Spybusters - Top Ten Spybusting Tips

(cover story - Plaintiff Magazine, June '09)
Who are these snoops?
Snoops can be competitors, vendors, investigators, business intelligence consultants, colleagues vying for positions, overbearing bosses, suspicious partners, the press, labor negotiators, government agencies. The list is long.

Why would I be a target?
Money and power are the top two reasons behind illegal surveillance. If anything you say or write could increase someone else’s wealth or influence, you are a target.

Is snooping common?
Yes. The news is full of stories about stolen information. In fact, many news stories themselves begin with leaks.

Can I protect myself?
Yes. Espionage is preventable. If... (full article)

Doctor Probed in Sex Video Case

Philippines - A three-pronged probe by the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) and possible wiretap charges await celebrity doctor Hayden Kho over his sex videos posted online. PMA spokesman Bu Castro said in a radio interview the PMA has formed a committee to look into the claims against Kho for conduct unbecoming of a doctor. (more)

Spies Hitting Financial Industry Center

Thanks to its status as a financial centre, Switzerland is seeing a sharp rise in spying activities amid the global economic crisis, the Swiss intelligence service told AFP.

"We have seen a general interest for financial information," Juerg Buehler, who heads the service, part of the defence ministry, said in an interview. "This trend is reinforced with the financial crisis and competition between financial centres..."

Given the rising risks of foreign intelligence penetration, Buehler said his service is trying to make the banking industry aware of the dangers.

But he acknowledged that "we cannot have police patrolling in front of every bank". (more)

Side note: Most financial institutions already retain the services of eavesdropping detection / counterespionage consulting firms. ~Kevin

SpyCam Story #538 - "Craigslist? CRAIGSlist!?!?"

"Ok, mom, we get it."
MA - Two sisters in Quincy say a roommate they found on Craigslist was spying on them.

Police arrested 42-year-old Deryck Reid after one of the sisters says she stepped out of the shower and Reid was pointing a cell phone camera in her direction.

Police searched the apartment on Nightingale Avenue in South Quincy and found video equipment, laptops and a camcorder in Reid's room.

Police say that Reid may have committed similar crimes in the past. (more)

2008 U.S. Wiretap Report (with chart)

US - State and Federal Wiretapping Decreases in 2008
A recent report releases information on 2008 state and federal wiretapping programs.
1,891: Wiretaps authorized by federal and state courts in 2008
14: Percentage decrease in wiretaps from 2007 to 2008
386: Number of applications by federal authorities for wiretaps in 2008
1,505: Number of applications by state authorities for wiretaps in 2008
41 days: Average operating time for a wiretap
92: Average number of people whose communications were intercepted per wiretap order
(more)

$$$ - Zap the Tapper - Get Yourself 4 Big Ones

The Colombian government offers a 200 million peso (US$ 90 thousand) reward for information leading to those who ordered the illegal wiretapping carried out by Colombia's intelligence service DAS. (more)

SpyCam Story #537 - Stalk the Stalkers

Until recently, it has been a one-way transmission path for spycamers. They see you. (click photo to enlarge)

A few years ago, a product came on the market that lets you see what the stalkers are stalking using their wireless cameras in the 900 MHz - 2.4 Ghz frequency range. Great, but what about all the new spycams being sold which operate in the 5.8 GHz range?

Just released is the VS-125 by Suresafe Technology, Inc. It covers the missing band 5.8 GHz band and has a few other surprises as well. It scans the 1.2 GHz and 2.4 GHz bands... simultaneously. It also demodulates audio so you can hear as well as see. (more)

How much does it cost? $450.USD, plus any bank transfer charges and shipping. ~Kevin

Wife May Use Husband's E-Mails in Divorce Case

In an upcoming divorce trial, a Brooklyn woman may introduce e-mails surreptitiously culled from her estranged husband's e-mail account as evidence of his scheme to hide his true income, a Supreme Court judge has ruled.

Justice Jeffrey S. Sunshine said the woman's accessing of her husband's account did not constitute "eavesdropping" under New York's Penal Law and therefore does not render the e-mails inadmissible.

The decision turned on the fact that the wife looked at e-mails stored in her husband's account, rather than intercepting e-mails while they were "in transit" to him. (more)

When it's in the soaps...

...you know anyone can afford, and will use, bugs.

Nick goes to the Ranch to speak to Victor and Adam opens the door. They tussle over a package that was on the stoop. Nick says he doesn't trust him - he tried to frame their father! Adam says the package is just braille computer programs. Adam stages a stumble to distract Nick, who leaves in a huff. Adam opens the box - it looks like bugging devices! He decides to test them out - he wires the house up and grins as he realizes that they work! (The Young and the Restless)

Button Hole Camera has Nice Ring to it

It takes covert photos.
It records video movies.
It captures sound, too!

And... you never need to tip your hand by touching any On / Off / Record switches. Just tip your hand wearing the golden ring and the camera magically does your spy bidding. Just make sure your shirt has black buttons. (more)

Why do I mention it?
So you will know what you're up against.

Eavesdropping on Wi-Fi Eavesdroppers

via Eric Geier, enterpriseitplanet.com...
When I discuss Wi-Fi security, I try to demonstrate what a Wi-Fi eavesdropper or hacker could see from an unencrypted wireless network. This way you can imagine what someone from the parking lot or nearby can see of the data traveling between you and the access point (AP)... In this article, we'll look at several different online and network services or communication types that are vulnerable to sniffing or capturing by eavesdroppers. Along the way, I'll give tips on how you could secure them, over and above encrypting the entire link. (more)

I agree with Eric and show my clients how easy it is to intercept unencrypted transmission, too. We use similar techniques. There is just something about actually seeing it which makes it very real. You'll never trust a public Wi-Fi hot spot again. ~Kevin

Another Watergate Burglar Dies

Bernard Leon Barker was a hero to many, first as a World War II flier and prisoner of war, later as a CIA operative working to overthrow Fidel Castro. But he is best remembered as a White House ''plumber:'' one of the burglars whose break-in helped topple a U.S. president.

He died Friday at the Veteran's Administration Medical Center in Miami at 92.

Barker -- nicknamed ''Macho'' as an infant -- was a protégé of the late E. Howard Hunt, the CIA mastermind who planned the Bay of Pigs and Watergate operations. (more)

via Wikipedia...
"After Barker's release from prison, he worked as a building inspector for the city of Miami, Florida, earning $18,512 per year. He elected early retirement in 1982 rather than fight proceedings seeking his dismissal for loafing on the job." (more)

Spy Pens Online

Would you believe... a blog about spy pens?
spypensonline.com is a brand new blog.
We'll keep an eye on it.

"Spy pen camera’s are the ideal tool for covert surveillance. But before buying one, here's a few things you must consider..." (more)

SpyCam Story #536 - Insight

In China, video cameras are being installed in almost 60,000 examination halls to prevent cheating in next week's national college entrance exams. In the past, some students have been caught using hi-tech equipment, including tiny radio receivers, to get help with exam questions.

In April, eight parents and teachers caught helping children cheat were sentenced to prison. China takes the cheating very seriously. (more)

Just when you thought they ran out of spies...

Lebanon's military prosecutor charged 10 more Lebanese with spying for Israel, bringing to 55 the total this year, a judicial source said. Four of those charged were already in custody, having been detained on suspicion of the crime, and the other six have yet to be arrested. (more)

It's not a book. It's not a movie. It's real.

Trial of CIA, Italian agents provides rare look at intelligence work... Testimony about the alleged 'rendition' of Egyptian Abu Omar features feuds and rogue conduct in a case that has apparently made and crushed careers. (more)

SpyCam Story #535 - SpyCam Saves Life

TX - When a 3-year-old patient kept having setbacks during her recovery, doctors at Dell Children's Medical Center suspected that the child's mother was to blame, Austin police said Wednesday.

They set up a hidden camera in the child's hospital room that police and court records said soon recorded Emily Beth McDonald smearing human waste on the girl's intravenous line, which can cause potentially life-threatening illnesses. (more)

UPDATE - An Austin woman has been accused of repeatedly smearing human waste on her 3-year-old daughter's intravenous feeding line, potentially causing life-threatening infections.

Emily Beth McDonald, 23, was charged with felony injury to a child.

According to an arrest affidavit, a surveillance video at Dell Children's Medical Center captured McDonald placing feces from a soiled diaper on the cap of a tube with a direct link to the child's bloodstream. (more)

Silvio's Wiretap Crusade Marches On

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi does not rule out a vote of confidence on the wiretap bill. Speaking to SkyTg24 he stated that "It would be better not to have a vote of confidence, but if we run into the slightest opposition we will immediately call a vote of confidence". Berlusconi pointed out that wiretaps cost the State 400 million euro every year, and that "the right to privacy is fundamental". (more) (background)

Photographers – Next on The List
Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has reacted angrily to the publication in Spain of photographs showing topless women and a naked man at his villa. He has threatened to sue Spain's El Pais newspaper, calling the photos an invasion of privacy. The photos - banned in Italy on privacy grounds - were taken from outside Mr Berlusconi's villa in Sardinia during a party for a Czech delegation. (more)

SpyCam Story #534 - Almost Identical to #531

NY - West Seneca Police have arrested a man they say used a camera to spy on his ex-girlfriends teenage daughter. Police say 38-year old Richard R. Vieira installed the camera inside the 19-year old's bedroom and videotaped her getting undressed. Police say Vieira had DVD copies of the video. Vieira's ex-girlfriend discovered the camera equipment but only after Vieira had already moved out of her home. (more)

Fuzzbusters Busted - Bug held photo of bugger

Korea - Two reporters from a local news agency were taken into custody on suspicion of attempting to eavesdrop on a meeting convened by the national police chief, investigators said yesterday.

According to police, the journalists installed a small recorder at a restaurant in Suwon, some 46 kilometers (29 miles) south of Seoul, where National Police Agency Commissioner Kang Hee-rak was hosting a dinner with senior police officers. (more)

UPDATE - The Gyeonggi Police Agency said the reporters from Asia News Agency installed an MP3 player with recording function on the ceiling of a restaurant in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, where National Police Agency Commissioner Kang Hee-rak was hosting a banquet Thursday for nearly 40 senior police officers in the province.

The event was held after Kang's regular inspection of police stations there, police said.

Choi Won-il, who was at the banquet, said, "At around 8:20, a restaurant employee informed me that a couple of people with suspicious gadgets had dropped by the restaurant before the dinner began."

Choi and restaurant employees searched the venue and found a recorder attached to the ceiling.

Police found a picture of one of the reporters saved on the gadget. During questioning, the journalist confessed to having installed the recorder with two other colleagues. (more)

SpyCam Story #533 - Blinky the TV Spy

The California Supreme Court seemed unlikely Wednesday to authorize employers to spy on their workers with hidden cameras.

At the same time, some members of the state high court appeared skeptical that two women who discovered a surveillance camera in their office had suffered serious harm. The women said they suffered emotional distress when they discovered the camera by chance after noticing a blinking red light. (more)

Suit Suits the Black Suits - EFF & ACLU Dispute

A U.S. District Court on Wednesday dismissed lawsuits against telecommunications companies in a warrantless wiretap case, ruling that former President George W. Bush's administration had properly requested the cases closed for national security reasons.

Companies including AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc faced dozens of suits accusing them of improper participation in a warrantless wiretap program launched by Bush after the September 11 attack...

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union, which are coordinating the cases, said they would appeal, arguing the amended act was unconstitutional. (more)

"How silly can you get?"

US - The Pentagon may have issued top-secret clearances last year to as many as one-in-four applicants who had "significant derogatory information" in their backgrounds, including a record of foreign influence or criminal conduct, a little-noticed government audit says. (more) (sing-a-long)

Ok, so your company is not The Pentagon, but it is as important to you as the United States is to a General. You depend on your employees not picking your intellectual pockets.
• Do you conduct background checks on key employees?
• Do you have them sign an intellectual property agreement?
• Do you have legally acceptable security measures in place?
• When was the last time you had your offices checked for illegal electronic surveillance?

UPDATE (the very next day) - A Pentagon official with "top secret" security Clearance has been charged with conspiracy to pass classified information to an Agent of China, officials said Wednesday.

Retired air force Lieutenant Colonel James Wilbur Fondren, a deputy Director of the US Pacific Command's Washington Liaison Office, became the fourth person targeted after a Chinese espionage ring was unmasked last year. (more)

How to Spy on Your Kid Online

via Fox News...
Trust, But Verify
"The difference between responsible monitoring and spying is the 'Gotcha' factor," says Nurit Sheinberg, Ed.D., director of research and evaluation at the Mailman Segal Institute for Early Childhood Studies at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, FL. If your kids don't know you'll be monitoring their use and you find something and go "Gotcha!" they'll be shocked and probably resentful, and may start hiding things from you. So once you decide how much and what kind of monitoring you'll do, let them in on it.

Your honesty has its perks: If they know you're watching, their self-monitoring instinct will likely kick in. (Of course, kids are masters at finding ways around parental control — more on that later.) One of the best things you can do: Put the computer in a central location. There's no better way to keep an eye on things than to be able to wander by and casually say, "Hey, what website is that?"

Yes, you want to trust your kids. But they're kids — relying on their word may not be enough to keep them safe. (more)

SpyCam Story #532 - "The doctor will see you now."

Philippines - Hayden Kho Jr. already said he was to blame for covertly filming his sexual encounters with women. The controversial doctor said he did not upload the video on the Web, and that someone was out to destroy his reputation by leaking those ‘stolen’ videos. But one of the last basic questions that remain unanswered is, “Why did he have the habit of recording his sex acts?" Unfortunately, the controversial doctor has no answer to this question. He said he has been consulting with a psychologist since last year just to get the answers to this question. (more)

SpyCam Story #531 - Bug in the Bathroom

OH - A Casstown-area man is accused of using a spy camera in the bathroom of his home to videotape a 19-year-old female. On Wednesday morning, 43-year-old John Miller was arraigned on charges of wiretapping, three counts of voyeurism, a charge of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Miller’s bond was set at $11,000. He remains in jail. (more)

Corrections officer sentenced for attempted eavesdropping

MI - William James Johnson, 34, of 127 Michigan Ave., Gladstone, was sentenced to 90 days in the Menominee County Jail on a charge of attempted eavesdropping/installing a device. He is scheduled to report to the jail by 8 p.m. Friday.

According to court records, Johnson attempted to install in the Delta County Sheriff's Department, without the consent of the sheriff, a device for "observing, recording, transmitting, photographing or eavesdropping." (more)

iPhone SpyWare

from the Web site...
"Mobile Spy is proud to announce the availability of the world's first commercial spy software for the Apple iPhone. Now you can use the powerful monitoring features of Mobile Spy on your iPhone! Works with ALL iPhones!

Mobile Spy will reveal the truth for any company or family using Apple smartphones. You will SILENTLY learn the truth about their calls, text messages and GPS locations by logging into your Mobile Spy account from any web browser." (more)

Why do I mention it?
So you will know what you're up against.

Fight Fire With Fire, Get Fired?

IL - A firefighter in the northern Illinois community of Sycamore has been charged with eavesdropping.

Authorities contend 42-year-old Kurt Mathey recorded a conversation between his fire chief and an assistant chief without their knowledge.

Mathey is out on bond after being indicted on one count of felony eavesdropping. He's on administrative leave from the department.

Mathey is the former president of Sycamore's firefighters union, which has been in heated negotiations with the city for several months. (more)

TSCM Technical Security Officer - Job Opening

Shift: None
Type of Travel: Continental US, Outside Continental US - Hazard, Local
Percent of Travel Required: Up to 75%
Description: The candidate will assist in all aspects of of TSCM management that involves technical security (including TEMPEST) entailing new construction, modification, accreditation, re-accreditation, withdrawal and advice and assistance (SAV). The candidate will help schedule and perform TSCM evaluations and security staff visits of facilities locate CONUS/OCONUS, provide comprehensive, risk-based technical security advice, guidance, and general security support to program offices and contractor facility security offices. The candidate will prepare written correspondence to include facility file reports, cable messages, approvals, status/technical briefs and inspections reports, SAV reports, maintain databases; which includes entering new data and correspondence and quality controlling file records. Conduct analysis of complex technical, surveillance, counter surveillance, surveillance detection or other technical vulnerabilities. Provide technical support to projects in areas such as training, logistics, acquisition and technical counterintelligence investigations. Assists in developing and monitoring project tasks and schedules. Maintain a thorough knowledge of all technical security governing directives. The candidate must be a graduate of the Interagency Training Center for TSCM and an EXPERT in two of the following areas: a) Counterintelligence , b)Automated Information Systems, c) Lock and Key Control Systems, d) Access Control Systems, g) TEMPEST, h) DoD SCIF construction standards. Experience using a variety of ADP systems that include Microsoft Office applications (e.g. Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint). Requires a Bachelors degree and 10-12 years experience. (more)

"Hazard," ok.
PowerPoint?!?... I'm outta here.

Time to Review and Clean Up Your On Line Act

via Tamara Thompson, PI Magazine...
Intelius is the ubiquitous Internet provider of background reports — serving the consumer hungry for criminal records and other dirt on potential dates, family members and service providers — but more expensive and not as comprehensive as professional databases...

Spock is a fee-based search engine — with a free teaser — for finding social networking profiles. Spock crawls websites, matching the personal information you provide, then returns the links. You’ll probably get more results from snitch.name, Wink or Pipl, and more refined returns from an advanced query at the top search engines. (more)

Time to run your name and delete those old college party photos before you hand in that resume. ~Kevin

Nuke Web Page Nuked

The federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked “highly confidential,” that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation’s civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons...

On Tuesday evening, after inquiries from The New York Times, the document was withdrawn from a Government Printing Office Web site. (more)

Finished feeling smug? Now, go check your corporate web site, marketing department, Boardroom and secretarial desks to see what confidential materials you have out for the taking. ~Kevin

First Economic Espionage Trial in California

CA - Dongfan "Greg" Chung developed a reputation as an innovator during his three decades as an engineer for Boeing Co. and Rockwell International.

Federal prosecutors say he was also a hardworking spy.

On Tuesday, Chung is scheduled to become the first person to stand trial under the Economic Espionage Act, which was passed more than a decade ago.

Prosecutors say the Chinese-born Chung, 73, stole hundreds of thousands of pages of highly sensitive documents on the U.S. space shuttle, Delta IV rockets and the C-17 military troop transport, then relayed the secrets to contacts in China. (more)

Ever Wonder How-to...

...eavesdrop with a cell phone
...hack a cell phone into a spy device
...make a spy listening bug for $20
...build a laser microphone
...build a spy microphone
...hack a Mr. Microphone into a high tech spy device
...make a high-tech spy stethoscope
...make a portable spy scope cellphone camera
...make your own spy sunglasses
...build a $40 USB spy telescope
...spy on friends with a hidden camera
...spy on your partner
...build a wireless finger phone
Ok, I'll stop.
You get the point.
There is no shortage of creative minds out there.

By the way, there has never been a time in history when spying has been easier or cheaper for the average person. ~Kevin

SpyCam Story #530 - "Shrimps in the barbie."

An Antwerp man was indicted Wednesday by a Jefferson County grand jury on a charge that he used a spycam to watch people in his bathroom.

Dennis J. Koerick Jr., 44, of 35558 Pulpit Rock Road, faces two counts of second-degree unlawful surveillance and one count each of tampering with physical evidence and making a punishable false written statement.

Mr. Koerick is accused of using the tiny camera between Dec. 10 and 15 and then burning it and a computer in an outdoor wood-burning boiler before police could question him. He is further accused of telling police Dec. 18 that he was unaware that a camera was installed in his bathroom. (more)

"Do you or do you not have tattooed on your bottom the words 'Jesus is coming, look busy'? "

via Wired...
Yet another breach of sensitive, unencrypted data is making news in the United Kingdom. This time the breach puts Royal Air Force staff at serious risk of being targeted for blackmail by foreign intelligence services or others.

The breach involves audio recordings with high-ranking air force officers who were being interviewed in-depth for a security clearance. In the interviews, the officers disclosed information about extra-marital affairs, drug abuse, visits to prostitutes, medical conditions, criminal convictions and debt histories — information the military needed to determine their security risk.

The recordings were stored on three unencrypted hard drives that disappeared last year. (more) (more) (heading quote)

Can't Touch This! ~MIB

DC - This part happens all the time: A construction crew putting up an office building in the heart of Tysons Corner a few years ago hit a fiber optic cable no one knew was there.

This part doesn't: Within moments, three black sport-utility vehicles drove up, a half-dozen men in suits jumped out and one said, "You just hit our line."

Whose line, you may ask? The guys in suits didn't say, recalled Aaron Georgelas, whose company, the Georgelas Group, was developing the Greensboro Corporate Center on Spring Hill Road. But Georgelas assumed that he was dealing with the federal government and that the cable in question was "black" wire -- a secure communications line used for some of the nation's most secretive intelligence-gathering operations.

"The construction manager was shocked," Georgelas recalled. "He had never seen a line get cut and people show up within seconds. Usually you've got to figure out whose line it is. To garner that kind of response that quickly was amazing." (more) (sing-a-long)
...and then he forgot all about it.

Everything You Need to Know about Electronic Eavesdropping Detection for Business

“Should we be checking check for bugs and wiretaps, or am I just being paranoid?”

This thought would not have occurred to you if everything were fine. Trust your instincts. Something is wrong. Eavesdropping is a common practice; so are regular inspections to detect it.

You never hear about successful eavesdropping or espionage attacks. You’re not supposed to. It’s a covert act. Eavesdropping and espionage is invisible. Discovery relies heavily on the victim’s intuition and preparedness to handle the problem. Prevention—via regular inspections—is the logical and cost-effective solution.

Spying Is a Common Activity
Due to the covert nature of spying, the exact... (Full Article)

How do you sell end to end data encryption?

With the world's coolest data breach map!
Guaranteed to scare the dollars out of any tight-fisted CFO. ~Kevin

Round of applause to the curators of
The Museum of Bitten Bytes...
DataLossDB is a research project aimed at documenting known and reported data loss incidents world-wide. The effort is now a community one, and with the move to Open Security Foundation's DataLossDB.org, asks for contributions of new incidents and new data for existing incidents.

Police bugging incident claims another cop

MN - Another member of the Gaylord Police Department is on paid administrative leave in an alleged "bugging" scheme.

The Gaylord City Council has voted unanimously to place Officer Tom Webster on leave until further notice. The move stems from charges filed against Gaylord Police Chief Dale Roiger over allegations that he had Webster plant a recording device in the Gaylord Chamber of Commerce office two years ago. (more) (background)

Napoleon Returns to Face Eavesdropping Charge

IL - A man who ran from a sentencing hearing and spent 10 years in Missouri returned to a Illinois courtroom on Friday to face the same judge. The judge gave him three years in prison and a scolding...

Authorities say Napoleon Williams, now 54 years old, made audio tapes of two people and broadcast their words without their consent on an independent radio station.

In 1998, a jury found him guilty of felony eavesdropping. (more)

The rest of the story...
The "broadcasts" Napoleon made were over his pirate FM radio station, "BLR" Black Liberation Radio. It only covered about a 10 block area of town. While I was there, I heard several of these broadcasts. The story of Napoleon's station and his dealings with the FCC and local law enforcement are the real story.

In 1999, just before he was about to be sentenced, Napoleon vanished. He wrote letters explaining his case. You can find them posted on the Net. He remained underground until now.

People may disagree with his views and tactics, but all should agree that he has a place in history. He is one of the founders of the U.S. microradio movement. Low-power FM radio is legal today. (more) (more) (more)

FutureWatch - ChipCam

A MICROCHIP-sized digital camera patented by the California Institute of Technology could provide vision for the US military's insect-sized aircraft. It is light enough to be carried by these tiny surveillance drones and also uses very little power.

Caltech's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena has squeezed all the components of a camera onto one low-power chip, revealed in a US patent filed last week.

The gadget can be radio-controlled via a secure frequency-hopping link from up to a kilometre away, say its inventors. (more)

Spy Needs New Home

MT - A Cold War spy plane with three tail fins and a hump on the fuselage needs a new home after being parked in Helena since 1981.

The retired EC-121, a version of which transported President Eisenhower from 1954-61, flew here 28 years ago for use in aviation maintenance classes. The military adaptation of the Lockheed Constellation taxied now and then, but mostly it has stood idle next to a hangar at the University of Montana's Helena College of Technology.

The college no longer wants the old Air Force plane... equipped to snoop on enemy aircraft during the Cold War that followed World War II. The surveillance planes carried radar in domes atop and below the fuselage. (more)

Cool SpyCam... Except, you don't smoke!

Lighter Spy Camcorder with built-in 2GB memory, recharegable Li-ion battery, light weight and easy to carry design. $66.00 (more)

Soooo, if you don't smoke, how about a nice key chain camera? (more)

Why do we mention it?
So you will know what you're up against.

Simple Clues May Indicate Cell Phone Bugging

Watch out for:
• Unexplained drops in battery power.
• Random screen flashes.
• Unusual billing activity.
• Text messages with random numbers and symbols.
Of course, lock your phone with a password and pop out the battery (if you can) for added security. (more)

Background Check Goes Undercover

Croatia - The manager of a Croatian subsidiary of Germany's Deutsche Telekom has said she will sue the parent company after a report that it spied on her sex life, Croatian media reported on Tuesday...

Deutsche Telekom said last week it did not routinely commission reports on the private lives of potential staff, although the allegations are the latest in a series of scandals to have rocked the company. (more)

Last year, authorities informed Schroeder that Deutsche Telekom had secretly combed through his cellphone records, apparently to root out the source of leaks to the news media. Schroeder, a union representative on the company's board of supervisors, was stunned. (more)

"While you're down there, check on the Constitution."

The National Archives lost a computer hard drive containing Clinton administration records, including personal data of staffers and visitors, officials said.
Archives officials say they don't know how many confidential records -- including Social Security numbers -- are on the external hard drive, CNN reported.

Congressional aides briefed on the matter said the drive had "more than 100,000" Social Security numbers, including one for a daughter of then-Vice President Al Gore, as well as Secret Service and White House operating procedures. (more)

Acting National Archives director Adrienne Thomas is being pilloried for Tuesday's revelation that the library has misplaced a hard drive containing enough Clinton administration data—including Social Security numbers, addresses, and Secret Service operating procedures—to fill literally millions of books. But important government documents have walked out of the storied library before—and not just in a Nicolas Cage movie. Despite a security system worthy of an adventure flick, the National Archives and Records Administration has long been a prime target for pilfering. (more)

Hobbiest Spies

In the propaganda blitz that followed North Korea's missile launch last month, the country's state media released photos of leader Kim Jong Il visiting a hydroelectric dam and power station.

Images from the report showed two large pipes descending a hillside. That was enough to allow Curtis Melvin, a doctoral candidate at George Mason University in suburban Virginia, to pinpoint the installation on his online map of North Korea.

Mr. Melvin is at the center of a dozen or so citizen snoops who have spent the past two years filling in the blanks on the map of one of the world's most secretive countries. Seeking clues in photos, news reports and eyewitness accounts, they affix labels to North Korean structures and landscapes captured by Google Earth, an online service that stitches satellite pictures into a virtual globe. The result is an annotated North Korea of rocket-launch sites, prison camps and elite palaces on white-sand beaches.

"It's democratized intelligence," says Mr. Melvin. (more)

FutureWatch - 100% Vehicle Tracking

UK - A national network of cameras and computers automatically logging car number plates will be in place within months...

Thousands of Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras are already operating on Britain's roads. Police forces across England, Wales and Scotland will soon be able to share the information on one central computer. Officers say it is a useful tool in fighting crime, but critics say the network is secretive and unregulated.

Kent's Chief Constable, Michael Fuller, commented: "We've seen an increase of some 40% of arrests since we've been using this technology. "I'm very confident that we're using it properly and responsibly, and that innocent people have nothing to fear from the way we use it." (more)

Remember the uproar over how RFID toll tags (E-ZPass, FasTrak, I-Pass, etc.) were a threat to privacy? No? Oh well, that was back near the top of the slope. Slippery, isn't it? Hey, what's that down there? Wow, a remote DNA reader!

"Social engineering has become the confidence trick of the 21st century."

TSCM is an acronym for Technical Surveillance Countermeasures; inspecting for bugs, wiretaps, etc.. It is a standard tool used to protect an organization's information.

Thwarting human trickery (social engineering) is also defense tool. Good information security consultants take both into account when designing information protection programs.

The BBC recently reported...
Have you ever wondered whether that unfamiliar face in the office is actually an intruder about to steal your data? Probably not, but maybe it is time to think again.

At one FTSE-listed financial institution the managing director himself opened the door to a stranger who, within 20 minutes of gaining entry to the building, had found a highly sensitive document outlining a half a billion pound merger lying on a desk.

Luckily, on this occasion, the data was not used for nefarious purposes because the intruder was Colin Greenlees, a consultant of Siemens Enterprise Communications.

He was there at the request of the firm's IT director to test the resilience of the company to social engineering attacks.

In a similar experiment conducted at the BBC, Mr Greenlees targeted five BBC employees. Pretending to be an IT engineer - with the prior permission of BBC bosses - he managed to obtain all of their usernames and passwords with a simple phone call. (more)