How to Get Away with Spying for the Enemy

If you like real-life, bizarre, spy stories, this may really interest you.

How does someone get away with helping a foreign adversary? We dig into the gonzo story of an American acquitted of spying for the Soviets—even after he confessed to it.

The founder of an investment firm in Hawaii, Rewald lived like a Master of the Universe, traveling the world, driving expensive cars, staying in expensive hotels and throwing expensive parties.

Smith, by contrast, was a Mormon who lived in Utah with his wife and four children. A former case officer in intelligence with the United States Army, he had resigned from his job at the start of the 1980s to spend more time with his family. Smith sought to make a new life for himself as an entrepreneur; when VHS tapes were still cutting-edge, he began a service to make video diaries and testimonials for families to pass down from one generation to the next.

The common thread between Reward and Smith was espionage... more

Yet Another Caught on Open Microphone

Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu caught on microphone slamming EU in Budapest...
Conference organizers quickly cut his microphone when they realized his closed-door comments were broadcast... Netanyahu was inadvertently picked up by a live microphone on Wednesday calling the European Union "crazy" and admitting to missile strikes in Syria... After a few minutes it became clear that journalists could hear the comments and the sound was cut. more

People are caught on open microphones quite often.
Rule #1 - If you see a microphone assume it is on. Watch what you say.
Rule #2 - If you don't see a microphone, don't assume one is not there and listening. Watch what you say, until you have had the area swept by a competent Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM) team.

Information Security's Curse - The Ostrich Effect

A new study by OneLogin has revealed that a large proportion of businesses fail to adequately protect their networks from the potential threat posed by ex-employees.

The firm surveyed more than 600 IT decision-makers in the UK and found respondents were aware that over half (58%) of former employees are still able to access corporate networks even after they’ve left a company...



“Our study suggests that many businesses are burying their heads in the sand when it comes to this basic, but significant, threat to valuable data, revenue and brand image,” said Alvaro Hoyos, chief information security officer at OneLogin. more

Corporate Espionage in Mining

Shark Tanked

UK - A former champion boxer has been jailed after bugging his ex-girlfriend's phone during a campaign to 'control' her.

Ronnie 'The Shark' Clark installed spyware on a phone he bought former partner Rebecca Graham and sent her menacing messages, a court heard.

The 32-year-old was jailed for nine months at Teesside Crown Court after he was convicted of the new offence of 'controlling or coercive behaviour'...

He used the phone software to monitor who she was exchanging messages with and threatened to kill a man she was in touch with, The Dundee Courier reported.

A family member of Clark's also messaged Miss Graham telling her 'you know what he's capable of' and 'he's not scared of killing people'. more

Business Espionage: Hotel Wars

When it comes to appealing to Millennials — of which there are now 75.4 million in the United States alone — hotel companies are doing all they can to launch wallet-friendly, yet still-stylish accommodations that emphasize such features as co-working spaces, communal stadium seating, artisanal goods, and craft beers.

...now, one U.S. hotel company is suing another in an effort to either protect its intellectual property rights...

On July 12, Red Lion Hotels filed a lawsuit against Hard Rock International for “trade dress infringement, injury to business reputation, and unfair competition.”

Red Lion alleges that Hard Rock’s newest hotel brand, Reverb, is a carbon copy of its own Hotel RL brand, which it launched in October 2014 and currently has seven properties throughout the United States...

Red Lion, however, alleges that these similarities aren’t just the result of a shared effort to appeal to Millennials; it’s the fact that Red Lion and Hard Rock hired the same hotel consulting group to develop their respective brands...



This isn’t the first time a hotel company has accused a competitor of intellectual property theft. Starwood Hotels & Resorts sued Hilton in 2009, alleging that two of its former executives who joined Hilton had conspired to steal secrets from W Hotels to help Hilton create its own version of W, to be called Denizen.

Hilton later paid Starwood $75 million to settle civil charges of corporate espionage, and agreed not to launch or acquire a lifestyle brand like Denizen for two years. more

This week in SpyCam News: A Spy Watch Case Within a Case, and more...

VA - That case involves the 20 charges of filming a nude person without their consent, seven charges of entering a home under false pretenses, and two charges of possessing marijuana that are pending against former Windor Hills maintenance worker John David Mills, 34, of Montgomery County. Prosecutors say Mills went to women’s apartments, told them their bathroom needed repair, and left behind a spy watch equipped with a hidden video camera. He then returned to collect the watch, amassing a collection of surreptitious videos of residents in their bathrooms. At a hearing in May, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Patrick Jensen said that Mills told investigators that the videos had become an addiction and that he had secretly filmed more than 20 people. more
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FL - The Citrus County Sheriff's Office says a church employee has been arrested on several charges including video voyeurism. In a press release, deputies say the man was an employee of Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church. He is identified as 36-year-old Chad Robison from Hernando. He worked as a worship director from 2011 to 2017... After investigating, Internet Crimes Against Children Central Florida Task Force found more than 3,000 videos and 350,000 pictures on his laptop featuring young girls performing sex acts with Robison. The laptop also contained videos of young girls using his restroom when they visited his home. more
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UK - A trusted school caretaker hid a camera in staff toilets and made secret recordings for his own sexual gratification. Pervert Malcolm Banks had worked at Gosforth Academy, in Newcastle, for over 30 years before he decided to set-up the device and upload the subsequent footage on to his computer... The camera was eventually spotted by two teachers and it was handed to the headteacher before Banks was confronted. more
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Canada - Police are seeking a suspect after a woman reported an unknown male allegedly filmed her in the change room of an Oakville community centre July 11. The woman was getting ready to swim at the Iroquois Ridge Community Centre on Glenashton Drive at 7:45 p.m. when the alleged incident occurred, Halton police say. more
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AR - A woman told police she caught a man taking video or pictures of her while she was nude in a local gym's tanning booth. Eric Shane Couch, 30, of Hot Springs, has been charged with video voyeurism, a felony... The female victim told police that as she was getting out of a tanning bed and getting dressed, she noticed a cell phone being held over the partitioning wall that separated two tanning booths. more
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LA - Bossier City police are investigating a complaint received Monday about an alleged incident of video voyeurism at an Old Navy clothing store. ...according to the complaint, an unidentified man is accused of sliding a mobile phone under a dressing room stall door in an apparent attempt to take photos or video of the 17-year-old girl inside. more
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(Sometimes, spycams are good.)
UK - A Bupa carer was caught on a family’s spy cam verbally abusing a dementia patient before twice spraying an aerosol in her MOUTH, a court heard... Betty Boylan’s relatives hid the device inside a television after they found unexplained bruising on the retired nurse when they visited her at the £1,000-a-month care home. Within days they uncovered disturbing footage of carer Bina Begum, 49, lifting the great-gran by her head before throwing her back into her chair. more
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Idiocracy is closer than you think... SOLD OUT

Shops Using Spy Techniques to Monitor Customers' Facial Expressions

New technology being installed by retailers in Europe and the US, and being trialed in the UK, can spot if a customer cannot find a product, read their reaction to an outfit or spot thieves in a bid to keep up with online retailers. 

Shops are using new spy techniques to monitor customers' facial expressions, heart rate and even pupil dilation while they browse the aisles.

Technology installed by one French bookseller is able to detect shoppers' movements and facial expressions and alert staff that they may require assistance.



The technology could save retailers thousands of pounds by ditching the laborious marketing method of interviewing shoppers and focus groups. more

How the Dutch Bugged the Soviet Embassy -- Updated with Excellent Graphics

Our friend in The Netherlands, Dr. Cees Wiebes, has alerted us to some updates on the cryptomuseum.com website.

Click to enlarge.

Backgrounds: Dr. Wiebes is the author of Intelligence and the War in Bosnia: 1992-1995 (Studies in Intelligence History). In researching this book he was granted full access to the top-secret archives of the Dutch services and the still classified UN archives. Foreign intelligence services gave him confidential briefings, and he spoke with more than 100 intelligence officials from various countries.

The Crypto Museum, curated by Paul Reuvers and Marc Simons, is the absolute best virtual site I've seen for information on government eavesdropping and information security countermeasures. Both are self-employed engineers from Eindhoven, a lovely small (but very high-tech) city which I've been to multiple times. Their dedication to preserving this history is only rivaled by the photography and graphics they have been able to obtain for the website. Enjoy...

An update of the Dutch bugging of the Soviet embassy in The Hague: http://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/cases/nl/ra1958.htm

The various types of Dutch bugs that were used.
http://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/ec/ec1/index.htm
http://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/ec/ec2/index.htm
http://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/ec/ec3/index.htm
http://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/ec/ec4/index.htm
http://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/ec/ec5/index.htm

New information as regards the Moscow bug:
http://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/ec/cavity/index.htm

An interesting overview of all Easy Chair- related affairs:
http://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/ec/index.htm

Spycam News: Former NASCAR Driver Sued for Spying on Ex's

Former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and Roush Fenway Racing have been sued by Biffle's ex-wife and her mother for allegedly spying on them inside his home in Mooresville, North Carolina, with hidden cameras.

According to WSOC-TV's Allison Latos, Biffle is alleged to have hidden cameras "inside the house, including in the master bedroom, bathroom and in the guest bedroom where Biffle's former mother-in-law stayed."

The suit reportedly alleges Biffle, 47, spied on his ex-wife and ex-mother-in-law with the hidden cameras and showed the tape around. more

Android Malware Steals Data From 40 Apps

A newly uncovered form of Android malware aims to steal data from over 40 popular apps including Facebook, WhatsApp, Skype and Firefox - and the trojan has been actively engaging in in this illicit activity for almost two years.

Dubbed SpyDealer by the Palo Alto Networks researchers who discovered it, the malware harvests vast accounts of personal information about compromised users, including phone numbers, messages, contacts, call history, connected wi-fi information and even the location of the device.

The espionage capabilities of the trojan also enable it to record phone calls and videos, along with surrounding audio and video, take photos with both front and rear cameras, take screenshots of sensitive information and monitor the devices location at all times. more

Goodluck Jonathan's Wife - Claims Repeated Phone Bugging

Nigeria - Mrs. Patience Jonathan, wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of sending assassins after her. 

Patience also accused the anti-graft agency of bugging her telephone lines, adding that agents of the commission had been sending threatening text messages to her.

The former President’s wife said, “The EFCC and its agents have repeatedly bugged the personal telephones of our client and her relations through its many operatives and has inundated her with numerous threatening calls and text messages.” more

The Great Seal Redux - Former Minister Admits to Installing a Video / Audio Bug

Ghana - The former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, has said that he installed the spying device retrieved from the office of the current Minister, John Peter Amewu...

According to him, the hue and cry over the incident was not necessary as the device was not even fully installed... (it appears fully installed)

The device was planted in the huge Coat of Arms plaque hanging in the far left corner of the Minister’s office.

The device included a camera, a storage unit and another device suspected to be a transmitter. It was neatly housed in a black metal box and used batteries.* more

* This description is not totally accurate, based on what's seen in the photo. 
For more on the original Great Seal Bug click here. 

UPDATE #1
It has emerged that, the secret audiovisual recording device planted at the Lands and Natural Resource Minister’s office was discovered by an Israeli national and not National Security operatives as widely speculated.

According to the Public Relations Officer of the Lands Ministry, Abraham Otabil, the Israeli national [name withheld], who had called on the minister to discuss some private matters when he surprisingly detected the ‘spying’ gadget...

He added that, the detective and his team discovered the bugged device after a brief inspection was carried out at the office. Though the said Israeli national, could not tell the minister how long the device had been planted, National Security operatives were alerted to pick up the matter for further investigations. more

UPDATE #2
Following the bugging of the office of the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources by a former minister under the out-gone National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration – Inusah Fuseini, the Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has suggested to all ministers and deputy ministers in the current regime to have their offices screened and swept by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).

He said personally, he was going to ask the security agencies to also screen and sweep his office. more

UPDATE #3
The Member of Parliament for Kumbungu, Ras Mubarak, has admitted bugging the office and vehicle of the current acting Chief Executive of the National Youth Authority, Mr Emmanuel Asigiri. more

Things We See - The Anemic Posted Password

Security Director Alert: Satellite Phone Encryption Cracked

Chinese researchers have discovered a way to rapidly decrypt satellite phone communications -- within a fraction of a second in some cases.

The paper, published this week, expands on previous research by German academics in 2012 by rapidly speeding up the attack and showing that the encryption used in popular Inmarsat satellite phones can be cracked in "real time."

Using their proposed inversion attack thousands of time on a 3.3GHz satellite stream, the researchers were able to reduce the search space for the 64-bit encryption key, effectively making the decryption key easier to find.

The end result was that encrypted data could be cracked in a fraction of a second. more