Ex-Biotech Executives Sentenced for Genentech Trade Theft

Two co-founders of a Taiwan biotechnology company were sentenced Tuesday for plotting to steal trade secrets from Genentech in a $101 million scheme, prosecutors said.

Racho Jordanov, former CEO of JHL Biotech Inc., and former chief operating officer Rose Lin were sentenced in San Francisco federal court to a year and a day each in federal prison, the U.S. attorney's office said. more  original press release. 

A year and a day in prison over a $101 million scheme to steal trade secrets?!?! Doesn't seem like much of a deterrent for stealing trade secrets. Companies with trade secrets have to be more self-reliant. Consider adding Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM bug sweeps) to the security program.

Attorney Deborah S. Brenneman at Thompson Hine LLP explains some fine points of U.S. trade secret law...

Reasonable Efforts to Protect the Secrecy of Trade Secret Information
When prosecuting a trade secret claim, a company must not only demonstrate the value of the information at issue, but also that it exercised “reasonable efforts under the circumstances” to protect the information. In effect, courts will not step in to help if the owner has failed to help itself with security measures that match the business risk. 

In DePuy Synthes Prods. v. Veterinary Orthopedic Implants, Inc., 990 F.3d 1364 (Fed. Cir. 2021), the issue was whether to seal a court filing that contained confidential information about a manufacturer’s identity. There was no NDA or other contract establishing confidentiality; instead, the litigant relied on proof that it had kept the information confidential through its own internal security policies and protocols, but this was held to be insufficient. 

Similarly, the plaintiff in ASC Engineered Sols., LLC v. Island Industries, Inc., 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117177 (WD Tenn), sought summary judgment on the question of whether its efforts to protect its trade secrets were reasonable. The employer pointed to its policies and practice to inform employees about confidentiality and its marking of emails and documents with secrecy legends. The court was not persuaded. It held that such information could be considered but was not decisive because the company’s employees had denied seeing the security policies.

These cases highlight the need for companies to audit and evaluate the steps they take to protect their trade secrets. Policies are important, but practices are determinative. more

Tough Week for Spies

• Bulgaria expels 10 Russian diplomats on allegations of spying. more
  
  
• U.S. accuses five of spying and harassing China’s critics, effort to smear congressional candidate. more
  
  
• Norwegian photographer arrested in Greece on spying charges. more
  
  
• Reported Detention of Russian Spy Boss Shows Tension Over Stalled Ukraine Invasion more
  
  
• Submarine Spy Couple Tried to Sell Nuclear Secrets to Brazil more
  
  
• Russian spy captain killed on 'top secret' operation in Ukraine. more
  
  
• Spy agencies' leaks of Russian plans point to the future of information warfare. more
  
  
• Slovakia expels 3 Russian diplomats after spy services info. more
  
  
• The long-haul fight over police spying allegations is on. more
  
  
• Muslims Continue Battling FBI For Spying on OC Mosques After Supreme Court Ruling more
  
  
• Russian spy chiefs ‘under house arrest’ as Putin turns on his security chiefs over invasion setback. more
  
  
• New FBI documents link Saudi spy in California to 9/11 attacks. more
  
  
• Cyberspace making Canadian secrets more vulnerable, spy service official warns. more
  
  
• Why 78% Of Employers Are Sacrificing Employee Trust By Spying On Them more
  
  
• Neighbour fed up with spying child: 'I'm entitled to privacy in my own garden'. more
  

The Government Will Pay for Your Bug Sweep... if you're an Australian

Domestic violence survivors to get government support to scan for spyware and hidden cameras.

Mobile phones will be checked for spyware and homes will be swept for cameras under a government plan to expand support for people who have experienced abuse by a current or former partner...

Nearly $55m will be invested in a program that provides technology checks to ensure people who have experienced domestic violence are not subjected to further abuse.

It includes checking a person's phone and computer to see if any GPS tracking programs or bugs have been installed, as well as searching for cameras hidden in toys, vents or lights in homes. more

Don't live in Australia? Want to check for spycams yourself? Learn how to do it.

Some Thoughts on Mobile Spyware

It really is a great time to be a mobile threat. As mobile devices become ever more critical in our daily lives, hackers are seizing on a vulnerable blindspot in the enterprise attack surface...

Mobile threats often emanate from app stores, where many types of mobile malware hide as legitimate apps...

As Sun Tzu once said, “There is no place where espionage is not possible.” Spyware exemplifies that statement perfectly. Spyware turns a personal mobile device into a corporate espionage bug just by entering an office, nestled in someone’s pocket...

To secure this largely-unrecognized vector, enterprises can look to mobile threat defense. When incorporated as part of a zero trust approach, MTD technology can examine the security of individual mobile devices, alerting the enterprise to threats and blocking access. It can ensure the device hasn’t been infected, jailbroken or compromised and act to protect corporate data if a threat arises. more

Aerospace Company Accuses California Aviation Start-Up of Stealing Trade Secrets

Aerospace supplier Moog Inc. said stolen trade secrets and an all-out raid of its flight software employees by an aviation startup in California have jeopardized its foray into unmanned helicopter aviation.

The Elma company called the data allegedly stolen by a former employee "breathtaking in its scope."

Moog, in a federal lawsuit filed this week in Buffalo, said a software engineer who quit the company's Los Angeles-area office in December took more than 136,000 digital files related to flight control software to her new employer, Skyryse, a six-year-old startup.

Moog accuses Misook Kim, a former employee, of copying to an external hard drive files that contained the source code of Moog's proprietary software programs, which it said took more than 15 years to develop by dozens of Moog engineers at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Moog said it is not aware of any other instance where a Moog employee copied to an external hard drive even a fraction of the data it said Kim did in November.

According to the lawsuit, "What Kim did is entirely without precedent at Moog." more

How Apple's FaceTime Glitch Allowed Eavesdropping

It's the bug taking a bite out of Apple. A flaw in the FaceTime app allowed eavesdropping. Here's how the glitch worked:

Users swiped up while calling someone then tapped add person. By adding their own number, it created a group FaceTime call and then...

"Just like magic that other phone number picked up automatically and you're able at that point to hear everything that's acquirable from an audio perspective from that phone without the other person picking up,” said Jonathan S. Weissman, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computing Security at RIT.

Weissman says the glitch went even further... more

Ex-Russian Spy who fell in love with target blasts Putin:

‘He’ll stop at nothing’

A former Russian spy who says she was trained in the same grueling military program as Vladimir Putin is speaking against her country’s president, claiming he will stop at nothing to win the war in Ukraine.

Aliia Roza, 37, hit headlines last year after it was revealed she had fallen in love with a target she had been trained to honeytrap.

The brunette beauty — who fled Russia after barely escaping with her life — says Putin is used to getting exactly what he wants and won’t take kindly to any kind of loss. more

Industrial Espionage Movie: A 30 Minute Wake-Up Call

The FBI's Office of Private Sector, Counterintelligence Division and Training Division present this 30-minute film entitled Made in Beijing: The Plan for Global Market Domination. In the world of global adversaries, the People’s Republic of China stands at the forefront with its sustained and brazen campaign of industrial espionage, posing the single greatest threat to our freedom, national security, and economic vitality.  Made in Beijing: The Plan for Global Market Domination sounds the alarm, helping private sector partners recognize the urgent need to protect their crown jewels against industrial espionage. more

Shocking Security Discovery: Fake Surveillance Cameras Don't Deter Crime

TX - Mount Bonnell is known for its spectacular views of Austin, but it’s also getting a reputation as a hot spot for car break-ins... 

From Jan. 1 – March 7, there have been 100 car burglaries within 2,000 feet of the park according to the Austin Police Department’s Crime map... 

Austin Parks and Recreation told KXAN after a rash of incidents in July, August and September, it installed dummy cameras at Mount Bonnell as a theft deterrent... 

The department told us the fake cameras were later removed since crime did not decrease. more

Spybuster Tip # 712: How to Thwart Off-Site Meeting Spies

The National Executive Council of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, on Sunday, changed the venue of the meeting... A reliable source said the venue was changed due to the fear of bugging of the auditorium by secret agents of the Nigerian government. more

RIP: Peter Earnest

Peter Earnest, a veteran of the CIA’s Cold War clandestine operations who ran agents in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, then helped promote and preserve the history of espionage while serving as the founding executive director of the International Spy Museum in Washington, died Feb. 13 at a hospital in Arlington, Va. He was 88...

Mr. Earnest acknowledged that his personality sometimes made it difficult to spend years working undercover. “It’s hard when you’re an open person by nature,” he told Washingtonian magazine in 2013. “In some cases, people say, ‘You don’t seem like a spy.’

“The best spies don’t seem like spies.” 

In a video interview for the Spy Museum, Mr. Earnest described what he called “my Bond moment” at the CIA, in which he slipped out of a black-tie reception at the home of an asset and bugged the person’s office. Lying on his back, with a handkerchief positioned on his chest to catch the shavings, he drilled small holes in the bottom of the target’s desk and installed a recording device. more

 

US Football Team Settles Video Voyeurism Suit for $2.4 Million

THE DALLAS COWBOYS paid a confidential settlement of $2.4 million after four members of their iconic cheerleading squad accused a senior team executive of voyeurism in their locker room as they undressed...

Each of the women received $399,523.27 after the incident. One of the cheerleaders alleged that she clearly saw Richard Dalrymple, the Cowboys' longtime senior vice president for public relations and communications, standing behind a partial wall in their locker room with his iPhone extended toward them while they were changing their clothes... Dalrymple gained entry to the back door of the cheerleaders' locked dressing room by using a security key card.
more

What Could be the Penalty for Posting a Spycam Video to the Net?

WV - A former Logan County resident pleaded guilty today to a federal wiretapping charge. According to court documents and statements made in court, Randall Dwight Holden II, 33, admitted to secretly recording a video of a woman engaged in sexually explicit conduct in her Logan County home on November 25, 2017. The video was later uploaded to the internet without the victim’s knowledge. The video was one of several secretly recorded videos that Holden had created and posted online depicting the victim. Holden is scheduled to be sentenced on June 2, 2022 and he faces up to five years in prison. more

An Update on AirTag and Unwanted Tracking

APPLE - We’ve become aware that individuals can receive unwanted tracking alerts for benign reasons, such as when borrowing someone’s keys with an AirTag attached, or when traveling in a car with a family member’s AirPods left inside. We also have seen reports of bad actors attempting to misuse AirTag for malicious or criminal purposes.

Apple has been working closely with various safety groups and law enforcement agencies. Through our own evaluations and these discussions, we have identified even more ways we can update AirTag safety warnings and help guard against further unwanted tracking...

Advancements Coming to AirTag and the Find My Network
The following updates represent important steps Apple is taking... more

Why You Rarely Hear About Corporate Espionage

Corporations really hate publicity about their information security failures.
The smart ones sweep to mitigate the chances of failures.
The others just sweep the failures under the rug. 

Case in point...

Spanish power company Iberdrola is suing the holding company of business news site El Confidencial over coverage of an industrial espionage case, a move the site's director says threatens its survival.

The multinational energy firm, which is seeking $20 million in damages, said that for more than two years up to November 2021, El Confidencial published 225 stories on the espionage case, including 68 that harmed the company and 12 that were untrue.

The company contends the reports were a "violation of its right to honour," a term that in Spanish law refers to reputational damage. more

VR Headset Hacks Could Steal Sensitive Information

Researchers at Rutgers University-New Brunswick have published “Face-Mic,” the first work examining how voice command features on virtual reality headsets could lead to major privacy leakages, known as “eavesdropping attacks.”  

The research shows that hackers could use popular virtual reality (AR/VR) headsets with built in motion sensors to record subtle, speech-associated facial dynamics to steal sensitive information communicated via voice-command, including credit card data and passwords.

To demonstrate the existence of security vulnerabilities, Chen and her fellow WINLAB researchers developed an eavesdropping attack targeting AR/VR headsets, known as “Face-Mic.” more

Foreign Spies Use Dating Apps... to access government secrets

Foreign spies are using Tinder and other dating apps to recruit Australians with access to sensitive government secrets. ASIO boss Mike Burgess made the alarming revelation while delivering his annual threat assessment, in which he also warned identifying anti-vaccine activists who could turn violent was proving difficult. more

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The National Security Service of Armenia (HAAT) has detained 19 people suspected of being members of an "espionage network" in the South Caucasus nation. The HAAT said on February 10 that dozens of servicemen in different units of the the armed forces may have been involved in the activities of the spy network, which worked for an unspecified nation.

According to the security agency, recruitment took place via an online dating service through which Armenian servicemen who possessed classified data and documents would eventually join the spy ring. more

9 Potential Signs of Corporate Espionage

If you suspect that your business has been a target of corporate espionage, it's essential to take action immediately — from doing an in-house investigation to hiring a private professional. 

If you see any of the below signs, don't ignore them, but also take care not to make any unfounded accusations or statements. Keep your thoughts closely held and get the evidence first...

1. Unexplained or sudden changes in practices
2. Changes in business relationships
3. Unusual computer activity
4. Becoming defensive or secretive about work
5. Equipment or files go missing
6. Unexplained drops in sales or profits
7. Employees quitting suddenly
8. Accessing computer files without permission
9. Corporate secrets leaked to the press more

School Principal Arrested - Facing Felony Eavesdropping Charge

The Lee County Virtual School Principal faces charges for illegally recording a meeting.

It is an unusual case of consent because Florida Statute 934.03 talks specifically about the interception and disclosure of wire, oral or electronic communications prohibited. “Florida is a two-party consent state,” said FGCU Professor Dr. David Thomas. Lee County Sheriff’s deputies arrested (him) for recording a meeting without permission. more

Ford Wants to Hide Spy Drones in Autonomous Cars

Among the many challenges facing the autonomous car industry is how to keep an eye on the condition of the vehicles while they're out and about.

Interior cameras, like those installed in the latest Tesla models, can make sure passengers aren't damaging the cabin, but what about the outside of the vehicles?

Ford, which co-owns the Argo AI autonomous car company that's planning to launch a ride-hailing service soon, has now patented a way to do just that. more

Hidden Wisconsin Restaurant Serves Espionage Fun With Food

A truly exceptional themed restaurant needs to go further than some wall decor and select menu items, it needs to provide a full theme experience, something that the SafeHouse Restaurant and Bar in Milwaukee, Wisconsin seems to have nailed completely. Let's put it this way, when you arrive at the 'hidden' SafeHouse, you need to provide a password to gain entry, but once you get inside the real show begins. more

Personal recommendation... The Mission Impossible - Go rogue with this mission. A large fishbowl filled with Bacardi Superior Rum, Roaring Dan's Dark Rum, orgeat, lemon, orange, pineapple, and grenadine - serves 2 spies nicely or 1 brave agent. more

GSM Eavesdropping Bugs: A Recent Find in a Corporate Office

While on lockdown, businesses and individuals must think about their unoccupied premises and possessions. Now that we are coming out of this lockdown and going back to work, Gurpreet Thathy and Mike Moran give their thoughts and go through a recent case with a client last week...

Mike and his team conducted a ‘sweep’ of the offices in conjunction with our Cyber Audit. We identified a GSM eavesdropping device planted within a boardroom during the critical areas’ in-depth physical and electronic search. This device was cunningly disguised as a 3-way extension adapter which was fully operational.

A closer examination of the adapter revealed a SIM card and a microphone connected. The client was immediately informed, and as per our standard operating procedure (SOPs), the device was isolated from the infrastructure, bagged, tagged, and handed over to our internal forensic team to investigate.

The forensic investigation of the SIM card revealed dialled and received calls. more

What is a GSM Bug?  When was the last time your organization conducted an inspection for one?

Leaked Tapes Reveal Corporate Espionage

Testimony that Vatican officials engaged in corporate espionage sheds new light on the breakdown of the London property deal.

Luciano Capaldo is a property developer who was closely involved in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State plans for the London London property deal at 60 Sloane Avenue...

Capaldo told investigators that he had access to surveillance cameras inside Torzi’s offices for some time.  

So he passed information and images to Monsignor Mauro Carlino, a former official at the Secretariat of State currently indicted for extortion and abuse of office. The access, Capaldo said, came via a mobile phone app for which he had the login details. more

Investigation-driven Findings Identify Major Spikes in Industrial Espionage Incidents

 Key findings of the DTEX Systems 2022 Insider Risk Report include:

• The ‘Super Malicious Insider’ accounted for 32% of malicious insider incidents...

• 72% year-over-year increase in actionable insider threat incidents;

• 42% of actionable incidents were related to IP and data theft, including industrial espionage incidents related to the theft of trade secrets, source code, and active collusion with a foreign nexus;

• 75% of insider threat criminal prosecutions were the result of remote workers;

• 56% of organizations had an insider data theft incident resulting from employees leaving or joining companies;

• +200% year-over-year increase in data loss associated with users taking screenshots during confidential Zoom and Microsoft Teams meetings; and

• +300% year-over-year increase in employees utilizing corporate assets for non-work activities.

For more than a decade, insider threats have been categorized as either malicious, negligent or compromised. Based on the findings of the DTEX i³ team, a fourth persona has emerged—the Super Malicious Insider. 

The Super Malicious Insider is a technically proficient employee who is acutely aware of an organization’s cyber security architecture, solutions, and processes and who understands both the technical and human analyst limitations in detecting insider threat indicators. more

It is time for your organization to implement a corporate counterespionage plan.

The Unnerving Rise of Video Games that Spy on You

Tech conglomerate Tencent caused a stir last year with the announcement that it would comply with China’s directive to incorporate facial recognition technology into its games in the country.  

The move was in line with China’s strict gaming regulation policies, which impose limits on how much time minors can spend playing video games—an effort to curb addictive behavior, since gaming is labeled by the state as “spiritual opium."

...video games are a natural medium for tracking, and researchers have long argued that large data sets about players’ in-game activities are a rich resource in understanding player psychology and cognition. more

US Indictment: Chinese Firm Stole Motorola Trade Secrets

A federal indictment unsealed Monday accuses a Chinese telecommunications company of stealing technology from Illinois-based Motorola Solutions Inc., in another case highlighting longstanding fears about China pilfering vital U.S. business secrets to bolster its own economy...

In a 2008 email cited in the indictment, one unnamed individual writes to another that, “We are trying to grab whatever we can. … Do you have anything in mind that you need while we are still here?” In another, someone writes “haha” after describing Hytera as copying Motorola technology...

A Chinese-born American software developer, Hanjuan Jin, was convicted in 2012 of stealing secrets from Motorola... At trial, prosecutors said Jin “led a double life” as an outwardly loyal company worker plotting to steal Motorola secrets. more

The "loyal" insider has the time and opportunity to steal information, plant bugs, and take advantage of lax security procedures. Periodic sweeps for covert eavesdropping devices, with an information security survey, are how smart corporations reduce this risk.

Burglar Steals $20K From Business Specializing in Security Cameras

Pro Systems is a communications company in South Nashville that has been around since the eighties and specializes in security cameras. But when employees arrived at work just weeks ago, they found their fence cut, and about $20,000 worth of items stolen.

The company, of course, reviewed their own equipment and handed over surveillance footage to the Metro Nashville Police. Within hours, officers were able to identify and arrest the suspect seen on the business’ security cameras.  more   in other surveillance camera theft news

2022 Spycam News... (so far)

 Japan - 'Bar set low for secret filming' The reason police in Japan commit voyeurism... It seems there is no end to police officers being subjected to disciplinary measures for taking sneak footage. As law enforcers who are in a position to crack down on camera voyeurs, why do they partake in such crimes? The Mainichi Shimbun asked an expert... more 

UK - Professional photographer Roy Strutt, 64, installed a USB dongle with a hidden camera in the bedroom of his second home in Walberswick, Suffolk. He later invited a couple - who his wife knew through a friend - to stay at the property to celebrate their ninth wedding anniversary. The couple saw the dongle and unplugged it - with Strutt later telling them to plug it back in because it helped improve the Wi-Fi for the surrounding apartments. more

LA - A Vidalia, Louisiana, man.. has also received additional charges... illicit videos involving a juvenile taken by way of a hidden camera... investigators found evidence of a video voyeurism set up by way of hidden camera, which illegally recorded inappropriate videos of a juvenile. more

Singapore - Domestic helper jailed 17 months for filming elderly man in shower, uploading clips to TikTok, WhatsApp... One video was re-posted by an unknown user on a Facebook page titled SG Dirty Fella where it went viral. more

UK - A senior Metropolitan Police officer who posed as an airline pilot and fake glamour photographer to picture up to 51 naked women has been dismissed from the force. Detective Inspector Neil Corbel, 40, took covert videos of his victims in hotel rooms, flats and Airbnbs... He 'used his anti-terror skills' to secretly film the women with spy cameras hidden in tissue boxes, phone charges, glasses and keys after contacting them under the guise of being an airline pilot named Harrison. more

China - A male doctor live-streamed a patient’s gynecological procedure on a China video-sharing website without her knowledge, raising a wave of questions on medical ethics and privacy violations. more

UK - Scots student warns pervert stepdad will always be danger to kids after dodging jail for spying on her when she was 13... It came after the creep smirked as he was spared prison last week for secretly filming his stepdaughter thr­ough a gap drilled in her wardrobe. The predator also recorded her through the keyhole of a chest and a lens hidden in an alarm clock while on a family holiday in the US. more

WY - A 33-year-old Campbell County man has been charged with nine counts of voyeurism after he allegedly set up a recording device in a bathroom and took pictures of a female getting in and out of the shower and bathtub. more

Canada - Durham Regional Police have charged a man in connection with a voyeurism investigation in Pickering, Ont... police were called to a Walmart store ... after a man was discovered videotaping a female customer as she was using the change rooms. Police said the suspect was confronted by the victim and her family and said he had deleted the photos from his cellphone before fleeing. However, police added there were other photos on his phone of other possible victims and are asking for the public’s help in identifying the man. more  more

LA - A Sulphur man was arrested after a recording device was found in the women’s restroom of a local restaurant Tuesday, according to information from the Sulphur Police Department. The device was found before anyone in the general public was captured on video, according to Sulphur officials. more

CT - A Vernon man is being charged after police say they discovered he put cameras in his home bathroom and secretly recorded his girlfriend and her children... a few years ago, two of the children, who were 13 and 18 years old at the time, discovered a bluetooth speaker in a bathroom that was actually a hidden camera... After the children found it, they secretly swapped out its SD card and delivered the card to a friend’s house for safekeeping, the warrant said. more

 FL - The businessman who filmed two naked women in an adjoining Key West, Florida hotel room has been sentenced to a year in prison for his felonious voyeurism, court records show... charged with sliding a tiny camera under the door separating his room at the DoubleTree Grand Key resort from that of two female vacationers, according to an arrest report... Cops found the spy camera hidden in a chair cushion. more

 WA - Former county fire marshal faces felony voyeurism charges... The charging documents allege Nicholson had hidden a camera in a sleeping area at the station, filming a female firefighter changing before getting into bed. When contacted by the detective, the firefighter that was depicted in the film stated she had not given consent to being filmed. The detective investigated the room and discovered an outlet that matched up with the angle of the video, although there was no recording device present when he inspected the outlet. more

UK - Robert Davies, 32, came to the attention of National Crime Agency investigators in 2019 after he purchased a number of cyber crime tools, including crypters and remote administration tools (RATs)... Davies was infecting his victims’ phones or computers with malicious software by disguising it with the crypters so their anti-virus protection would not detect it. He then used the RATs to gain remote access to their devices and steal any sexual images (mainly of females) they had stored on there. On at least one occasion, he used his illegal access to spy on a teenage girl through her webcam, turning the encounter into a number of indecent images. more  more

General - Laws on surveillance cameras at home can vary by state. As there’s no comprehensive set of regulations that govern residential security cameras or video surveillance, it’s essential to have a broad understanding of the concerns involved with these systems and devices. It’s just as important to know the laws at the state, county, and even local levels. more

The Epoch Times - Video Report: Spy Cameras, Blackmail Rampant in China more  

These stories are presented to raise awareness.

Spycam Facts:

• Only the failed video voyeurs make the news.
• Most spycam attacks go undetected.
• A few are discovered... almost all by accident.
• Only a few of these are reported to the police.
• Only a few of these cases are solved.
• Only few of these make it to my desk.
• I only share just a few of those with you.
• The problem is bigger than you think.
  

Any organization with expectation of privacy areas needs this to protect their employees, visitors and customers ... and themselves, from forseeability law suits.

 

 

Ex ‘Walked In’ on Man Retrieving Spy Tapes

Australia - A man allegedly hired to spy on the model ex-girlfriend of Ultra Tune mogul Sean Buckley was “caught red-handed” with listening devices inside the victim’s home, a court has heard.

Mr Buckley, 61, appeared in an online hearing in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday facing multiple assault and stalking charges levelled against him by his ex-bikini model girlfriend Jennifer Cruz Cole.

The court heard Ms Cole walked in on Buckley’s co-accused, Wade D’Andrea, who was attempting to retrieve listening devices installed in her home...

There are further claims he later hired two others to plant listening devices inside her apartment and car. more

Ms. Cole was lucky.
#1 She caught the bugger in the act.
#2 She didn't get injured by doing so.
People in high profile legal cases, and corporate executives, are advised to have professional Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM) inspections conducted on a regular basis.

Former FBI Agent & PI Conclude Jamie Spears Recorded Britney Spears in Bedroom

Jamie Spears recorded daughter Britney Spears in her bedroom, a private investigator and former FBI agent concluded after an investigation.

Britney's lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, filed a declaration from Sherine Ebadi in court on Jan. 18, ahead of a hearing scheduled for Jan. 19. In the documents, obtained by E! News, the former FBI special agent said she "corroborated" the claim that Jamie instructed Black Box Security "to place a secret recording device in Ms. Spears's bedroom."...

Black Box was already monitoring Britney's phone when Vlasov (a former employee of Black Box Security who first made the allegation when speaking with The New York Times last year) started working at the company in 2012...

Based on conversations with Vlasov, Ebadi allegedly found that "Black Box was initially responsible for suggesting that a secret listening device be planted in Ms. Spears bedroom, but Mr. Spears 'loved' the idea and approved and instructed that the installation move forward." more

2022 Olympics App Could Be Used for Spying

People traveling to China for the 2022 Winter Olympics—including athletes, government dignitaries, and corporate executives—are all at risk of personal data exposure and being surveilled by the Chinese regime, a data security expert warned. more

Beijing requires all athletes to install a smartphone app called MY2022 to report health and travel data while in China. The University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab reported the app as having significant encryption and security flaws and a censorship list (albeit currently inactive) of 2,442 “illegal words.”  The security flaws are by design, allowing authorities to access phones. Such subtle approaches are common among intelligence services.

All laptop communications will be monitored and provided, in near real time, to China’s security services. Chinese law requires the use of government-approved VPN (Virtual Private Network) providers for internet access. Use of non-approved VPN providers could result in criminal charges against the individual.

Cellphone tracking, onsite video surveillance systems, and facial recognition technology will be used to track the movement of each athlete. China has the most sophisticated facial recognition and associated artificial intelligence in the world, thanks in part to collaborations with U.S. universities and businesses.

Personal behavior will also be watched and catalogued by the Chinese government. more

Yamaha Announces VSP-2 Speech Privacy System

Yamaha Unified Communications is broadening its support for productive and confidential conferences and meetings with the new VSP-2 Speech Privacy System. The new system is designed to be quickly retrofitted in almost any office. It also features Yamaha’s high-performance audio technology that prevents speech privacy problems. This is achieved by effectively reducing human voice intelligibility with customizable sound options.

In addition, the system components include the VSP-CU2 control unit with user-selectable sound types and volume levels, supporting two, four, or eight VSP-SP2 speakers. more

Letterlocking: How Secrets Were Kept Before Gummed Envelopes

Mary, Queen of Scots used a "spiral locking" technique to seal the last letter she wrote before her execution, indicating that she wanted the contents to remain secret, according to research published in the Electronic British Library Journal.

An example of letterlocking -- where people doubled letters as envelopes to ensure the security of a document -- the fallen monarch used a spiral locking process to seal a message that was "a last will and testament and a bid for martyrdom," the research published on Friday says.

Letterlocking was used widely throughout early modern Europe, and was an essential process of ensuring the security of letters before mass-produced gummed envelopes were manufactured in the 19th-century

It played a crucial role in the "history of secrecy systems," enabling "global correspondence in the early modern period as fundamentally as computer coding underpins digital communication today," the research paper says. more

Recent Hot Mic News...

Eavesdropping Bugs and Hot Mics have something in common... both capture private conversations not for publication. Technical Surveillance Countermeasures  (TSCM) inspections can combat the bugging. Hot Mic avoidance is more a do-it-yourself exercise. It requires you listen to your mom's advice, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it."

Judge Ridicules Attorney After Hearing
IL - A Cook County judge this week was caught on a YouTube livestream mocking an attorney who had appeared before him for arguments earlier in the day.

“Can you imagine waking up next to her every day? Oh, my God,” Judge William Raines said of attorney Jennifer Bonjean. “... I couldn’t have a visual on that if you paid me.”

A link to the video of Tuesday’s livestreamed court call was available for viewing as recently as Thursday morning. After Raines had finished hearing cases, he began to chat with two Cook County prosecutors and a Cook County assistant public defender about the legal argument Bonjean had participated in earlier that day. He apparently did not realize the conversation was still being broadcast live on YouTube.

“I’m reliving (Assistant State’s Attorney) Todd Dombrowski’s conversation with Miss Bonjean,” he said, apparently unprompted. “... Did you see her going nuts? Glasses off, fingers through her hair, the phone’s going all over the place, it’s insane.” more

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Secret Audio Sheds Light on Toppled Dictator’s Frantic Last Hours
Tunisia - The recordings - obtained by BBC News Arabic Documentaries - have been forensically analysed by audio experts who found no evidence of tampering or manipulation...

"When we see that you can come back, we'll let you know, Mr President," Ammar tells Ben Ali...

"There's anger on the streets in a way that I cannot describe," Grira says. He seems keen to be clear with the president, adding: "So that you cannot say that I misled you, and the decision is yours."

Ben Ali tries to defend his reputation. "What have I done to the street? I served it."

"I'm giving you the situation, not an explanation" Grira replies. more

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WHOU broadcasters fired after hot mic catches -shaming of girls basketball players...

ME - The broadcasters, who didn’t realize their microphones were on, made the derogatory remarks about players in a girls’ game between Central Aroostook and Easton that they were watching on a monitor while they prepared for their game at Caribou.

In a 40-second video posted to Twitter, the two are heard making derogatory comments about the weight of some players. One of the broadcasters was heard to say, “two girls out here extremely overweight. Awful.” Other derogatory comments were followed by laughter.

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Hot Mic Revenge - The FAUCI Act
DC - After Dr. Anthony Fauci was caught on a hot mic calling Senator Roger Marshall a moron, Marshall publicized his financial records and announced the impending introduction of the FAUCI Act. more

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Rebecca Maddern's Explosive Leaked Rant About Novak Djokovic
Australia - In a moment that is surely every live TV host's worst nightmare, Rebecca Maddern was caught this week branding unvaccinated tennis champion Novak Djokovic a 'lying, sneaky a***hole' in leaked footage that was never supposed to air. more

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Hot Mic at Anchorage Community Council Zoom Meeting
AK - Two members of Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson’s administration attended a community council meeting this week over Zoom to talk about COVID-19 testing and other issues... The two inadvertently left their microphone on during the meeting while speaking to each other, and at one point, Bronson’s director of legislative affairs said he thought someone they had been talking with “needed a little slapping around.” more

 

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Dr. Oz's Hot Mic Moment
A hot mic moment captured Dr. Mehmet Oz seemingly trying to distance himself from the Republican Party despite his Senate run as a GOP candidate.

In a new profile by New York magazine's Olivia Nuzzi, Oz and his wife, Lisa, were overheard discussing Nuzzi as well as a friend of the couple who spoke to Nuzzi about the doctor's recent announcement that he was running in Pennsylvania for the U.S. Senate.

In the story, Nuzzi described a call with Lisa Oz, during which the latter thought she had hung up but had left the reporter on the line as she and her husband "engaged in paranoid conversation and argument for more than four minutes" while Nuzzi listened. more

 

History: Beverly Hills Spy

How a WWII-Era James Bond Betrayed the Allies

To his glamorous friends in Hollywood, Frederick Rutland was a dashing British war hero and a fixture of L.A. high society. To his Japanese handlers, he was Agent Shinkawa, an asset who provided critical intelligence in the lead-up to Pearl Harbor...

Rutland wasn’t the cloak-and-dagger type — he was one of the best known, and most well-liked, figures in L.A. society circles. “Squared jaw; well poised; highly intelligent; good personality; modest; gives appearance of affluence and breeding,” read the 300-page FBI dossier on Rutland, which was only recently declassified. more

Ex-Monsanto Employee Pleads Guilty to Corporate Spying

A former Monsanto employee pleaded guilty to espionage charges Thursday for stealing trade secrets from the U.S. agriculture behemoth for the benefit of China, prosecutors said.

Xiang Haitao, 44, a Chinese national who resided in Chesterfield, Mo., worked as an imaging scientist for Monsanto and its subsidiary The Climate Corporation from 2008, and was arrested a day after leaving his company in June of 2017 while awaiting to board a flight to China in possession of a one-way ticket and electronic devices...

The Justice Department has said that Xiang had applied for and was ultimately recruited into a Chinese government program that seeks to enlist Chinese academics and scientists working abroad to illegally transfer technology and intellectual property to Beijing. more

iPhone Malware Tactic Causes Fake Shutdowns: Enables Spying

The ‘NoReboot’ technique is the ultimate in persistence for iPhone malware, preventing reboots and enabling remote attackers to do anything on the device while remaining completely unseen.

In the world of mobile malware, simply shutting down a device can often wipe out any bad code, given that persistence after rebooting is a challenge for traditional malicious activity. But a new iPhone technique can hijack and prevent any shut-down process that a user initiates, simulating a real power-off while allowing malware to remain active in the background.

The stealthy technique, dubbed “NoReboot” by researchers, is “the ultimate persistence bug,” according to a ZecOps analysis this week... 

Is There a Patch for NoReboot?

ZecOps researchers noted that even though they call the issue a “persistence bug,” it can’t actually be patched because “it’s not exploiting any…bugs at all — only playing tricks with the human mind.” Via Twitter, the firm said that the technique works on every version of iPhone, and to prevent it, Apple would need to build in a hardware-based indicator for iPhone sleep/wake/off status.

To protect themselves, iPhone users should run standard checks for malware and trojanized apps, and take the usual vetting precautions when downloading and installing new apps. more

'Leaked' Chinese Spy-Spoof Mocking US Draws Response From MI6

A British intelligence official has thanked China for "free publicity" after state media posted a James Bond spoof in a misguided attempt to mock western intelligence agencies. 

Beijing-backed Xinhua news posted a spoof video on Twitter with a tongue-in-cheek caption claiming to have found a "leaked video" of a "secret meeting" between MI6 - the organization that employs famous fictional spy James Bond - and CIA agents after British Chief of Secret Intelligence Service Richard Moore announced that the UK considered China its "single greatest priority." 

The video drew a rare response from Moore... more

From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave Us...

"Gloworm" Eavesdropping and Air-Gaped Computer Hacks

After a long day at work, the modern goldfish no longer has to take public transportation home—it can drive via a fish-operated vehicle (FOV), according to new research published in Behavioural Brain Research.

Documented in a report published in the February 2022 issue of the peer-reviewed journal, researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba, Israel, set out to unpack how well goldfish can navigate terrestrial environments when tasked with the right tools. They created a small camera-equipped fish tank on wheels, which they call an FOV, and put six goldfish in it, one at a time. 

The fish managed to avoid dead ends and correct inaccuracies... Goldfish navigate land very well, it turns out. more 

(Next up, Exocoetidaes in airplanes.) 

The Chatter Phone Eavesdropping Bug, or Santa's Latest Spy Trick

Ken Munro, founder of the cybersecurity company Pen Test Partners, told TechCrunch that chief among the concerns are that the Chatter does not have a secure pairing process to stop unauthorized phones in Bluetooth range from connecting to it...

First, we switched on the Chatter phone, which activates its Bluetooth connection, paired a phone over Bluetooth, then switched off Bluetooth to simulate someone walking the phone out of range. We then paired another phone with the Chatter without hindrance, allowing us to remotely control the Chatter’s audio.

Mattel, which makes the Chatter phone, said the phone “will time out if no connection is made or once the pairing occurs — it is only discoverable within a narrow window of time and requires physical access to the device.” We left the Chatter on and found the Bluetooth pairing process did not time out after more than an hour.

Then, Munro asked what would happen if we called the phone connected to the Chatter. Sure enough, the Chatter rang — loudly — as expected. Then we called the Chatter again, this time without properly replacing its receiver. With the handset off the hook, the Chatter automatically answered the call, immediately activating the handset’s microphone and allowing us to hear ambient background audio. more

 

 

Khashoggi's Wife's Phone Bugged With Spyware Before Killing

The mobile phone of Hanan Elatr, the wife of Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi was reportedly bugged by United Arab Emirates agents.  

The cell phone of Hanan Elatr was infected several months before he was killed in 2018. 

Jamal Khashoggi was killed in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, reported Sputnik citing The Washington Post. The phone of Elatr was reportedly infected when she was questioned by UAE officials.  more

Coach Banned Over Spying Scandal

Australia - Capitals coach Paul Goriss has been banned after obtaining leaked training footage of the Sydney Uni Flames. video

Fake Italian Gynaecologist Snares 400 Women in Webcam Scam

Italian police Friday searched the house of suspected serial sexual predator believed to have posed as a gynaecologist to persuade dozens of women to undergo vaginal exams via weblink. more

Millions of Android Phones Vulnerable Over ‘Eavesdropping’ Scare

MILLIONS of people around the world have been exposed to snoopers by dodgy microchips loaded into Android smartphones.

According to security experts, vulnerabilities in processors produced by Taiwanese firm MediaTek could have allowed malicious apps to spy on their users.

MediaTek, one of the world's leading chip-makers, last month issued a fix for four bugs disclosed by researchers at cyber firm Check Point.

Its circuitry is found in one in three of the world’s smartphones, including high-end handsets from Xiaomi, Oppo, Realme, Vivo and more.

Check Point detailed the vulnerabilities exposed by its crack team of cyber buffs in a blog post last week. more