NYC Comptroller Wants Wal-Mart Spy Probe

New York City's comptroller has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department to investigate whether Wal-Mart illegally spied on some of its shareholders.

The request follows reports in The Wall Street Journal that the giant retailer had an internal security team that secretly investigated employees and critics, including shareholders expected to challenge some of the company's policies at an annual meeting.

The company did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment. (more)

A Century of Spy Watches

(courtesy of Wired) Pictured here is the Steineck Subminiature Wrist-camera, a tiny (if rather obvious) spy device of a kind dating back almost a century. Intriguing for their novelty, fascinating for their ninja-like purpose and obsession-inducing for their beauty, such things live amid the secret mental cache of gadgets I've hankered for since childhood.

Watchismo, one of the most excellent and single-minded of blogs, has a two-part walkthrough of these bizarre creations, which began with a patent filed in 1907 and later sold as the Ticka, a camera disguised as a broken watch. (more)

Noseeums that See'um

Tiny robot insects that mimic flying bugs are being developed by US defence chiefs to spy on enemies, it was revealed on Wednesday.

The Pentagon's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency has sanctioned work on four 'robobugs' weighing less than 10g (0.3oz) each, and with a 7.5cm (3in) wingspan. It is hoped to have prototypes flying in 2008.

The aim is for the bugs to carry tiny spy cameras. The bugs should be far more manoeuvrable than micro-sized conventional aircraft. (more) (more)

Of course, you could try doing it yourself for millions less... (more)

Pellicano lawyers act to shift case's focus

LA - Defense attorneys for Anthony Pellicano have asked prosecutors for documents they say will show that authorities first investigated the Hollywood private eye for allegedly audiotaping an FBI agent.

The government has said the long-running probe stemmed from a threat against a Los Angeles Times reporter investigating organized crime in Hollywood. But months before the threat, agents went to the sleuth's office to search for a recording of law enforcement personnel, according to a federal subpoena.

The defense requests signal an effort to shift the focus of the case from celebrity wiretapping to claims of government misconduct. (more)

Inside Wal-Mart's 'Threat Research' Operation

The Wal-Mart Stores Inc. worker fired last month for intercepting a reporter's phone calls says he was part of a larger, sophisticated surveillance operation that included snooping not only on employees, but also on critics, stockholders and the consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

As part of the surveillance, the retailer last year had a long-haired employee infiltrate an anti-Wal-Mart group to determine if it planned protests at the company's annual meeting, according to Bruce Gabbard, the fired security worker, who worked in Wal-Mart's Threat Research and Analysis Group. The company also deployed cutting-edge monitoring systems made by a supplier to the Defense Department that allowed it to capture and record the actions of anyone connected to its global computer network. The systems' high-tech wizardry could detect the degree of flesh-tone on a viewed Internet image, and alerted monitors that a vendor sharing Wal-Mart networks was viewing pornography.

Wal-Mart has since disconnected some systems amid an internal investigation of the group's activities earlier this year, according to an executive in the security-information industry.

The revelations by Mr. Gabbard, many of which were confirmed by other former Wal-Mart employees and security-industry professionals, provide a rare window into the retail giant's internal operations and mindset. The company fired Mr. Gabbard, a 19-year employee, last month for unauthorized recording of calls to and from a New York Times reporter and for intercepting pager messages. Wal-Mart conducted an internal investigation of Mr. Gabbard and his group's activities, fired his supervisor and demoted a vice president over the group as well.

Mr. Gabbard says he recorded the calls on his own because he felt pressured to stop embarrassing leaks. But he says most of his spying activities were sanctioned by superiors. "I used to joke that Wal-Mart paid me to be paranoid and they got their money's worth," Mr. Gabbard says.

Wal-Mart says it permitted recording employee calls "only in compelling circumstances and with written permission from the legal department." But because pager messages were sent over a frequency that was not secure, Mr. Gabbard inadvertently intercepted pages from non-Wal-Mart employees as well. A U.S. attorney is investigating whether any laws were violated as a result of the phone and pager intercepts.

Aside from that possible infraction, Wal-Mart's surveillance activity appears to be legal. (more)

ARCHIVES
• Fired Wal-Mart Worker Speaks Out - 3/8/2007
• Wal-Mart Tapings Spark Probe - 3/6/2007

Wal-Mart defends security tactics

A fired Wal-Mart security worker confirmed a newspaper interview Wednesday in which he said he was part of a large surveillance operation that spied on company workers, critics, vendors and consultants. The company defended its security practices.

The world’s largest retailer declined to comment on specific allegations made by former security technician Bruce Gabbard, 44, to the Wall Street Journal in a report published Wednesday. Wal-Mart reiterated that it had fired Gabbard and his supervisor last month for violating company policy by recording phone calls and intercepting pager messages.

“Like most major corporations, it is our corporate responsibility to have systems in place, including software systems, to monitor threats to our network, intellectual property and our people,” Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sarah Clark said. (more)

Windows XP is One Giant Bug (opinion)

One person believes the Windows XP computer operating system is just one big eavesdropping / bugging device. Mark McCarron writes...

"If you have ever wondered, if;

1. Microsoft, was secretly spying on end-user machines?
2. Big Brother deployment scenarios were real?
3. M$ Windows was a type of bugging device?

Then this, is for you my friend, the 'Top-47 Windows bugging functions', and then some. There is also an appendix on forensic methodology and Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM)." (more)

Royal Dutch Shell Wants Alleged Eavesdropping Investigated

Independent Mayo TD Dr Jerry Cowley says he intends to ask the Circuit Court judge who acts as the State’s complaints referee in relation to phone tapping, to investigate alleged surveillance of telephones held by himself and six prominent members of the Shell to Sea campaign. ...

Dr Cowley told The Irish Times that he would be pursuing this avenue immediately, as the Minister’s failure to rule out possible phone tapping had compounded his fears.

He claimed a “series of unusual coincidences” had alerted him to the possibility of surveillance of landlines and mobile phones of those involved in opposing aspects of the Corrib gas project.

“I am not the only one to hold these fears.

“People who have taken a particular stand on the Corrib gas dispute approached me on a number of occasions expressing their suspicions,” Dr Cowley told the Connaught Telegraph this week.

“They are convinced their telephone conversations are being monitored because there is compelling evidence of it happening.

“I am genuinely concerned that I am one of the people under surveillance.

“If it is proven that a member of the Oireachtas is having his phone tapped, it would be a scandal of the highest order,” he added. (more)

Mobile Phone Glitch Allows Eavesdropping

Australia - Optus is battling to find the cause of a fault in its network, which allows customers to eavesdrop on others' phone calls.

The issue was originally thought to be limited to the Optus pre-paid mobile service, but smh.com.au readers have subsequently described the issue occurring in Optus' landline network as well.

It has customers fearing their privacy has been compromised.

Users reported having to physically demonstrate the issue to Optus before they committed to looking further into it. (more)

Korea to enact new Wiretapping Laws

The National Assembly is likely to pass a revision to the Protection of Communication Secrets Act that would permit wiretapping of mobile phones on April 2. (more)

New Canadian Wiretap law

"The purpose of this Act is to ensure that telecommunications service providers have the capability to enable national security and law enforcement agencies to exercise their authority to intercept communications, and to require service providers to provide subscriber and other information, without unreasonably impairing the privacy of individuals, the provision of telecommunications services to Canadians or the competitiveness of the Canadian telecommunications industry." (more)

UPDATE - Tommy Sheridan - Bug Hunt

Scotland - Police specialists swept Tommy Sheridan's Holyrood office for electronic bugging devices yesterday.

And they also searched the Solidarity leader's Glasgow office and his home after a bug was found in his car last week.

Party spokesman Hugh Kerr said no other devices had been found. (more)

Police find what's bugging Tommy

Scotland - Left-wing MSP Tommy Sheridan may have been under surveillance from a secret bugging device in his car for more than three months.

The bug - capable of transmitting pictures as well as sound - was discovered yesterday after the Solidarity leader called in police and an independent security expert. It was pulled out from under the back seat of his Honda Civic.

But today a source close to Mr. Sheridan revealed his car was also searched three or four months ago, but nothing was found. (more)

This is an excellent example of the value of quarterly TSCM inspections. They limit your window-of-vulnerability. They alert you to spies before they can use your information against you. Call us, to begin your quarterly inspections.

Blue chip firms find bugging is now big business

Blue chip companies in Scotland are spending thousands of pounds on anti-bugging devices, which "sweep" their offices and prevent rival firms from stealing trade secrets.

Private investigators say some organisations are paying up to £10,000 to have their premises checked to keep sensitive information under wraps.

Stephen Grant, a partner with the Edinburgh-based investigators Grant & McMurtrie, deals with about 150 companies each year which have concerns about lapses in security.

He said: "People are becoming more aware of the technology available. Bugs are very cheap and can be bought for less than £100. We provide counter-surveillance and de-bugging equipment. We check merchant banks and the boardrooms of blue chip companies."

Privacy International, a watchdog on government and corporate surveillance, estimates that more than 200,000 bugging devices and covert cameras are sold every year. (more)

Bugging offices is not a crime, say experts

Bugging offices in the UK is not a criminal offence, according to surveillance and legal experts speaking to OUT-LAW Radio. While recording a phone conversation is a criminal offence, someone could place a recording device in an office legally, they said.

In an investigation into corporate surveillance techniques, the weekly technology law podcast OUT-LAW Radio discovered that no offence is committed by placing a bug in a workplace to secretly record conversations.

"There's nothing in any piece of legislation that stops you from putting a physical bug in a room, an office or something like that provided you are there lawfully and you haven't committed any criminal offence to get access to it," said Victoria Southern, a lawyer at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW. (more)(podcast)(transcript)

Security Directors: FREE Security White Paper - "Surreptitious Workplace Recording ...and what you can do about it."