Cell Phone Spying (video)

Cell Phone Privacy
Everything you need to know about protecting your privacy while using mobile and cordless phones.

Quote of the Week - Corporate Spies

“In an increasingly fragmented geopolitical environment, the balance seems to be shifting away from governments and toward corporate and even private individuals, who have access to more intelligence and information-gathering abilities than many governments in history ever had.” (more)

Eamon Javers, author - Broker, Trader, Lawyer, Spy: The Secret World of Corporate Espionage

How Elvis Presley Got an "Ultra-Secure" Passport...

...a fascinating and unsettling story by Mark Nestmann.

Elvis died in 1977. But that didn’t prevent hackers from inserting his digital photo into a U.K. passport, and using it at a self-service passport machine at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport to gain clearance to board a plane.

This incident occurred in September 2008. But this security vulnerability persists, as proven by the recent assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a senior Hamas operative, in a Dubai hotel on January 20. (more)

I created the Elvis passport using Photoshop and images from the net to provide a sense of what can be done with digital manipulation. This amateur creation only took about 15 minutes to make. Professional artists at government spy agencies devote more time to their projects. Their creations are almost indistinguishable from authentic documents.

Supervisors order surveillance sweeps for 'bugs'

Although Eavesdropping Detection Audits are a generally accepted good business practice, they rarely make news. This report details the costs, frequency and rational behind the effort. 

CA - San Bernardino County supervisors spent $22,500 last month to sweep their offices and other parts of the government center for secret recording devices and other hidden surveillance equipment.
The first sweep of the fourth and fifth floors of the county building occurred Jan. 23, and the purchase order provides for four more sweeps at undisclosed future dates...

In all, David Wert, county spokesperson said, the county has spent $42,865 on sweeps in recent years but refused to disclose when previous sweeps occured...

In a brief statement, Board of Supervisors Chairman Gary Ovitt said that: "All surveillance measures taken by the County are to ensure integrity in the decision-making process as well as the safety of those who work at the county. We work hand-in-hand with public safety officials while developing these measures to ensure those objectives are met."

Wert said taxpayers are put at risk when sensitive information relating to official county business is leaked because it opens the doors for potential costly litigation.

"It puts the taxpayers at a disadvantage in the courtroom and at the negotiating table," he said. (more)

If you are not protecting your organization's operational integrity, please give me a call. I can help you develop a rational and effective eavesdropping detection program with a strong overall counterespionage component.

Chinese Take Out

FBI surveillance video made public reveals details of a Chinese espionage operation to obtain secrets from the Pentagon through a group of Americans who spied for China. 

The rare video footage was the high point of a multiyear investigation into Chinese espionage carried out by a ring of military intelligence agents operating from Guangzhou, China. 

The tape, made public by CBS' "60 Minutes," was recorded in 2007 with two cameras hidden in a rental car during the investigation of Pentagon analyst Gregg W. Bergersen. The video reveals Bergersen pocketing a wad of about $2,000 in cash from Kuo Tai-shen, a Taiwanese-born spy for the People's Republic of China. (more)

CBS News Video

"Give thy thoughts no tongue."

Whatever you do, whatever you see this season, do not miss Oregon Shakespeare Festival's production of "Hamlet."

 

Director Bill Rauch and Dan Donohue have dragged Shakespeare's venerated classic into the world of 2010 and given us an edgy, topical and intimate examination of those dastardly doings in Denmark...

It is Rauch's vision to put Hamlet into current time and place. ... Rauch's Denmark is a full-blown security state. Even the ancient castle walls come equipped with security cameras, guards with assault rifles. Claudius and Polonius don't have to eavesdrop on Hamlet and Ophelia — she wears a wire. In this milieu, Hamlet's irrational acts and speech throw everyone off balance, making them that much more vulnerable. (more)

SpyCam Story #572 - A Deranged Design

Indianapolis - Metro police are investigating an unusual case of voyeurism. Police arrested 40-year-old David Delagrange for spying on women with an elaborate camera system. Investigators say Delagrange, an engineer from Fort Wayne, rigged the sophisticated system in his right shoe and operated it through a cable in his pants. Monday, police showed the wiring they reportedly found inside his jeans. They say the wires connected to a tiny camera. "It was kind of sticking out, just in front of the cuff of the pants, over the tie of the shoe," said Sgt. Mount. (more)

SpyCam Story #571 - Act Naturally

Australia - Mark Robert Stratford, 49, was employed as director of drama at Lauriston Girls' School. The former drama teacher of a Melbourne girls' school has pleaded guilty to installing a spy camera to capture students undressing. (more)

Security Director News - See through their eyes

Awesome new technology with a major security impact. 

Yes, it has been tried before. But, never this slick, and with hardware you already own.

What if you were able to locate any member of your field staff — and see what they are seeing in real time? 

What if you could be in ten places at once?

Or 100, or even 1,000? 

That would be very powerful.

Now, what if anyone on your team could simultaneously view critical information appearing on a computer screen back at headquarters or at a remote location? 

That would open up a whole new world of possibilities. 

Reality Mobile has made it possible to share any kind of information with anyone in your organization at any time. 

Bonus... You can do all of this with equipment you probably already own. And it works virtually anywhere on the planet.
("How it works" video)

Attention uniform manufacturer!
Time to incorporate CCTV button cameras into your designs.

Remember when teachers only had extra eyes ...in the back of their heads?

UPDATES
• The lawsuit.
• Detailed technical insights on how this was accomplished.
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation is now investigating whether the school broke any federal wiretap laws when it remotely spied on a student at home, an anonymous official told the Associated Press.
• A federal grand jury has also subpoenaed the school for records related to the so-called "security" measures implemented on the laptops that allowed officials to activate the webcams to see people using them, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
• County DA - "We're going to be looking into the situation to see if a criminal investigation is warranted.
• A federal judge ordered the Pennsylvania school district to stop activating the cameras.

PA - A suburban Philadelphia school district remotely activates the cameras in school-provided laptops to spy on students in their homes, a lawsuit filed in federal court Tuesday (2/11/10) alleged...

Michael and Holly Robbins of Penn Valley, Pa., said they first found out about the alleged spying last November after their son Blake was accused by a Harriton High School official of "improper behavior in his home" and shown a photograph taken by his laptop.

An assistant principal at Harriton later confirmed that the district could remotely activate the webcam in students' laptops. (more) ("How Television Benefits Your Children")

Security Alert - Social networking could leave your home at risk

...to highlight just how many people are leaving themselves vulnerable through what they disclose on the internet, a Dutch website called Please Rob Me is posting live updates sent by users declaring when they are not at home - and thus at risk of burglary.

The ever-increasing amount of information we post on social networking sites is leaving us vulnerable to criminals.

Whether it's birthdates, home addresses or where we're planning to go on holiday, these details can be a goldmine to criminals. ...mentioning that you're stuck at work might seem innocent enough, you've actually just advertised to burglars that your home is going to be empty for some time. (more)

Newspaper's Royal Hack Attack

UK - A British Parliament investigation concludes that Murdoch-owned tabloid News of the World hacked phones " on industrial scale"—including those of police, military, and government officials—in pursuit of gossip on royals. NotW's owner, New International, tried to blame it all on one "rogue reporter," but the Parliament's report says it is "inconceivable" that one guy did this alone. (more)

Rhode Island - Wiretap Update

RI - A federal appeals court has overturned a jury verdict that punished the city of Providence for illegally recording hundreds of thousands of phone calls at the city’s public safety complex.

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston on Tuesday released the decision. It says the city and its officials are shielded from the lawsuit because of “qualified immunity,“ which means government officials can’t be sued for doing their jobs.

A federal jury in 2008 awarded about $525,000 to the more than 100 people who sued after having their calls recorded. (more)

Business Espionage: The Heat is on Starwood v. Hilton

HotelNewsNow.com reports U.S. Justice Department prosecutors are requesting that Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide's 10-month-old corporate espionage lawsuit against Hilton Worldwide be halted so as not to interfere with a criminal investigation into the matter. (more)

Rutgers Outsmarts the Smart Phones

Experiments by Rutgers University researchers show how your smart phones can be hacked. 

Using malware known as "rootkits," the researchers showed how a smart phone can be attacked. Rootkits attack a computer's operating system.

The researchers found the following:

• The phone's microphone can be turned to eavesdrop.
• A phone user's location can be tracked.
• A phone's battery-draining apps can be turned on to kill the battery.

All of these things can happen without the phone owner knowing about it. 

The Rutgers researchers say they conducted the experiments to raise a red flag. The next step will be to work on defenses. (more) (video)

Can't wait to see what they will do with the new iPad and other tablets.

Security Alert - Windows 7 Wi-Fi Vulnerability

Windows 7 contains a "SoftAP" feature, also called "virtual Wi-Fi," that allows a single PC to function simultaneously as a Wi-Fi client and as an AP to which other Wi-Fi-capable devices can connect. The capability is handy when users are wearing their consumer hats and want to share music and play interactive games during their off hours. But it also can allow on-site visitors and parking-lot hackers to piggyback onto the user's laptop and "ghost ride" into the corporate network unnoticed. (more)

Government Surveillance - How we got here.

The Watchers... a look at America’s covert intelligence systems. Harris, a reporter for National Journal, details the rise of a band of mavericks in national security and intelligence organizations that has erected an American surveillance state. (audio)

Business Espionage - Companies Spy on Each Other

James Bond, meet Fred Rustmann. A former CIA agent, Rustmann now runs a "corporate intelligence" firm that helps companies spy on each other. Like many veterans of the Central Intelligence Agency, Rustmann's spying tricks are in high demand by the private sector.

When one of Rustmann's clients wants to find out about, say, its competitors' upcoming product line-ups, it pays him to conduct undercover interviews with unsuspecting employees and dig through their garbage.

"You can find out all kinds of good stuff in the trash," says Rustmann, founder of CTC International, who spent 24 years in the CIA's clandestine service breaking into embassies and wiretapping foreign government officials. (more)

CIA, Inc.: Espionage and the Craft of Business Intelligence

By: F.W. Rustmann, Jr.

Every major government recognizes the value of intelligence and employs an intelligence service to collect it for them. Businesses should be no different. Knowing how to gather information on your competitors, being able to anticipate their next move, and preventing them from stealing your secrets are critical keys to success in the new economy. Executives, entrepreneurs, and others must realize their companies’ success partially depends on their knowledge and implementation of business intelligence. This book teaches the principles of intelligence and counterintelligence and uses the CIA's methods as a model for the business world.

SpyCam Story #570 - Cook in Bathroom

NC - A 62-year-old man faces multiple charges in connection with the videotaping of juvenile girls in a bathroom. The Alamance County Sheriff's Office said it seized computers and other items from 135 E. Shannon Drive on Feb. 11. ... Richard Graham Cook of that address was charged ... The sheriff's office said two girls were secretly videotaped in a bathroom. Authorities did not identify the victims or say when or where the offenses allegedly took place. (more)

Doh! Caught with wild game camera

SD - The Brandon man who secretly hid a camera in a 17-year-old girl's bedroom is going to jail for six months. Christopher Geringer, 37, pleaded guilty to burglary and installing an eavesdropping device. Prosecutors told the judge Geringer used a wild game camera with a motion sensor on it to take pictures of the girl as she undressed. Once Geringer gets out of jail, he'll be on probation for five years. (more)

"Your moment of Zen" Barbie

[Insert your snappy spycam caption here.]

Security Director Budget Booster - Perspective

My colleague, Ira Winkler, writes...

A few years ago, I was called in by the CSO of a Fortune 25 company. He hired 4 of the best known companies that do penetration testing to find problems with their corporate network. All 4 companies came back two weeks and $100,000 later, and told the CEO that they had full control of his network. The CSO went immediately to the CEO, who basically replied, "I don't care." 

The CSO then hired me to perform an espionage simulation. I came back within one week, and handed the CSO their mergers and acquisitions plans, their new technologies that were being released in three years, multi-billion dollar proposals, pictures showing how I bugged the CEO's office, and told him that I had full control of their entire network. The next week, the CEO raised the security budget by $10,000,000 and they hired security managers for all business units. (more)

Security Directors...

The ideas and strategies powering your organization to success are vulnerable long before they are ever distilled into data. A good counterespionage strategy addresses this, thus winning the admiration – and funding – of management. ~Kevin

The Big Picture... show

The GovSec/U.S. Law 2010 Conference & Expo comes to Washington, DC, March 23 & 24. Experience, first-hand, the newest systems, tools and surveillance technologies.

There are a Thousand Stories in SIM City

Yet another good reason to keep your cell phone from the grasp of others...

via the seller...

"Save, edit and delete your phone book and short messages (SMS) stored on your SIM card using the Recovery PRO software and SIM Card Spy Elite with your computer and ANY standard SIM card from a standard cell phone which supports removable SIM cards. Have you ever wished you can spy on your wife, husband, teens, or an employer who needs to see what someone is up to? Are they being suspicious when on their cell phone? This SIM card spy software and hardware solution can tap into all files on a cell phone SIM card for viewing, saving or editing. Simply place the SIM card into the USB reader, and with your computer, instantly save for later or view immediately. Backup your mobile phone numbers and SMS messages to your PC, another SIM card or any removable media." (video)

Laser Beam Eavesdropping - 2010

It is time to update our views on laser beam eavesdropping. While not entirely practical yet as an everyday amateur/business spy tool, advancements are being made which have us concerned.

Last year, researchers from Bar-Ilan University (Ramat-Gan, Israel) and the Universitat de València (Burjassot, Spain) developed a new way to sense sound remotely using a laser beam. Their paper is called: "Simultaneous remote extraction of multiple speech sources and heart beats from secondary speckles pattern" by Zeev Zalevsky, Yevgeny Beiderman, Israel Margalit, Shimshon Gingold, Mina Teicher, Vicente Mico, and Javier Garcia.

Unlike classic laser beam eavesdropping, the new method does not rely on interferometer or a reflecting diaphram, like a window. A single laser beam is aimed at the object to be monitored (a person and a cell phone were used in their tests). The speckles that appear in an out-of-focus image of the object are then tracked. This produces data from which a spectrogram or sound signal can be constructed.

The setup is basic. The laser illuminates a small area on the object and an ordinary digital camera captures the scene. The camera's lens is defocused. This produces a pattern that does not randomly change when the object moves. The camera image is processed, calculating the shift of the pattern from frame to frame. (more) 

Laser beam audio samples...

• Cell phone at 60m.

• Neck of person at 30m.

• Face at 100m.

• Heartbeat at 60m.
Note: Audio is labeled as they were in the paper. However, it sounds like the neck and face audio clips may have been reversed.

SpyCam Story #569 - Thumb Trips Taper

GA - An Alpharetta man was charged with unlawful eavesdropping and child molestation.

Police said Matthew Andrzejak used a video camera inside a ball point pen to secretly record gym members at Lifetime Fitness in Alpharetta.

Andrzejak was charged with 22 counts of unlawful eavesdropping and applicable felony child molestation charges.

An investigation was launched when a patron of the gym found a computer thumb drive which had been dropped on the floor of the facility. After discovering illegal surveillance images of children and acts of child molestation occurring at a place of residence that were stored on the thumb drive, the patron contacted Alpharetta authorities. (more with video)

Allegations police chief secretly recorded conversations

LA - Reaction to Monroe Police Chief Ron Schleuter’s use of a digital recorder to secretly record conversations with Mayor Jamie Mayo and other local officials is one of disbelief.

“I’d be pretty upset if that happened to me,” said West Monroe Mayor Dave Norris. “I find it very disappointing.”

It has been reported that Schleuter recorded West Monroe Police Chief Chris Elg...

 

The media reported last week that Schleuter, who could not be reached, made possibly 100 recordings, including meetings with Mayo, city attorney Nanci Summersgill, city councilmen and Elg. (more)

Cop Out Your Car with a Black Box Recorder

If you have security responsibility for your company's limos, vans or truck fleet, this SeCube USA Vehicle Security DVR may interest you...

Records the front view and the interior view. Documents locations on google maps with the GPS feature. G-force sensors record shock, accelerations and decelerations.

Time to Review Your Computer Usage Policies

Companies should spend the time to review computer usage policies. There have been a few impactful court decisions that should address expectations of privacy and permissible access.

Examples:

• Quon v. Arch Wireless Operating Co. Inc.,
529 F.3d 892 (9th Cir. 2008), 2009 WL 1146443 (2009)

• Stengart v. Loving Care Agency Inc.,
408 NJ Super. 54 (NJ App. Div. 2009) 

• LVRC Holdings LLC v. Brekka,
581 F.3d 1127 (9th Cir. 2009)

...via Rob Kleeger - The Intelligence Group

Students + Keystroke Logger...

...What could possibly go wrong?

MD - Students at a Potomac high school hacked into the school's computer system and changed class grades, according to sources briefed by the school's principal, and officials are investigating how widespread the damage might be... The students involved used a computer program to capture passwords from at least one teacher, according to school sources familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. (more)

Business Espionage - Wall Street's Spy Games

Eamon Javers, author of Broker, Trader, Lawyer, Spy, says spying is pervasive in corporate America and especially on Wall Street as firms try to get a competitive advantage against each other. View the interview, then hire a good counterespionage consultant.

...thus creating future Wall Street's Spy Games

NYC - The American International Toy Fair began today. This is the annual event where toy makers show off new offerings that will make their way into next year's stockings. Previews from toymakers and interviews with analysts make clear that the focus is on innovation and price....

Jakks Pacific is offering some high-tech spying gear for kids in its Spy Net line, including a video spy watch for $54.99 and a Pen Audio Bug for $24.99. Yes, they're just what they sound like — miniature video and audio recorders. (more)

"Serial Bugger" or "Dude, shut up!"

Australia - A Gold Coast man who installed hidden cameras to try to spy on his flatmates now claims he felt pressured to plead guilty to the offence by his lawyer, and he has a secret recording of their conversation that he says proves it. (more)

How to Spy on a Fashion Show?

Bury a spycam in your hair!

(video)

From the Art imitates life file: "Eavesdropping is...

"Eavesdropping is the easiest form of investigation in Assassin's Creed." - via Assassin's Creed wiki

Business Espionage - Goldman Sachs

NY - A former Goldman Sachs Group computer programmer was indicted Thursday on charges he stole computer codes used for proprietary high-frequency trading program. 

Sergey Aleynikov, 40 years old, was charged in a three-count indictment with theft of trade secrets, transportation of stolen property in interstate and foreign commerce and unauthorized computer access.(more)

Internet Steganography - Data Under the Radar

7:00 p.m., Shanghai

An employee of an electronic equipment factory uploads a music file to an online file-sharing site. Hidden in the MP3 file (Michael Jackson's album Thriller) are schematics of a new mobile phone that will carry the brand of a large American company. Once the employee's Taiwanese collaborators download the file, they start manufacturing counterfeit mobile phones essentially identical to the original—even before the American company can get its version into stores.

3:30 p.m., somewhere in Afghanistan

A terrorist hunted by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation posts an excerpt from the motion picture High School Musical Three: Senior Year on Facebook. Inside are hidden instructions for a bomb attack on a commuter rail line in southern Europe. Later that day, terrorists based in Athens follow the instructions to plan a rush hour attack that kills hundreds of people.

4:00 a.m., Malibu, Calif.

A very famous actor (VFA) has a brief conversation with a well-known director (WKD) over Skype, an application that lets them make free voice calls over the Internet. They discuss the medical problems of VFA's cat in great detail. When the conversation is over, WKD's computer has a sleazy new addition—in a folder on his desktop, there is a picture of a nude teenager, along with her mobile number and the date and time at which WKD will meet her at VFA's pool party for a photo session.

What all these scenarios have in common is an information-smuggling technique called steganography—the communication of secret messages inside a perfectly innocent carrier... (more)

Roll Your Own Drone

via David Schneider...

This new branch of the [model airplane flying] hobby goes by the name first-person view, or FPV for short...

Having read up about this activity at such sites at DIYDrones.com and FPVPilot.com, I was eager to give it a try. I purchased a tiny SN555 video camera for US $129 from Hobby Wireless, an online seller of FPV gear. While there, for another $95 I also bought a diminutive 0.5-watt video transmitter and a matching receiver tuned to 910 megahertz, which is well separated from the frequencies used for radio-controlled model aircraft in the United States (72 MHz and 2.4 gigahertz).

The big question was what model to use. I ended up with a plane called the Twin Star II, which is manufactured by Multiplex Modellsport of Bretten-Gölshausen, Germany. It normally retails for $150, but I picked up a kit for this model at the bargain price of $86 from BP Hobbies of Piscataway, N. J. (more with video) (another high roller)

Conviction in First U.S. Economic Espionage Trial

A Chinese-born engineer convicted in the United States' first economic espionage trial was sentenced Monday to more than 15 years in prison for stealing sensitive information on the U.S. space program with the intent of passing it to China.

Dongfan "Greg" Chung, a Boeing stress analyst with high-level security clearance, was convicted in July of six counts of economic espionage and other federal charges for storing 300,000 pages of sensitive papers in his Southern California home. Prosecutors alleged the papers included information about the U.S. space shuttle, a booster rocket and military troop transports. (more)

Business Espionage - Samsung v. Hynix

The number of people facing charges related to the passing of process technology secrets from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. to Hynix Semiconductor Inc. has risen to 18 according to a Sapa-AP report. 

It was revealed last week that a number of employees at Applied Materials' Korean subsidiary are alleged to have stolen manufacturing process technology details for DRAM and NAND flash memory as well as investment plans for chip production, and passed them to a Hynix employee who has also been indicted. The information was passed to Hynix between March 2005 and December 2009 and has cost Samsung more than $100 million, earlier reports said. (more)

The Chips are Down

Deep inside millions of computers is a digital Fort Knox, a special chip with the locks to highly guarded secrets, including classified government reports and confidential business plans. Now a former U.S. Army computer-security specialist has devised a way to break those locks...

Tarnovsky figured out a way to break chips that carry a "Trusted Platform Module," or TPM, designation by essentially spying on them like a phone conversation. Such chips are billed as the industry's most secure and are estimated to be in as many as 100 million personal computers and servers, according to market research firm IDC. (more)

Business Espionage - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

A former employee of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. is being charged with stealing trade secrets from the pharmaceutical firm in an attempt to create a competing company in India, according to the federal government. 

U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement that Shalin Jhaveri, who worked at Bristol-Myers from November 2007 until Tuesday, stole numerous trade secrets from the company. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 

It's unclear what sort of information Jhaveri is alleged to have taken from the company. He worked as a technical operations associate at the company, according to a press release. (more) (FBI press release)

SpyCam Story #568 - Community Control?

OH - A Fostoria lawyer who had a pinhole camera in the restroom at his office was placed on community control for four years yesterday and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine. Sitting in Seneca County Common Pleas Court, visiting Judge Russell Wiseman of Crawford County also ordered Donald Guernsey, 57, to undergo a psychological evaluation and any ordered treatment. (more)

...thus adding insult to injury.

IL - An Elizabeth man is awaiting a court date in Jo Daviess County Circuit Court following charges of battery and eavesdropping.

According to court records, on Jan. 4, Brian D. Tessendorf, 33, knowing and intentionally caused bodily harm to his ex-girlfriend and mother of his child...

The day after the incident, Tessendorf allegedly used an eavesdropping device to record at least two different telephone conversations between him and the battery victim without her consent, a class 4 felony in Illinois that carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and $25,000 for each count. (more)

Business Espionage - Famous Last Words

NY - A former state lottery official is accused of eavesdropping on a confidential meeting in an apparent retaliation attempt after he was fired from his $148,000-a-year position.

John Charlson, 46, of Saratoga Springs, was the public information officer for the Division of Lottery from June 2007 until he was terminated Jan. 13, 2009, for failing to be a team player. Lottery executives say Charlson, who was responsible for media and public relations, supervised his staff poorly and made inconsistent statements.

A report released Tuesday by the state Inspector General’s office found that after being fired, Charlson accessed 16 Lottery e-mails and forwarded out-of-context information on video lottery terminals to state Racing and Wagering Board chairman John Sabini. He’s also accused of eavesdropping on lottery officials by using his former state code to dial into an executive meeting and conference call held nearly a week later.

Charlson reportedly told Lottery Director Gordon Medenica “you’re going to be sorry,” upon being fired. (more)

Shocks from down under...

Darwin, Australia - An internal police investigation has been launched after a security camera was allegedly used to "zoom in on the rear of a lady" in Darwin's CBD. CCTV equipment at the Darwin police station has been disabled until software is installed to keep a record of the officer controlling the equipment at the time. (more)

NSW, Australia - Australia Post has been accused of secretly monitoring Sydney postal workers using computerised street-side red letter boxes in breach of NSW surveillance laws. But the postal service says it is entitled to spy on its staff because it is not subject to state laws. (more)

USB Memory Stick Failed Encryption - UPDATE

In our January story, USB Crypt Stick - design flaw, or... design back door discovered, several USB stick manufacturers were identified as having their encryption cracked. Subsequently, two clients asked me to research this. They wanted to know if the flawed encryption included all encrypted USB stick manufacturers.

So far, I have found one manufacturer who affirms their crypt-sticks remain secure.

from their press release...

"In response to the reports that certain hardware-encrypted USB flash drives have been hacked on Monday, Jan. 4, IronKey, maker of the world's most secure flash drive, today announced that its devices are not vulnerable to the serious architectural flaw that has compromised many 'secure' USB storage devices. IronKey customers remain safe." (more)

Imagine getting this far without a roadmap!?!?

"Networks are like roads," Michael Markulec explains. "And we provide the road map."

Markulec's company, Lumeta, is about to start drawing maps that will reveal every intersection, cul-de-sac and IP address in the U.S. military's vast and sprawling NIPRNet (Non-classified Internet Protocol Router Network). The "non-classified but sensitive" network is used around the world by several million U.S. personnel and about 10 million devices, Markulec said.

IPSonar, will find and identify all devices on the NIPRNet and tell network operators how they are interconnected, Markulec said. "Without that knowledge, you can't manage the network. And if you can't manage it, you can't secure it."

Mapping isn't IPSonar's only talent. The software, which is costing the Defense Department more than $10 million, also searches for leaks. (more)

By the way, do you know what electro-leaches have latched on to your LANs, your Wi-Fi networks? Help is out there.

Business Espionage - The Cost of Spying II

News Corp. agreed to pay $500 million to settle an ongoing, four year, lawsuit initiated by Valassis charging anti-competitive practices. Insert printer Valassis sued News Corp.'s News America Marketing unit in three separate cases, alleging price fixing and other predatory practices. Last year a jury in Michigan awarded Valassis $300 million in that case...

Last year, News America Marketing was accused by Floorgraphics Inc. Hamilton, NJ, of corporate spying. Floorgraphics, a producer of graphics placed on retails stores' floors, accused News America of illegally accessing its computer system and obtaining proprietary information, and disseminating false, misleading and malicious information about the company to its clients. The case was settled, and then days later News Corp. purchased Floorgraphics for an undisclosed sum. (more)

Business Espionage - The Cost of Spying

Italy - Telecom Italia and former parent Pirelli on Monday said they agreed to settle a criminal probe into a suspected spy ring that used phone data records, freeing the companies from lengthy court proceedings.

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera said Pirelli and phone giant Telecom Italia agreed to pay 7.5 million euros ($10.43 million dollars) in the plea bargain deal filed on Saturday. (more)