" I heard that law enforcement has some sort of scanner that...

...tells them if a car has a large amount of money and then proceed to pull the car over where they eventually confiscate the cash. Is there really a "money scanner" like that?"

I get a lot of strange questions. 

This one was particularly intriguing.

Answer
For now, this appears to be an urban legend.
However, developing a technique to do this is on their radar screen...
"As U.S. financial institutions continue to improve legislation that reduces money laundering, criminals with large quantities of cash have shifted their focus to bulk currency smuggling, making deposits in foreign banks. Current DHS and law enforcement technologies catch only a fraction of the currency passing through the ports and borders. To date, a dedicated currency detector has never been developed. Lattice Government Services (LGS) will work with the University of Washington to define requirements and a Concept of Operations, research gaseous chemical detection, and physical spectral/magnetic detection technologies, and down select ideal systems..." (more)

From the fine state that brought you the light bulb, tetracycline, the visible-light lasers, bubble wrap, oral ACE inhibitors and the TV dinner...

"Paul Burgess, the chief executive of New Jersey-based Lattice Inc, the parent of Lattice Government Services, described challenges: “it isn’t just currency moving through an airport, a body scanner will pick that up. The bigger problem is at border crossings. You can put money in a side door and it’s going to be very difficult to detect."

As of May, 2011 we know that...

"DHS will soon begin reviewing the companies’ reports to decide whether there are any ideas worth pursuing, Verrico said. If the agency decides to move forward, one or more prototypes will be built and field-tested. “We will evaluate them over the next 30 to 60 days before we make any further decisions on ‘phase two,’” he said.” (more)


Stay tuned.

Personally, I think money detection will eventually be accomplished by embedding micro-RFID chips into the paper. Of course, the countermeasure would then be to carry money in a shielded container or wallet. 

Perhaps "smell" is the answer. Dogs are slow and scarce. But, these problems are being worked out...
 
"Tai Hyun Park and Seunghun Hong, of Seoul National University, with their colleagues, recreated a simplified version of the detecting cells in a dog’s nose using tiny bubbles made from cell membrane." 

They are working on artificial noses in Japan and Germany, too. You can buy an electronic nose today from Alpha MOS, but it is not portable enough for sniffing out money. The Cyranose 320 is portable but doesn't know what money smells like. We'll check back with you folks later.

Got any ideas for money detection?  
Send them (along with a case of M&M's) to:
"Show me the money!"
PO Box 668
Oldwick, NJ 08858

Dockworkers Union Alleges Eavesdropping - West Coast Port Strike

APM Terminals has been accused by a California dockworkers union of eavesdropping on workers to gain an edge in contract negotiations. 

The complaint, filed with the National Labor Relations Board by International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63, said APM "conducted secret surveillance, eavesdropping and snooping and listening in on confidential communications between and among union representatives, shop stewards and members concerning ongoing contract negotiations, bargaining strategies and labor-management issues."

The complaint was filed Nov. 14, about two weeks before the union's clerical workers went on an eight-day strike that shut down most of the cargo terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the busiest seaport complex in the country. In the document, the union local alleges that the surveillance dates back at least six months. (more)

Top 5 Wireless Tips for IT Pros

via Altius IT Information Security...

Listed below are the top 5 tips IT professionals should take to enhance wireless network security.

1. Encryption. There are many different types of encryption methods used to secure wireless networks. Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is the oldest and least preferred. Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is newer and offers better protection. WPA2 is the newest and should be used if possible. Configure Virtual Private Network (VPN) access for users connecting to corporate systems.

2. Firewalls. Segment the wireless network from your in-house wired network. Use firewalls to restrict traffic to and from the internal network. Configure user devices so firewalls are turned on and actively protect applications and data.

3. Manual connection. Configure portable devices such as laptops and handhelds so that they do not automatically connect to wireless networks. A manual process helps ensure that the device connects to the appropriate wireless network.

4. Patch management. Ensure device operating system, application, and security protection software is patched and up-to-date. Ensure browsers and updates to third party software packages are applied in a timely manner. Critical updates should be tested and applied as soon as possible.

5. Incident management. Prepare a formal Incident Response Plan and educate users to inform the appropriate personnel if they believe they logged into the wrong network, sensitive information such as their ID/password was compromised, their device was lost or stolen, etc. (more)

UPDATE: From our "Persistence is Futile" file...

A Canadian history buff seems to have cracked a coded World War II message that was found strapped to the leg of a dead carrier pigeon.

Click to enlarge.

Last month, Englishman David Martin found the bird's bones in his chimney when he was renovating his fireplace in the town of Surrey.

Inside a red capsule strapped to the leg of the bird was a message from Sergeant William Stott, who had been deployed behind German lines to observe the enemy's activities.

When the message was taken to Britain's top code-breakers at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), they declared the code uncrackable. (more) (audio report) (our original report)

Google Funds Spy Technology - Surveillance to the Rescue!

Carter Roberts, president of the The World Wildlife Fund, says on his organization’s site, “We face an unprecedented poaching crisis. The killings are way up. We need solutions that are as sophisticated as the threats we face.”

This week, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) announced its receipt of a $5 million grant, courtesy of Google’s Global Impact Awards to test advanced technology in the fight against animal crime. 

If it works, the new system will include sensors placed in wildlife environments and on the animals themselves, which would be monitored by a network of surveillance drones overhead. When poachers are detected, the drones will signal mobile ranger patrols on the ground to move in, hopefully stopping the poachers’ attack. (more)

UPDATE: $50 Hacking Device Opens Millions of Hotel Room Locks

The locks on more than 1 million guestroom doors are in various stages of being repaired, following the revelation this summer that they may be vulnerable to hackers.

The New York Marriott Marquis, the biggest hotel in Manhattan, for instance, just completed updating all of its nearly 2,000 door locks. The hotel is one of thousands of properties with guestroom locks manufactured by Onity, a division of United Technologies.

An Onity website also shows Sheraton, Hyatt, Holiday Inn, Fairmont, Radisson and other well-known hotels from Paris to Perth as also having its locks changed.

The lock scandal began as a hacker exercise. During a technology conference, an attendee revealed that he'd found a security flaw -- a way to electronically unlock a common, electronic hotel-door lock using inconspicuous tools. Other hackers checked out his claim and verified it. Their methods eventually showed up in a series of YouTube videos. (more) (and here!)

NCTC Scope "Breathtaking" - "Pre-Cogs" - fiction to fact in 10 years

via The Wall Street Journal...
Counterterrorism officials wanted to create a government dragnet, sweeping up millions of records about U.S. citizens—even people suspected of no crime...

 

The rules now allow the little-known National Counterterrorism Center to examine the government files of U.S. citizens for possible criminal behavior, even if there is no reason to suspect them. That is a departure from past practice, which barred the agency from storing information about ordinary Americans unless a person was a terror suspect or related to an investigation.

Now, NCTC can copy entire government databases—flight records, casino-employee lists, the names of Americans hosting foreign-exchange students and many others. The agency has new authority to keep data about innocent U.S. citizens for up to five years, and to analyze it for suspicious patterns of behavior. Previously, both were prohibited. Data about Americans "reasonably believed to constitute terrorism information" may be permanently retained...

The changes also allow databases of U.S. civilian information to be given to foreign governments for analysis of their own. In effect, U.S. and foreign governments would be using the information to look for clues that people might commit future crimes.

"It's breathtaking" in its scope, said a former senior administration official familiar with the White House debate. (more)

2012 - Targeting U.S. Technologies Report Out

Targeting U.S. Technologies: A Trend Analysis of Reporting from Defense Industry", presents DSS' analysis of industry reports submitted in 2011.

 

Although the report is geared for Facility Security Officers at Cleared Defense Contractors (CDC), it is a valuable reference for law enforcement, public and private sector executives and security officials responsible for protecting intellectual property, trade secrets and sensitive corporate information as the trends in collection directed against CDCs are important in understanding foreign collection directed against economic and corporate data in all business and government sectors. The 2012 DSS Full Report, containing information on 2011 incidents can be downloaded here.

Security Flaw – Samsung Handsets & Tablets

A suspected fault in Samsung's implementation of the Android kernel could result in malicious apps gaining control over user devices... 

"You should be very afraid of this exploit -- any app can use it to gain root without asking and without any permissions on a vulnerable device," the forum use wrote. "Let's hope for some fixes ASAP."...affected devices include the Samsung Galaxy S2, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and Samsung Galaxy Tab Plus.

The community says that it has informed Samsung of the flaw, and so we can hope a fix will soon be issued if the claims ring true. With so many apps floating around the Internet, the Android operating system has become an increasing target for hackers, who can slip malicious code into seemingly innocent applications which end up stealing data or taking control of your device.

As malicious apps begin to send unauthorized premium-rate SMS messages and steal user bank data, keeping our devices secure is now just as important as being careful when we surf the web on our desktops. (more)

TSCM Bug Sweeps: When, and When Not To - Part II

The following provides advice specifically meant for: 

Private Investigators, 
Security Directors, 
Security Consultants 
and TSCM professionals.

What you can do to keep your current business clients espionage-free

Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM), or bug sweep, is an analysis of an area to detect illegal covert electronic surveillance. In addition to listening devices, sweeps also take into account optical, data, and GPS tracking devices.
In TSCM Bug Sweeps: Part I we discussed how to handled requests from new clients for TSCM bug sweeps. In Part II we look at helping your current business clients. After you alert them to your business espionage solutions you will be viewed as a more valuable resource. Your revenue will also increase.

A typical case involving current business clients...

The Ostrich Effect:
Ignore the risk and maybe it will go away.

Many companies are doing very little to protect themselves against business espionage. Worse, they do not even know what protection measures are available, or where to go to find them. The natural result is “The Ostrich Effect”: ignore the risk and maybe it will go away. As their security adviser you should, and can, be helping them avoid this major disaster.

Step 1. Partner with a competent TSCM specialist.

As mentioned in Part I of this series, partner with a competent specialist. You may already have someone you know and trust. If so, great. If not, conduct a search using terms like “eavesdropping detection”, or simply “TSCM”. Once you have found specialists to vet, ask plenty of questions. If you are not sure of what to ask, search “TSCM compare” for a list of questions. Qualify your specialist with questions, but be sure to note their professionalism too. Their presentation and demeanor will reflect on you.

Knowing a good TSCM specialist will make the rest of the steps very easy for you. (more) (Part 1)

Steps 2-4 comprise the rest of this article.
Take-away point: If you don’t help your clients, another person reading this post will.
~Kevin

Feeb to Fed Xmas Files Secret Flash Sale

On Dec. 20, for the first time in its history, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will open its New York store at 26 Federal Plaza to federal employees for a limited time.

Selling a full line of FBI-branded clothing and merchandise—hats, t-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, patches, pens and coins—the store will only be open a brief four hours, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Some items are priced as low as $2, boasted an email sent earlier this week to federal staffers. The store is run by the FBI Recreation Association, a nonprofit headquartered in Washington D.C. Representatives did not return calls requesting comment about this flash sale opportunity. (more)   

Can't go? :(   
Shop here! :)

How to secure your Android phone - 14 Tips

via Gary Sims, Spybusters and SpyWarn...
Tip #1 – Never leave your phone laying around where uninvited guests can access it.
Tip #2 – Use a lock screen.
Tip #3 – Set a PIN to protect purchases on Google Play.
Tip #4 – Install a phone location app / security app with an anti-theft component.
Tip #5 – Don’t install apps from dodgy third party sites.
Tip #6 – Always read the reviews of apps before installing them.
Tip #7 – Check the permissions. Does the "game" really need to send SMS messages?
Tip #8 – Never follow links in unsolicited emails or text messages to install an app.
Tip #9 – Use an anti-virus / anti-malware app.
Tip #10 – Don’t root your phone unless absolutely necessary.
Tip #11 – If your device has valuable data on it, use encryption.
Tip #12 – Use a VPN on unsecured Wi-Fi connection.
Tip #13 – Read "Is My Cell Phone Bugged?"
Tip #14 – Use SpyWarn (freemium) periodically to help determine if your phone has been infected with spyware.
(more)

Bus-ted... Public Buses Quietly Adding Microphones to Record Passenger Conversations

Transit authorities in cities across the country are quietly installing microphone-enabled surveillance systems on public buses that would give them the ability to record and store private conversations, according to documents obtained by a news outlet.

The systems are being installed in San Francisco, Baltimore, and other cities with funding from the Department of Homeland Security in some cases, according to the Daily, which obtained copies of contracts, procurement requests, specs and other documents.

The use of the equipment raises serious questions about eavesdropping without a warrant, particularly since recordings of passengers could be obtained and used by law enforcement agencies.

It also raises questions about security, since the IP audio-video systems can be accessed remotely via a built-in web server (.pdf), and can be combined with GPS data to track the movement of buses and passengers throughout the city. (more)

"Get me Bond. I'm ticked at the watchmakers."

Authorities in Switzerland are investigating the theft of sensitive information from the country's Federal Intelligence Service (NDB) that was allegedly carried out by a senior IT technician at the agency. 

Officials believe that the suspect was upset because his advice on operating the spy agency's data systems was not being taken seriously, and that he decided to retaliate by stealing classified information from the agency's servers. That information included intelligence collected by the British spy agency MI6 about counterterrorism operations. 

The suspect is thought to have carried out the theft by abusing his administrator rights and downloading files onto portable hard drives, which he then hid in a backpack in order to sneak them out of the building. (more)

The Smartphone Turns 20

The First Smartphone

Click to enlarge.

IBM debuted a prototype device, code named "Angler," on November, 23, 1992 at the COMDEX computer and technology trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States... BellSouth executives gave the finished product its final name, "Simon Personal Communicator", before its public debut at the Wireless World Conference in November, 1993... In addition to its ability to make and receive cellular phone calls, Simon was also able to send and receive facsimiles, e-mails and cellular pages. Simon included many applications including an address book, calendar, appointment scheduler, calculator, world time clock, electronic note pad, handwritten annotations and standard and predictive stylus input screen keyboards. (1)


The Simon could be upgraded to run third party applications either by inserting a PCMCIA card or by downloading an application to the phone's internal memory. Atlanta, Georgia-based PDA Dimensions developed "DispatchIt", the only aftermarket, third-party application developed for Simon. The DispatchIt application costs were US$2,999 for the host PC software and US$299 for each Simon software client. (2)

Security Alert: Patch Your Samsung Printers

Samsung printers contain a hardcoded backdoor account that could allow remote network access exploitation and device control via SNMP. (Yes, your print job may be stolen before the paper hits the tray.) Details of the exploit have been published... Samsung has stated that models released after October 31, 2012 are not affected by this vulnerability. Samsung has also indicated that they will be releasing a patch tool later this year to address vulnerable devices. (more)

Everything You Need to Know About Shredding Sensitive Waste Paper

Scraps of seemingly useless information tossed in the trash may be synergistically related. Analysis can reveal the big picture to outsiders. Reducing the availability of these puzzle parts is an important counterespionage responsibility. Stealing trash is believed to be the number one business espionage trick.

Shredding Checklist

• Encourage the destruction of all waste paper as soon as it becomes waste.
• Make a deskside crosscut shredder your primary weapon.
• Large volume waste will require a larger, bulk crosscut shredder.
• Place a shredder or locked bin next to photocopy machines in sensitive areas.
• Extend shredding efforts to key executives’ home offices as well.
• Never save confidential papers in a box under the desk “to be shredded later.”
• Always use crosscut type (or better) shredders.
• Retire any strip-cut shredders you are using.
• Once shredders or locked bins are in place, remind people to use them.
• Do not entrust bulk wastepaper destruction to paper recyclers unless they can destroy on-site using a truck-mounted shredder (and you can watch). Cart and shred only when sheer bulk dictates this as the logical choice and the material is not highly sensitive. Otherwise, destroy it yourself before recycling.

The big shredder purchasing mistake… Buying just one large central shredder for everyone to use. Reason: Not everyone will use it. Why? Too inconvenient.

People are too busy to be bothered to walk over to a shredder every time they should. A better choice - several convenient deskside crosscut shredders, or locked storage bins. This is one perk which has a very positive payback.

Did You Know?…  

There are people who will reassemble shredded strips, and computer programs which can optically piece together shredded strips, too.

Buyers Guide to Shredders 

Shredder manufacturers and distributors...

http://tinyurl.com/Dahle-Shredders

http://tinyurl.com/Lynde-Ordway

http://tinyurl.com/abcosolutions

http://tinyurl.com/abe-online

http://tinyurl.com/alleghenyshredders

http://tinyurl.com/ameri-shred

http://tinyurl.com/papershredders

http://tinyurl.com/cumminsshredders

http://tinyurl.com/Dahle4Shredders

http://tinyurl.com/eccobusiness

http://tinyurl.com/FellowesShredders

http://tinyurl.com/gbc-shredder

http://tinyurl.com/IdealShredders

http://tinyurl.com/industrialshredders

http://tinyurl.com/intimus

http://tinyurl.com/mbmcorp

http://tinyurl.com/semshred

http://tinyurl.com/somatcompany

http://tinyurl.com/whitakerbrothers

• Replace your stripcut shredders with crosscut (or better) models. Stripcut models do not provide business-level security.  
• Deskside crosscut shredders are also available from retails stores such as Staples or Office Depot.

~Kevin

Police Strip Cut Shreds Used as Parade Confetti

Ethan Finkelstein, was at the NYC Thanksgiving Day Parade and noticed something weird about the confetti... "and it says 'SSN' and it's written like a social security number, and we're like, 'That's really bizarre.'

"There are phone numbers, addresses, more social security numbers, license plate numbers and then we find all these incident reports from police."

One confetti strip indicates that it's from an arrest record, and other strips offer more detail. "This is really shocking," Finkelstein said. "It says, 'At 4:30 A.M. a pipe bomb was thrown at a house in the Kings Grant' area."

A closer look shows that the documents are from the Nassau County Police Department. The papers were shredded, but clearly not well enough.

They even contain information about Mitt Romney's motorcade, apparently from the final presidential debate, which took place at Hofstra University in Nassau County last month. (more)

UPDATE: ...Sources close to the investigation into the incident told PIX11 News that an employee of the Nassau County Police Department was watching the parade near 65th Street and Central Park West, along the parade route. He had brought shredded NCPD documents with him for his family and friends to use as confetti... (more) (video)

TSCM Bug Sweeps: When, and When Not To - Part I

The following provides advice specifically meant for: 
Private Investigators, 
Security Directors, 
Security Consultants 
and TSCM professionals.

Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM), or bug sweep, is an analysis of an area to detect illegal covert electronic surveillance. In addition to listening devices, sweeps also take into account optical, data, and GPS tracking devices.
 
A typical case involving a private individual...
Someone contacts you to “find a bug”. They are sure their: significant other, landlord, neighbor, or the amorphous “they” knows their every thought and move. What do you do? Is a bug sweep really the best first step? 

Probably not. (more)

The article goes on to answer the question using this scenario:
 
A typical case involving a business client... 
Word about something has leaked out. “Check everything!”, barks the boss. What do you do? Is an inspection for bugs and wiretaps the best first step? (more)

Part II will appear later in December. ~Kevin

Spying Accusations Stoke America's Cup Rivalries

Spying is set to spark new battle lines in the America’s Cup as tempers fray on Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf. 

At odds are the €90m Italian team Luna Rossa, backed by the Prada luxury goods house, and the San Francisco-based, Lord knows how many millions Oracle team, holders of the cup and backed by computer software billionaire Larry Ellison.

Spying has been going on forever as rival teams assess the performance of their competitors – if Oracle is indeed spying on Luna Rossa it will also be spying on Team New Zealand (TNZ) and if it is not it would be astonishing. (more)

Is Your Cell Phone Protected by the 4th Amendment?

Judges and lawmakers across the country are wrangling over whether and when law enforcement authorities can peer into suspects’ cellphones, and the cornucopia of evidence they provide.

A Rhode Island judge threw out cellphone evidence that led to a man being charged with the murder of a 6-year-old boy, saying the police needed a search warrant. A court in Washington compared text messages to voice mail messages that can be overheard by anyone in a room and are therefore not protected by state privacy laws.

In Louisiana, a federal appeals court is weighing whether location records stored in smartphones deserve privacy protection, or whether they are “business records” that belong to the phone companies.

“The courts are all over the place,” said Hanni Fakhoury, a criminal lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based civil liberties group. “They can’t even agree if there’s a reasonable expectation of privacy in text messages that would trigger Fourth Amendment protection.”

The issue will attract attention on Thursday when a Senate committee considers limited changes to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, a 1986 law that regulates how the government can monitor digital communications. Courts have used it to permit warrantless surveillance of certain kinds of cellphone data. (more)

Mannequin Spies - Will Dummy Shoppers Revolt?

An Italian firm selling mannequins that secretly monitor the age, race and gender of customers using facial recognition software has come under fire from privacy groups. The information logged by the dummies is then used to implement more effective marketing strategies by stores in the US and Europe.

And the manufacturer now plans to add audio recording to the dummies' capabilities, listening in on customers' discussions about their clients' products.

Click to enlarge

The mannequins, known as "EyeSee" are manufactured by Italian company Almax and retail for £3,200 each.

Privacy campaigners agree, describing the technology as "creepy" and "totally disproportionate."

Emma Carr, deputy director of campaign group Big Brother Watch, told the Daily Mail newspaper: "The use of covert surveillance technology by shops, in order to provide a personalised service, seems totally disproportionate.

"The fact that the cameras are hidden suggests that shops are fully aware that many customers would object to this kind of monitoring. 

"Keeping cameras hidden in a mannequin is nothing short of creepy." (more)

As Seen on Predicted on TV in 1960!

(YouTube)

 

Patent Wars - VoIP Wiretaps

After Microsoft acquired Skype, we looked at a Microsoft patent called "Legal Intercept" meant for monitoring and recording VoIP communications. At that time, there were questions about if Microsoft would ruin Skype by making a backdoor for easy spy and pry government and law enforcement access. But a California-based company called VoIP-Pal already had such a surveillance patent that is meant to "allow government agencies to 'silently record' VoIP communications."

The Microsoft patent was filed in December 2009, but a company called Digifonica (International) Limited had filed a similar wiretapping VoIP patent in 2007. Then, in May 2012, VoIP-Pal attained five VoIP patents from the acquisition of Digifonica Gibraltar. One of the five patents is called "Lawful Intercept" and is meant for "intercepting VoIP and other data communications." (more)

Spy College... for your 21st Century careers

At the University of Tulsa school, students learn to write computer viruses, hack digital networks and mine data from broken cellphones. Many graduates head to the CIA or NSA.

Stalking is part of the curriculum in the Cyber Corps, an unusual two-year program at the University of Tulsa that teaches students how to spy in cyberspace, the latest frontier in espionage.

Students learn not only how to rifle through trash, sneak a tracking device on cars and plant false information on Facebook. They also are taught to write computer viruses, hack digital networks, crack passwords, plant listening devices and mine data from broken cellphones and flash drives.

It may sound like a Jason Bourne movie, but the little-known program has funneled most of its graduates to the CIA and the Pentagon's National Security Agency, which conducts America's digital spying. Other graduates have taken positions with the FBI, NASA and the Department of Homeland Security. (more)

From our "Persistence is Futile" file...

Top code-breakers at one of Britain's intelligence agencies, the GCHQ, say they have failed to decipher a message found attached to the leg of a dead Second World War pigeon. (more)

Can YOU crack the code?
RE HHAT VM RIYNZ LXJT MJRBTXAN
Give up? Crack it here. Your code number is 1943.

Student Balks at Stalk (Psst. Just make the tags more stylish.)

A court challenge has delayed plans to expel a Texan student for refusing to wear a radio tag that tracked her movements.

Style is everything in high school.*

Religious reasons led Andrea Hernandez to stop wearing the tag that revealed where she was on her school campus.

The tags were introduced to track students and help tighten control of school funding.

A Texan court has granted a restraining order filed by a civil rights group pending a hearing on use of the tags.

ID badges containing radio tags started to be introduced at the start of the 2012 school year to schools run by San Antonio's Northside Independent School District (NISD). The tracking tags gave NISD a better idea of the numbers of students attending classes each day - the daily average of which dictates how much cash it gets from state coffers. (more)

In other tracking news...

As U.S. turns to ear tags over brands, cattle ranchers fear end of tradition

* Get 'um here pard'ner.

Holiday Shopping Safety Infographic

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border: A Guide for Travelers Carrying Digital Devices

Thanks to protections enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, the government generally can’t snoop through your laptop for no reason. 

But those privacy protections don’t safeguard travelers at the U.S. border, where the U.S. government can take an electronic device, search through all the files, and keep it for a while for further scrutiny – without any suspicion of wrongdoing whatsoever. (more) (pdf guide)

The Wall Street Wiretap Sword Of Damocles

Mark Pomerantz, a former federal prosecutor, says the government wants everybody on Wall Street to believe all their conversations are being taped.

Pomerantz tells MarketWatch that the perception of wiretaps being employed in a widespread way is great for deterrence. However, he said he didn’t think they were being employed extensively by federal prosecutors. (more)

Researchers Find iOS is Rich Target for Spying Software

Takeaway: The popularity of Apple devices makes them a prime target for spying programs, malware, and simple thievery.

According to a report in TechWeek Europe, researchers have found that spying programs like SpyEra, SpyBubble and StealthGenie are used by attackers much more heavily on devices running iOS. In two samplings of infected devices, Israeli mobile security company Lacoon found that significantly more iOS devices were being targeted over other mobile operating systems (74 % in one sampling and 52 % in a second sampling).

Attackers are, of course, taking advantage of the relative popularity of Apple devices, and are using the spying programs in highly targeted attacks — for example, against business executives — “to watch over personal and business data, letting the attackers view all the victim’s emails, text messages and geo-location information.” (more)

Cyber Espionage Infographic

Click or download to enlarge.

Infographic courtesy F-Secure

City Hall Fingered for Eavesdropping - Claims 'Inadvertance'

Chicago City Hall officials violated Illinois' strict eavesdropping law when they ‘inadvertently’ recorded conversations with Chicago Tribune reporters without their consent.

The Tribune sent the city a letter Friday demanding that officials stop secretly recording conversations with reporters. The newspaper also requested copies of the recorded conversations.

“This failure was due to inadvertence – not some practice or plan to record interviews without consent,” City Attorney Stephen Patton stated in a letter responding to the Tribune. (more)

What the Well Dressed Spy Wants for Christmas

Upon first glance, it appears to be a standard pair of cuff links.

However, a covert, hidden handcuff key has been engineered in to the design. This concealed hand cuff key will to open almost all Standard Hand cuffs. It’s also designed to hold your French Cuffs closed. A must have for any international SPY or the average citizen looking for some styling carbon fiber inlaid cuff links that happen to open hand cuffs.

*WARNING: The use of this product may result in you being shot.*

Don’t Break the law. 
You are not Bond'ed. (more) (more weird cufflinks)

Scientific Breakthrough Gives Paranoids Another Thing to Worry About

Click to enlarge.

A tiny ear-powered device extracts energy from an ear and transmits information wirelessly to a nearby radio. (more)

2012 China Report Released... no surprises.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission was created by Congress to report on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the United States and the People's Republic of China.

"This Report conveys our findings from the past year, along with providing recommendations to Congress about how best to respond to some of the problems we have identified."
2012 REPORT TO CONGRESS
 
Excerpts:
"Travelers to China sometimes report Chinese officials tampering with their electronic devices upon entry or exit. Customs or border enforcement entities may perform or enable such activities."

"Some corporate entities in China may engage in, support, or benefit from cyber espionage. The prevalence of stste-owned or -controlled enterprises in the telecommunications and IT sectorsin China mean that such activities would often constitute state sponsorship."

Just coincidence?

 

This Week in Spy News

The chairman of Stow College in Glasgow has resigned after a row over a recorded conversation on a device branded a "spy-pen". (more)
 
Outdated laws have created loopholes that allow government and law enforcement agencies to request information and conduct electronic surveillance without warrants. The piece of legislation at the heart of the issue is the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, passed in 1986. (more)
 
Ex-British spy, turning 90, happily living in Russia... 
The spy, George Blake, betrayed British intelligence starting in the 1950s; he was found out in 1961 and sentenced to 42 years in prison. But he escaped five years later using a rope ladder made of knitting needles, made his way to the Soviet Union and has been living out his last years serenely in a cottage outside Moscow. (more)

Two Simple Spy Tricks That David Petraeus Could Have Used To Hide His Affair...
Does the head of the world's top spy agency really think he can hide behind a Gmail account and a pseudonym? Apparently so. Even bumbling Boris Badenov from "Rocky and Bullwinkle" would have known better. (more)

The Maryland Transit Administration is bugging buses in Baltimore, and the bugged buses are what’s bugging civil rights advocates. Buses already have cameras, but ten buses now have microphones that are supposed to add to security by recording what’s said between passengers and the drivers. (more)

How to Stop Spies from Digging Up Your Personal Information...
The spies in our lives aren't like the ones in movies—they take the form of a suspicious lover, obsessive coworker, or jealous "friend." While you can't distrust everyone you meet and lead a happy life, you can protect your personal information from falling into the wrong hands. Here's how to guard yourself from spies without slipping into a state of constant paranoia. (more)

The chairman of Pirelli, Marco Tronchetti Provera, will go to trial over a long-running probe into alleged use of Telecom Italia data to snoop on Italy's elite, a judicial source said on Monday. ( more)

How to Snap Top Secret Photos Without Anyone Noticing...
Ever needed to snap a picture in a quiet building without anyone noticing? Or maybe you need to document misbehavior without getting caught? Taking snapshots on the sly isn't easy, but a few tricks can help you capture a moment without another soul noticing. (more)
 

Steampunk Spy-Fi: Real-life gadgets perfect for a Victorian Era James Bond...
What if the majesty of On Her Majesty's Secret Service was Queen Victoria? (more)

In France, a Mission to Return the Military's Carrier Pigeons to Active Duty...
Grounded After Modern Communication Devices Soared, Birds May Offer Low-Tech Solutions; No Round Trips (more)

Email Security - The Petraeus Case

...via Zack Whittaker
There's no such thing as a truly 'anonymous' email account, and no matter how much you try to encrypt the contents of the email you are sending, little fragments of data are attached by email servers and messaging companies. It's how email works and it's entirely unavoidable...which first led the FBI on a path that led up to the very door of Petraeus' office door in Langley, Virginia.

Ultimately, only Google had access to the emails. Because it's a private company, it does not fall under the scope of the Fourth Amendment. If the U.S. government or one of its law enforcement agencies wanted to access the private Petraeus email account, it would have to serve up a warrant.

In this case, however, the Foreign Intelligence Services Act (FISA) would not apply. Even the Patriot Act would not necessarily apply in this case, even though it does allow the FBI and other authorized agencies to search email. However, in this case, above all else, the Stored Communications Act does apply -- part of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

The act allows for any electronic data to be read if it has been stored for less than 180 days. In this case, the law was specifically designed -- albeit quite some time before email became a mainstream communications medium -- to allow server- or computer-stored data to be accessed by law enforcement.

However, a court order must be issued after the 180 days, and in this case it was...

Once it knew Ms. Broadwell was the sender of the threatening messages, the FBI got a warrant that gave it covert access to the anonymous email account. And that's how they do it. (more)

Watergate's Next Watergate

A history professor hopes that a federal court's recent order to release long-sealed Watergate documents will shed light on the motivations behind the infamous 1972 scandal and help set an example for how to unseal court records.

Federal District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington, D.C., on Friday ordered the National Archives and Records Administration to review and release some of the documents within a month. The order came in response to Texas A&M history professor Luke Nichter's 2009 informal request to Lamberth to unseal a trove of documents relating to the 1973 trials of Watergate conspirators G. Gordon Liddy and James McCord.

Nichter's letter said that some of the sealed materials "purportedly will demonstrate that exposing a prostitution ring was the real motivation for the break-in." Liddy had alleged a similar theory in the mid-1990s, although he claimed that motive was unknown to him when he orchestrated the break-in. (more) (previous report)

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