A federal parliamentary committee is recommending stronger privacy laws to protect the public from invasive technologies like drones.
The Government-dominated committee's report is titled Eyes in the Sky, but its recommendations go beyond the use of remote piloted aircraft, more commonly known as drones.
The House of Representatives' standing committee on social policy and legal affairs calls on the Abbott Government to look at creating a tort of privacy.
But Attorney-General George Brandis has previously rejected such a move as an intrusion on personal freedoms. (more)
The fight drones on. Personal Privacy v. Personal Freedoms.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Sunday, July 13, 2014
PI High Flyers are not Keeping a Low Profile - What could possibly go wrong?
(Private) Investigators are taking drones to new heights — using the remote-controlled aircraft to catch New Yorkers cheating on spouses, lying about disabilities and endangering their kids.
“People want you to believe there’s all this negativity associated with drones . . . but they could be a very helpful tool,” said Olwyn Triggs, a gumshoe for 23 years and president of Professional Investigators Network Inc. in Glen Cove, LI.
Triggs recently used a drone to find an upstate man suspected of insurance fraud. Signs on his rural property warned that trespassers would be shot, so she sent in her 2-pound, foot-long Phantom 2 Vision quadcopter, which costs about $1,000...
Matthew Seifer recently pretended to test-fly a drone in Central Park. He was actually recording a husband fooling around with a female coworker from 100 feet away.
“Sometimes the best thing is to be right there in plain sight,” said Seifer, president of Long Island-based Executive Investigations...
“We raised the drone above the restaurant, [and] he was engaged in a sexual act in the front seat of his car,” the investigator said. “[Drones] get us those types of money shots.” (more)
...an FAA crackdown, loss of PI license, lawsuit defense expenses, etc.
“People want you to believe there’s all this negativity associated with drones . . . but they could be a very helpful tool,” said Olwyn Triggs, a gumshoe for 23 years and president of Professional Investigators Network Inc. in Glen Cove, LI.
Triggs recently used a drone to find an upstate man suspected of insurance fraud. Signs on his rural property warned that trespassers would be shot, so she sent in her 2-pound, foot-long Phantom 2 Vision quadcopter, which costs about $1,000...
 |
| "And if they're not disabled..." |
“Sometimes the best thing is to be right there in plain sight,” said Seifer, president of Long Island-based Executive Investigations...
“We raised the drone above the restaurant, [and] he was engaged in a sexual act in the front seat of his car,” the investigator said. “[Drones] get us those types of money shots.” (more)
...an FAA crackdown, loss of PI license, lawsuit defense expenses, etc.
Friday, July 11, 2014
Keylogger Malware Found in Hotel Business Centers
The NCCIC and the USSS North Texas Electronic Crimes Task Force recommend that hotel managers, owners and other hospitality industry stakeholders consider the following.
Contacting your network administrator to request that:
• A banner be displayed to users when logging onto business center computers; this should include warnings that highlight the risks of using publicly accessible machines.
• Individual unique log on credentials be generated for access to both business center computers and Wi-Fi; this may deter individuals who are not guests from logging in.
• All accounts be given least privilege accesses; for example, guests logging in with the supplied user ID and password should not be able to download, install, uninstall, or save files whereas one authorized employee may have a need for those privileges to carry out daily duties.
• Virtual local area networks (VLANs) are made available for all users, which will inhibit attackers from using their computer to imitate the hotel’s main server.
• All new devices are scanned (e.g. USB drives and other removable media) before they are attached to the computer and network; disabling the Auto run feature will also prevent removable media from opening automatically.
• Predetermined time limits are established for active and non-active guest and employee sessions.
• Safe defaults are selected in the browsers available on the business center desktops (e.g. Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox). Options such as private browsing and ‘do not track’ for passwords and websites are some of the many available.
Any questions regarding this advisory can be directed to the United States Secret Service North Texas Electronic Crimes Task Force at (972) 868-3200
Contacting your network administrator to request that:
• A banner be displayed to users when logging onto business center computers; this should include warnings that highlight the risks of using publicly accessible machines.
• Individual unique log on credentials be generated for access to both business center computers and Wi-Fi; this may deter individuals who are not guests from logging in.
• All accounts be given least privilege accesses; for example, guests logging in with the supplied user ID and password should not be able to download, install, uninstall, or save files whereas one authorized employee may have a need for those privileges to carry out daily duties.
• Virtual local area networks (VLANs) are made available for all users, which will inhibit attackers from using their computer to imitate the hotel’s main server.
• All new devices are scanned (e.g. USB drives and other removable media) before they are attached to the computer and network; disabling the Auto run feature will also prevent removable media from opening automatically.
• Predetermined time limits are established for active and non-active guest and employee sessions.
• Safe defaults are selected in the browsers available on the business center desktops (e.g. Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox). Options such as private browsing and ‘do not track’ for passwords and websites are some of the many available.
Any questions regarding this advisory can be directed to the United States Secret Service North Texas Electronic Crimes Task Force at (972) 868-3200
Correctional Facility Bugs Employees, Claims it was a Test (cue klaxon)
Correctional staff are reeling and demanding answers after a microphone was found inside of a smoke detector in a staff lounge area.
CBC News reports that the acting director of Saskatoon Correctional Center claimed the listening device was a prototype for a new intercom system intended to keep the facility safer.
If it were actually used, it would be placed in inmate living areas. The testing, however, had to be done elsewhere.
“It was not installed as a means in which to covertly listen to staff conversations. For anyone to covertly listen or intercept private communications would require legal authority to do so,” Jock McDowell said.
The device was designed to look like a smoke detector to discourage inmates to tamper with it.
The union says this has further strained staff-management relations. (more) (RIP Dick Jones) (sing-a-long)
CBC News reports that the acting director of Saskatoon Correctional Center claimed the listening device was a prototype for a new intercom system intended to keep the facility safer.
“It was not installed as a means in which to covertly listen to staff conversations. For anyone to covertly listen or intercept private communications would require legal authority to do so,” Jock McDowell said.
The device was designed to look like a smoke detector to discourage inmates to tamper with it.
The union says this has further strained staff-management relations. (more) (RIP Dick Jones) (sing-a-long)
Business Espionage: White Pigment Spy Sentenced by Judge White
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a California chemical engineer to 15 years in prison and fined him $28.3 million for a rare economic-espionage conviction for selling China a secret recipe to a widely used white pigment.
U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland said Liew, a naturalized U.S. citizen, had "turned against his adopted country over greed." (more)
U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland said Liew, a naturalized U.S. citizen, had "turned against his adopted country over greed." (more)
You Know You Want One...
Have something small — cash, microfilm, an SD card loaded with private videos — that you want kept safe and out-of-sight?
Hide it in plain view with the Spy Bolt. Based on Soviet KGB hollow bolts, this handy gadget features a secret storage compartment that's nearly half and inch in diameter and almost three inches long, offering plenty of room for covert communications. And should the bolt find its way outside, you rest assured that the contents are safe, thanks to an O-ring seal around the top. (more)
Emboldened by Their Upcoming World Cup Victory this Sunday...
Germany expelled the CIA station chief in Berlin over alleged spying by the United States which has refused to break its silence over the escalating row between the Western allies.
The expulsion came after two suspected US spy cases were uncovered in less than a week in Germany, where anger still simmers over the NSA surveillance scandal...
“The representative of the US intelligence services at the embassy of the United States of America has been told to leave Germany,” German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said. The step was highly unusual among NATO allies and underlined Berlin’s anger. (more)
“The representative of the US intelligence services at the embassy of the United States of America has been told to leave Germany,” German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said. The step was highly unusual among NATO allies and underlined Berlin’s anger. (more)
Monday, July 7, 2014
Before There Was Snowden There Was Mitrokhin
The papers spent years hidden in a milk churn beneath a Russian dacha and read like an encyclopedia of Cold War espionage.
Original documents from one of the biggest intelligence leaks in history — a who's who of Soviet spying — were released Monday after being held in secret for two decades.
The files smuggled out of Russia in 1992 by senior KGB official Vasili Mitrokhin describe sabotage plots, booby-trapped weapons caches and armies of agents under cover in the West — the real-life inspiration for the fictional Soviet moles in "The Americans" TV series.
In reality, top-quality spies could be hard to get. The papers reveal that some were given Communist honors and pensions by a grateful USSR, but others proved loose-lipped, drunk or unreliable.
Intelligence historian Christopher Andrew said the vast dossier, released by the Churchill Archives Centre at Cambridge University, was considered "the most important single intelligence source ever" by British and American authorities.
Mitrokhin was a senior archivist at the KGB's foreign intelligence headquarters — and a secret dissident. For more than a decade he secretly took files home, copied them in longhand and then typed and collated them into volumes. He hid the papers at his country cottage, or dacha, some stuffed into a milk churn and buried.
After the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Mitrokhin traveled to a Baltic state — which one has never been confirmed — and took a sample of his files to the U.S. Embassy, only to be turned away. So he tried the British embassy, where a junior diplomat sat him down and asked, "Would you like a cup of tea?"
"That was the sentence that changed his life," said Andrew.
Smuggled out of Russia, Mitrokhin spent the rest of his life in Britain under a false name and police protection, dying in 2004 at 81. (more)
Original documents from one of the biggest intelligence leaks in history — a who's who of Soviet spying — were released Monday after being held in secret for two decades.
The files smuggled out of Russia in 1992 by senior KGB official Vasili Mitrokhin describe sabotage plots, booby-trapped weapons caches and armies of agents under cover in the West — the real-life inspiration for the fictional Soviet moles in "The Americans" TV series. In reality, top-quality spies could be hard to get. The papers reveal that some were given Communist honors and pensions by a grateful USSR, but others proved loose-lipped, drunk or unreliable.
Intelligence historian Christopher Andrew said the vast dossier, released by the Churchill Archives Centre at Cambridge University, was considered "the most important single intelligence source ever" by British and American authorities.
Mitrokhin was a senior archivist at the KGB's foreign intelligence headquarters — and a secret dissident. For more than a decade he secretly took files home, copied them in longhand and then typed and collated them into volumes. He hid the papers at his country cottage, or dacha, some stuffed into a milk churn and buried.
After the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Mitrokhin traveled to a Baltic state — which one has never been confirmed — and took a sample of his files to the U.S. Embassy, only to be turned away. So he tried the British embassy, where a junior diplomat sat him down and asked, "Would you like a cup of tea?"
"That was the sentence that changed his life," said Andrew.
Smuggled out of Russia, Mitrokhin spent the rest of his life in Britain under a false name and police protection, dying in 2004 at 81. (more)
Priest Bugged
Australia - Police are examining alleged threats made to a Greek priest and the bugging of a church house in which he was living.
The alleged threats, involving an unnamed priest from the Autocephalic Greek Church of America and Australia, were reported a fortnight ago while the discovery of the concealed listening device was reported to police in late March.
The alleged threats are related to the controversial ordination of Father Prokopios Kanavas as bishop of the AGCAA last August.
Father Kanavas resigned in acrimonious circumstances in April – just eight months after he was ordained. He has been stripped of his titles and moves are now being made to expel him from the Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia.
While GOCSA executives believe they know who made the unlawful threats to the priest, the precise motive and culprit responsible for the bugging remain unclear.
The listening device was hidden in the rangehood of a church house in Grattan St, in the city, adjacent the Greek Orthodox cathedral. Such devices, which are freely available for purchase on the internet, have a range of around 50m. (more)
The alleged threats are related to the controversial ordination of Father Prokopios Kanavas as bishop of the AGCAA last August.
Father Kanavas resigned in acrimonious circumstances in April – just eight months after he was ordained. He has been stripped of his titles and moves are now being made to expel him from the Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia.
While GOCSA executives believe they know who made the unlawful threats to the priest, the precise motive and culprit responsible for the bugging remain unclear.
The listening device was hidden in the rangehood of a church house in Grattan St, in the city, adjacent the Greek Orthodox cathedral. Such devices, which are freely available for purchase on the internet, have a range of around 50m. (more)
Employee and Aid Bug Co-Workers
An accountant resigned from her $42,000-a-year part-time job as West Seneca’s comptroller two months ago after employees accused her and an aide of using a tape recorder to secretly record their workplace conversations.
Town officials confirmed that two town employees made complaints against Jean M. Nihill, 57, about a month before she resigned from her job as the town’s top finance officer on May 12. Nihill, a certified public accountant, is the business partner of one of the town’s most politically powerful individuals – town Democratic Party leader Paul T. Clark, who served as town supervisor for 16 years.
The employees also alleged that former deputy comptroller Linda Kauderer took part in the bugging. Kauderer retired from her town job May 20.
Police investigated the complaints and verified that a tape recorder was used to record the employees while they were working in town offices, Police Chief Daniel M. Denz confirmed. (more)
Town officials confirmed that two town employees made complaints against Jean M. Nihill, 57, about a month before she resigned from her job as the town’s top finance officer on May 12. Nihill, a certified public accountant, is the business partner of one of the town’s most politically powerful individuals – town Democratic Party leader Paul T. Clark, who served as town supervisor for 16 years.
The employees also alleged that former deputy comptroller Linda Kauderer took part in the bugging. Kauderer retired from her town job May 20.
Police investigated the complaints and verified that a tape recorder was used to record the employees while they were working in town offices, Police Chief Daniel M. Denz confirmed. (more)
1978 Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act Instigator Dead at 68
David Truong, a Vietnamese antiwar activist whose conviction on espionage charges in the United States in 1978 raised alarms about the federal government’s use of wiretaps without court orders and spurred passage of the 1978 Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act prohibiting such practices, died on June 26 in Penang, Malaysia. He was 68. (more)
Friday, July 4, 2014
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Today in Business Espionage News
PA - Cumberland County-based Harsco Corp. is suing one of its former top executives in federal court, accusing him of corporate espionage for allegedly passing confidential company information to a competitor.
Clyde Kirkwood essentially acted as a mole, Harsco contends in the U.S. Middle District Court complaint it filed this week.
Kirkwood abruptly quit his post as commercial vice president for Harsco's Metals & Minerals Division in early June, three months after he secretly agreed to take an executive job with the Michigan-based Edw. C. Levy Co., Harsco's suit states.
Harsco claims that, starting early this year, Kirkwood not only passed confidential Harsco information to Levy, including data on top-level corporate decisions, he also intervened to try to steer Harsco away from international projects where it could be in competition with Levy. (more)
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Taiwan tech giant Hon Hai said today it has pulled out of a deal to buy 4G equipment from Huawei after the government warned that the Chinese company posed a national security threat.
Taiwan raised those concerns in March after Hon Hai announced the USD 178 million deal, saying telecom equipment purchased from Huawei could be used for cyber espionage. (more)
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The wife of a Chinese company’s chairman was arrested in California after she was charged in an indictment filed Wednesday in federal court in Des Moines with conspiracy to steal trade secrets from U.S. seed corn companies.
Mo Yun, 42, was arrested Tuesday in Los Angeles. She is a citizen of China. A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Nicholas Klinefeldt said he could not comment on whether she was in the U.S. on a work or visitor visa or why she was in California.
Her arrest is the latest development in a case Klinefeldt announced in December in which several employees of Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group Co., known as DNB Group, or its subsidiaries were alleged to have stolen patented seed corn from fields in Iowa and Illinois and shipped it to China to try to reproduce its traits. (more)
Clyde Kirkwood essentially acted as a mole, Harsco contends in the U.S. Middle District Court complaint it filed this week.
Kirkwood abruptly quit his post as commercial vice president for Harsco's Metals & Minerals Division in early June, three months after he secretly agreed to take an executive job with the Michigan-based Edw. C. Levy Co., Harsco's suit states.
Harsco claims that, starting early this year, Kirkwood not only passed confidential Harsco information to Levy, including data on top-level corporate decisions, he also intervened to try to steer Harsco away from international projects where it could be in competition with Levy. (more)
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Taiwan tech giant Hon Hai said today it has pulled out of a deal to buy 4G equipment from Huawei after the government warned that the Chinese company posed a national security threat.
Taiwan raised those concerns in March after Hon Hai announced the USD 178 million deal, saying telecom equipment purchased from Huawei could be used for cyber espionage. (more)
-----
The wife of a Chinese company’s chairman was arrested in California after she was charged in an indictment filed Wednesday in federal court in Des Moines with conspiracy to steal trade secrets from U.S. seed corn companies.
Mo Yun, 42, was arrested Tuesday in Los Angeles. She is a citizen of China. A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Nicholas Klinefeldt said he could not comment on whether she was in the U.S. on a work or visitor visa or why she was in California.
Her arrest is the latest development in a case Klinefeldt announced in December in which several employees of Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group Co., known as DNB Group, or its subsidiaries were alleged to have stolen patented seed corn from fields in Iowa and Illinois and shipped it to China to try to reproduce its traits. (more)
Marti Oakley's Pre-4th of July Privacy Review
- We have street lights spying on us in public.
- We have your SMART meters tracking what you do in your home, not to mention making many people ill.
- We got your scan enabled license plates so that you can be tracked for any reason or no reason as you travel.
- These plates will also be handy for “tax per mile” calculation at the pump coming to a state near you in the very near future.
- Our cell phones can be tracked using GPS installed in them.
- Retailers can access your cell phone while you shop in their stores.
- NSA can listen in and track you anytime they want on the phone, on the net, or on any gadget you might possess.
- GPS allows the tracking and location of our vehicles.
- Black box recorders are now installed on all new models of cars so that conversations in the cab of the car can be retrieved, insurance companies can access info about you and so can the NSA.
- And there is not one major retail establishment that you can enter without having your picture snapped, compared to millions of faces in the system, and identified. You can and will be tracked throughout the store you are in, along with your purchases and how you paid for them.
- We have nano-chips, scan enabled from satellites, sprinkled in numerous high volume food products so that what we eat can be tracked, if anyone really wants to know what we are eating and where we are eating it.
- Medications are soon to be laced with nano-chips so that your doctor and/or insurance provider can determine if you are taking prescribed medications. (You can be dropped from your insurance for non-compliance if you are not taking the drugs for any reason)
- They will also be inserted into medical devices, like your hip and knee replacements. (more)
On the other hand, fireworks haven't been banned in all states, yet.
Map that shows the types of fireworks allowed in each state.
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