World Spy News Roundup

UK - Sunak tackles Chinese premier in person over ‘spy in Parliament’ arrest. At the G20 meeting in India, the PM warned Li Qiang over ‘unacceptable’ meddling in the UK’s democracy. more

Israel - Mossad Reveals New Details About Key Egyptian Spy Who Warned Israel That Yom Kippur War Was Imminent more

Germany - Germany charges intelligence 'mole' with treason in Russia spying case. more

UK - Police probe whether fugitive 'Iranian spy' Daniel Khalife had help from the inside as manhunt for ex-soldier, 21, who 'may have burns on his face' moves to Richmond Park near where his family lived. more

UK - A Chinese spy is alleged to have used LinkedIn to contact thousands of British officials and lure them into handing over state secrets. The Times said that the spy worked for Beijing's Ministry of State Security and used a series of false names. The MI5 has previously warned that spies are using LinkedIn to target those with access to confidential information. more

Sri Lanka - Easter bombings: President orders probe after allegations of spy chief’s complicity
The documentary aired this week featured a political insider who accused Sallay of complicity in the bombings by Islamist extremists at three churches and three hotels, which killed 279 people including 45 foreigners. more

China - China’s new counterespionage law, which has been on the books for just a few months, is moving forward at a pace as Beijing weaponizes its citizens to report on suspected cases of foreign agents and Western spy networks – even offering big cash rewards for successful tips. more

North Korea - Calls failed spy satellite launch ‘the most serious’ shortcoming, vows 2nd launch. more

North Korea - Says its 2nd attempt to launch a spy satellite has failed, vows 3rd try. more

China - Accuses government worker of spying for the CIA in second public espionage claim. more

Canada - Organized cybercrime is set to pose a threat to Canada's national security and economic prosperity over the next two years, a national intelligence agency said on Monday. more

USA - Two California Sailors Arrested on Espionage Charges - One of the sailors is assigned to amphibious warship USS Essex (LHD-2) ship, while the other serves at a construction battalion near Los Angeles, according to the sailors’ bios obtained by USNI News. Machinist’s Mate 3rd Class Jinchao Wei, of Wisconsin, has been assigned to Essex since March 4, 2022 and joined the Navy on July 28, 2021, according to the bio. Wei was indicted on a charge for conspiracy to provide national defense information to a Chinese intelligence officer, according to a news release from the Department of Justice. more

Girl Spycam'ed in Aircraft Bathroom - Flight Attendant Suspected

The FBI is investigating after a hidden camera was allegedly found in a bathroom onboard an American Airlines flight.

Massachusets state police said that a "potential criminal act" happened onboard an American Airlines flight that landed at Boston Logan International Airport from Charlotte, N.C. on Sept. 2, but told WSOC that the incident involved a "juvenile, a flight attendant, and a cell phone."

State officials said since the incident happened in midair, the potential crime falls under federal jurisdiction.

Fox affiliate Boston 25 spoke with a passenger on the plane, who said that he saw a teenage girl attempt to use the first-class section bathroom and was stopped by a male flight attendant. "When she was about to go the bathroom he stopped her and said, ‘Hey hold on just a second, we’re about to start collecting trash so I am going to wash my hands,'" the passenger recalled. After the flight attendant left the bathroom, the girl then used the restroom. more

Spycam Awareness training.

AI Could Smuggle Secret Messages in Memes

In an advance that could benefit spies and dissidents alike, computer scientists have developed a way to communicate confidential information so discreetly that an adversary couldn't even know secrets were being shared. Researchers say they have created the first-ever algorithm that hides messages in realistic text, images or audio with perfect security: there is no way for an outside observer to discover a message is embedded. The scientists announced their results at the recent International Conference on Learning Representations. more

FutureWatch - What the Well-Dressed Spy Will be Wearing

 ...SMART e-PANTS

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is throwing $22 million in taxpayer money at developing clothing that records audio, video, and location data.

THE FUTURE OF wearable technology, beyond now-standard accessories like smartwatches and fitness tracking rings, is ePANTS, according to the intelligence community.

The federal government has shelled out at least $22 million in an effort to develop “smart” clothing that spies on the wearer and its surroundings. Similar to previous moonshot projects funded by military and intelligence agencies, the inspiration may have come from science fiction and superpowers, but the basic applications are on brand for the government: surveillance and data collection.

Billed as the “largest single investment to develop Active Smart Textiles,” the SMART ePANTS — Smart Electrically Powered and Networked Textile Systems — program aims to develop clothing capable of recording audio, video, and geolocation data, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence announced in an August 22 press release. Garments slated for production include shirts, pants, socks, and underwear, all of which are intended to be washable. more

Next up... Stylish wear by Faraday.

Eavesdropping on the Sounds of Your Typing

New acoustic attack steals data from keystrokes with 95% accuracy

(a little background music, please)

A team of researchers from British universities has trained a deep learning model that can steal data from keyboard keystrokes recorded using a microphone with an accuracy of 95%.

When Zoom was used for training the sound classification algorithm, the prediction accuracy dropped to 93%, which is still dangerously high, and a record for that medium.

Such an attack severely affects the target's data security, as it could leak people's passwords, discussions, messages, or other sensitive information to malicious third parties. more

He Hid a Tape Recorder in a Pen Cup...

...and caught the sheriff in a disturbing scandal.

A small-town paper takes on the county sheriff. The sheriff told staffers that anyone who spoke to the Gazette would be fired.

It is a long, complicated, and interesting story of a small town newspaper busting political corruption. Briefly, here is one of the methods used...

Two of the three commissioners—Robert Beck and Mark Jennings, the chairman—were present, along with the board’s executive assistant, Heather Carter. As they neared the end of the listed agenda, Bruce slipped a recording device disguised as a pen into a cup holder at the center of the conference table. “Right in front of ’em,” he bragged. He left, circling the block for the next several hours as he waited for the commissioners to clear out. When they did, he went back inside, pretended to review some old paperwork, and retrieved the recording device.

That night, after Gwen went to bed, Bruce listened to the audio, which went on for three hours and thirty-seven minutes. He heard other county officials enter the room, one by one—“Like, ‘Now is your time to see the king.’ ”

Maybe he got the pen in cup idea from here. Or, maybe this is an intuitively obvious spy trick. Would it have fooled you? more

Putin's Millionaire Wiretapping Boss, 40, Found Dead...

 

...in suspicious circumstances.

Anton Cherepennikov, 40, was found dead in his office in Moscow.

Further investigations are yet to be carried out, however, his cause of death was confusingly listed as “cardiac arrest” prior to any post-mortem.

His longtime pal Vasily Polonsky has since insisted: “I do not believe [he died of] cardiac arrest,” casting further doubt over the circumstances of the death.

Media outlet Baza has reported that “the exact cause of the entrepreneur's death will be determined later”. more

Ford has a better idea?

Ford is seeking to patent a system for “anonymizing speech data” that’s collected by a voice recognition system in a vehicle. (wait, what?!?!)

This system removes “speaker-identifying characteristics” from speech data collected from in-car voice commands. It then uses machine learning to generate a “random vector,” or randomized data in place of the previously identifiable characteristics, to apply to the speech data.

...While Ford may be keeping your road rage anonymous, the company may also want to use your voice to sell you stuff. The company filed a patent application for a system for “providing targeted content to users.”  more

Baby Monitors & Smart Speakers Enabling Abuse, say MPs

Fitness trackers, home security systems and baby monitors are among the devices that MPs warn are enabling the growing issue of tech-enabled domestic abuse.

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee says there are on average nine such "smart" products in UK homes. It found they were being used to "monitor, harass, coerce and control" victims by collecting recordings and images.

The MPs say the government must tackle the situation. (hear! hear!) more

"Wireman" by Pat Spatfore (book)

“Wireman,” from Newman Springs Publishing author Pat Spatafore, invites readers to look through the lens and become part of a profession that connects them to electronic surveillance, presidential assassins, counterintelligence, and criminal investigations.

The former president and chief executive officer of Secure Communications Service Inc., has completed his new book, “Wireman”: a revealing memoir that gives readers an inside look into a career in law enforcement.

Author Pat Spatafore served in the U.S. Navy as a communications technician and has been a sworn member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. His specialties include electronic surveillance, criminal investigations, and security administration.

Mr. Spatafore worked for a District Attorney’s Office located in New York State and served as a criminal investigator, a senior criminal investigator, and director of the district attorney’s Narcotics Initiative Task Force, retiring at the rank of deputy chief criminal investigator. He was responsible for electronic surveillance and criminal investigations. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master’s degree. more

The Tapes That Doomed Nixon’s Presidency (50th Anniversary)

Fifty years ago, on July 16, 1973, the country was rocked by the revelation that President Richard Nixon had been secretly recording his conversations in the White House. 

Pressed by Senate investigators, a Nixon aide, Alexander Butterfield, revealed that the president had installed an extensive taping system and that the machines had recorded “everything.” Butterfield’s words electrified the nation, watching live on TV...

Indeed, the tapes effectively doomed his presidency, giving prosecutors reams of evidence to sift through in the cascading Watergate scandal. Worse, they revealed a president speaking so coarsely that it embarrassed many Americans. It was a political disaster and a cautionary tale as well. Since then, no president has taped his official meetings. more  The 18.5 minute gap.

This Week in Spy News Around the World

• 5 suspects detained over alleged espionage for China more
• Ex-Venezuelan spy chief is extradited from Spain to US on drug trafficking charges more
• Nikhil Siddhartha's Spy Movie OTT Release Date/Time on Amazon Prime Video more
• Lookout Discovers Advanced Android Surveillanceware Attributed to China more
• Espionage case: NIA files charge sheet against two including Firozabad youth more

• Russian spy network planned to blow up trains in Poland more

• Chinese man arrested while trying to enter India, cops suspect he's a spy more
And proving once again there is no cure for stupid...
• Alleged classified docs leaker Jack Teixeira argues he should be treated like Trump more

Britain's Intelligence Chief Invites Russians Opposed to War to Spy for MI6

Britain's intelligence chief has made a proposal to Russians opposed to Moscow's ongoing war in Ukraine: share any secrets about Moscow, and you'll be kept safe.

During a rare public speech on Wednesday, Richard Moore, chief of the UK's Secret Intelligence Service (also known as MI6), drew parallels between present-day Ukraine and the 1968 "Prague Spring," a period of political liberalization and freedom movements that was ultimately crushed by a Soviet Union invasion — triggering defectors to the West. more

AI Espionage: Why Human Spies Remain Essential

Dodged another bullet.     

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing various industries, but according to the head of Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency, it won’t replace the necessity of human spies. 

Richard Moore, director of the UK’s foreign intelligence agency, addressed the evolving threats from Russia and Iran in a speech in Prague. Despite the advancements in machine learning, Moore argues that the “human factor” will continue to play a crucial role in intelligence gathering...

In the realm of espionage, the importance of human spies cannot be overstated. The ability to gather intelligence requires human intuition, critical thinking, and adaptability. 

While AI can process vast amounts of data and identify patterns, it lacks the creativity and adaptability that human spies possess. Human spies can navigate complex social dynamics, exploit vulnerabilities, and make nuanced judgments that machines simply cannot replicate. more

U.S. Blacklists 2 Firms - Built Meta, iOS and Android Spyware

The Commerce Department blacklisted two European cyber firms that build spyware software, the Commerce Department announced Tuesday, including technology hawked by both firms that was used to surveil Meta users and reportedly at least one Meta employee.

The software exploited vulnerabilities in Android and iOS software and deployed hundreds of spoof Meta accounts to surveil activists, politicians and journalists around the world.

The firms — Intellexa and Cytrox — were described jointly as traffickers of “exploits used to gain access to information systems, threatening the privacy and security of individuals and organizations worldwide” in a Bureau of Industry and Security press release. more

Privacy Risks: Phones Purchased at Police Auctions

Law enforcement agencies nationwide regularly sell items that are seized in criminal investigations or are unclaimed from lost-and-found inventories. 

Many of these items—vehicles, jewelry, watches and electronic devices like cellphones—end up at online auction houses.

People looking for a bargain can bid on cellphones in bulk, snatching up dozens at rock bottom prices for parts or other uses. This ultimately provides revenue for the police agencies, making for a good deal for everyone involved. Or is it?

A recent study by University of Maryland security experts found that many of the phones sold at police property auction houses are not properly wiped of personal data. The study, conducted over two years with cellphones bought from the largest police auction house in the U.S., uncovered troves of personal information from previous owners that was easily accessible. more

Kevin Mitnick, Hacker Turned Security Consultant, Dies at 59

Kevin Mitnick, who became the country’s most famous cybercriminal after an FBI manhunt and later became a cybersecurity consultant, died on July 16.

Mitnick, who was 59, died of pancreatic cancer, said Kathy Wattman, a spokeswoman for KnowBe4, where Mitnick worked. Mitnick’s survivors include his wife, Kimberley, who is expecting a child this year.

“Mr. Mitnick branded himself the ‘world’s most famous hacker,’ as KnowBe4 called him in a Thursday statement. As the World Wide Web was slowly being adopted across the globe, he broke into the computer systems of companies such as Motorola, Nokia and Sun Microsystems, causing what prosecutors alleged was millions of dollars in damage,” Kelly writes.

“Before he was 30, Mr. Mitnick had already served a brief prison sentence for computer crimes. But his infamy as a hacker was cemented in 1995, when the FBI arrested him in the middle of the night at a North Carolina apartment in a highly publicized raid that capped a 24-hour stakeout outside his home and brought an end to his more than two years as a fugitive.”

Mitnick was a polarizing figure in the cybersecurity community after his release from prison in 2000. “He portrayed himself as a misunderstood ‘genius’ and pioneer, and some supporters said he was a victim of overzealous prosecution and overhyped media coverage,” Kelly writes.

“He became a cause célèbre for the internet,” former federal cybercrime prosecutor Mark Rasch, who investigated Mitnick, told Kelly. “There was this idea that he was liberating data, he was liberating information, and that he was just proving how hacking could be done,” he said. “You had a whole bunch of people in the hacker defense community who thought he was the worst thing in the world, and people in the hacker community who thought he was a demigod.” website

Alert: Not All Documents Labeled Confidential Actually Are

A Harris County Texas District Court jury found a telecom company acted in bad faith by filing a $23 million trade secret misappropriation lawsuit against a rival where the underlying technology was found to not actually be a trade secret...

As Texas courts have noted, and Liquid Networx cited in its motion for directed verdict, affixing a confidentiality label to a document does not necessarily make the information within a trade secret. See Providence Title Co. v. Truly Title, Inc., 547 F. Supp 3d 585, 609 (E.D. Tex. 2021) (“[B]usiness information is not necessarily a trade secret simply because it is confidential.”)...

It is important to always consider the nature of the document, how it was created, what value comes from keeping it confidential, what efforts are made to keep it from third parties, and what safeguards are used when it is disseminated to third parties, in analyzing trade secrets. more

Note: TSCM information security surveys are used by savvy businesses to show serious trade secret protection efforts. 

South Korean Spy Luck, or Pearls of Wisdom

For weeks, counterintelligence officials at South Korea's spy agency struggled to crack a tiny adversary — a locked USB stick that they believed was the key to proving that a South Korean labor activist followed orders from the North to foment unrest in the South...

The solution to this dilemma was randomly discovered by a NIS agent, who stumbled upon a string of gibberish written in the Latin alphabet that read, “rntmfdltjakfdlfkehRnpdjdiqhqoek,” in another data storage device owned by Seok. 

When the NIS agent typed out Korean letters in the same locations on a computer keyboard as these Latin letters in the same order, they spelled out, “Even three sacks of pearls only turn into treasure if you weave them together.”

The Korean proverb proved key to uncovering the cipher officials needed to crack the USB and the word document inside it. more

Crocs Sues Rival Joybees Over Stolen Trade Secrets...

...by former manager...

Footwear makers Crocs and rival Joybees have filed competing claims against each other in a U.S. court, as the companies clash over corporate trade secrets, intellectual property and competition in the foam clog market.

The new complaint accuses McCarvel, who was a midlevel manager at Crocs, of stealing several thousand documents containing Crocs’s highly confidential and proprietary business information, as well as the contents of an entire Crocs email account...

The complaint accuses McCarvel of using the stolen documents to build Crocs' rival shoe company, Joybees. more

Business Espionage: Quote of the Week

“...cyber threat actors target successful firms, possibly for industrial espionage,” AEI researchers said in a study released this month. “Large cash holdings increase the likelihood...” more

14 Hilarious Moments from Spy Spoofs and Comedies

There are few film genres as reliable in modern times as spy films, shows and even video games. 

James Bond led the way to Remington Steele to Ethan Hunt to Solid Snake to Austin Powers. But the somber seriousness of the espionage game makes it a prime target for comedians and comedy writers to mine some humor out of all the profession’s sternness, violence and ludicrous clandestine nature.

Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to enjoy these funniest moments from or about the spy genre in pop culture. more

Step one: Identifying Your Trade Secrets

Can you identify your business’ most valuable information, how it is stored and who has access to it?

Are you sure? 

It may surprise you that even some of the most sophisticated companies in the world don’t have a proper handle on their information “crown jewels” or trade secrets until someone tries to take them. 

Now is a good time to review your business’ approach to protection of its trade secrets and other confidential information and make sure you have done everything you can to protect them.

Why now? Data is one of the most valuable assets any business has. Industrial espionage is becoming more prevalent (and sophisticated)... more

Once you know what you have to protect, install an alarm system. In this realm, Step One is creating a scheduled program of Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM) inspections.

Lawsuit: West Virginia Police - Spying Using Hidden Cameras on Women & Minors

West Virginia State Police have been accused of planting hidden cameras to spy on women, from active law enforcement officers to recruits training at the academy, some of whom were minors.

Two of the active West Virginia law enforcement officers involved in the civil suit, Brenda Lesnett and Megan Talkington, spoke with CNN...

Lesnett and Talkington are two of around 70 women suing the department after an anonymous letter addressed to the state’s top lawmakers with the allegations was made public in February. Among the allegations of misconduct, which are said to have taken place over a 10-year period, are a hidden camera system set up in the women’s locker room and showers at the West Virginia Police Academy. Some of the possible victims are minors who took part in a junior program. Lesnett and Talkington said there could be “hundreds, if not thousands” of total victims. more

Protect yourself. Learn how you can detect spycams.

France Set To Allow Police To Spy Through Phones

French police should be able to spy on suspects by remotely activating the camera, microphone and GPS of their phones and other devices, lawmakers agreed late Wednesday.

Part of a wider justice reform bill, the spying provision has been attacked by the left and rights defenders as an authoritarian snoopers' charter, though Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti insists it would affect only "dozens of cases a year".

Covering laptops, cars and other connected objects as well as phones, the measure would allow geolocation of suspects in crimes punishable by at least five years' jail.

Devices could also be remotely activated to record sound and images of people suspected of terror offenses, as well as delinquency and organized crime. more

NJ Makes It Harder for Police to Snoop on Social Media

New Jersey is known for many things, from delicious bagels to the heated pork roll vs. Taylor ham debate... But the Garden State deserves a new accolade: defender of digital privacy rights.

In an important decision that has seemingly flown under the radar, late last month the Supreme Court of New Jersey decided Facebook Inc. v. State, which puts much-needed guardrails on police conduct in the state when it comes to law enforcement’s access to digital communications. more

Tasmanian Government Blocks Radio Network Eavesdropping

Australia - The days of people listening to the police scanner are numbered, with the Tasmanian Government officially launching their new ‘secure’ Government Radio Network today.

Telstra were contracted to commission the $763 million dollar initiative, which the State Government say is one of Tasmania’s largest infrastructure projects ever.

TasGRN has ‘been purpose-built’ and will be used all Government agencies – including Tasmania Police, Ambulance Tasmania, Tasmania Fire Service, Tasmania SES, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Sustainable Timber Tasmania, TasNetworks and Hydro Tasmania.

Police & Emergency Services Minister Felix Ellis says the new network is “secure” and will allow Tasmania’s key organisations “to better serve the community with fully encrypted voice communications, limiting exposure to criminals covertly accessing the network”. more

US Spies Issue Warnings Over Risks of Doing Business in China

US intelligence officials renewed warnings for American companies doing business in China, citing an update to a counterespionage law that’s due to take effect (today, July 1, 2023).

A bulletin issued by the National Counterintelligence and Security Center on Friday warns executives that an update to China’s counterespionage law, which comes into effect on July 1, has the “potential to create legal risks or uncertainty” for companies doing business in China.

It adds that the law broadens the scope of China’s espionage law and expands Beijing’s official definition of espionage. “Any documents, data, materials, or items” could be considered relevant to the law due to its “ambiguities,” the bulletin says. more

North Carolina House Speaker Installs Spy Cameras

Rep. Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) allegedly used his political influence to bed former Apex Town Councilman Scott Lassiter’s wife, Jamie Liles Lassiter, over the course of their three-year extramarital relationship, according to a lawsuit filed June 18.

After Lassiter, 36, confronted the Republican legislator about the infidelity, Moore allegedly hired an unidentified goon to install a camera on the Lassiters’ Raleigh property earlier this month in an effort to keep the tryst under wraps.

“Defendant Tim Moore and Defendant John Doe willfully and wantonly interfered with [Lassiter’s] property rights and right to privacy by entering upon [Lassiter’s] property in the middle of the night and installing equipment intended to surreptitiously record [Lassiter’s] private actions in his own home,” the lawsuit states.

Lassiter claims to have found the camera inside his flowerbed in the early hours of June 1, on what would have been his and Jamie’s 10th wedding anniversary. more

Security Alert: Unsolicited Smartwatches Received by Mail

Service members across the military have reported receiving smartwatches unsolicited in the mail. These smartwatches, when used, have auto-connected to Wi-Fi and began connecting to cell phones unprompted, gaining access to a myriad of user data.

These smartwatches may also contain malware that would grant the sender access to saved data to include banking information, contacts, and account information such as usernames and passwords...

What to do if you receive one of these devices:

• DO NOT turn the device on.
• Report it to your local counterintelligence, security manager, or through our Submit a Tip - Report a Crime reporting portal. more

The Spying Scandal Inside One of America’s Biggest Power Companies

A private investigator surveilled Southern Co.’s CEO, prompting an internal investigation into whether it was commissioned by another executive...

On a late spring day in 2017, a private investigator parked outside a fitness center in an Atlanta strip mall and covertly recorded video of a personal trainer as she entered her business.

Forty-five minutes later, the investigator took photos as the woman returned to her car, stowed her gym bag and drove away. He next followed her for 25 minutes to the home of her then-boyfriend, Tom Fanning, who, as chief executive of Southern Co., had for years been one of the energy industry’s most powerful figures.

Atlanta-based Southern, one of the largest utility companies in the U.S. and one of the most prominent corporate brands across the Southeast, has been bedeviled for much of the past year by the peculiar espionage effort, which led to an internal investigation but no public explanation.

Word of the surveillance surfaced last summer in a lawsuit between consultants in a firm that for decades has done work for Alabama Power, a Southern subsidiary. One of them alleged that, at the direction of Alabama Power officials, the other consultant had ordered surveillance of Southern executives in order to possibly gain internal leverage. more

Nissan Installed Covert Camera to Monitor No. 2's Home

Nissan installed a camera surveillance system at the home of former executive Ashwani Gupta so the automaker's internal security team could monitor him, according to the preliminary findings of an investigation into the surveillance, two people with knowledge of the report said.

Nissan has been investigating a claim that Chief Executive Makoto Uchida carried out surveillance of the carmaker's second- in-command to acquire leverage to remove him from the company because of Gupta's opposition to some terms in a new partnership deal with Renault. more

From the What Goes Around Files: Phone Spy App Hacked

LetMeSpy, a phone tracking app spying on thousands, says it was hacked...

A data breach reveals the spyware is built by a Polish developer hacker has stolen the messages, call logs and locations intercepted by a widely used phone monitoring app called LetMeSpy, according to the company that makes the spyware.

The phone monitoring app, which is used to spy on thousands of people using Android phones around the world, said in a notice on its login page that on June 21, “a security incident occurred involving obtaining unauthorized access to the data of website users​​.”

“As a result of the attack, the criminals gained access to e-mail addresses, telephone numbers and the content of messages collected on accounts,” the notice read.

LetMeSpy is a type of phone monitoring app that is marketed for parental control or employee monitoring. The app is also specifically designed to stay hidden on a phone’s home screen, making it difficult to detect and remove. Also known as stalkerware or spouseware, these kinds of phone monitoring apps are often planted by someone — such as spouses or domestic partners — with physical access to a person’s phone, without their consent or knowledge. more

FutureWatch: Mind Reading Marches On, Maybe

At first glance, the headset is unassuming. It almost looks like a pair of oversized headphones. There’s no outward indication that it can read signals in your brain and help alter your mood. But its creator, the startup Neurosity Inc., believes it’s at the forefront of a new wave of consumer products that will literally alter customers’ state of mind. 

Neurosity is one of a growing number of new companies making hardware that can read brainwaves. ... Startups with names like Emotive Inc., InteraXon Inc. and Earable Inc. are all working on devices that use EEG to measure everything from sleep to creativity...

It’s true that it’s early days for the intersection of brains and computers. “This is a huge area, and we’re going to see more of these devices,” Welle said. “Measuring your own brain signals is a cool thing to do." more   Previous mind reading news.

Spybuster Tip #712 - Stop Smartphone Eavesdropping - Cap The App

Remember to check from time to time which apps have access to the microphone.

Here’s how to do it on iPhone:

• Open the Settings app 
• Scroll to Privacy & Security 
• Tap Microphone 
• Review the apps that have access to your microphone and toggle them on or off 

Here’s how to do it on an Android handset:

• Open the Settings app 
• Tap Privacy 
• Tap Permission Manager 
• Tap on Microphone 
• Review the apps that have access to your microphone and toggle them on or off | more

Why is this important and timely?

A hacking group linked to the North Korean government has been caught using new wiretapping malware in recent surveillance attacks, according to an advisory from cybersecurity firm AhnLab. more

The US Presidential Race Gets More Interesting

Former CIA clandestine officer and GOP Rep. Will Hurd has announced he is joining the Republican race to be president. The Texan and Donald Trump critic announced he is jumping into the growing GOP field with 14 rivals during an interview with CBS on Thursday morning. 'This is a decision that my wife and I decided to do because we live in complicated times and we need common sense,' he said. more

Man Arrested for Spying on Woman with Drone

RI - The Cranston Police Department announced a convicted sex offender was arrested for spying on a woman through her bathroom window with a drone...

Officials said the woman victim...was preparing to use the shower when she heard a buzzing noise from outside. The woman went to her back yard thinking the sound had something to do with her pool when she noticed a drone hovering outside her bathroom window. When the victim approached the drone, she said it moved quickly in an attempt to get away from her when it crashed into a tree and hit the ground...the victim disabled the drone in her pool and called 911 shortly after. more

Fishy Spy News, or Flipper Flips Sides

Russia's navy is using trained dolphins to step up security at its Sevastopol Black Sea fleet base, according to UK intelligence. The mammals are intended to "detect and counter" enemy divers, British intelligence reported.

Last month, the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries advised beachgoers to "avoid contact" with a well-known beluga whale that's suspected of being used for Russian espionage. The warning came in response to the whale's travels to a densely populated area, putting him at far greater risk of injury or death. The whale, nicknamed Hvaldimir, became famous in 2019 after it was spotted wearing a specially made harness with mounts for a camera, leading to the "Russian spy" allegations. more

China’s Corporate Spy War

CNBC Documentaries examines the case of a Chinese government spy who tried to steal secrets from some of America’s biggest companies and delves into the shadowy world of economic espionage that could endanger millions of U.S. jobs. more

A Tale of High-Stakes Corporate Espionage... a cautionary tale.

When Chinese tech giant Huawei learned it was set to lose a $200 million contract, a run-of-the-mill equipment deal spiraled into a saga of hidden microphones, drone encounters and covert surveillance, according to investigators for a Danish telecoms firm. Bloomberg reporters crisscrossed Copenhagen for the tale of TDC’s 5G showdown, in which technology, business and national security collide. more

No business is immune. Help is available. Click here. 

Corporate Espionage - Legal or Illegal? (The Full Story)

Corporate espionage, or economic or industrial espionage, involves stealing or illegally acquiring trade secrets and confidential information from a company or organization. This process, which may also include practices such as bribery, blackmail, and surveillance, is a growing concern for businesses in various industries. Companies may engage in such activities in an increasingly competitive global market to gain a competitive advantage or undermine competitors.

The legality of corporate espionage is a complex subject, as it encompasses various actions and laws depending on the jurisdiction. Corporate spying may be considered illegal under various statutes that protect intellectual property, trade secrets, and economic interests. However, there are instances where certain espionage activities may fall within legal limits, especially in cases where information is obtained from public sources or through legitimate means... more

(Now that you know, protect yourself.)

77 Industrial Espionage Arrests

South Korean police have arrested 77 people involved in 35 cases of suspected industrial espionage discovered during a recent nationwide investigation, Yonhap news agency reported on Sunday.

Most cases only involved domestic companies, although eight were related to the leak of technology secrets to China or other countries, Yonhap quoted the National Police Agency as saying...

The number of international cases was double that of a similar probe conducted one year ago, Yonhap said, citing police data. more

Blackmail with Email, or The Employer's Lawyer Destroyer

Last month, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, one of the nation’s largest law firms, was rocked by the announcement that two top partners were starting their own boutique practice and taking as many as 140 colleagues with them.

The shock inside Lewis Brisbois’ downtown Los Angeles headquarters soon gave way to anger... over the weekend, Lewis Brisbois struck back.

In an extraordinary move, its management team directed the release of scores of emails in which Barber and Ranen used vile terms for women, Black people, Armenians, Persians, and gay men and traded in offensive stereotypes of Jews and Asians. In one fell swoop, the venerable firm managed to torpedo its new rival, destroy the defecting partners’ careers and send the legal establishment reeling. more

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“Say it with flowers,

Say it with mink,

But never, ever say it with ink."

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Business Espionage: The Employee Competitor… and what to do about it

Eavesdropping: Advanced Aliens Could Detect life on Earth...

Only aliens with more advanced technology would be able to ‘eavesdrop’ on the signals transmitted on Earth – but apparently that’s more likely than you’d think.

While we work hard to search for extra-terrestrial life beyond our planet, radiation leaked from Earth’s mobile towers could be helping aliens find us. Put your tinfoil hat away: this isn’t anything to do with 5G. And the radiation being leaked isn’t the cancer-causing kind – it's the same type of energy used in radio and TV signals.

New research shows that this radio leakage from mobile towers is not currently strong enough on its own to be detectable by alien civilisations – assuming they are using the same technology as we are to find them. But if aliens have more advanced systems and are looking at radiation from more sources – such as Wi-Fi networks – we could soon be discovered by extra-terrestrials living on nearby stars. more

Police Lt. Sentenced - Illegally Videotaping Women

MA - Belchertown Police Lt. Michael Beaupre, a former officer charged with illegally recording multiple women without their consent, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years of probation on Tuesday in Eastern Hampshire District Court, according to Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early.

Beaupre, 38, pleaded guilty to eight counts of photographing an unsuspecting nude person, the district attorney’s office said, and was sentenced to two years of probation.

The officer also admitted in court to sufficient facts on 11 counts of unlawful wiretapping, the office said. A judge continued those counts for two years without a finding, and those probation sentences will run concurrently.

Beaupre used multiple concealed recording devices to secretly video record women as they undressed in his home between January 2017 through January 2022, the office stated. A woman who’d found some of the videos had reported them to law enforcement. more

Protect yourself and loved ones. 

Learn how to discover covert spy cameras.

Notable US Spies Fast Facts

Timeline Summaries* of Spies Who Failed

Aldrich Ames
1962 - Aldrich Ames, son of a CIA analyst, joins the agency as a low-level documents analyst. 

David Boone
1970-1991 - David Boone serves in the US Army as a signals intelligence analyst. During the late 1980s, he is assigned to the National Security Agency as a senior cryptologic traffic analyst. 

Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins
1996 - Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins makes visits to Russia to meet with their intelligence agents. He is given a code name and signs a settlement “attesting that he wanted to serve” them.

Noshir Gowadia
1968-1986 - Noshir Gowadia is employed by Northrop Grumman where he works on technology relating to the B-2 Spirit Bomber, aka the “Stealth” bomber.

Robert Hanssen
January 12, 1976 - Robert Hanssen joins the FBI.

Ana Montes
1984 - Ana Montes is recruited to spy for Cuba. She is never paid for her spying.

Walter Kendall Myers
1977 - Walter Kendall Myers begins working for the US State Department on contract, as an instructor.

Harold James Nicholson
1980 - Harold Nicholson joins the CIA after serving in the United States Army.

Ronald Pelton
1965-1979 - Ronald Pelton works for the National Security Agency, with top-level security clearance.

Earl Pitts
1983-1996 - Earl Edwin Pitts works at the FBI.

Jonathan Pollard
1979 - Pollard is hired to work at the Navy Field Operational Intelligence Office. He had been rejected previously from employment at the CIA due to drug use. His specialty is North America and the Caribbean.

George Trofimoff
1969-1994 - George Trofimoff, a naturalized American citizen of Russian parentage, works as a civilian for the US Army at the Joint Interrogation Center in Nuremberg, Germany. He also attains the rank of colonel in the Army reserve.     *Complete timelines for each spy.

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And, one successful spy hero...

VA - The local FBI agent who cracked the notorious Walker spy ring in the 1980s has died. Robert "Bob" Hunter was the lead investigator in the 1985 arrest of master spy John Walker, who led what U.S. officials called the most damaging espionage case in American history. The Walker spy ring operated for nearly two decades, spanning five presidencies, stealing top-secret information from the Navy and selling it to the Soviet Union. In 1999, Hunter wrote a book about his experiences: "Spy Hunter: Inside the FBI Investigation of the Walker Espionage Case." more

America’s ‘Most Damaging’ Soviet Spy Dies in Prison

America’s “most damaging spy”, who spied for Russia over more than two decades during and after the Cold War, has been found dead in prison. Robert Hanssen, 79, was found unresponsive at a maximum-security facility in Florence, Colorado, where he was serving a life sentence. more

Cuba to Host Secret Chinese Spy Base Focusing on U.S.

Beijing agrees to pay Havana several billion dollars for eavesdropping facility...

China and Cuba have reached a secret agreement for China to establish an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island, in a brash new geopolitical challenge by Beijing to the U.S., according to U.S. officials familiar with highly classified intelligence. 

An eavesdropping facility in Cuba, roughly 100 miles from Florida, would allow Chinese intelligence services to scoop up electronic communications throughout the southeastern U.S., where many military bases are located, and monitor U.S. ship traffic. 

Officials familiar with the matter said that China has agreed to pay cash-strapped Cuba several billion dollars to allow it to build the eavesdropping station, and that the two countries had reached an agreement in principle. more

Cautionary Tale: Commercial Espionage - Bugging of Business Meetings

The billionaire owners of the Telegraph newspapers say their businesses are in good shape following claims they are on the cusp of receivership...

The sale of the Ritz hotel in London in 2020 exposed a bitter rift between the two families of the twins, with claims of commercial espionage over the bugging of business meetings.

At the centre of the affair was CCTV footage allegedly showing Sir Frederick's nephew handling a device. It saw the billionaire and his daughter, Amanda, sue three of Sir David's sons for invasion of privacy...

One person close to the talks said the banking group's patience over the debt was "running out", the FT said. more  previous coverage