Brilliant Prevarication or Wrong Occupation?

UK - A newly-appointed top British intelligence advisor raised eyebrows Friday after colourful and indiscreet details of his personal life were revealed -- on his own website.

Alex Allan's website gives details including his home address and his wife's mobile phone number.

Allan was appointed Thursday as chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, the body which provides senior ministers with the latest assessments from Britain's security services.

...on his website 56-year-old Allan details his love for the cult US band The Grateful Dead and reveals a picture of his former self in 1969 with microphone hair, flares and Paisley-print cravate strumming on a guitar.

And like a sketch from the hit British comedy series Monthy Python's Flying Circus, he is also pictured in a pinstripe suit and bowler hat, windsailing to work on the River Thames past parliament during a train strike in the 1980s.

The Daily Telegraph quoted one unnamed senior security official as saying the personal information and photos contained on the site was "a very serious breach". (more) (update)

US congressional body hits out at industrial spying

A congressional advisory panel said yesterday mainland spying in America represents the greatest threat to US technology and recommended lawmakers consider financing counterintelligence efforts meant to stop China from stealing manufacturing expertise.

The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission also said in its annual report to Congress that small and medium-sized US companies - which represent more than half the manufacturing jobs in America - "face the full brunt of China's unfair trade practices..."

Mainland officials have reacted to past reports by warning against outside interference in Chinese affairs.

The commission said mainland spies allow the country's firms to get new technology "without the necessity of investing time or money to perform research." The espionage was said to be putting a strain on US counterintelligence resources and helping China's military modernization. (more)

The Cautious Coachs of N.F.L. Football

The New York Times - The windows near the elevators on the 21st floor of the Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel are fit for football espionage. The Giants’ practice field sits about a mile in the distance, past the maze of highway lanes and off-ramps, past the massive parking lots.

If a coach stands on that field and looks back at the hotel, all sorts of paranoid possibilities come to mind. Visions of men in disguises renting rooms, setting up telescopes and video cameras, and gleaning valuable information from the opposition. Over the years, Giants coaches were said to have sent security personnel to the hotel to conduct sweeps.* They were never reported to have found anything or anyone...

Murray Associates, a New Jersey company that provides eavesdropping protection, has been hired by several professional sports teams to ensure secure contract negotiations, said the company’s president, Kevin Murray. Three of the teams that hired Murray were N.F.L. teams — all within the past five years.

Murray said he believed espionage in sports was more prolific now, with so much money and fame at stake. And bugging an office “is easier now than at any time in history.” For example, Murray said, someone could stick a prepaid cellphone on the ceiling of an office, turn the ringer off and set the phone to auto-answer. Then that someone could listen from anywhere in the world.

“Some people sound on the paranoid side, but they’re really just normal people, following their instincts,” Murray said. “And usually, they’re correct. Coaches would be silly not to be checking.”

So coaches will continue to look for spies behind trees, in bushes, behind the wheel of the team bus. If you are not paranoid, they say, you are not paying attention.

The view from the Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel demonstrates how spying is possible, if not far-fetched. And for N.F.L. coaches, that is enough. (more)
* These sweeps were not conducted by Murray Associates.

Year of the Spy at National Book Awards

With the United States fighting an increasingly unpopular war in Iraq, stories of espionage and critiques of foreign policy were winners at the 58th annual National Book Awards. (more)

Winners...
Denis Johnson's Tree of Smoke
Robert Hass' Time and Materials
Tim Weiner's Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

Spybuster's Tip #105 - CamoSecurity

Real books - converted into boxes. (more)

Hidden Door - limited only by your imagination. (more)

List of places to hide stuff. (more)
Prevent burglars from getting your valuables by using secret hiding places. (more)
Make A "Secret Container" out of a lighter (video)

Flower Pot Safe (more)

"The Chicago Crime Commission states that a burglar spends an average of 8 minutes in the victims home. Put the odds in your favor...hide your valuables in plain sight." (more)

Eavesdropping Becomes a Game Skill

Video game review: 'Assassin's Creed' smooth but repetitive...

"Assassin's” is terrific entertainment for perhaps the first couple hours, as you free-run frolic and notice sparkling little tweaks to generic third-person action.

You eavesdrop to find your targets and rescue locals who can aid post-assassination escapes..." (more)

From those wonderful folks who brought you Room 641A...

AT&T plans to introduce a nationwide program today that gives owners of small and medium-size businesses some of the same tools big security companies offer for monitoring employees, customers, and operations from remote locations.

Under AT&T's Remote Monitor program, a business owner could install adjustable cameras, door sensors, and other gadgets at up to five different company locations across the country.

Using a Java-enabled mobile device or a personal computer connected to the Internet, the owner would be able to view any of the images in real time, control room lighting, and track equipment temperatures remotely. All the images are recorded on digital video, which can be viewed for up to 30 days. (more) (641A)

Landladies ordered to pay students €115,000

Ireland - Two Dublin landladies have been ordered to pay damages totalling more than €115,000 to 10 students who were tenants in their house after the Circuit Court found they had kept the students under secret electronic surveillance.

The students became concerned in late 2004 that their conversations and activities were being monitored when the McKennas referred to details the students had discussed in private in the house. When they raised the issue with the McKennas, the students were evicted.

Judge Gerard Griffin yesterday found that the evidence in the case left him "in no doubt whatsoever that the defendants had kept these plaintiffs under electronic surveillance."

The judge said he could not say whether it was audio or video surveillance or both, but he was concerned that yellow wires found in the house were of the international standard used for video recording.

The wires were found during a search on December 3rd, 2004, when Ms Hegarty's solicitor and a garda (police officer) were called to the house on the back of a court order. (more)

Meanwhile... 755,000 on Terrorist Watch List

A former FBI agent who pleaded guilty Tuesday to fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship and then improperly accessing sensitive computer information about Hizbollah was working until about a year ago as a CIA spy assigned to Middle East operations, Newsweek has learned.

The stunning case of Nada Nadim Prouty, a 37-year-old Lebanese native who is related to a suspected Hizbollah money launderer, appears to raise a nightmarish question for U.S. intelligence agencies: Could one of the world's most notorious terrorist groups have infiltrated the U.S. government?

"I'm beginning to think it's possible that Hizbollah put a mole in our government," said Richard Clarke, the former White House counter-terrorism chief under Presidents Clinton and, until 2002, Bush. "It's mind-blowing."

(more) (755,000 Report)

ALERT - Disk Drive Warning

Taiwan - Large-capacity hard disks often used by government agencies were found to contain Trojan horse viruses, Investigation Bureau officials warned.

Portable hard discs sold locally and produced by US disk-drive manufacturer Seagate Technology have been found to carry Trojan horse viruses that automatically upload to Beijing Web sites anything the computer user saves on the hard disc, the Investigation Bureau said.

Around 1,800 of the portable Maxtor hard discs, produced in Thailand, carried two Trojan horse viruses: autorun.inf and ghost.pif, the bureau under the Ministry of Justice said.

The tainted portable hard disc uploads any information saved on the computer automatically and without the owner's knowledge to www.nice8.org and www.we168.org, the bureau said.

The affected hard discs are Maxtor Basics 500G discs.

The bureau said that the method of attack was unusual, adding that it suspected Chinese authorities were involved.

Anyone who has purchased this kind of hard disc should return it to the place of purchase, the bureau said.

It said it had pulled 1,500 discs from shelves, while the remaining 300 had been sold by the stores to consumers. (more)

Telecom Italia Employees Accused of Spying

Three former Telecom Italia employees have been accused of corporate espionage targeted at Spanish giant Telefonica, Mexico's Telmex and its Brazil unit Embratel, Brazilian press reported, citing Italian weekly L'Espresso.

The employees were arrested on November 5 and accused of spying on the "enemy" after forming a team referred to as the Tiger Team. The team is thought to have started the espionage in 2005 when Telefonica began talks with Telecom about possible acquisitions or alliances, according to the reports.

The Telecom employees implicated are former Brasil Telecom chief of security Angelo Iannone, and IT technicians Roberto Rangoni and Alfredo Melloni, according to the reports.

The reports say that the accused accessed confidential information about TEF and TMX subsidiaries in Europe and Latin America. Among the subsidiaries that were hacked are Vodafone, Embratel, Telemar and Vivo. (more)

Texan sentenced for cyberspying on wife

TX - Using a computer program to spy on his estranged wife's e-mail resulted in a Texas man being sentenced to four years in prison.

Shawn Macleod was sentenced in Austin, Texas, for violating wiretap laws when he used SpyRecon software to gather information on his estranged wife's Internet activity. (more)

"I think Mr. Mellish is a traitor to this country"

The former director of Honduras' state-run telephone company has been charged with illegally wiretapping the president's phone conversations and authorities said Tuesday that he is a fugitive.

Eight taped conversations, in which a voice that sounded like President Manuel Zelaya outlined a strategy to control the nation's news media, made their way to the popular video-sharing Internet site YouTube last month. (more)

Smells like Eau de Eavesdropping to me...

from the seller's web site...
"This attractive and pleasant potpourri basket actually contains a powerful GSM bugging device. Leave it in your chosen room and dial the number of the GSM bug - the call will connect silently after two rings and you will hear whats going on in the room ...from anywhere in the world!" (more)

SpyCam Story #406 - Kid Rock Rooked?

Kid Rock gave props to the head of his security team, Little Bear, for "finding a hidden camera in the dressing room at the show at the Myth Nightclub" in Minneapolis on Thursday night.

"Little Bear, who runs SpyOps.net, discovered the device before the show and alerted the authorities, who are now investigating," Rock wrote.

TMZ obtained photos of the alleged spycam from Little Bear that appears to indicate it was set up to broadcast on the Internet,
but in a statement from the club released to the Star Tribune, the management explained, "The green-room camera in question is part of the venue's security aspect, available for viewing by head of security only ... Rock's allegation that there was some kind of Internet broadcast in progress is simply not true and without foundation." (more) (more)

The club's cameras appear networked; common practice these days. Having a 'green room' camera - probably common practice as well. Venue owners need to make sure their guests are safe, and have evidence if guests bust up the place.

Was the camera was viewable by unauthorized parties via the Internet? Instant answers (or accusations) are not possible. This will take a little investigation.

Did your security team check the software settings before making these pronouncements to the press, Kid? And, why isn't a confidentiality clause part of your security contract? Press statements like these make clients look silly. Call us next time ...please.