This Week's Interesting Questions - Author Asks for Upcoming Book

An author contacted me this week with a few questions. She is writing a book, "about hearing and our relationship with sound. A small section of the book looks at electronic eavesdropping." I am always glad to help. Here is how the interview went...

How did you get involved in surveillance detection?
It started with an interest in amateur radio, electronics and building projects in high school. During college I was introduced to the world of surveillance electronics and investigations during a summer job. I switched majors from mass communications to criminal justice. I took a job as an investigator with Pinkerton's Inc. and eventually became Director of Investigations for New Jersey and Director of Electronic Countermeasures company-wide. I left them to open my own Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM) firm in 1978 and have enjoyed every day since.

What characteristics do you think are useful in this business?
Inquisitiveness is the most important characteristic, by far, on the technical end. But to be successful, one needs to learn all aspects of how to conduct business (marketing, advertising, bookkeeping, personal relations, etc.)

You have some fascinating stories of spying on your website. How far will people go to listen in on conversations?
The phrase that comes to mind is, "Whatever it takes." I've seen everything from simple holes in the wall, to pre-bugged gifts sent in via mail, to planting spyware on smartphones.


What are some of the most extreme or unusual examples you have witnessed in your work?

A wired-up person who was part of an industrial plant tour: asking pointed questions of employees he met, dictating what he saw and read off of desktop paperwork, and recording the sounds of the manufacturing process for later reverse engineering.

A company that planted 14 bugs in their own offices, and then tried to blame their competitor for doing it, in a law suit. In the same vein, a company president who did a poor job of installing a wired microphone in the ceiling of the main conference room and had the cable leading to the office of a VP he was trying to frame. Neither group succeeded.

A trusted employee who planted a covert video camera in the women's locker room of a country club. (This type of issue is the latest epidemic in our field.)

How small are the smallest of covert listening devices today? Is the technology changing much? If so, in what ways?
The real "smallest" eavesdropping devices are software in nature – used to turn smartphones into bugs, and desktop/laptop computers into audio-video bugs. In terms of available hardware to make eavesdropping devices, the "smallest" components, such as microphones and video cameras, look like this...
http://www.misumi.com.tw/

 
http://www.knowles.com/eng/Products/Microphones/Surface-mount-MEMS

(Smaller microphones are made, but these are indicative of the ones which are readily available.)

Is the technology changing much? If so, in what ways?

Eavesdropping and espionage technology is not changing, it is expanding. New technology is being developed all the time, and the "old" technology isn't going away, it is being refined. Old technology still work. Old and new are being used today. As mentioned above, "Whatever it takes." This is why the recent high focus on IT/computer security won't solve the computer security problem. In order to hack, pre-attack intelligence is necessary. This is gathered using many of the "old" tools: social engineering, video surveillance, electronic eavesdropping, and black bag intrusions.

There is no information fresher and more valuable than the spoken word. It comes right from the brain, not from a computer, not from something written, from the brain. This is why people eavesdrop!

mSpy - Cell Phone Spyware Company - Servers Hacked

via krebsonsecurity.com
mSpy, the makers of a dubious software-as-a-service product that claims to help more than two million people spy on the mobile devices of their kids and partners, appears to have been massively hacked.

Last week, a huge trove of data apparently stolen from the company's servers was posted on the Dark Web, exposing countless emails, text messages, payment and location data on an undetermined number of mSpy "users." more

New Protection Against Commjacking (Wi-Fi & Cellular)

An Israel-based cyber security software company, CoroNet, announced on Tuesday the launch of a breakthrough product addressing the fastest growing cyber threat worldwide -- cellular and Wi-Fi hacking or “commjacking.” Commjacking involves an attacker hijacking a communication channel between any device and the WiFi network or cellular tower to which it is connected. CoroNet is launching a new software service that that detects and evades commjacking on networks, in real-time, making any device resilient to the attack...

“Equipment used for commjacking used to be only in government domains because it cost some $2.5 million and was very large,” said Liwer. “Now, equipment which used to require a whole van to transport fits into a 13-inch laptop bag and costs between $29 and $1500 dollars for cellular or Wi-Fi.”



Cellular hacking stations or IMSI Catchers are now the size of a 13-inch lap top, making it cheap and convenient to access. (Reuters)

It happens like this. Cell phones are designed to look for the closest and best cellular connection on their particular network and then automatically connect to it. The cell phone doesn’t ask your permission to connect to that tower because its job, fundamentally, is to ensure you have the best possible service you can get wherever you are.

By setting up a “fake” tower (that 13-inch laptop sized hardware we mentioned before) the attacker can force any nearby smartphones or cellular devices to join his network. The hacker then has the ability to see and collect all the data flowing to and from your device as it travels to the real cellular tower. The tools are so efficient there’s no lag in transmission at all, and victims won’t even notice they’ve been attacked.

“This is a completely unprotected backdoor,” Liwer said, “And it’s unprotected because any research on protection against this has been suppressed by governments around the world who enjoyed having that backdoor. They never imagined this technology would leak into the hands of the wrong people. But now it leaves the majority of the population completely defenseless.”

According to Liwer, there are two main types of attackers who use these cell phone spying tools: Members of organized crime and tactical targeted attackers.

The first kinds of attackers have the goal of gathering as much data as they possibly can...

The other kinds of attackers are known as tactical targeted attackers. These are attackers who are employed to conduct corporate or government espionage. These attackers are hoping to gather very specific kinds of data. Often times the data has been encrypted, for example via a VPN, and so the attacker will seek to disable that encryption method, forcing the target to use less secure means of transmitting information. If the target can’t be forced to use a less secure methods, however, the attacker can still gather that encrypted data and with a little time and effort decrypt it.

“Encryption works on keys,” said Liwer “and in order to get encryption keys all you need is computing power and time … in the last two years the cost of computing went down dramatically. An attacker can have a super computer working for him on Amazon servers for pennies per minute. If the information is important enough to him, he will be able to get it.”

In light of these attacks, Liwer and the team at CoroNet have been working on a groundbreaking new solution they hope will help close the gaping backdoor in our cellular communications. The software service CoroNet is launching has the ability to detect commjackers in the network and route data and voice around the attacker to safe network nodes, so that the device will not be able to connect to the malicious network.

“Think of CoroNet as a sonar,” Liwer said, “and the networks, both cellular and Wi-Fi, around your device as the ocean. Using about 300 different parameters we are able to construct an image of the network outside of your device, identify anomalies in the network behavior and mark those anomalies as hostile or non-hostile,” said Liwer.

 

CoroNet's new software service detects and evades cellular commjack attacks, helping users stay safe. CoroNet

Using a complex algorithmic system, CoroNet’s software examines network behavior over time and identifies patterns attackers execute to lure devices into their network or disturb the network around in general.

“We can’t see the cellular and Wi-Fi networks surrounding us, but they are a physical thing,” said Liwer, in which attackers leave their “footprints.”



CoroNet real time threat map. more

Weatherwoman Damned as a Spy

In October 2014, we heard an odd story about a National Weather Service employee in Ohio:

the FBI announced that Xiafen “Sherry” Chen, a 59-year-old hydrologist at the Wilmington, Ohio, Weather Service office, was arrested — handcuffed and escorted out of the building — for charges that ultimately amounted to spying for China.

Except, it turns out, she wasn’t a spy... more sing-a-long

New Spy Briefcase Tracks Itself... and much more

The iMbrief is designed to function as a mobile office and is aimed at being fashionable, secure and versatile. First thing's first, of course, it provides users with a means of storing and transporting documents securely, with an LED light inside to illuminate the contents.

• Access to the iMbrief is via a fingerprint scanner or the accompanying mobile app.
• It has a Kensington lock slot.
• A siren to warn users of any unauthorized access attempts and to scare thieves.
• An SD card slot for internal data storage.
• A Wi-Fi SD card allows data to be accessed wirelessly.
• Mobile devices can be charged both internally and externally (four USB charging ports in total)
• A GPS sensor allows the location of the iMbrief to be tracked.
• Can be use to play music and calendar appointments via its built-in Bluetooth speakers.
• The speaker is used as the security siren as well.

The case is charged via a USB port and takes around two hours for a full charge of the 5,000 mAh primary battery. A full charge can apparently last for over a month if only the fingerprint scanner is being used, but if it runs out of power, it must be charged before it can be opened again.


The briefcase has an aluminum-alloy shell and is will be offered in grey, black and burgundy if it reaches the market (December or January). It weighs around 4 lb (1.8 kg) and measures 450 x 330 x 95 mm (17.7 x 13 x 3.7 in). It is available with a detachable shoulder strap. more

I'm in!

Spy Babe - Computer Harpie or Siren - You Decide

Canada - A Quebec woman is facing criminal charges for allegedly taking over people's computers remotely, spying on them through their web cameras and harassing them through their computer speakers. 

Valérie Gignac, 27, was released on bail today on the condition that she not use a computer or have access to the internet...

Investigators allege the suspect used malicious software to spy on people through their web cameras.

Police also say Gignac eavesdropped on private conversations, communicated with victims through their computer speakers and logged onto extreme pornography websites...

Investigators believe the victims included children in Canada and abroad, and say there could be more victims.

They also say Gignac is the owner of an online hacking forum that has 35,000 users worldwide. more sing-a-long

Politico's Son Complains About Being Tapped... While Being Tapped

NY - A powerful New York State legislative leader was allegedly recorded complaining about his calls being recorded — while his conversation was being recorded.

Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R) and his son, Adam Skelos, were arrested Monday on federal corruption charges. US Attorney Preet Bharara accused them of a orchestrating a scheme that led to Adam Skelos getting a job in exchange for government sewer contracts and other favors...

According to the complaint, Adam Skelos was caught in an "intercepted call" telling his father it was unfortunate he couldn't get any "real advice" because "you can't talk normally because it's like f---ing Preet Bharara is listening to every f---ing phone call. It's just f---ing frustrating." more sing-a-long

Current King of the Voyeur Jungle - Pleads Not Guilty - Judge Says Stop, Lyon

CA - Disgraced Sacramento real estate mogul Michael Lyon was back in court Monday... after being released from jail last month...

His hearing was postponed to May 18 in Sacramento Superior Court on 16 felony counts of electronic eavesdropping that expose him to potentially more time behind bars.

When he was released April 1, Lyon, 59, the former chief executive officer of Lyon Real Estate, had served six months for violating the terms of a plea agreement his lawyer worked out with the District Attorney’s Office in 2011. During that arrest last year, prosecutors allege, investigators discovered methamphetamine and other drugs in his home and seized electronic equipment that they analyzed in preparing the latest eavesdropping charges.

The new case follows a similar set of charges brought against Lyon in 2010, in which he was accused of secretly videotaping his interactions with prostitutes and making surreptitious recordings of friends and employees in bathrooms and elsewhere. He pleaded guilty...

Prosecutors now allege that he continued the illicit recordings, despite repeated warnings from the court that he stop. The new complaint alleges that the 16 counts took place on 14 separate dates with eight different unnamed victims between Jan. 15, 2014, and Sept. 27, 2014.

Lyon has pleaded not guilty.

When he was released last month, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Ben Davidian told him he could have “no cameras of any kind” in his possession, including a cellphone camera. more

Kolon Blows $360 Million Down the Crapper - DuPont Still Bullet-Proof

Kolon Industries Inc. admitted conspiring to steal DuPont Co.’s Kevlar trade secrets 

as a U.S. judge signed off on its plea agreement and $360 million penalty...

“There’s no doubt this case involves brazen and blatant conduct,” U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga said before accepting the company’s guilty plea. Trenga said he was particularly troubled by Kolon employees destroying documents after DuPont sued in 2009.

The charges were initially filed against Gyeonggi, South Korea-based Kolon Industries Inc., which split into two public companies in 2010, Kolon Industries and Kolon Corp. The theft of secrets occurred before the split.

Kolon’s guilty plea also covered attempts to steal trade secrets from a second company, Tokyo-based Teijin Ltd. more

Airbus'ed by Spies

Airbus on Thursday said it would file a criminal complaint against unknown parties after German media reports of the company having been the target of industrial espionage by the U.S. ...

German newspaper Bild reported earlier this week that the National Security Agency spied or sought to spy on Airbus and other companies and that the German government had known about it for several years. more

Edinburgh Spy Week

Edinburgh Spy Week: Fictions of Espionage will run again in May 2015 with a whole new range of talks, films and events that explore the world of espionage in literature and film.

Highlights include:

• May 19th - An Evening with Graham Greene at the National Library of Scotland.
• May 22nd - James Robertson, ‘The Blanket of the Dark: Secrets, Truth and Lies in Real and Imagined Scotland’.
• May 22nd - Publish your own spy fiction! A workshop with Tim Stevens.
• May 23rd - ‘Secrecy and the Modern World’: a day of talks and discussions at the University of Edinburgh. Speakers include Kieron O’ Hara and Charles Cumming.
• Throughout the week: A series of Greene adaptations at the Edinburgh Filmhouse.

For more information on the week, including a full programme of events and details on how to book a place, visit the website at: www.spyweek.llc.ed.ac.uk

Who's Behind Those Ray Bans

ACLU - The map below tracks what we know, based on press reports and publicly available documents, about the use of stingray tracking devices by state and local police departments. 

Following the map is a list of the federal law enforcement agencies known to use the technology throughout the United States. The ACLU has identified 51 agencies in 21 states and the District of Columbia that own stingrays, but because many agencies continue to shroud their purchase and use of stingrays in secrecy, this map dramatically under represents the actual use of stingrays by law enforcement agencies nationwide.

Stingrays, also known as "cell site simulators" or "IMSI catchers," are invasive cell phone surveillance devices that mimic cell phone towers and send out signals to trick cell phones in the area into transmitting their locations and identifying information. When used to track a suspect's cell phone, they also gather information about the phones of countless bystanders who happen to be nearby. Click here for more info on stingrays.

It's Just Not Cricket

India

Former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief N Srinivasan allegedly hired the services of a London firm to spy on BCCI officials, The Times of India reports...

According to reports, Srinivasan paid Rs 14 crore of BCCI's money to spy on his fellow board members and asked them to tap their phones and track their e-mails. It is expected that BCCI will investigate this matter further lead by new secretary Anurag Thakur. more "It's just not cricket"

Bugging Concerns Prompt City Hall TSCM Sweep

UK - Council chiefs were forced to pay a specialist security firm to “sweep” for electronic recording devices after an ex-councillor hinted the council house had been bugged...

It is understood the un-named company carried out a sweep of the council house at some stage in the past month, but no such electronic items were found.

A spokesman for Plymouth City Council said: “We received a communication that suggested recording devices may have been installed in the council house.

“Given the highly confidential nature of some of the meetings held in the building, which include those about the safeguarding of vulnerable children, we had a duty to look into it and had the building checked.  more

Student Uses Keystroke Logger to Change Grades - Fail & Jail

UK - Student uses a keyboard spying device to hack the computer of Birmingham University to up his own grades and has been sentenced for 4 months of jail.

A final year student was found guilty of hacking the university computers to change his marks and to increase his overall final year grades has been sentenced by the court for a 4 months of jail.

Imran Uddin, a 25 year old student of Bio Science, at the University of Birmingham hacked the university computers by using “keyboard spying device”. This device resembles a USB stick and can be purchased from the internet sites for as low as £49. Mr. Uddin had bought these equipments from online website ebay and implanted them on a number of computers in the university where he was studying. more cue the cat

The Rayney Wiretap Trial Continues

Lloyd Rayney phone-tapping trial: Fingerprints on roof manhole match alleged installer of bugging equipment.

Australia - Two fingerprints on a manhole cover* from the home of Lloyd Rayney matched those of the man he is alleged to have paid to install phone-bugging equipment, a police officer has told the District Court in Perth.

Senior Constable Damian Sheridan was testifying at the trial of Mr Rayney on two charges of aiding, abetting or procuring the interception of the landline telephone at his family's home over two periods in 2007, before the death of his wife Corryn. more *The cover plate for an in-wall wiring junction box.

Beauty Queen Sues In-Laws For Bugging Bedroom

A former Turkish beauty queen has sued her former in-laws for bugging her bedroom with the help of her ex-husband, according to a local media report.

Sinem Sülün, who was crowned Miss Model Turkey in 2005 and was runner-up at Miss Turkey-Universe in 2007, divorced her husband Mustafa Yüksel last month. She was awarded 200,000 Turkish Liras in compensation and 2,500 liras as a monthly alimony after the divorce.

Daily Milliyet reported on April 1 that the divorce case led to a fierce argument between the two sides, after Sülün claimed that her husband and his parents had illegally wiretapped their private conversations by bugging a power socket in their bedroom.

The 5th Criminal Court of Peace recently ruled for the trial of businessman Yüksel and his parents on charges of illegally recording a private conversation, the report said. more

The Wire - Censored to Protect You

HBO's The Wire was lauded for its gritty, realistic portrayal of the drug war in Baltimore, but it seems law enforcement thought the show could be a bit too authentic at times. In a story about cellphone tracking technology, showrunner David Simon tells The Baltimore Sun that "At points, we were asked by law enforcement not to reveal certain vulnerabilities in our plotlines."

Simon, who was once a reporter for the very same paper, explains that the writers once intended to show that criminals using the walkie-talkie-eque, "push-to-talk" feature of Nextel phones could avoid surveillance and wiretaps. According to Simon, the technology "was actually impervious to any interception by law enforcement during a critical window of time." more

Encyclopedia Spytanica

Trying to get a handle on hundreds of sensitive, closely held surveillance programs, a Senate committee is compiling a secret encyclopedia of American intelligence collection. It's part of an effort to improve congressional oversight of the government's sprawling global spying effort.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein launched the review in October 2013, after a leak by former National Security Agency systems administrator Edward Snowden disclosed that the NSA had been eavesdropping on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone. Four months earlier, Snowden had revealed the existence of other programs that vacuumed up Americans' and foreigners' phone call records and electronic communications.

"We're trying right now to look at every intelligence program," Feinstein told The Associated Press. "There are hundreds of programs we have found ... sprinkled all over. Many people in the departments don't even know (they) are going on." more

Ex Rigs Live Streaming Bedroom Spycam

WA - A 41-year-old Cheney, Washington, is accused of entering his ex-girlfriend's home and secretly installing a wireless camera in her bedroom to spy on her...

Court records shows the ex-girlfriend called Liberty Lake police in late March when she arrived home and found several items he had given her burned in a backyard fire pit. A few days later, she reported finding a camera hidden in a light fixture above her bed.

Liberty Lake police Chief Brian Asmus says the camera was connected to a wireless device hidden in the attic and was streaming live video.  more

The World Wrestles with the Spycam Epidemic

India - After Human Resources Development Smriti Irani claims to have detected a CCTV camera facing towards a FabIndia trial* room in Goa, many shops are now being inspected to ensure that no such cameras are found inside changing rooms...

A spy camera can be fitted in the smoke detector, electrical switch and almost in any item usually found in a trial room. 

Spy camera retailer Parminder Singh said, "Spy cameras can be fitted even in the fire extinguisher."

But the sophistication of these cameras and the huge variety in which they come in have reached makes it becomes difficult for a common man to detect a hidden camera with a naked eye.

While spy cam detectors are available in the market, their effectiveness is unreliable. more

* In India, a "trial room" is a changing room in a clothing store.

"I'm sorry I called you a spy. Let me buy you a cup of coffee."

A Starbucks executive apologized to a San Francisco man after an employee apparently accused him of being a spy for China.

Daniel Lui posted about the incident on Yelp. According to Lui, he was visiting a Starbucks location in Seattle, Washington when an executive came up to him and accused him of spying in order to open a coffee chain in China. ...the Starbucks executive called to apologize and the company put $50 on Lui’s Starbucks card.

The incident happened before Starbucks launched its controversial Race Together initiative aimed at improving race relations in the U.S. more

District Officials Bugged Their Mayor’s Computer

Canada - He was ridiculed and dismissed as paranoid for claiming that district employees have installed a surveillance software in his office computer to spy on his online activities. In the end, Richard Atwell, mayor of the District of Saanich in British Columbia, is vindicated and gets to say “I told you so.”

Last week Elizabeth Denham’s, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of B.C., released a report castigating the district for installing monitoring software on employees’ computers with little regard for the people’s privacy rights covered by privacy laws that have been in place for 20 years.

Denham said her staff “observed that the software had been configured to record the activities of District employees, including recording and retaining screenshots of computer activity at 30 second intervals and every keystroke taken on a workstation’s keyboard, and retaining copies of every email sent or received.”

The report 35-page report revealed that the bugging of Atwell’s machine stemmed from concerns of district directors that because of Atwell’s IT background, the new mayor would be able to uncover outstanding security issues in the district’s IT infrastructure. These were issues IT security shortcomings revealed by an IT audit back in May 2014. more

Companies Warned to Sweep for Bugging Devices

SA - Companies should regularly have their boardrooms and communication devices swept for bugging devices, and even consider using the controversial cellphone jammer* for meetings to protect their corporate intelligence, a private investigator has warned.

"It is perfectly normal, good security procedure, says Kyle Condon, managing director of DK Management Consultants.

Following the outrage over the use of a cellphone jamming device in Parliament, and suspended Eskom CEO Tshediso Matona's suggestion in his court papers that an important board meeting was bugged, Condon says such tactics are not limited to governments. more

* The use of a cell phone jammer is illegal in the United States.

Air-Gapped Computer Hack

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers have discovered a new method to breach air-gapped computer systems called “BitWhisper” which enables two-way communications between adjacent, unconnected PC computers using heat.

The research, conducted by Mordechai Guri, Ph.D. is part of an ongoing focus on air-gap security at the BGU Cyber Security Research Center. Computers and networks are air-gapped when they need to be kept highly secure and isolated from unsecured networks, such as the public Internet or an unsecured local area network. Typically, air-gapped computers are used in financial transactions, mission critical tasks or military applications.

According to the researchers, “The scenario is prevalent in many organizations where there are two computers on a single desk, one connected to the internal network and the other one connected to the Internet. BitWhisper can be used to steal small chunks of data (e.g. passwords) and for command and control." View BitWhisper video demo. more

"Is there a phone number I can call to see if my phone is tapped?"

I read this on a private detectives' news group this week... "Does anyone remember the phone number which can be called to determine if a phone is bugged? I can't find it now that I have a use for it." 

One of the answers this gentleman received, "http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-202-543-9994" I visited the link and had a good laugh reading the posts.

From a non-technical perspective, just looking at it logically, the answer is obviously, NO. If there were a number, everyone would be using it and covert wiretapping would be impossible.

From a technical perspective the answer is obviously, NO. There are a multitude of ways to bug or wiretap phones, many of which do not affect the electrical characteristics of the phone.

• So, why does this urban legend persist? 
• Is there a shred of truth in it? 
• When did it start?

I first heard the rumor in the 1970's, and yes, there is a shred of truth to it.

1. There was one telephone bugging device called the Telecommand, and its variants Infinity Transmitter and Harmonica Bug. Generally speaking, these were audio room bugs, which could either built into the phone or attached to the line somewhere near the phone. They were activated by a tone sent up the line by the eavesdropper.

2. The phone company, at the time, had test numbers used by their techs. One of these test numbers produced a sweeping tone from low frequency to high frequency. Back in the early 1970's some of the sweep tone numbers were 212-324-0707, 213-615-0003, 213-277-9291, 213-783-0001, 202-560-9944.

Time to put 1 & 2 together...

If your phone or line was bugged by this specific type of eavesdropping device, AND you called the sweep tone test number from your phone, you MIGHT be able to detect that you activated the bug. Most of the professional TSCM telephone testers of this era had sweep tone testers built into them. The party ended when the phone company migrated from analog to digital (SS7) switching beginning in the mid-to-late 1970s.

With digital switching the ringtone the caller hears is not coming from the phone, but rather from the phone company switch. There is no audio path to the phone until it is answered. So, trying to send a tone up the line before the phone is answered is futile. Some versions of the bug tried to overcome this death knell by letting the call be answered, and then sending the tone as the person was hanging up, thus its name, Keepalive.

Tip: If you have eavesdropping and wiretapping questions, please, contact a qualified specialist with a good reputation. There are plenty of us around.  ~Kevin

P.S. Another phone number urban legend...  
If you think your phone is tapped dial this # to find out: 101073217709889664
An automated voice will then repeat your phone number followed by an "8" then nine "0's" and a number. If the last number is 1, 2, or 3 your phone is NOT tapped if it is larger than 3 then you have a problem.

Union Claims Zoo Eavesdropped - Weasle Dance at 11

CA - Allegations that upper management at the San Francisco Zoo eavesdropped on employees using a radio communication system as a bugging device has union teamsters demanding the zoo uphold their employees' right to privacy.

According to Teamsters Local Union 856 representative Tim Jenkins, the San Francisco Zoo's executive director Tanya Peterson and its vice president of operations Robert Icard both have radios equipped with spyware giving them the capability to listen in on zoo employees' private conversations without their knowledge.  more video

Viet Hong Spyware Brains Head to Court

Hanoi prosecutors said they will take seven people of a technology firm to court for developing and selling a mobile application that allowed users to spy on more than 14,000 phones from 2013 to 2014.

Viet Hong Technology Company’s Deputy Director Nguyen Viet Hung and six employees will stand trial on charges of “illegally using information gained from computer, internet and telecommunication networks.”

The crime is punishable by a jail term of up seven years and an additional fine of up to VND200 million (US$9,300).

According to the case file, Hung, 41, hired Le Thanh Lam to write the spying app called “Ptracker”. more

Florida Working on a Drone Law

FL - A law that would make it illegal to use a drone to spy on your family is moving through the Florida Legislature right now.

Under the proposed law, the government and police would be forbidden from using drones for surveillance, and so would everyday people like your neighbors.

The ban would only apply to private property and only to places where someone has "a reasonable expectation of privacy." more

Security Director Alert - Cisco VoIP Phone Eavesdropping Vulnerability

Cisco is warning customers about several vulnerabilities in some of its IP phones that can allow an attacker to listen in on users’ conversations. The bug affects the Cisco SPA 300 and 500 Series IP phones.

Cisco had confirmed the vulnerabilities, which were discovered by Chris Watts, a researcher at Tech Analysis in Australia, and is working on a new version of the firmware to fix the bugs.

“A vulnerability in the firmware of the Cisco Small Business SPA 300 and 500 series IP phones could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to listen to the audio stream of an IP phone,” Cisco said in its advisory.

“The vulnerability is due to improper authentication settings in the default configuration. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted XML request to the affected device. An exploit could allow the attacker to listen to a remote audio stream or make phone calls remotely.”

...The fix for the bug is not yet available, but Cisco said it is preparing one. more

CSIS Sends 6-year-old Boy Tips on How to Become a Spy

Canada - When six-year-old Jacob St. Jean found out that secret agents weren't just the stuff of stories, he asked his mom, Erin, to help him track down some real spies.

The pair wrote a letter to CSIS, asking if Canada's spy agency would set up a club for kids.

For four months, Jacob checked the mail daily, only to be disappointed...

Then, earlier this week, Jacob received a mysterious package in the mail — and an apology for the delayed response — from the B.C. regional director of CSIS. more

Security Director Alert - iPhone Password Crack

via... blog.mdsec.co.uk
We recently became aware of a device known as an IP Box that was being used in the phone repair markets to bruteforce the iOS screenlock. This obviously has huge security implications and naturally it was something we wanted to investigate and validate. For as little as £200 we were able to acquire one of these devices and put it to work.

Although we’re still analyzing the device it appears to be relatively simple in that it simulates the PIN entry over the USB connection and sequentially bruteforces every possible PIN combination. That in itself is not unsurprising and has been known for some time. What is surprising however is that this still works even with the “Erase data after 10 attempts” configuration setting enabled. Our initial analysis indicates that the IP Box is able to bypass this restriction by connecting directly to the iPhone’s power source and aggressively cutting the power after each failed PIN attempt, but before the attempt has been synchronized to flash memory. As such, each PIN entry takes approximately 40 seconds, meaning that it would take up to ~111 hours to bruteforce a 4 digit PIN.

...our advice to all is ensure you have a sufficiently complex password applied to your device rather than a PIN. more

NYPD Blue IT

NYC - A rogue auxiliary cop hacked into an NYPD database for confidential information about traffic accidents, then contacted the victims posing as an ambulance-chasing lawyer, federal authorities said Tuesday.

"Mr. Katz will see you, as soon as you put on this neck brace."

Yehuda Katz devised an elaborate scheme inside the 70th Precinct station house in Flatbush, Brooklyn, where he was not only able to access law enforcement databases from a remote location, but also installed a hidden camera in a cable TV box in the traffic safety office to make sure he wouldn’t be found out...

Investigators found an electronic device connected to the computer had been logging into the NYPD database using the passwords of three cops on their days off.

The surveillance camera had the capability to broadcast a live image of the office to the Internet. Investigators suspect Katz would activate the device from a remote location to make sure no one was using the computer so he could log into the database. more

Canadians Concerned About Bill C-51's Surveillance Powers

Canadians should be “spooked” by the enhanced powers spies are going to get, says a national security expert.

Agents of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service will not just be capable of eavesdropping and opening other people’s mail, according to Reg Whitaker.

The Vancouver Island-based academic and author of The End of Privacy: How Total Surveillance is Becoming a Reality said they’ll be able to do pretty much everything, short of murder, torture, sexual assault, and obstruction of justice.

That’s care of Bill C-51, the federal Liberal party-backed anti-terrorism bill introduced by the Conservatives in Parliament.

“The way that legislation is drawn up, anything,” Whitaker told the Straight in a phone interview. “I mean, it’s open ended. It’s a blank cheque.” more

Lawyer Asks Judge to Rule... Wiretapper was a Party to the Calls

NJ - A top official at a New Jersey jail has been convicted of illegal wiretapping.

Hudson County Correctional Facility Deputy Director Kirk Eady was convicted Friday of the only charge he faced.

Authorities say he used a website to intercept and record at least a dozen telephone calls of other employees and another person who were critical of his work performance.

The 46-year-old Eady, of East Brunswick, scheduled to be sentenced on July 8. He faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. 

His lawyer has asked a judge to rule that Eady was actually a party to the phone calls and not breaking the law. more

BlackBerry's SecuTABLET

BlackBerry is returning to its core expertise in mobile phones — security — as it was known half-a-decade ago.

In its efforts to stage back in the lost ground of mobile market, the Canada-based company said its new high-security tablet based on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 would extend its secure mobile services developed in partnership with IBM and Samsung.

Called the SecuTABLET, the device was presented by its Secusmart unit at the CeBIT 2015 in Germany, BlackBerry said the new mobile brings forth once again its core strength on secure connections for government and big businesses, In fact a decade ago, BlackBerry ruled the world of secrecy with its encrypted e-mail message facility that became a headache for many governments used to swooping on big business conglomerates. more

He Wiretapped His Way Into Her Heart

AR - A little wiretapping and a less than harmonious conversation with another man were the catalyst for romance in 1986 for Beth Guerin and the office telephone installation tech.

He had certainly noticed her. The really cute girl who was answering phones part time in the doctor's office? Yes, 19-year-old Darrin Adcock had noticed her. He was doing a job for a small telecommunications company in Hot Springs, and he likely would have left without exchanging a word with her had he not made a small mistake first.

"I had my test set and I accidentally clicked onto the line that she was on. And I listened. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I did," Darrin says. "I really didn't mean to do that, but in doing so I heard her talking to her then-boyfriend and realized her and her boyfriend were not getting along and I thought, 'Well, this is kind of neat.'" more

Corporate Espionage: CBI Names PricewaterhouseCoopers as a Suspect

India - The Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday named consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers as a suspect in the corporate espionage case...

The Delhi Police had earlier last month arrested two more persons - one from the UPSC and the other from the Environment Ministry - broadening its probe into the corporate espionage case.

They were held for leaking sensitive documents to energy consultant Lokesh Sharma.

Around 17 people, including government employees, energy consultants and senior executives of top energy companies, have been arrested so far by the Delhi Police. more

Business Espionage: The Cruffin Caper (and 230 other recipes swiped)

It takes three days to make a cruffin, a muffin-croissant hybrid that is the signature of Ry Stephen, a 28-year-old pastry chef. His shop, Mr Holmes Bakehouse, has been open three months and inspired a wild following, with customers lining up early to buy the ice-cream-cone-shaped cruffins, which reliably sell out before the line is gone...

Now, the tempting sweet may have inspired a crime. Overnight last week, a thief stole the recipe for cruffins, and Mr. Stephen’s 230 other recipes, from binders in the bakery’s kitchen. Nothing else in the store was touched: not money, valuable baking equipment, an iPad or other computers...

Mr. Stephen does not think it was an inside job. He said he trusts his employees and has told them, “You can have any recipe you want, provided you know how to execute it.” Plus a new surveillance system had been installed, but was not yet operational, although the employees did not know that. more

This is a cautionary tale with important points for your business...

1. Secure your proprietary information and business secrets. Keeping them in your "locked" office, on a shelf, where everyone knows where they are, is not adequate.

2. Use top notch security to protect your business secrets. Hire an independent security consultant to assist you with this. Periodically double-check to make sure your security systems are 100% operational.

Expect to see cruffins everywhere, soon.

Tea - the "greatest single act of corporate espionage in history."

The Scottish Spy Who Stole China's Tea Empire

Robert Fortune

In the mid-19th century, Britain was an almost unchallenged empire. It controlled about a fifth of the world's surface, and yet its weakness had everything to do with tiny leaves soaked in hot water: tea. By 1800, it was easily the most popular drink among Britons.

The problem? All the tea in the world came from China, and Britain couldn't control the quality or the price. So around 1850, a group of British businessmen set out to create a tea industry in a place they did control: India.

For All the Tea In China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History is writer Sarah Rose's account of the effort to control the tea market, what she calls the "greatest single act of corporate espionage in history." more

Barbie Learns How to Talk. (It only took her 50 years.)

In a recent demonstration of its Internet-connected doll, Hello Barbie, a Mattel spokesperson greeted the souped-up version of the iconic doll by saying, “Welcome to New York, Barbie.”

Thanks to voice-recognition technology, Barbie was able to analyze that remark and give a relevant, conversational response: “I love New York! Don’t you? Tell me, what’s your favorite part about the city? The food, fashion or the sights?”

The company promises that the software will enable the doll “to listen and learn each girl’s preferences and then adapt to those accordingly.”

The interactive doll is slated to hit shelves in the fall, and Mattel is likely hoping it will help revive sinking sales of its flagship brand.

But a children’s privacy advocacy group is calling for the company to cease production of the toy, saying Hello Barbie might more accurately be called "eavesdropping" Barbie. Because the doll works by recording children’s speech with an embedded microphone and then sending that data over the Web, these advocates call the technology “creepy” and say it could leave children vulnerable to stealth advertising tactics. On Wednesday, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood launched a petition urging Mattel to keep the doll from hitting store shelves. more

"Well, gag me with a spoon!"

Defense Against the Spy - 1967 CIA Training Film

The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) presents a case study of devices that were used for espionage purposes during the 1960's.

Security Director Alert - Time to Update Your BYOD Policy (You do have one don't you?)

According to Alcatel-Lucent’s Motive Security Labs, around 16 million mobile devices are already infected by malicious software designed to spy on users and steal confidential data.

This form of malware is capable of tracking the phone and its owner’s location, monitoring ingoing and outgoing calls, text messages and emails, as well as tracking web browsers.

Cyber-criminals are now targeting Android devices with infection rates for Android and Windows devices estimated to be split 50/50.

Many multinational firms, however, still employ an unmonitored bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy. This frequently means key staff are connecting to the corporate communications network via unsecured smartphones. It has also led to a situation where staff access social networking sites and audio/visual entertainment of all kinds, exposing them to a growing number of malware attacks. more

Spycams and Wiretaps - Motives for Murder

PA - A man has shot his neighbor eight times - leaving her in critical condition - and taken his own life after accusing her of wiretapping his apartment in a years-long rift.

Steven Outlaw, 51, confronted his downstairs neighbor, 46-year-old Mary Pitts-Devine, in the first-floor hallway of their West Philadelphia building just before 11am on Sunday, WPVI reported.

He shot at her 10 times, hitting her with eight bullets and leaving her in critical condition.

Outlaw then went to his second-floor apartment and shot himself dead, police said.

The shooting came after a simmering argument over whether Pitts-Devine was wiretapping the telephone lines of Outlaw's apartment, Philly.com reported...

He had also written down accusations that she was spying on him with video cameras, according to the channel. more

FutureWatch - FM Bugs Are So Arco - Coming Soon... Bugs with Pluck

For the first time in history, a prototype radio has been created that is claimed to be completely digital, generating high-frequency radio waves purely through the use of integrated circuits and a set of patented algorithms without using conventional analog radio circuits in any way whatsoever. This breakthrough technology promises to vastly improve the wireless communications capabilities of everything from 5G mobile technology to the multitude devices aimed at supporting the Internet of Things.

The significance of this new technology cannot be overstated: Every aspect of radio frequency generation is said to be created using a string of digital bits, and nothing else. There are no analog circuits, no filters, no chokes, none of the traditional circuitry and components expected in a radio transmitter. Consisting of a mere handful of components, including a couple of integrated circuits, an antenna, and not much else, the transmitter – dubbed Pizzicato – promises to change the face of wireless transmission.

Created by Cambridge Consultants, the initial trials of the Pizzicato have been claimed to show that it has fully met all the expectations of its myriad performance requirements. But more than this, the Pizzicato has brought bulky radio circuits down to microprocessor levels, with the promise of even smaller, more efficient uses of the technology in future. more

A Short History of Wiretapping

Wiretapping has been around almost since the invention of the telegraph. 

Union and Confederate soldiers intercepted one another’s telegraph wires during the Civil War, scraping off a small piece of insulation and splicing their own line to the enemy’s. 

Later, private detectives spied for clients. The use of a wiretap in a Connecticut divorce case in the 1880s led that state to ban the practice in 1889. News services stole one another’s articles. The use of a wiretap to convey false cotton prices in London, a plot aimed at stock speculators, set off a panic in New Orleans in 1899.

But in the postwar 19th century, much wiretapping of telegraphs and, later, telephones was carried out by crooks trying to cheat other crooks.
more

Workplace Video Voyeurism - Domino’s Falls This Time

NY - An alleged voyeuristic Domino’s worker was arrested after a young woman noticed something odd in the employee bathroom, according to the Nassau County Police Department.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, a 20-year-old female employee at the 935 Front Street Domino’s in Uniondale took a break to use the bathroom.

Murray Associates composite photo.

The coat rack inside the facility caught her eye, however — specifically, a cell phone peeking out of a jacket pocket. She notified the manager, and her manager dialed 911. The jacket, according to police, belonged to the woman’s co-worker, 19-year-old Jonathan Parra.

Along with footage of the young woman, an investigation revealed images of a 51-year-old man using the bathroom as well.

Parra faces two counts of unlawful surveillance and will be arraigned Tuesday at First District Court in Hempstead.
more

Spying With a Drone May Become a Criminal Offense in CO

Colorado lawmakers want to criminalize the use of drones when they’re used to monitor someone without their consent.

The proposal up for a House committee vote Tuesday would make it a crime of first-degree trespassing to take images of someone when they have an expectation of privacy. Drone users could also be charged with harassment if they use the technology to monitor someone’s movements.

“As technology moves forward, our privacy is becoming more dear to us,” said the bill sponsor, Rep. Polly Lawrence, R-Littleton.

Lawrence’s bill is not just about drones, but “any type of electronic surveillance when a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.”
more 

Get your (novelty) drone hunting license here. I have one.

Yet More Invisibility Eyeglasses

This year, AVG will reveal a set of concept invisibility glasses at Pepcom in Barcelona before Mobile World Congress. 

What are invisibility glasses?

Developed by AVG Innovation Labs, the glasses help protect your visual identity in the digital age.

Through a mixture of technology and specialist materials, privacy wearables such as invisibility glasses can make it difficult for cameras or other facial recognition technologies to get a clear view of your identity.

...there are generally two different methods of combating unwanted facial recognition:

Infrared Light
The idea is to place infrared LEDs inserted around the eyes and the nose areas. Since the infrared lights are completely invisible to human eyes, they are only detectable by cameras which are sensitive to the wavelengths of these LEDs. They claim to break face detection when the lights are on.

In this example we show how infrared can be used to avoid Facebook’s facial recognition technology.

Retro-reflective Materials
These specialist materials help maintain your privacy at the moment that the image is actually taken.

PS - This is a proof-of-concept project. Not for sale. However, you can make your own.

Other glasses.

Note: Many cell phone cameras have infrared cutoff filters built into their lenses... and you can bet law enforcement facial recognition systems do too.

Fink RAT Co-creator Meets Big Daddy Uncle Sam

One of the co-creators of the Blackshades Remote Access Trojan (RAT) that infected more than 500,000 computers has pleaded guilty to charges of hacking.

 Alex Yücel, 24, faces up to 10 years in prison for his involvement with the $40 program designed to secretly remotely control victims' computers...

Through his creation and sale of the Blackshades RAT, Alex Yücel enabled anyone, for just $40, to violate the property and privacy of his victims...

According to documents filed in the Manhattan federal court, the Blackshades RAT - which was used to secretly take nude photos of Miss Teen USA - could give an attacker complete control over an infected system...
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