Monday, October 26, 2015
A Downer for Drones
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Drone Spying Claims 'Tiger King' star Jeff Lowe
'Tiger King' star Jeff Lowe claims Carol Baskin, husband Howard were spying on his property with drones. Howard Baskin denied snooping on the 'Tiger King' star in a statement to Fox News.
The owner of the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma alleged to TMZ on Tuesday that he called local police to report some activity at his plot in Thackerville after his son supposedly spotted a drone flying high above the property.
The "Tiger King" star further claims that when he went to confront a film crew that appeared to be filming, Baskin and Howard bolted and Lowe ended up in a scuffle with one of his neighbors, who was allegedly with the film crew.
Lowe’s
neighbors – a couple – ran away when confronted but the neighbors' son
allegedly got in a tussle with Lowe, the gossip site reported Lowe told
them of the incident on Tuesday. more
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
New Law to Prevent Drone Industrial Espionage
U.S. Rep. Brian Babin has offered two amendments to the Aviation Innovation, Reform and Reauthorization Act to address a mounting security concern and help safeguard chemical facilities, representatives with American Chemistry Council said Friday.
The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee unanimously approved the amendments this week.
More than 50 large chemical plants in Jefferson, Orange and Hardin counties risk exposure of trade secrets, though no cases have been reported by law enforcement officials.
The unease is based on a concern that freelancers will take aerial photos at plant sites and try to sell them to competitors, John Durkay, legal counsel for Southeast Texas Plant Managers Forum said previously.
Durkay called the drone business "a tremendous opportunity for industrial espionage," which he said facilities worry about. more with video
Friday, May 17, 2013
Bug Eyed Drone Used 368 iPhone 4S Cameras
Autonomous Real-Time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance Imaging System, or ARGUS-IS, which we recently covered, is the result of a low budget and 368 cannibalized cell phone cameras, slammed together to create the largest, finest surveillance camera in the world.
Attached to a predator drone, the camera records approximately 1 trillion gigabytes of information in a single day. (more)
Friday, August 4, 2017
Drone Over Your Home? It’s the Insurance Inspector
The unmanned aircraft hovered above Ms. Roberts’ three-bedroom Birmingham, Ala., home and snapped photos of her roof. About a week later a check from Liberty Mutual Insurance arrived to cover repairs.
“It took a lot less time than I was expecting,” Ms. Roberts said.
Drones, photo-taking apps and artificial intelligence are accelerating what has long been a clunky, time-consuming experience: the auto or home-insurance claim. more
Friday, December 21, 2018
This Month in... Bots Gone Wild
GPS signals across far northern Norway and Finland failed. Civilian airplanes were forced to navigate manually, and ordinary citizens could no longer trust their smartphones. more
Virgin Australia is under investigation after two engines on one of its aircraft "flamed out" during descent and had to be manually re-ignited before the aircraft hit the tarmac. more
Drone shatters passenger jet’s nosecone and radar during landing. more
Uber manager in March: “We shouldn’t be hitting things every 15,000 miles.” "They told me incidents like that happen all of the time," whistleblower wrote. more
New Zealand courts banned naming Grace Millane’s accused killer. Google just emailed it out. more
She'd just had a stillborn child. Tech companies wouldn't let her forget it. A woman pleads with tech companies like Facebook and Twitter to stop serving her ads to intensify her grief. more
Microsoft is sending users who search for Office 2019 download links via its Bing search engine to a website that teaches them the basics about pirating the company's Office suite. more
Delivery robot bursts into flames at UC Berkeley. more
Rudy Giuliani Says Twitter Sabotaged His Tweet (not true) more
Mystery Drone Still on the Loose at Gatwick Airport, But Flights Resume Anyway more
Thousands of people trusted Blind, an app-based "anonymous social network," as a safe way to reveal malfeasance, wrongdoing and improper conduct at their companies. But Blind left one of its database servers exposed without a password, making it possible for anyone who knew where to look to access each user's account information and identify would-be whistleblowers. more
...and a cautionary tale.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Could Drones be the New Force Multiplier for Physical Security?
He envisions drones being used for security purposes in mall parking lots and at oil refineries and other big plants, at hospitals and schools.
Murphy recently had the opportunity to see what camera-mounted drones can offer. He was on an assignment for a Houston-based clinic/pharmaceutical chain, conducting a security assessment of their buildings. As part of that, he needed to do a light(ing) study.
“We went to the parking lot in one location and did a walk-around in the daytime,” Murphy told Security Director News.
Then, he contacted local drone manufacturer and pilot Michael Sclafani of West Fork Drones for a nighttime flyover. “It just blew me away because of the functionality and maneuverability,” Murphy said of the flyover... With the drone, he was able to see which trees were blocking certain lights and the shadows that resulted. “That’s a story told that I probably would have missed otherwise,” he said. (more)
Thursday, October 25, 2018
M, I, See... see you real soon...
"I don't even think about people watching me or anything like that. So, to me, that's just mind-blowing, honestly,” said downtown resident Mary Pericles.
Women who live in The Waverly and Post Parkside apartments say they've seen a drone flying outside their windows at least three times. more
Friday, January 13, 2017
Security Director Alert - Peeping Tom Drone - A Cautionary Tale
The women said they immediately told their landlord they feared someone was using drones to spy on them. The landlord was concerned a “Peeping Tom” may be in the area...
Police say if the drones were spying on the women, the operator could face charges because it would be an invasion of privacy. more
Security Directors: News reports about Peeping Tom drones are plentiful. That's because they see people, and people see them.
What is not so publicized are drones peering through office windows to collect intelligence... like posted passwords and conference call numbers.
An after-hours clear desk, clear whiteboard policy is more important than ever now. If corporate culture won't support that, how about a close the blinds at the end of the day policy. ~Kevin
Monday, October 5, 2015
Phone on Drone Hacks Wireless Printer
But researchers in Singapore have demonstrated how attackers using a drone plus a mobile phone could easily intercept documents sent to a seemingly inaccessible Wi-Fi printer. The method they devised is actually intended to help organizations determine cheaply and easily if they have vulnerable open Wi-Fi devices that can be accessed from the sky. But the same technique could also be used by corporate spies intent on economic espionage. more
Saturday, May 18, 2019
FLIR Black Hornet - US Army Mini-Drones Deployed - Flying Binoculars
- US Army soldiers are, for the first time, getting personal reconnaissance drones small enough to fit on a soldier's utility belt.
- A soldier could send one of these little drones out to get a view of the battlefield all while staying put in a covered, concealed position.
- This awesome technology is a potential game changer, one that is expected to save lives by significantly reducing the risk soldiers take in battle. more Early promo video. Want one for your desk. Check eBay.
Military mini-drones have been a holy grail since the 1970's. Since 2009 they have developed rapidly. In 2019 they are a practical reality and are being deployed.
FutureWatch: Expect many additional capabilities over a short period of time. Poisonous mosquitoes, self-planting eavesdropping bugs, anyone?
Mini-Drone History
Early 2014 Army version.
The British Army version from 2013.
2009 DARPA version.
1970's CIA version.
For all of our drone posts, click here.
Enjoy. ~Kevin
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Drones and Counter-Drones
Kevin, This is making a big splash in the news today out our way... Despite the relatively short flight time (it can be worked on) this would have been greatly appreciated by many of the people we’ve met. Usually they would have had great fun if it were available in their past life. Another ‘interesting’ toy. All kinds of possibilities. ~WM
And now, the drone antidote...
Monday, September 13, 2021
Urban Drone Detection is Due to Become Easier Thanks to 5G
“Cobalt’s technology increases the number of exploitable drone
signatures for detection and tracking,” said Dr. Jeff Randorf, DHS
S&T engineering advisor and SBIR topic manager. “As more 5G mmWave
transceivers are deployed in city centers, the ability to detect and
track drones in complex urban geometries becomes easier, while not
contributing to an already crowded radio frequency spectrum.” more
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Police: Fired Officer Used Drone to Spy on Neighbors
Officer Howard Kirkland, 53, of Ray City, was fired Monday morning, Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress confirmed.
He had been on suspension since September 4th. He was arrested at the police department by Lanier County Sheriff's Deputies on September 10th. The sheriff's office had been conducting an investigation for about a week. more
Friday, June 17, 2022
Drone Zapper – 40 in one blow!
An arms race of sorts is quietly underway to be able to counter any countermeasures against drones...
The U.S. Air Force deployed Raytheon Intelligence & Space’s first high-energy laser weapon system (HELWS) overseas...
HELWS is a 15-kW-class laser weapon system that fires a silent near-infrared beam of light to shoot down a drone or deliver what’s known as a “hard kill” within the defense realm. It’s capable of taking out at least 40 drones coming at it, and has a fairly long (yet undisclosed) range. more
Monday, December 1, 2014
Australia - Two Anti-Voyeurism Measures
Attorney-General Simon Corbell said the wide-ranging crimes legislation would provide greater protection from invasions of privacy in response to advances in technology.
"The offences introduced by the bill, to protect the privacy of individuals, will ensure that the law can appropriately deal with people who indecently engage in behaviour sometimes referred to as up-skirting and down-blousing without the consent of the person being observed, filmed or photographed," he said. (more)
No Drone Voyeurism in Fire Zones
State aviation operations manager David Pearce said drones could be lethal to aircraft, regardless of size, much like a bird strike that "took down an airliner" if it hit the wrong spot. "Helicopters are particularly susceptible. If the drone is sucked into the intake of the jet engines, or goes into the tail rotor, then it's probably curtains for the helicopter.
Mr Pearce said firefighting aircraft would be immediately grounded if a UAV was spotted either near, or within, a fire zone. (more)
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Possible Surveillance Drone Strike? In Colorado?!?!
The pilot of the Cessna jet radioed air traffic controllers to warn them that “A remote controlled aircraft” had flown past his plane far too close for comfort.
“Something just went by the other way … About 20 to 30 seconds ago. It was like a large remote-controlled aircraft.” the pilot said in the transmission that was captured on the live air traffic audio website liveatc.net (Look for 2012-05-16 15:00:51 in the archive section. Free registration required.) (more)
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Corporate Espionage that Flies Below the Radar
Headlines about economic, corporate and industrial espionage have been in abundance lately and for good reason... Several subject matter experts agree that much of these espionage activities that target businesses are criminal-based.
Recently while on the executive floor of one large company a new twist to espionage tradecraft popped up.
Drone at office window story. |
Today economic, corporate and industrial espionage is big business. With significant money being made selling corporate secrets, this threat will only grow. more
Tuesday, October 5, 2021
Weird, Unusual & Interesting - Spy News Clickbait
Venice, Italy - The city’s leaders are acquiring the cellphone data of unwitting
tourists and using hundreds of surveillance cameras to monitor visitors
and prevent crowding. Next summer, they plan to install long-debated
gates at key entry points; visitors coming only for the day will have to
book ahead and pay a fee to enter. If too many people want to come,
some will be turned away. more
Banksy's Spy Booth Brick + NFT Auction Crashes Servers with Overwhelmingly Heavy Web Traffic more
Australia - An ABC News drone took the brunt of the bite force when a saltwater crocodile leapt up and plucked it from mid-air while filming in Darwin. video
Top 9 Surveillance Videos of the Week video
How Jamie Spears Spied on Britney Spears Through iCloud - A security firm spied on Britney Spears through her iCloud account. Here's how to figure out if someone is doing that to you, and how to stop it. more & more & more & bugsweep
ShadowDragon: Inside the Social Media Surveillance Software That Can Watch Your Every Move - The tool is the product of a growing industry whose work is usually kept from the public and utilized by police. more & more
Florida - New Law – Corporate Espionage (HB 1523): Sponsored by Republican Rep. Mike Beltran, the new law creates the crime of “trafficking in trade secrets” and enhances criminal penalties under certain circumstances. If the trafficking of trade secrets benefits a foreign government or company, the offense is now a first-degree felony. more
Florida - Surveillance Drone Assists in Search for Brian Laundrie more
Security researchers think Amazon's Astro bot isn't safe. more
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Private Spy Drone Prompts Criminal Indictments
The images were taken above an Oak Cliff, Texas-based meat packing company and revealed a large-scale release of pigs blood into a creek flowing into the Trinity river. The business, Columbia Packing Company, and its owner, Joe Ondrusek, are facing 12 indictments for water pollution.
The consequences for the owner, his relative, and the company could be severe. The company could be forced to pay between $6,000 and $1.5 million in fines, while Ondrusek could receive up to five years in prison and faces a $100,000 fine for each charge. The owner and his relative are facing up to 10 years in prison for the alleged tampering with evidence and could pay a $10,000 fine for each additional count. (more)