Competitive Intelligence - Made to Sound Nasty

Rumors. Inside dirt. Gossip.

Let’s just say you have your sources—moles on the floor of the NYSE, guys who know guys, a certain colonel who’s worked his way up the ranks of Russian intelligence.

And, of course, a little up-and-comer called Facebook.

Which brings us to ContentAide, a new service devoted to spying on the Facebook pages of your enemies, online now. (more)

Brain Sucking Cell Phone Spider

The "Universal Forensic Extraction Device" sounds like the perfect cell phone snooping gadget.

Its maker, Israel-based Cellebrite, says it can copy all the content in a cell phone -- including contacts, text messages, call history, and pictures -- within a few minutes. Even deleted texts and other data can be restored by UFED 2.0, the latest version of the product, it says.

And it really is a universal tool. The firm says UFED works with 3,000 cell phone models, representing 95 percent of the handset market. Coming soon, the firm says on its website: "Additional major breakthroughs, including comprehensive iPhone physical solution; Android physical support – allowing bypassing of user lock code, (Windows Phone) support, and much more." For good measure, UFEC can extract information from GPS units in most cars.

The gadget isn't a stalker's dream; it's an evidence-gathering tool for law enforcement. Cellebrite claims it’s already in use in 60 countries. (more)

The Car Whisperers

With a modest amount of expertise, computer hackers could gain remote access to someone's car -- just as they do to people's personal computers -- and take over the vehicle's basic functions, including control of its engine, according to a report by computer scientists from UC San Diego and the University of Washington.

Although no such takeovers have been reported in the real world, the scientists were able to do exactly this in an experiment conducted on a car they bought for the purpose of trying to hack it. Their report, delivered to the National Academy of Sciences' Transportation Research Board, described how such unauthorized intrusions could theoretically take place.

Because many of today's cars contain cellular connections and Bluetooth wireless technology, it is possible for a hacker, working from a remote location, to take control of various features -- like the car locks and brakes -- as well as to track the vehicle's location, eavesdrop on its cabin and steal vehicle data, the researchers said. They described a range of potential compromises of car security and safety. (more) (research paper) (the other car whisperers)

Invisibility

The prospect of rendering objects invisible has intrigued researchers for centuries.

Transformation optics based invisibility cloak design is now bringing this goal from science fictions to reality and has already been demonstrated experimentally in microwave and optical frequencies. However, the majority of the invisibility cloaks reported so far have a spatially varying refractive index which requires complicated design processes. Besides, the size of the hidden object is usually small relative to that of the cloak device. 

Here we report the experimental realization of a homogenous invisibility cloak with a uniform silicon grating structure. The design strategy eliminates the need for spatial variation of the material index, and in terms of size it allows for a very large obstacle/cloak ratio. A broadband invisibility behavior has been verified at near-infrared frequencies, opening up new opportunities for using uniform layered medium to realize invisibility at any frequency ranges, where high-quality dielectrics are available. (more)

"Chaos" - A Spy's Demise

CBS has pulled the low-rated spy series “Chaos” from its schedule after three episodes. The dramedy, which starred Freddy Rodriguez and Eric Close, debuted to 6.4 million viewers in its April 2 premiere but managed only a 1.1 rating in the key demographic of adults 18-49. (more)

iPhone 4 turns TrackPhone

Two researchers have uncovered a secret file on iPhones that keeps a record of where the phone has been and when it was there — a file that is unencrypted and stored by default.

A sample map built using the program

The security experts, Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden, created a program that lets you see just what your phone knows of your whereabouts — and it’s a creepy sight. There’s no evidence that the file is transferred to Apple, but the maps produced by the program show details stretching back months.

“Ever since iOS 4 arrived, your device has been storing a long list of locations and time stamps,” said Mr. Allan, a technology author, in a post on the website of technology publisher O’Reilly. He and Mr. Warden, a former Apple employee, are presenting their findings Wednesday at the Where 2.0 conference put on by the publisher. The Guardian newspaper also has reported on their discovery.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (more)

Woman Who Drove into River with Kids Victim of Spying

NY - The deadbeat dad of the three drowned Hudson River kids subjected their mother to a campaign of torment that included spying on her and forbidding her from having friends or flings -- even though they were not together, her grieving boyfriend told The Post. (more)

Stalker Uses: SpyCam, GPS Tracker, Bugs and Cell Phone Spyware

Australia - A man has been charged for bugging his ex-girlfriend's house and car with GPS and video devices after their relationship turned sour, police claim.

Police will allege the 53-year-old Alfred Cove man stalked his 40-year-old ex-girlfriend for many months.

It's claimed the couple were in a relationship for eight years, during which the man hired several private investigators to follow the woman.

After their relationship ended in mid-2010 police claim the man entered the woman's home on several occasions and installed listening and recording devices.

It is also claimed he placed a GPS tracker on her car and mobile phone, and followed her consistently. (more)

The Case of the Spying Apps

Cellphone users say they want more privacy, and app makers are listening.

No, they're not listening to user requests. They're literally listening to the sounds in your office, kitchen, living room and bedroom.

A new class of smartphone app has emerged that uses the microphone built into your phone as a covert listening device -- a "bug," in common parlance.

But according to app makers, it's not a bug. It's a feature!

The apps use ambient sounds to figure out what you're paying attention to. It's the next best thing to reading your mind. (more) (the solution)

SpyCam Spied at Berkeley's Cafe Med

CA - In a "revoltin development" the Med’s 50 year ban on tourist photography and ESPECIALLY an alphabet soup of spying agencies like F.B.I., C.I.A., C.B.S., N.B.C., O.N.I.--has sputtered... Call it big brother; call it the eyeball on high, call it Orwell.

Installers of the eye, Craig Becker, 59, the Med's owner and two university students with a hot business model put up the petite eyeball more than two weeks ago.

The students plan to install the geeky eyeballs in other Berkeley cafes and businesses so that students can spy on their friends.

But--FLASH: Big Brother is now blooie, victim of either chronic neck droop, a staff intervention, or customer sabotage.

Sabotaged, Blooie, blotto, or just plain broke. It now spends its once active filming life mis-aimed at the ceiling with what Berkeley's Poet Laureate, Julia Vinograd calls a "celestial stare." (more)

"So does this mean you won't marry me again, Brian?"

NASCAR chairman Brian France has sued his former wife, accusing her of tape recording telephone conversations to extort money from him.

In a lawsuit filed Friday, Brian France claims his ex-wife, Megan France, has recorded multiple telephone conversations with him without his consent. He is asking a federal judge to issue an injunction barring Megan France from engaging in additional “intercepts of wire communications” between the two and distributing the contents of the recordings.

Brian and Megan France have been married and divorced twice, Brian France noted in his lawsuit. Their second divorce was finalized on April 29, 2008. (more)

Eavesdropper Stung by Victim... who happens to be Hugh Grant

Hugh Grant is trending after he turned the tables on an eavesdropping tabloid. Grant, a victim of voice-mail hacking by Rupert Murdoch's News of the World, secretly taped journalist Paul McMullan coming clean about the electronic snooping and then sent the recording to the New Statesman.

According to the transcript, McMullan admits tabloid reporters have listened in on stars, prominent politicians, even Prince Charles.

The News of the World has printed a public apology, but the paper is facing a number of civil claims from celebrity victims, including actress Sienna Miller. (more)

This Week in World Spy News

Iran has expelled three Kuwaiti diplomats in retaliation for the expulsion of three Iranian diplomats accused of spying in the emirate. (more)

Industrial spying cases are on the increase in Korea. Stolen technologies sometimes end up with foreign firms according to police. (more)

ND - Former employees of a Fargo-based engineering company who left to form their own firm reject allegations of corporate espionage. The group of 21 former Ulteig Engineers employees has filed a countersuit seeking tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid fees. (more)

The Algerian authorities sentenced on Thursday to ten years in prison two former soldiers and a computer scientist for spying for France. (more)

Lebanon has filed a complaint with the United Nations Security Council over Israel's planting of a spy system camouflaged as rocks in its southern territory. (more)

UK - Government sources have confirmed that MI5 are set to outsource their spying activities to the world’s most popular internet search engine. ‘Google have shown that they are world leaders in this arena and can provide a far greater range of spying operations than the British security services for a fraction of the price,’ said an MI5 spokesman known only as ‘Z’... (more:) 

A former CIA agent from Cuba has been cleared of all 11 counts of lying and obstruction during immigration hearings. A jury in El Paso, Texas, took just three hours to reach a verdict... Luis Posada Carriles, 83, described as Public Enemy No 1 in Cuba and a nemesis of former President Fidel Castro, said outside the court afterwards that he just wanted some peace and quiet. (more)

Ecuador's leftist President Rafael Correa on Friday accused the U.S. embassy of spying on the country's police and military, adding the espionage was a factor in his expulsion this week of the U.S. ambassador. (more)

German prosecutors said Friday that they have indicted a 64-year-old German man for allegedly spying on the country's Uighur community and passing information to Chinese intelligence. (more)

Rupert Murdoch's powerful British news operation reversed course on Friday and admitted responsibility in a phone hacking scandal that had already cost the prime minister's spokesman his job. (more)

Come on. Just staple an RFID tag to my ear and get it over with.

Copenhagen International Airport one recent day was much like that at any airport around the world...

But unlike other airports, the movement of the passengers was being observed in an office here in Geneva, 860 miles away. Stephane Cheikh, innovation manager for the aviation communications and technology company SITA, was using his laptop to demonstrate a new program that tracked travelers’ movements based on the Wi-Fi-emitting devices they carried.

When Copenhagen Airport starts using the program in the next few weeks, airport officials will get a real-time picture of where travelers go and what they do. The officials can use this information to improve the design of the airport, direct the flow of passengers or shift employees to improve the efficiency of security or immigration checkpoints. (more)

...or to pump coupons to your phone to buy stuff you don't need as you approach yet another "Bookstones"?

"16,001 and you could have a case here barrister."

UK - The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has dropped a request bring charges against BT and Phorm - the firm that supplied the monitoring system. (Which snooped on the web browsing habits of its customers.)

The Webwise software used cookies to track people online and then tailored adverts to the sites they visited.

The CPS explained its decision saying that there was insufficient evidence to proceed with a prosecution. The web tracking trials were carried out in 2006 and involved more than 16,000 BT customers. (more)