WPEC Reports - Spying on you: Cell phone snoops

 

Our deepest secrets are often told during cell phone conversations. Could you imagine if someone would have constant access to your personal information by tapping into your cell phone and listening to your private conversations?

Chai Chaiyanan and his fellow college students are chatting, not knowing danger is about to walk by. A man swiped his smart phone. What the stranger is about to do is nothing short of spying. He's planting a special application that can turn Chai's phone against him, his every move monitored by a mobile spy app.

Turns out the scenario is not a real one and Chai knew he was being spied on. But FIU technology professor Faisal Kaleem, who posed for CBS 12 as our bad guy, says it can happen to you as long as you leave your phone unattended.

Kaleem is talking about powerful apps like Flexispy and others, that once secretly installed are hidden in your phone and untraceable to you.

Room bugging is one function. The bad guy calls the victim's cell and it instantly activates the phone like a microphone. The bad guy can monitor our conversation and the phone appears to be off. (more) (antidote)

Flash: World's Thinest Cell Phone to be announced tomorrow.

via gizmag.com...
Researchers from the Human Media Lab at Canada's Queen's University have created a fully-functioning floppy E-Ink smartphone, which they also refer to as a paper computer. Like its thicker, rigid-bodied counterparts, the Paperphone can do things like making and receiving calls, storing e-books, and playing music. Unlike them, however, it conforms to the shape of its user's pocket or purse, and can even be operated through bending actions.

"This computer looks, feels and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper," said its creator, Roel Vertegaal, who is also the director of the Human Media Lab. "You interact with it by bending it into a cell phone, flipping the corner to turn pages, or writing on it with a pen." ...

The technology is the result of a collaboration between Queen's University and Arizona State University, and will be officially presented on May 10th at the CHI 2011 conference in Vancouver.

"This is the future," said Vertegaal. "Everything is going to look and feel like this within five years." (more)

Santa Eyes Help Sanitize Bad Guys - UWB Radar Sees Through Walls

 There’s a new tool available for soldiers, special forces, and police officers who must surprise a high-value terrorist or enact a hostage rescue: a one-man backpack radar that can see through walls. 

The radar technology is a few years old, but the device — the Prism 200c system from Cambridge Consultants — fits into a small pack and weighs less than 15 pounds. It provides data on the location and movement of people inside a room or building on a handheld device, meaning only a single operator is needed. That’s a big advantage in the field; previous systems were heavier and required a second person with a laptop computer to receive the data. (more) (videos)

Security Fail #100 - The Secured Ladder

Seen in my travels...

When you want to keep your office ladder where it belongs you lock it up, right. A sturdy bicycle lock should do the trick. Smart. 

In fact, you might want to keep the bicycle lock attached to the ladder so you can lock it up wherever you happen to be using it. Oh, very smart! 

Electrical conduit in the maintenance closet makes a sturdy anchor. Nobody is going to risk getting electrocuted sawing through electrical conduit to steal a crummy ladder. Wow, very, very smart!! 

And, we'll attach the lock to the conduit with velcro in case we lose the key... (Blammmmmpppp!) FAIL.

Is that an Atomic Clock in your pocket, or are you just hot to see me?

Atomic clocks are one of those things that most of us have probably always thought of as being big, ultra-expensive, and therefore only obtainable by well-funded research institutes. While that may have been the case at one time, a team of researchers have recently developed an atomic clock that they say is one one-hundredth the size – and that uses one one-hundredth the power – of previous commercially-available products. It's called the Chip Scale Atomic Clock (CSAC), and it can be yours for about US$1,500 ... a little more than what you might pay for a regular clock, but not bad for one that varies by less than a millionth of a second per day. (more)

Update: Lyon Realty former CEO begins jail sentence

Michael Lyon, the former CEO of Lyon Real Estate, began serving a jail sentence Saturday after pleading guilty to felony eavesdropping... Under a plea agreement with the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office, Lyon was sentenced to one year in county jail followed by four years of formal probation. Lyon is serving time at Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center. According to the booking record, his scheduled release is Nov. 4, 2011. (more)

Abbottabad - How did they do it?

Revelations that American spies monitored Osama bin Laden from a safehouse for months before last Sunday's special forces raid have caused further consternation inside Pakistan, where the military is already fighting angry criticism.

CIA agents sequestered in a rented house conducted extensive surveillance on Bin Laden's hideout using an arsenal of high-tech surveillance equipment including telephoto lenses, eavesdropping equipment and radars to detect possible escape tunnels. (more)

One More Step Closer to Mind Eavesdropping

Less spooky than it sounds, but a concept which could be applied to more than just Hello Kitty ears...

(Japanese English from their web site.)

People think that our body has limitation, however just imagine if we have organs that doesn’t exist, moreover we can control that new body? We created new human’s organs that use brain wave sensor. (more)

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“Neurowear” has developed a product called “necomimi” which takes brain signals from our emotions and turns them into visible actions rendering them in the form of wiggling cat ears.

Advertising it as a new communication tool that “augments the human body and ability”, the website introduces the product as a fashion item and gadget that uses brainwaves and other biosensors. Designed obviously for the cutesy Japanese market with its cat ear shape (neco and mimi being the words for cat and ear) the ears mimic a cat’s ears as they wiggle and rise with the wearers emotional state, for example rising in anticipation of eating a delicious cookie, or drop down when relaxed. (more)

Ok, stop laughing. Can't you see a version of this being mandated in classrooms so teachers can tell at a glance who's not paying attention? :)

Company Customer Database Hacked? Kicker... it's a password company!

Password management system LastPass has reset users' master passwords (1.25 million of them according to security expert Brian Krebs) as a precaution following the discovery of a possible hack attack against its systems...

The worst case scenario is that miscreants might have swiped password hashes, a development that leaves users who selected easier-to-guess passphrases at risk of brute-force dictionary attacks. Once uncovered, these login credentials might be used to obtain access to all the login credentials stored through the service, as LastPass explains in a blog post. (more)

World's Smallest Video Camera - Less than 1mm in diameter!

Medigus has developed the world's smallest video camera at just 0.039-inches (0.99 mm) in diameter. The Israeli company's second-gen model (a 1.2 mm / 0.047-inch diameter camera was unveiled in 2009) has a dedicated 0.66x0.66 mm CMOS sensor from TowerJazz that captures images at 45K resolution (approximately 220 x 220 pixels) and no, it's not destined for use in tiny mobile phones or covert surveillance devices, instead the camera is designed for medical endoscopic procedures in hard to reach regions of the human anatomy. (more)

Computer Store Caught Spyware Bugging Computer They Sold

A computer rental store has been caught spying on customers through their webcams, court papers reveal.
 

Rental chain Aaron’s installed secret software on laptops that let it track the keystrokes, screenshots and even webcam images of clients as they used their computers at home, it is claimed.
 

Under surveillance: Rental chain Aaron's is alleged to have installed secret spying software on laptops that let it take photos of customers at home

A Wyoming couple are suing the rental giant, which has 1,679 stores, for breach of privacy after they discovered covert images taken of them using their rented laptop.

Court papers allege that Aaron’s told police that they install the software on all their rental computers.
 

Brian and Crystal Byrd learned that snooping software had been installed on their laptop when an Aaron’s store manager came to their home and wrongly accused them of not paying for the computer.

The manager tried to repossess the laptop and showed them a picture of Mr Byrd using the computer, which had been taken by the machine’s webcam. (more)

Spybusters.com History Page Now Assigned Reading at Harvard

(You know you are in a tough course at Harvard when your professor uses his initials as his email address.)

Scott O. Bradner teaches Security, Privacy, and Usability (CSCI E-170) at Harvard University. One of his reading assignments for this Spring 2011 course is a history I compiled about The Great Seal Bug. I am honored. 

Hey, does this mean I can say I am a teaching assistant at Harvard!? Probably not, but if you like bugs, spies and government espionage, this fascinating story really is a must read. It starts off like this...

"In 1946, Soviet school children presented a two foot wooden replica of the Great Seal of the United States to Ambassador Averell Harriman. The Ambassador hung the seal in his office in Spaso House (Ambassador's residence). 

During George F. Kennan's ambassadorship in 1952 (six years later!), a secret technical surveillance countermeasures (TSCM) inspection discovered that the seal contained a microphone and a resonant cavity which could be stimulated from an outside radio signal." (more)

360º Video Surveillance: Cool... on an iPhone 4, VERY COOL!

Watch the video first.
Use your mouse to move what you see to the left or right.

"The GoPano micro is a lens for the iPhone 4 to make 360º panoramic videos! Just snap the lens to your iPhone 4 and press record to make cool interactive 360º videos. Use it to record all the action of your favorite sport, record your next meeting in 360º or just as a fun toy for the summer.

The GoPano micro will record everything around you simultaneously. You can go back to the recorded video and choose to view any perspective, any angle at any point in time. The GoPano app allows you to upload your 360º video onto our web platform and share 360º videos with your friends. You can watch 360º videos uploaded by others in the app or on the web site. (the GoPano lens records everything simultaneously and not just the scene on the screen, you can pan & zoom in/out anywhere in your recorded video)."

Now, imagine the uses for this in the security field.

• Surveillance - Set it and forget it.

• Technical Surveillance (TS) - Comparison of room items and locations upon completion of installations.

• Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM) - Comparison of room items and locations upon re-inspection.

• Crime scene documentation.

• Event management documentation.

You get the idea and I am sure you can come up with more.

Problem... You can't buy a GoPano for your iPhone 4, yet. But you can help this project get off the ground for a $50. contribution and get one free once they are manufactured. (more)

SpyCam Story #608 - SpyCam to the Rescue!

The state has revoked a Delaware County nursing-care facility's license following the arrest this month of three workers on allegations that they abused a patient...

The three "care managers" were charged with taunting and physically abusing Lois McCallister, a 78-year-old dementia patient, for 12 minutes and blocking her door when she tried to escape.

McCallister's family contacted Quadrangle administrators in March after she complained of being punched and slapped, but said they were told the allegations were products of McCallister's dementia. The relatives then installed a camera disguised as a clock in her room and turned over the resulting video to Haverford police. (more)

Mclay Surveillance Hat Trick Caps Happy Meal Romance

Perth, Australia - An Alfred Cove man alleged to have stalked his estranged partner and planted bugging devices in her home and in her car will fight charges against him.

Dougal John Mclay, 53, has been charged with one count of stalking his 40-year-old former partner over an 18-month period. Mr Mclay was in a relationship with the woman for several years before it ended in mid-2010.

It is alleged that Mr Mclay installed listening devices and recording devices in the woman’s home and that he placed a GPS tracker in her car and in her mobile phone. (more)

Hi-Tech Surveillance Plus Old-Fashioned Intelligence Work Found Osama Bin Laden

Sept. 11 accelerated a shift to personal tracking that culminated last week when U.S. Navy SEALs gunned down Osama bin Laden in his Pakistani compound. Over the last decade, technologies that monitored phone calls, engaged in complex computer searches and provided constant drone surveillance isolated, disabled, and finally found the world's most wanted man.

More than simply finding bin Laden, advanced surveillance technology boxed in the al-Qaida leader. He knew that the U.S. could track his phone calls, watch his Internet traffic and follow his movements, so he avoided electronic communication and travel at all costs. That fear of technology turned bin Laden into a stationary target, and led him to create of a compound whose absence of incoming phone lines actually made it easier to identify...

Computer power has increased so substantially that the U.S. National Security Agency can -- and does -- search nearly all of the world's phone and email traffic for specific keywords, said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org and an expert on defense technology and policy. When not listening, the U.S watches. Drone aircraft fill the sky by the hundreds, allowing American intelligence officers to follow targets of interest on a camera feed every minute of every day, Pike told InnovationNewsDaily. Some even credit a specially designed persistent camera system called "Gorgon Stare" for single-handedly reducing the scale of violence in Iraq.

The advances in computer and drone technology have also drastically reduced the cost of running wiretapping and airborne surveillance every hour of every day. The intelligence aspect of the operation that finally found bin Laden likely only cost a few million dollars, Pike said, a cost far below the expense of a single day of combat in Iraq or Afghanistan.

When combined, these two technologies allow intelligence officials to take the classic police procedures of wiretapping and stake outs and expand both to a global reach.

"Persistent surveillance [by drone aircraft], in particular, is the modern equivalent of good old- fashioned police work," Pike said. "It's a stakeout, isn't it? In the good old days, you'd park across the street and order in pizza. Well, the drone doesn’t need pizza." (more)

How Businesses Keep Their Secrets Secret

Corporate espionage is becoming more common, with bribery and bugging playing a large part in businesses keeping up with their competition.

Eavesdropping on a rival is expensive, but trying to prevent it can cost even more.  

The BBC's Joe Lynam spoke to Andy Williams, head of security for banking firm Nomura, and Crispin Sturrock from the WhiteRock, which works to prevent corporate espionage. (video) 

Many companies in the U.S. offer similar Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM) services. Unfortunately, most are not providing the level of service shown here. If you need a referral to a competent business counterespionage specialist, contact me directly.

Note to U.S. Navy Seals

You rock!

THANK YOU

Note to CIA

You rock!

THANK YOU

The 12 Step Program to Securing Your Life

Nick Mediati, of PCWorld has written a good security article with very practical advice. The summary of tips appears below, but click (more) to read the full details for each item.

Being Security Scrapbook readers, you probably already know, or have done, all of them. 

I thought so until I hit #12. It had been a while decades, so I checked. Surprise, everything financial was correct, but they listed me as being employed by a company I had never heard of. Hummm. Should I correct it, or use it as a cover for my real work?

Secure Your Life in 12 Steps

1. Use Virtual Credit Card Numbers to Shop Online
2. Secure Your Wi-Fi
3. Encrypt Your Hard Drives
4. Keep Your Software Up-to-Date
5. Upgrade to the Latest Antivirus Software
6. Lock Down Your Smartphone
7. Install a Link-Checker Plug-In
8. Don't Neglect Physical Security
9. HTTPS Is Your Friend
10. Avoid Public Computers and Wi-Fi
11. Be Password Smart
12. Check Your Credit Report Each Year...

If you are a U.S. citizen, you're entitled to receive one free credit report every 12 months from each of the three major credit agencies--Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion--via AnnualCreditReport.com.  (more)

SpyCam Story #607 - Skyped

 Australia - Two cadets from the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) have faced court over allegations they secretly filmed a female cadet having sex and broadcast it over the internet.

Police arrested Daniel McDonald, 19, and Dylan De Blaquiere, 18, early this morning...

The 18-year-old said she had consensual sex with another first-year cadet but it was transmitted via Skype to six cadets in another room without her knowledge. She said still photos were also taken and "then distributed to other people". (more)

"Is My Cell Phone Bugged?" - Urgent Reader Update

In the book, Is My Cell Phone Bugged? (just available this week), the chapter Spyware Scams, Misleading Notions & “Experts” warns readers about people who are taking advantage of them. This update is about a new scam.

Summary: Phoney anti-virus program attacks cell phone. Scam'er makes money.

via CA Security Advisory Research...

"We have seen countless number of rogue security products for Windows platform however this one is targeted to trick mobile users.

The sample masquerades itself as a certain AV (a bogus Kaspersky anti-virus program) for mobile and always reports that it has identified two threats in the mobile and pretends that it has encountered an error while trying to cure. It provides the users an error code as a reference token of the error scenario.

This sample is supposedly spread by some social engineering tricks where the users would have been provided with support numbers/email id to contact to resolve these error codes displayed in screen 5. This info was missing to conclude how the malware authors were actually getting the money.

As mentioned in our earlier blogs, the best defense against such social engineering tricks is the education of users coupled with a mobile security solution. With the exponential growth of the smart phone market, it is expected such kind of threats will be growing proportionately.

We advise users to exercise basic security principles while surfing and be skeptical of free downloads, and as always keep your security products up to date." (more)

Is My Cell Phone Bugged? comes with free updates. For now, the updates will be posted here. Eventually they will only be available to purchasers, via private email.

This Shourd ain't Tourin' in the Middle-East

Iran wants Sarah Shourd, one of three Americans arrested in 2009 on spying charges, to return from the United States to stand trial in May, her lawyer was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

Sarah Shourd was released on $500,000 bail last September while her two male companions, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, remain in jail in Tehran. (more)

Wiretap Whistleblower - Off the Hook

 The Justice Department has dropped its investigation into a former department attorney who tipped off the media about the Bush administration's warrantless eavesdropping program.

The department informed Thomas Tamm's attorneys that he will not be prosecuted for the leak that then-President George W. Bush called a breach of national security.

Tamm has said he called The New York Times about the program because it "didn't smell right" and he thought the public had a right to know. (more)

NSA Whistleblower - On the Hook

Closed hearings are being held this week ahead of the trial of a former National Security Agency employee accused of mishandling classified information.

Thomas Drake is charged with violating espionage laws without being accused of spying. Instead, he's accused of shredding documents, deleting files from his computer and lying to investigators. Supporters claim he's being punished for blowing the whistle on inefficiencies and mismanagement at the NSA. (more)

SpyCam Story #606 - The Power of One SpyCam

It's a hammer.

The price of cattle market futures seem to have dropped in response to last week’s release of a whistleblower video documenting severe abuse of dairy calves at E6 Cattle Company in Hart, Texas, according to Reuters and the Wall Street Journal...

The Wall Street Journal’s Lester Aldrich wrote, “The video, which has been posted to the internet, pressured live-cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Traders were concerned its graphic nature would cause a pullback in consumer demand for beef…  

The video helped to push June futures down 1.3% to $1.1565 a pound after the contract hit a two-week high earlier in the trading day.” (more) (disturbing video)

Sony Shuts Down Online PlayStation Network - Personal Data Hacked

Sony Corp. said a hacker has obtained customer information, potentially including credit-card numbers, for the 77 million members of its online PlayStation Network, which has forced the company to take down its service.

The Japanese electronics giant said it has informed PlayStation Network customers that personal information—including names, addresses, billing history and birthdays—was obtained by an "unauthorized person" following a hacking attack that caused Sony to shut down its Internet gaming service last week. Sony said customer credit-card numbers may also have been compromised.

The Japanese game maker said it has hired a security firm to conduct an investigation into what happened. In the mean time, Sony said it expects to restore its Internet gaming service within a week. (more)

Competitive Intelligence - Made to Sound Nasty

Rumors. Inside dirt. Gossip.

Let’s just say you have your sources—moles on the floor of the NYSE, guys who know guys, a certain colonel who’s worked his way up the ranks of Russian intelligence.

And, of course, a little up-and-comer called Facebook.

Which brings us to ContentAide, a new service devoted to spying on the Facebook pages of your enemies, online now. (more)

Brain Sucking Cell Phone Spider

The "Universal Forensic Extraction Device" sounds like the perfect cell phone snooping gadget.

Its maker, Israel-based Cellebrite, says it can copy all the content in a cell phone -- including contacts, text messages, call history, and pictures -- within a few minutes. Even deleted texts and other data can be restored by UFED 2.0, the latest version of the product, it says.

And it really is a universal tool. The firm says UFED works with 3,000 cell phone models, representing 95 percent of the handset market. Coming soon, the firm says on its website: "Additional major breakthroughs, including comprehensive iPhone physical solution; Android physical support – allowing bypassing of user lock code, (Windows Phone) support, and much more." For good measure, UFEC can extract information from GPS units in most cars.

The gadget isn't a stalker's dream; it's an evidence-gathering tool for law enforcement. Cellebrite claims it’s already in use in 60 countries. (more)

The Car Whisperers

With a modest amount of expertise, computer hackers could gain remote access to someone's car -- just as they do to people's personal computers -- and take over the vehicle's basic functions, including control of its engine, according to a report by computer scientists from UC San Diego and the University of Washington.

Although no such takeovers have been reported in the real world, the scientists were able to do exactly this in an experiment conducted on a car they bought for the purpose of trying to hack it. Their report, delivered to the National Academy of Sciences' Transportation Research Board, described how such unauthorized intrusions could theoretically take place.

Because many of today's cars contain cellular connections and Bluetooth wireless technology, it is possible for a hacker, working from a remote location, to take control of various features -- like the car locks and brakes -- as well as to track the vehicle's location, eavesdrop on its cabin and steal vehicle data, the researchers said. They described a range of potential compromises of car security and safety. (more) (research paper) (the other car whisperers)

Invisibility

The prospect of rendering objects invisible has intrigued researchers for centuries.

Transformation optics based invisibility cloak design is now bringing this goal from science fictions to reality and has already been demonstrated experimentally in microwave and optical frequencies. However, the majority of the invisibility cloaks reported so far have a spatially varying refractive index which requires complicated design processes. Besides, the size of the hidden object is usually small relative to that of the cloak device. 

Here we report the experimental realization of a homogenous invisibility cloak with a uniform silicon grating structure. The design strategy eliminates the need for spatial variation of the material index, and in terms of size it allows for a very large obstacle/cloak ratio. A broadband invisibility behavior has been verified at near-infrared frequencies, opening up new opportunities for using uniform layered medium to realize invisibility at any frequency ranges, where high-quality dielectrics are available. (more)

"Chaos" - A Spy's Demise

CBS has pulled the low-rated spy series “Chaos” from its schedule after three episodes. The dramedy, which starred Freddy Rodriguez and Eric Close, debuted to 6.4 million viewers in its April 2 premiere but managed only a 1.1 rating in the key demographic of adults 18-49. (more)

iPhone 4 turns TrackPhone

Two researchers have uncovered a secret file on iPhones that keeps a record of where the phone has been and when it was there — a file that is unencrypted and stored by default.

A sample map built using the program

The security experts, Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden, created a program that lets you see just what your phone knows of your whereabouts — and it’s a creepy sight. There’s no evidence that the file is transferred to Apple, but the maps produced by the program show details stretching back months.

“Ever since iOS 4 arrived, your device has been storing a long list of locations and time stamps,” said Mr. Allan, a technology author, in a post on the website of technology publisher O’Reilly. He and Mr. Warden, a former Apple employee, are presenting their findings Wednesday at the Where 2.0 conference put on by the publisher. The Guardian newspaper also has reported on their discovery.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (more)

Woman Who Drove into River with Kids Victim of Spying

NY - The deadbeat dad of the three drowned Hudson River kids subjected their mother to a campaign of torment that included spying on her and forbidding her from having friends or flings -- even though they were not together, her grieving boyfriend told The Post. (more)

Stalker Uses: SpyCam, GPS Tracker, Bugs and Cell Phone Spyware

Australia - A man has been charged for bugging his ex-girlfriend's house and car with GPS and video devices after their relationship turned sour, police claim.

Police will allege the 53-year-old Alfred Cove man stalked his 40-year-old ex-girlfriend for many months.

It's claimed the couple were in a relationship for eight years, during which the man hired several private investigators to follow the woman.

After their relationship ended in mid-2010 police claim the man entered the woman's home on several occasions and installed listening and recording devices.

It is also claimed he placed a GPS tracker on her car and mobile phone, and followed her consistently. (more)

The Case of the Spying Apps

Cellphone users say they want more privacy, and app makers are listening.

No, they're not listening to user requests. They're literally listening to the sounds in your office, kitchen, living room and bedroom.

A new class of smartphone app has emerged that uses the microphone built into your phone as a covert listening device -- a "bug," in common parlance.

But according to app makers, it's not a bug. It's a feature!

The apps use ambient sounds to figure out what you're paying attention to. It's the next best thing to reading your mind. (more) (the solution)

SpyCam Spied at Berkeley's Cafe Med

CA - In a "revoltin development" the Med’s 50 year ban on tourist photography and ESPECIALLY an alphabet soup of spying agencies like F.B.I., C.I.A., C.B.S., N.B.C., O.N.I.--has sputtered... Call it big brother; call it the eyeball on high, call it Orwell.

Installers of the eye, Craig Becker, 59, the Med's owner and two university students with a hot business model put up the petite eyeball more than two weeks ago.

The students plan to install the geeky eyeballs in other Berkeley cafes and businesses so that students can spy on their friends.

But--FLASH: Big Brother is now blooie, victim of either chronic neck droop, a staff intervention, or customer sabotage.

Sabotaged, Blooie, blotto, or just plain broke. It now spends its once active filming life mis-aimed at the ceiling with what Berkeley's Poet Laureate, Julia Vinograd calls a "celestial stare." (more)

"So does this mean you won't marry me again, Brian?"

NASCAR chairman Brian France has sued his former wife, accusing her of tape recording telephone conversations to extort money from him.

In a lawsuit filed Friday, Brian France claims his ex-wife, Megan France, has recorded multiple telephone conversations with him without his consent. He is asking a federal judge to issue an injunction barring Megan France from engaging in additional “intercepts of wire communications” between the two and distributing the contents of the recordings.

Brian and Megan France have been married and divorced twice, Brian France noted in his lawsuit. Their second divorce was finalized on April 29, 2008. (more)

Eavesdropper Stung by Victim... who happens to be Hugh Grant

Hugh Grant is trending after he turned the tables on an eavesdropping tabloid. Grant, a victim of voice-mail hacking by Rupert Murdoch's News of the World, secretly taped journalist Paul McMullan coming clean about the electronic snooping and then sent the recording to the New Statesman.

According to the transcript, McMullan admits tabloid reporters have listened in on stars, prominent politicians, even Prince Charles.

The News of the World has printed a public apology, but the paper is facing a number of civil claims from celebrity victims, including actress Sienna Miller. (more)

This Week in World Spy News

Iran has expelled three Kuwaiti diplomats in retaliation for the expulsion of three Iranian diplomats accused of spying in the emirate. (more)

Industrial spying cases are on the increase in Korea. Stolen technologies sometimes end up with foreign firms according to police. (more)

ND - Former employees of a Fargo-based engineering company who left to form their own firm reject allegations of corporate espionage. The group of 21 former Ulteig Engineers employees has filed a countersuit seeking tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid fees. (more)

The Algerian authorities sentenced on Thursday to ten years in prison two former soldiers and a computer scientist for spying for France. (more)

Lebanon has filed a complaint with the United Nations Security Council over Israel's planting of a spy system camouflaged as rocks in its southern territory. (more)

UK - Government sources have confirmed that MI5 are set to outsource their spying activities to the world’s most popular internet search engine. ‘Google have shown that they are world leaders in this arena and can provide a far greater range of spying operations than the British security services for a fraction of the price,’ said an MI5 spokesman known only as ‘Z’... (more:) 

A former CIA agent from Cuba has been cleared of all 11 counts of lying and obstruction during immigration hearings. A jury in El Paso, Texas, took just three hours to reach a verdict... Luis Posada Carriles, 83, described as Public Enemy No 1 in Cuba and a nemesis of former President Fidel Castro, said outside the court afterwards that he just wanted some peace and quiet. (more)

Ecuador's leftist President Rafael Correa on Friday accused the U.S. embassy of spying on the country's police and military, adding the espionage was a factor in his expulsion this week of the U.S. ambassador. (more)

German prosecutors said Friday that they have indicted a 64-year-old German man for allegedly spying on the country's Uighur community and passing information to Chinese intelligence. (more)

Rupert Murdoch's powerful British news operation reversed course on Friday and admitted responsibility in a phone hacking scandal that had already cost the prime minister's spokesman his job. (more)

Come on. Just staple an RFID tag to my ear and get it over with.

Copenhagen International Airport one recent day was much like that at any airport around the world...

But unlike other airports, the movement of the passengers was being observed in an office here in Geneva, 860 miles away. Stephane Cheikh, innovation manager for the aviation communications and technology company SITA, was using his laptop to demonstrate a new program that tracked travelers’ movements based on the Wi-Fi-emitting devices they carried.

When Copenhagen Airport starts using the program in the next few weeks, airport officials will get a real-time picture of where travelers go and what they do. The officials can use this information to improve the design of the airport, direct the flow of passengers or shift employees to improve the efficiency of security or immigration checkpoints. (more)

...or to pump coupons to your phone to buy stuff you don't need as you approach yet another "Bookstones"?

"16,001 and you could have a case here barrister."

UK - The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has dropped a request bring charges against BT and Phorm - the firm that supplied the monitoring system. (Which snooped on the web browsing habits of its customers.)

The Webwise software used cookies to track people online and then tailored adverts to the sites they visited.

The CPS explained its decision saying that there was insufficient evidence to proceed with a prosecution. The web tracking trials were carried out in 2006 and involved more than 16,000 BT customers. (more)

In a surprise move...

Click to enlarge.

Russia's domestic security service called for access to encrypted communication providers like Gmail, Hotmail and Skype on Friday, saying the uncontrolled use of such services could threaten national security. (more) (sting-a-long)

In other news...

Seen any good movies lately?

Cops Sue Over HQ "Bug" Find

OH - A lawsuit involving two dozen plaintiffs and 18 defendants has been filed over alleged illegal wiretapping at the Newton Falls Police Department.

The lawsuit claims oral communications were illicitly recorded by hidden microphones placed in public and private areas of the police department... The new chief, John Kuivila, has said he found the devices in May of 2009. (more)

Hurdle: They will need to prove the CCTV camera microphones actually transmitted audio.

"When correctly viewed, everything is, Dude."

Russia - Got a dictaphone? A cell phone with voice recording function — say, an iPhone? Or maybe a laptop that can record your Internet phone conversations? It’s up to three years in jail for you, or a fine of 200,000 rubles ($7,000), unless you obtained permission for your gadget from the Federal Security Service. 

This, at least, can be inferred from the Thursday ruling of the Constitutional Court that upheld the law making “spying devices” the exclusive domain of the special services.

The problem is, the list of such devices takes a single page and is vague enough to allow law enforcement agencies to interpret it in wildly varying ways — a privilege officials do not fail to use...

The list of “spy devices” was compiled by the government, which does not specify models or even types of gadgets. Instead, it speaks only of things like “technical devices for covert collection and registration of acoustic information,” a description that most voice recorders fit squarely. (more) (sing-a-long)

...thus making future TSCM sweeps totally unnecessary, mate.

Australia - A simmering conflict between The Australian newspaper and the Greens (a political party) has become open warfare, with Greens leader Bob Brown accusing the national broadsheet of a vendetta against his party and telling it to "grow up".

He also demanded a guarantee from the newspaper that they do not use eavesdropping equipment to secure stories.

Two journalists from the paper's British News Limited stablemate, News of the World, have been arrested over an eavesdropping scandal, where they allegedly hacked into politicians' voicemail. (more)

Android on Security Steroids

PCTEL said Monday that the company had established a supply agreement for the development of a secure Android phone that it will market to government agencies whose employees have "Top Secret" clearance.

The phone will be branded by PCTEL Secure, the partnership between PCTEL and Eclipse Design Technologies, the companies said. The phone, which will be supplied by an unnamed ODM, will contain PCTEL's ProsettaCore solution for thwarting various threats to cell phone security, the company said.

Security will be maintained by a combination of hardware and software, most likely the combination of a plugin SD card and "extensive" software, said Tony Kobrinetz, the vice president of technology and operations for PCTEL. (more)

"Are you a tra- trader if you want to burn money?" - Max Headroom

NJ - Federal prosecutors accused a corporate lawyer and a trader of stealing confidential information about pending mergers and other deals from three prominent law firms in a decades-long scheme that resulted in (they were not just making a little pin money on the side) more than $32 million of profits.

The defendants allegedly used pay phones and prepaid phones paid with cash in order to avoid detection by law enforcement authorities and suspended the alleged scheme for a six-year period out of fear that their alleged criminal activity might be detected, according to a federal criminal complaint filed Wednesday in Newark, New Jersey... 

Mr. Bauer then promised to financial support the co-conspirator if he was charged, saying: "I am sitting with over $20 million in the bank," according to the criminal complaint. He also told him to burn $175,000 from a recent deal, prosecutors said.

"You know what, if you feel better burn the money and I'll give it back to you," Mr. Bauer said, according to the complaint. 

"Burn it?" the co-conspirator said.

"I would burn it...if there is any chance of us getting caught on that," Mr. Bauer said.

(more) (sing-a-long)

SpyCam Story #606 - Another Covert Skype'r

Australia - The Defence Force has confirmed it has called in police to investigate sex allegations made by a first-year female cadet at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra.

The 18-year-old, identified as 'Kate', says she had consensual sex with another first-year cadet but it was transmitted by Skype to six cadets in another room without her knowledge. (more)