Espionage Life in the Fast lane

Luxury car manufacturer Porsche has banned employees from using Internet sites such as Facebook, Google Mail or Ebay during office hours, for fear of industrial spying, German media reported on Saturday. Corporate security chief Rainer Benne told business weekly Wirtschaftswoche that the company feared information could be leaked via social networking site Facebook in particular.

The magazine reported that foreign intelligence agencies systematically used Facebook to contact company insiders and win their trust in order to obtain information.

Roughly a quarter of Porsche's 13,000 global employees use Facebook and other social networking sites, Wirtschaftswoche reported. (more)

Espionage Research Institute - Day 2

Attending and presenting at the annual ERI meeting means telling clients we will be unavailable for a few days. They understand once I tell them what goes on behind these closed doors. The information I gather directly benefits them. If you think any of this can help you, give me a call and I will brief you in greater detail.

This is what I heard today...

• Need to track down Cellular, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth signals?

Berkerley Varitronics RF Detection Products probably has just the little handheld instrument you need. Each instrument, with its own weird name (Yellowjacket, Swarm, Mantis, WatchHound, etc.) handles a very specific chore. You only buy what you need. That keeps the costs down. Need a special enclosure, like hiding their contraband cell phone detector in a water bottle, or secreting an antenna in a pocket pen? No problem. Very cool Jersey engineering dudes.

The rest of the day, ERI members taught what they know... 

• Protecting Your Computer Network - Dr. Gordon Mitchell

• Laser Eavesdropping Techniques - Dr. Gordon Mitchell

• Alternative Power Sources for the Eavesdropper - Mark Clayton

• Android App Vulnerabilities - Charles Patterson

• 4G LTE Cellular Network - Russ VasDias

• Covert Store and Burst Digital Stereo Bug - Vicente Garcia

• Display of most of the TSCM instrumentation designed and built by Glenn Whidden (with commentary by Glenn). Instrumentation provided by J.D. LeaSure.
• Discussions about topics for next year's meetings.

The discussions continue tomorrow.

Thank you to our client family for adjusting your schedules to allow us time to attend this important meeting in Washington, DC. Tomorrow we are back on the road again completing visits this month to Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Philadelphia, Anchorage, Boston, New York City, New Jersey and Illinois. ~ Kevin D. Murray

Kevin's Security Scrapbook is prepared fresh almost daily for the clients and friends of Murray Associates - Eavesdropping Detection and Counterespionage Consulting for Business and Government

Snuggly the Security Bear

A few posts ago, it was noted that the FBI is echoing the desires of several countries around the world about having backdoor keys to all communications encryption schemes. BlackBerry, Skype, etc. are seeing the beginning of the end of their privacy advantage. 

Some countries threatened to outright ban encryption they can't crack, but how can this concept be sold to the U.S. Congress? 

Political cartoonist Mark Fiore thinks he knows how it should be done. Pop over to his site for a few words (and an evil giggle) from his Snuggly the Security Bear.

Espionage Research Institute - Day 1

Attending and presenting at the annual ERI meeting means telling clients we will be unavailable for a few days. They understand once I tell them what goes on behind these closed doors. The information I gather directly benefits them. If you think any of this can help you, give me a call and I will brief you in greater detail.

This is what I heard today...

• Need to make sure the people outside of your room can't overhear you?

Dynasound to the rescue. As they say, "These are not your father's white noise generators." Made to be un-filterable, this white noise is injected directly into construction materials (as opposed to vibrated in with old piezo-electric transducers). The benefit... walls, windows, ceilings and floors transmit the sound outward. People in the room can hardly hear it. Bonus... Need a temporary solution (as in a hotel) or need to move the permanent installation? No problem. The new transducers are easy to move.

• Want to have 24/7 monitoring of an area for certain types of bugging devices?

Global TSCM Group has an answer. Their multi-faceted monitoring system may be monitored anywhere via the Internet. It may not be the total answer, but it helps when securing Boardrooms and creating secure conference rooms.

• Need to control Wi-Fi and cell phone usage in your building?

AirPatrol can do it. Once their system is installed, you will know where every rogue laptop, unauthorized Wi-Fi appearance point and cell phone is... within six feet of its exact location, plotted on a computer map. Also, monitorable via the Internet. (PS - There is a whole lot more their system does. Visit their web site.)

Ok... Lunch break.

• Need portable secure storage for cell phones and tablets when everyone enters the top secret meeting? Hey, you never know whose cell phone is infected with spyware, turning their phone into a bugging device. Vector Technologies has the answer, and if the answer doesn't suit you, talk to them. They will make whatever you need. Bonus... It won't look like an old pirate's chest. They make really nice looking stuff with pneumatic lids! Independent testing labs certify effectiveness. Call 540-872-0444.

The rest of the afternoon, ERI members taught what they know...
• "Finds in the Computer World" - Dr. Gordon Mitchell
• "Access Control / Physical Security" - Mark Clayton
• "Building and Using a UV LED Light Source" - Dr. Gordon Mitchell
• "Adventures with Software Defined Radio" - Kevin D. Murray

More tomorrow...
(MJD, DC can be fun. Make the TSCM hajj next year.)

Thus spiking battery sales for adult toys...

Back in 2007, when the Dutch government announced that all 7 million homes in the Netherlands would be equipped with smart meters by 2013, it anticipated little resistance. After all, who wouldn’t welcome a device that could save both energy and money? But consumers worried that such intelligent monitoring devices, which transmit power-usage information to the utility as frequently as every 15 minutes, would make them vulnerable to thieves, annoying marketers, and police investigations. They spoke out so strongly against these ”espionage meters” that the government made them optional...

Of more than 9000 consumers polled in 17 countries, about one-third said they would be discouraged from using energy-management programs, such as smart metering, if it gave utilities greater access to data about their personal energy use...

It all sounds less paranoid when you consider that each appliance—the refrigerator, kettle, toaster, washing machine—has its own energy fingerprint, or ”appliance load signature,” that a smart meter can read. Anyone who gets hold of this data gets a glimpse of exactly what appliances you use and how often you use them. (more)

The Dregs of the Data Mine - Reality TV?

"300" writer Michael Gordon has sold a spooky surveillance project to NBC. The idea was spawned by the controversial U.S electronic eavesdropping apparatus ECHELON, a program that supposedly captures virtually all data signals for analysis at a central hub in West Virginia.

These millions of video, audio and data files are then disseminated to various federal and local law enforcement agencies for further investigation.

Now here's the twist from the show's logline: "There is, however, less than 1% of the data that nobody wants to touch. These are the classified video files that seem to have captured the unexplainable."

The show will center on a fictional team called G.H.O.S.T. (Global Hierarchical Observation Strategy Taskforce) whose assignment it is to investigate this paranormal data. (more)

Business Espionage - Selling Out

An Akamai Technologies Inc. employee was arrested and charged Wednesday with allegedly providing confidential business information over an 18-month period to a person he believed to be an agent of a foreign government.

Elliot Doxer, 42 years old, was charged in a complaint with one count of wire fraud, according to the Justice Department. The complaint alleges that on June 22, 2006, Mr. Doxer, of Brookline, Mass., sent an email to a foreign country's consulate in Boston stating that he was willing to provide any information that he had access to that might help the country.

It is alleged that in later communications, Mr. Doxer said his chief desire "was to help our homeland and our war against our enemies." He also allegedly asked for $3,000 in light of the risks he was taking.

The unnamed foreign government cooperated with the U.S. in the investigation. A Justice Department spokeswoman wasn't immediately available to comment. (more)

Business Espionage in Tasmania?

Tasmania, Australia - An overnight break-in in which burglars ransacked Aurora Energy's Hobart head office has puzzled police and company chiefs.

Only the second-floor commercial section of Aurora was targeted by the thieves, who cracked a secret safe and stole a small sum of cash.

Computers were accessed and documents strewn across the office...

Police have not ruled out corporate espionage as a possible reason for the break-in, which occurred either late on Monday night or in the early hours of yesterday...

Professor John McFarlane, from the Australian National University's Centre for Excellence in Policing and Security, said yesterday industrial espionage was not uncommon in the business world. "There have been very few prosecutions in Australia for this sort of activity, but that doesn't mean it isn't happening," Prof McFarlane said. (more)

Spy Rule-Book Update

The US Army updated its 17-year-old rule book on espionage to specifically require that troops alert authorities if they suspect classified leaks to the media.

The revision seems aimed at the service’s WikiLeaks debacle. Earlier this year, an Army intelligence analyst was charged with providing a classified video to WikiLeaks, an anti-war organisation that describes itself as a government whistleblower. (more)

Bugs in the Coffin

Canada - At the time of his kidnapping by the FLQ, Pierre Laporte was being monitored by the police as part of a probe into the Montreal Mafia that went as far as planting a microphone in his coffin after his murder, according to stunning revelations by a retired Sûreté du Québec wiretapping expert.

Claude Lavallée, who pioneered wiretapping techniques in Quebec in the late 1960s, said in a book to be released Wednesday (Révélations d’un espion de la SQ / Revelations of an SQ Spy - ISBN 13: 9782761927048) that the murder of the Liberal minister in October 1970 by the Front de Libération du Québec put an end to the investigation.

The author even claims that wiretaps caught a leading organized crime figure offering the Mafia’s help in finding Mr. Laporte before he was killed. (more)

Note to D.R.: Please start your book.

More Next Week...

Hi Folks,

I am off to the Espionage Research Institute annual convention in Washington, DC this week and will be speaking on SDR (Software Defined Radio) as it applies to counterespionage and eavesdropping detection.

This is the one time each year when eavesdropping detection specialists from all over the world gather to trade knowledge and socialize. It should be fun and I will report "the latest" next week when I return.

In the meantime, entries into Kevin's Security Scrapbook may be lean. Hang in there. It should be worth the wait. Have a cup of coffee.

Be seeing you,

Kevin

Turkish Sitcom - Fact vs. Sitcom

Turkey - Erzincan’s chief public prosecutor confessed to having wiretapped, albeit accidently, the prime minister on Saturday during the “32. Gün” (32nd Day) debate program aired by private TV station Kanal D.

According to Erzincan Chief Public Prosecutor İlhan Cihaner, “Had I given the telephone conversations of the prime minister [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] to the media, the political composition in Turkey would have changed, and heaven and earth would have moved here.” The program’s host, Mehmet Ali Birand, asked whether he “witnessed” the phone conversations of the prime minister. In response, Cihaner said, “Yes, you could say so.”

Cihaner was arrested earlier this year on charges of membership in a terrorist organization. (more) (Turkish Sitcom)

Turkey has more than its share of wiretapping intrigue. I have been to Turkey twice on business and love the country, its people, food and history. I have yet to understand the wiretapping intrigue. But it happens. This is just one more story. P.S. If you would like a copy of Turkish Sitcom I will sell you my copy at half price. If you want your own, click Turkish Sitcom. (Trailer) "Kiss my Kabob."

Hard Time for "Die Hard" Director

"Die Hard" director John McTiernan was sentenced to one year in prison Monday for lying about his association with a private investigator to illegally wiretap a movie producer.

In a stinging rebuke of the 59-year-old McTiernan, U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer said he should receive a harsher sentence than the year recommended by prosecutors because he didn't accept responsibility for his actions. "The defendant doesn't think the law applies to him," Fischer said.

Fischer also ordered McTiernan to pay a $100,000 fine and serve three years probation. He will remain free on bond pending an appeal.
 
McTiernan previously pleaded guilty to lying to an FBI agent in 2006 about the investigation of private investigator Anthony Pellicano. Pellicano was convicted in 2008 of wiretapping film producer Charles Roven for McTiernan and of bugging the phones of celebrities and others to get information for clients.

In April 2006, McTiernan told Fischer he hired Pellicano to wiretap Roven. (more)

"Do spy shop gadgets really work?"

Once in a while I can point to a news event which answers the question.

...A former Shirley Town Administrator Kyle Keady, 46... is alleged to have victimized an undetermined amount of people, but largely Town Hall officials and employees. Via secreted pen cameras, digital recorders and a baby monitor, Keady is charged with possessing hundreds, if not thousands, of audio, still images and video images of unwitting town officials and employees. Many images are reportedly of women in various stages of undress. 

Keady led investigators to a baby monitor in the ceiling tiles above Town Accountant Bobbi Jo Coburn's office - the extension cord running to his office where it ran down a wall covered by maps to be plugged into the wall. A Sony digital recorder was discovered in a potted plant on the desk of Administrative Assistant Kathleen Rocco. But, causing the widest-spread grief, battery operated pen cameras were apparently systematically placed in the ceiling vent, aimed downward, above the second stall in the public women's room at Town Hall capturing any number of women, intended or otherwise.

The various digital medium used to warehouse the images were allegedly given up willingly by Keady upon request by State Police while investigators executed a search warrant on the second floor at 7 Keady Way - the Town Hall address on the roadway named in honor of Keady's father Daniel, a longtime town official. Nine thumb drives were found on a single key ring in Keady's pocket that he freely emptied, according to police reports.

Keady also allegedly granted police permission to search his vehicle and home. Nothing was found in his car but loads of pornography and seven boxes of digital recording devices were found at his home, along with another pen camera, several thumb drives and lurid, clandestinely attained Town Hall photos and videos. Keady also reportedly admitted to entering Rocco's home and photographing a drawer full of her undergarments without her knowledge or permission. ...Keady remains free on $2,500 cash bail posted in June. (more)

Eavesdropping Arrest - Spouse v. Spouse

NY - State Police in Watertown arrested Sean M. Walsh, 41 years of age, Fort Drum, NY 13602 (not a soldier) Town of Leray on 1 count of Eavesdropping, a Class E Felony.

Mr. Walsh engaged in 'mechanical' overhearing of privileged conversations between his wife, her family members, and friends while at their residence on Fort Drum during the time period of August/September 2010. (more)