be sent through the mail or transported in interstate or foreign commerce; or(c) places in any newspaper, magazine, handbill, or other publication or disseminates by electronic means any advertisement of—(i) any electronic, mechanical, or other device knowing or having reason to know that the design of such device renders it primarily useful for the purpose of the surreptitious interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications; or... (see last paragraph)The Reality... even your local drug store has an unabashed Spy Shop isle!
Loud 'N Clear Personal Sound Amplifier
"The Loud N Clear listening device is cleverly designed to look like an expensive cell phone ear piece."
"So powerful, you can even hear conversations from across the street." (more) (more)
Listen Up Personal Sound Amplifier
"It's so powerful you can even hear the faintest whispers and conversations up to 100' away! Smaller than a credit card, fits easily into a purse, pocket or securely clips to a belt." (more)
But, of course, these items are "primarily useful" for things other than illegal eavesdropping... they're just promoted that way.
But wait!
There's more!
(ii) any other electronic, mechanical, or other device, where such advertisement promotes the use of such device for the purpose of the surreptitious interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications, knowing the content of the advertisement and knowing or having reason to know that such advertisement will be sent through the mail or transported in interstate or foreign commerce, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
Gottcha.
Colorado couple finds peephole reversed in Fla. hotel...
A trip to Florida was supposed to be filled with rest and relaxation. But it was more infuriating for a Highlands Ranch couple. Aaron and Amy Cali found a peephole in their room had been reversed. So people on the outside could look inside their room.
The couple ended a Caribbean cruise on Valentine's night at a Quality Inn in Hollywood, Fla. The next morning, Amy got a disturbing 
surprise. "I noticed a light coming from the hotel door about 3 feet up. I realized it was a peephole. I tried looking out of it and didn't see anything," says Amy. So, she went outside and looked in.
"You could see the entire hotel room, the bed, bathroom. You could see the entire room. Everything," she said. "We don't know if photos were taken. We don't know if videos were taken. We don't know who was looking, how many were looking." (more, with video)
Thoughts...
Hotel door peepholes are mandated by law. This door had two; one at regular height, and lower one three feet from the ground (ADA compliant for people in wheelchairs). The door opened onto an outside shared walkway – not a very safe area to sit and peep.
More likely, a mini wireless spycam was temporarily affixed to the door, with the receiver in another hotel room, or parked car. There, viewing / recording could be accomplished safely.
Additional police work we would like see...
• Check all other doors for reversed peepholes.
• If more than one is reversed, consider this a for-profit, organized crime.
• Match the rooms against customer records. Look for a pattern. The same person might have rented each room once, just to reverse the peepholes.
• Look for 'regular' customers. Are their rooms usually near the the 'reversed' rooms?
• Look for connections between the night managers / staff with any suspicious names found.
• Background check night managers / staff.
• Take a peephole photo. Try to match it with Internet voyeur site photos / movies. If a match is found, many more leads will open up.
• Check other hotels in the area for similar problems.
Hotels in the Hollywood, Florida area cater to young couples visiting on vacation, school breaks and cruise ships. The area is a rich target for pornography manufacturers. It is unlikely this is an isolated incident.
Still think this is an isolated incident?
University of Georgia
...every dorm room is equipped with a peephole in order to provide extra security and precaution for every student.
Yet, the extra security measure has been turned into a practical joke as a peculiar trend circulates through the residence halls - reversing peepholes so their principle function is to peer in on people, rather than allowing residents to peek out.
"I'm not quite sure who started it, but someone said, 'Hey, look in here,' so I did and I saw the people inside," said Ileana Figueroa, a freshman from Augusta residing in Lipscomb Hall in an interview last week.
"The peepholes are pretty easy to unscrew - all you have to do is have the door open," Figueroa said. "Everyone in our hall is pretty close so anything like this is just a joke."
Sam White and his roommate Peri Finch, who both reside in Lipscomb Hall, are victims of the peephole tampering trend... (more)
P.S. "Kramer and Newman did it in a Seinfeld episode so they could check to make sure no one was in their apartments waiting to jump them." ~Tim
Italian authorities have closed all legal action against McLaren for its part in a spy scandal with Ferrari, McLaren said Monday. (more)
Kazakstan's former defense minister Wednesday accused the country's intelligence services of conducting an illegal wiretapping campaign against him and other members of parliament... (more)The Finnish government may silence corporate whistleblowers by supporting a proposal backed by Nokia Oyj that would ease rules on monitoring workers’ emails... (more)EU's judicial cooperation agency Eurojust will take the lead in finding ways to help police and prosecutors across Europe to wiretap computer-to-computer phone conversations enabled by programs such as Skype... (more)
UPDATE - Eurojust retracted previous statements saying it was taking the lead in helping national authorities to wiretap Skype conversations, saying they were issued "prematurely" and were "incorrect"... Skype, a Danish-Swedish business developed by Estonian programmers that was sold to E-Bay in 2005 and has over 350 million customers worldwide, is said to be un-spyable by intelligence services. (more)Two more top deputies resigned from Colombia's domestic spy agency on Tuesday as prosecutors investigate allegations of improper eavesdropping on journalists, Supreme Court judges and opposition members... (more) Colombia has had issues in the past with wiretapping. In May 2007, the head of police intelligence and Colombia's police chief were forced to resign after an illegal interception of calls of political figures, government members, and, you guessed it, journalists... (more) Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe says he was unaware of the telephone bugging activities reportedly practised by the DAS domestic intelligence service... (more)
An Estonian court convicted a former top security official of treason Wednesday for passing on classified information to a foreign power in the Baltic country's biggest espionage scandal since the Cold War. (more)
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration failed to adequately protect a glamorous female spy when she was captured in Colombia in 1995, a Miami judge says. The former DEA informant, identified in court documents only as The Princess, is suing the agency for $33 million... (more)
Date: June 8-11, 2009 Venue: Davos, Switzerland Lecturers: Prof. David Basin and Prof. Ueli Maurer, ETH Zurich Organized by Barbara Geiser, Advanced Technology GroupFurther information and registration at www.infsec.ch----------------------------------------------------------------------A partial list of the topics covered includes:- Cryptography: Basic Concepts and Mathematical Foundations- Advanced Cryptography with Applications- PKI and Key Management- Nonrepudiation and Digital Evidence- System and Network Security- Web Application Security- Authentication, Authorization, and Access Control- Privacy and Usage Control- Digital payment systems- E-voting- Security Engineering- Selected advanced topicsThe material is presented in a self-contained way, understandable to a wide audience. The seminar is aimed at professionals ranging from system engineers and project managers to cryptographers and security experts, who wish to better understand, develop, or use systems employing modern security technologies.
NIST is revising its "Guide to Enterprise Telework and Remote Access Security," which was first published in 2002. A draft of Special Publication 800-46 Revision 1 has been released for public comment. It is intended to help organizations understand and mitigate the risks of teleworking, emphasizing the importance of securing sensitive information stored on telework devices and transmitted across external networks. The draft also provides recommendations for selecting, implementing, and maintaining the necessary security controls. (more)
MI - Brandon D. King of Bay City, who was convicted of videotaping a woman changing clothes inside a Target fitting room, is serving three months of electronic monitoring for violating probation. ...initially sentenced King to three years of probation for using an eavesdropping device to watch the 24-year-old woman, clad in undergarments, try on a pair of shorts June 12, 2007, at the store, 2272 Tittabawassee, Kochville Township.Sheriff's deputies said the victim was changing clothes when she noticed a pair of hands holding a Sony video camera under the wall. (more)
Twenty years after the end of the Cold War, Vienna remains a spy haven, swarming with foreign agents who think nothing of killing in broad daylight, while the Austrian authorities turn a blind eye, experts say. Vienna formed the backdrop to Orson Welles's legendary spy thriller "The Third Man" in 1949, but even today it remains a hive of secret service activity.
"Austria is still a favourite place for agents. They're frequently known to the authorities, but rarely hindered. Everything is handled courteously and diplomatically. There's a long tradition in that," said Siegfried Beer, director of the Austrian Centre for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies (ACIPSS), at the University of Graz. (more)
Cell phones belonging to hospital staff were found to be tainted with bacteria, including the drug-resistant MRSA superbug, and may be a source of hospital-acquired infections, according to a new study.
use a cleaning - like right now. Solutions: compressed air, cotton swabs, lint-free cloth, cleaning fluids, antibacterial wet wipes and sprays. "But wait." Look what I found! A new crud-goop product which is easier and more fun to use. (video) (ebay)
