Cell Phone Bugging Hack

Black Hat, Washington, DC - A European researcher today showed how bugs he has discovered in the baseband chipset firmware of iPhone and Android smartphones could be exploited to ultimately take control of these devices.

Ralf-Philipp Weinmann, a researcher at the University of Luxembourg, was poised here to demonstrate an exploit he created that turns on the auto-answer feature on the affected smartphones and then uses them as remote listening devices. But he was unable to get his demo to run live successfully, in part due to poor cellular reception in the hotel where the conference was held.

Despite the demo glitch, security experts say the research marks a new generation of smartphone hacking. (more)

SpyCam Story #598 - The Tax Man Attacks

FL - On January 13, 2011, a jury awarded damages of $476,200.00 against Kenneth Wayne Ryals, a landlord who had serially spied on his young female tenants by means of a micro video camera hidden in a DVD player he provided with the rental. 

Mr. Ryals, who is an Internal Revenue Service agent, had confessed to the Davie Police Department that he had watched Plaintiff for his viewing pleasure... 

Further, despite the pendency of the lawsuit, Mr. Ryals willfully destroyed all the physical evidence in the case, eleven pieces of electronic equipment, including the spy cam that he had hidden in the plaintiffs bedroom...

The plaintiff filed the suit in hopes that her suit would appeal to Mr. Ryals conscience and encourage him to stop preying on young women like herself. Mr. Ryals, however, has never shown any remorse for his conduct. Within a week of his arrest by the Davie Police for video voyeurism on September 14, 2007, he was soliciting new female renters through the website Roommates.com. (more)

SpyCam Story #597 - Heart Doc Attack

NY - A doctor who hid a video camera in the bathroom of his Manhasset medical office has been sentenced to 45 days in jail.

Prosecutors say 56-year-old cardiologist Vincent Pacienza, of North Hills, installed the camera in an air purifier so he could spy on unsuspecting women. They say he watched the camera's video feed on a monitor hidden beneath his desk.

The camera was discovered after an employee saw an invoice from a surveillance equipment company and became suspicious. (more)

He probably bought it already assembled.

Massive eavesdropping in Bulgaria? You decide.

• Every third eavesdropping in Bulgaria illegal (more)

• Brussels Alarmed over Avalanche of Wiretaps in Bulgaria (more)

• It is not true millions of Bulgarians are being wiretapped: interior minister (more)

 

We give you justice! Even if it kills you.

S. Korea - The Supreme Court Thursday overturned a guilty verdict on the late Cho Bong-am (1898-1959), 52 years after the nation’s first progressive party leader was executed on charges of espionage by the government of then-President Syngman Rhee.

Cho, who created the Jinbo (progressive) Party in 1956, challenged President Rhee in a presidential election and was executed three years later for espionage charges.

The retrial came after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded in September, 2007 that the original trial was clouded in mystery and the case should be retried. (more)

Continuing Education - NIS.org - Protecting Secrets

via their literature...

Keynote Address: Defending Against Cyber Threats in Dangerous Times

General Michael V. Hayden, Principal, Chertoff Group and former Director CIA, NSA

Top-notch education, security best practices and practical solutions you can take back to your office and implement right away. The conference is packed with informative sessions and practical workshops targeted to your specific needs so your time is always spent productively. For a complete list of speakers, topics, and schedule, go to: http://nsi.org/impact-agenda.html

What you will learn:
-- Step-by-step recommendations for improving your security program
-- Real world tips to prevent security breaches and deficiencies
-- How to ensure timely security clearance processing
-- How to defend against low-tech threats and social engineering
-- Vital intelligence about the latest collection techniques used by spies
-- Best practices for using JPAS, JCAVS and e-QIP
-- How to create a winning strategy for your awareness program
-- Practical countermeasures to defend against terrorism
-- Expert advice on how to avoid the biggest AIS security landmines
-- Best practices to implement NISPOM changes
-- Proven strategies for managing the human side of info security
-- Key steps for certification and accreditation of classified systems
-- How to manage risks to and from the mobile workforce
-- Practical, non-technical understanding of IT security threats
-- Valuable lessons learned from the security trenches

Registration

Espionagedottir in Iceland - Mysterious

Iceland - An unmarked computer found in a spare room of parliament, and connected directly to parliament's internet system, was most certainly planted there, a computer expert told the Grapevine. However, he says, the media has a few misconceptions about the matter.

The computer in question was found in a spare room shared by the Independence Party and The Movement last February. It was apparently connected directly to parliament's internet system.

The computer was disconnected and taken to the police. Any identifying serial numbers had been erased from the machine, nor were any fingerprints found, and its origins have not yet been traced. The police believed that the matter was the work of professionals. (more)

Backstory?

"The office had been used by substitute MPs from the Independence Party and The Movement, the Parliamentary group of Birgitta Jonsdottir, whose Twitter account was recently subpoenaed by US authorities. The Icelandic daily Morgunbladid, under the editorship of Mr David Oddsson, former Prime Minister and Central Bank chief, has suggested that this might be an operation run by Wikileaks. The reporter for the Reykjavik Grapevine, Mr Paul Nikolov is a former substitute MP, having taken seat in Parliament in 2007 and 2008." (more)

Prime Minister's Press Secretary Resigns over Phone Hacking

UK - After growing controversy over the role he played in the phone-hacking scandal as editor of Rupert Murdoch's News of The World newspaper, Andy Coulson has resigned as Prime Minister's press secretary, saying his role has become too high profile.

Coulson has come under increasing pressure in recent months, as police widen their investigation into the way the paper's reporters worked, following a succession of civil cases brought by stars including actress Sienna Miller and TV host Chris Tarrant. (more)

SpyCam Story #596 - Your City. Your Drugstore. Our SpyCam.

NY - Sixteen employees of a New York City branch of pharmaceutical giant Duane Reade filed a $110 million lawsuit alleging cameras were planted in a washroom.

The employees at the store in the Maspeth section of Queens said video surveillance and recording devices were secretly installed by a security officer in washroom air vents, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.

After the cameras were discovered in January 2008, managers warned that anyone who complained would be fired, the Daily News reported.

Duane Reade denied the allegations. (more)

Security Director Alert: Unsecured Webcams Hacked

Did you know... 
• There is an underground community of people who hack webcams for a hobby?
• Many corporate security webcams are vulnerable to discovery and remote control?

Are you sure your corporate webcams secure? Can someone commandeer them for fun, revenge or profit – from a criminal act? Double-check with your IT department.

To get a feel for the issue, try it yourself. Google "intitle:liveapplet" and see what you come up with. There are many more search phrases which will ferret out unsecured webcams posted elsewhere, but this will get you started.

Here is a live, multi-camera Australian webcam controller in Hobart, Tasmania.

I have a feeling you won't be getting much real work done today. ~Kevin

Shirley he jests. But wait! There's more...

MA - Fired Shirley Town Administrator Kyle Keady pleaded innocent in Middlesex Superior Court Tuesday to a bevy of illegal-recording charges in the wake of lurid video and wiretapping allegations against him that have shocked the small town.

Keady, 46, of Shirley, was released on $2,500 cash bail after pleading innocent to four counts of breaking and entering, five counts of wiretap violations, and 10 counts of video recording a person in a state of nudity...

Prosecutors allege that between 2006 and 2010, Keady recorded numerous conversations in the Shirley Town Hall, including using special spy pens equipped with cameras in the potted plant to record his female assistant. He is also accused by investigators of hiding a baby monitor in the ceiling in the town accountant's office to record her.

Perhaps most shocking of the allegations is that Keady is accused of using pens with cameras to record video of the ladies' room in Town Hall.

He also allegedly broke into his assistant's home to photograph her undergarments, as well as used photo-editing software to put her photo on top of nude bodies, according to investigators. (more)

Wiretap Tag with Silvio Berlusconi

Italy - A tabloid tidal wave washed over Italy on Tuesday as newspapers published eye-popping wiretapped conversations from a nightclub dancer who said she had dallied with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as a minor, but whether it would sweep the wily prime minister out to sea was still anyone’s guess. (more)

Wiretaps emerged days after a probe was launched against Berlusconi on charges he paid Moroccan-born Karima el-Mahroug, called “Ruby Rubacuori” for sex at his villa when she was a minor.

Berlusconi, 74, is also accused of helping to get her released from custody when she was held for theft. Now 18, she said she had asked Berlusconi for $6.7 million to keep quiet, according to wiretaps. (more)

Cast your mind back to last summer...

June 29, 2010 - Berlusconi to push through wiretap law
Critics say the law would muzzle the press and help organized crime.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, however, is a man on a mission. He has threatened lawmakers that they will have to work well into August to make sure that a new law curbing wiretaps is passed before the fall.

When passed, it will place severe limits on phone intercepts during investigations, as well as imposing heavy fines on newspapers that publish the transcripts of wiretapped phone calls. Wiretapping happens routinely in Italy, even where no charges have been brought.

A law against wiretaps will amount to imposing a "gag" on the Italian media, according to major news outlets. (more)

Is this all starting to make sense now?

New Smart Phone Eavesdrop Attack Coming

More than three years after the iPhone was first hacked, computer security experts think they've found a whole new way to break into mobile phones -- one that could become a big headache for Apple, or for smartphone makers using Google's Android software.

In a presentation set for next week's Black Hat conference in Washington D.C., University of Luxembourg research associate Ralf-Philipp Weinmann says he plans to demonstrate his new technique on an iPhone and an Android device, showing how they could be converted into clandestine spying systems. "I will demo how to use the auto-answer feature present in most phones to turn the telephone into a remote listening device," he said in an e-mail interview.

Weinmann says he can do this by breaking the phone's "baseband" processor, used to send and receive radio signals as the device communicates on its cellular network. He has found bugs in the way the firmware used in chips sold by Qualcomm and Infineon Technologies processes radio signals on the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) networks used by the majority of the world's wireless carriers. (more)

Local Blimpy's Wants Ad Space on the Side

UT - A proposed unmanned floating airship surveillance system is being hailed by city officials in Ogden, Utah as one way to fight crime in its neighborhoods.

Last tried in Glendale, CA.

 "We believe it will be a deterrent to crime when it is out and about and will help us solve crimes more quickly when they do occur," Ogden City Mayor Matthew Godfrey told Reuters.

The airship entails military technology now available to local law enforcement, he said.

Godfrey floated the idea of a dirigible in the skies above Ogden for his city council members last week. The council is expected to vote on the measure in coming weeks. (more)

Electronic Surveillance Up Down Under

Australia - The number of warrants allowing police to spy on suspected criminals and allegedly corrupt police and public servants increased by 67 per cent over the past year.

But the number of arrests and charges arising from the bugging of houses and cars, and the tracking of cars and computers, remained low, at about one for every 10 device warrants issued.

More than 860 warrants were issued by NSW Supreme Court judges last financial year, triggering the installation of more than 2100 surveillance devices including listening devices, hidden cameras, tracking devices and technology to monitor emails.

The figures do not include the use of other surveillance devices, such as telephone intercepts. (more)