Police Can No Longer Request Ring Doorbell Videos via App

Amazon-owned Ring will stop allowing police departments to request doorbell camera footage from users, marking an end to a feature that has drawn criticism from privacy advocates.

In a blog post on Wednesday, Ring said it will sunset the “Request for Assistance” tool, which allows police departments and other public safety agencies to request and receive video captured by the doorbell cameras through Ring’s Neighbors app. The company did not provide a reason for the change, which will be effective starting this week. more

How To Turn On Apple iPhone’s New Anti-Theft Feature

Apple's 'Stolen Device Protection' tool aims to deter cases of phone theft, but you need to enable it first.

Apple's new ‘stolen device protection' tool, was launched as part of its iOS 17.3 release, and plans to squash instances of phone theft by ramping up security requirements and limiting the amount of data thieves have access to...

Activating Apple's new security mechanism is very straightforward. First you need to enable two-factor authentication for your Apple AI and set up a device passcode, Face ID or Touch ID, Find My, and Significant Locations (under Location Services).

Once you have these up, you need to: 

• Go to Settings
• Tap ‘Face ID & PassCode'
• Enter your device passcode
• Tap to turn Stolen Device Protection on

more  video

Widow: Hugh Hefner Had ‘Little Spy Holes’ to Record Celebs

Crystal Hefner has revealed that her late husband, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, had camera peepholes in his bedroom and even in the foot of his bed — where he says he recorded sexual encounters with celebrities and high-ranking politicians, apparently without their knowledge...

The revelation is part of Hefner’s upcoming tell-all book, Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself, which is due out on January 23...

In the book, Hefner adds that Hef, who passed away in 2017 at the age of 91, claimed to have tapes of numerous A-list celebrities and “videos of wild orgies, also with celebrities and politicians and business leaders, some of whom were married.”... It has not been reported what Hef did with all those videos... more

Flight Attendant Allegedly iPhone's Minors in Plane Restrooms

NBC Boston identified the suspect as 37-year-old Estes Carter Thompson III in its report Thursday, noting authorities launched an investigation after a 14-year-old girl said she found an iPhone taped to a toilet seat lid on a flight from Boston to Charlotte...

The minor told her parents about the incident and they reported that information to other crew members. In addition, the father confronted the suspect who reentered the restroom...

Police met the suspect when the plane landed in Boston and it appeared the suspect’s phone had been reset to factory settings. However, officials reportedly found stickers similar to those allegedly seen in the restroom tucked inside his suitcase.

Thompson’s iCloud account also revealed he allegedly had recordings of victims who were 7, 9, 11, and 14 years old, along with photos of an unaccompanied minor.

Not all spy cameras are this easy to detect. SpyCam detection training is a good idea.

Excellent Video on Early Law Enforcement Spy Tech

On January 18th AWA Wireless Museum published this video. As per its description, “during Mike Murphy’s career he had the opportunity to be involved with the design of law enforcement surveillance radios, and he met some of the colorful personalities who pioneered these controversial technologies. In this presentation Mike tells the story of the people and companies that created surveillance devices that remained secret for decades, some of which still haven’t seen the light of day.”

Weird Spy News: Stool Pigeon Jailed in Vet Hospital

A pigeon caught in Mumbai with a message in an illegible language on its wings has been kept in a hospital for eight months while police investigated.

Bought on 18th May 2023 by RCF Police personnel, due to the message written in red and green on his wings , suspected to be Chinese language, the pigeon has in custody of BSPCA animal hospital ever since... Suspecting the language to be Chinese, police handed it over to the hospital to run a medical test on the bird while they sent the two rings on its leg for a forensic examination to rule out the possibility of it spying in the Indian territory. more

UPDATE: After eight months in state custody, an athlete has been freed from jail following allegations of espionage... An open-water racing pigeon from Taiwan was set free in Mumbai last Tuesday after being held for eight months on suspicion of spying for China. more

CISA & FBI Release Chinese Drone Awareness Paper

Cybersecurity Guidance: Chinese-Manufactured UAS is a Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) resource that raises awareness on the threats posed by Chinese-manufactured UAS and provides UAS cybersecurity recommendations that reduce risks to networks and sensitive information. This guidance also provides additional resources to augment an organization’s preparedness, response, and resilience.

"The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has enacted laws that provide the government with expanded legal grounds for accessing and controlling data held by firms in China. The use of Chinese-manufactured UAS in critical infrastructure operations risks exposing sensitive information to PRC authorities."  more  / download

A Corporate Espionage Gamble

Ivans Ivanovs, a former employee at OnAir Entertainment, has claimed that the company illegally accessed Playtech’s internal systems for two years. The illegal access is said to have continued even after Igor Veliks, who was instrumental in the scandal, left his job with Playtech Live Latvia. Ivanovs asserts that Veliks, together with accomplices, made use of unauthorized access to clandestine monitor Playtech’s future games and features...

The impending release of OnAir Entertainment’s ‘Diamond Rush Roulette’, overseen by Veliks, is now under scrutiny amidst these industrial espionage claims. As the legal proceedings progress, Ivanovs pledges to divulge more details concerning the purportedly unethical operations at OnAir Entertainment. more

Corporate Espionage: A Very Basic Cautionary Tale

Aesop’s fable, “the Tortoise and the Hare,” famously warns us about the dangers of arrogance and complacency in the face of a determined adversary. 

Unfortunately, in the modern race for supremacy between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), it appears that American policymakers and executives have failed to heed this warning, bearing disastrous consequences for industries vital to U.S. national security.

Like the hare, the United States had long enjoyed a substantial lead in developing defense-industrial sectors and innovating dual-use technologies. However, Washington has since rested on its laurels and exposed itself to theft through its lax counterintelligence posture. 

Meanwhile, the PRC — marrying the patience and long-term vision of the fabled tortoise with the remarkable leapfrogging ability enabled by its pervasive industrial espionage — has now caught up and even surpassed the United States across a plethora of key defense and technology sectors. Therefore, if spying and stealing are how the PRC plans to ‘win the race’ in modern strategic competition, the United States can only hope to prevail by investing far more robustly in counterintelligence. more

Maybe this could help.

Ukraine's Security Service Investigates Bihus.Info Bugging

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has announced that it is investigating the circumstances of the illegal bugging and filming of representatives of the investigative journalism project Bihus.Info...

(Numerous of individuals were implicated in monitoring activities, utilizing strategically placed cameras in various rooms. )

On 16 January, a video was leaked online showing employees of the Bihus.Info investigative project apparently using drugs. The project's head, Denys Bihus, recorded a video message giving explanations and stated that everyone who works with Bihus.Info would take drug tests.

Later, Bihus said that after talking to the people involved in the video, it transpired that members of the Bihus.Info editorial team had been under surveillance for about a year, and that fragments of intercepted conversations had been edited together from several episodes that were months apart. more

UPDATE: The media outlet Narodna Pravda, which published an illicitly sourced surveillance video the Bihus.Info team, has removed the video and closed its YouTube channel, Bihus.Info reported on Jan. 19. more

The Future of AI that Never Was (from 2012)

Enjoy the weekend!

The first 1:54 is all you need...

Grandmother’s Abusers Caught by Hidden Camera

Two sisters caught four care workers abusing their 89-year-old grandmother after hiding a camera in her bedroom... they put a photo frame with a hidden camera in her room at a care home... 

It caught the workers shouting in dementia sufferer Mrs Wall's face, making fun of her, holding her legs in the air and hitting her in the face with a pillow... "Without the footage we wouldn't have known it was going on let alone prove it happened," she said. more

China Says It Has Detained Spy Working for the U.K.

China has taken into custody an alleged British spy, the country’s national security agency said, as Beijing steps up warnings over national security and the infiltration of foreign spies in the country.

In a social-media post on Monday, China’s Ministry of State Security alleged that MI6, the U.K. foreign-intelligence service, in 2015 recruited a foreign national surnamed Huang and provided both training and “specialized spy equipment for intelligence liaisons.”

According to the MSS, the British instructed Huang to enter China as a representative of a consulting agency and send back intelligence. The Chinese agency didn’t specify Huang’s nationality or name the consulting firm. more

This is not the first time a business consultant has been detained there on charges of spying.

Recent Spy News

• A Russian man working for a state firm was arrested for allegedly planning to pass sensitive information to Poland in exchange for help in fleeing the country, the security services said Friday. Russian security services have detained a slew of foreigners and its own nationals for working with foreign intelligence since it launched the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022. more

• Algeria caught up in spying drama on the eve of Africa Cup of Nations as police quiz man who flew a DRONE over their training session more

• The sentencing of a US Navy sailor is a window into Chinese espionage. more

• In a decision reflecting rising espionage concerns and a penchant for time-tested technologies, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has chosen to keep alive the chancellery’s vintage pneumatic tube system. 

This unconventional yet highly functional method of document distribution, planned for phase-out by 2025, has been given a new lease of life. more  However: Researchers have found almost a dozen vulnerabilities in a popular brand of pneumatic tube delivery system more  Fun video clip.

• Belarusian Spy-Nude Model Detained in Poland - Polish state security services arrested a Belarusian OnlyFans model for allegedly engaging in espionage – something that she had admitted to friends while drunk. more

• 20 Best Spy Comedies – From 'Austin Powers' to 'Spies Like Us,' Moviefone counts down the 20 best spy comedies of all time. more

AI is Helping US Spies Catch Chinese Hacking Ops

Artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies are helping the National Security Agency and other U.S. government agencies detect malicious Chinese cyber activity, a top U.S. intelligence official said in remarks on Tuesday that indicate how U.S. security agencies are using the technology to improve computer defenses. 

Speaking Tuesday at the International Conference on Cyber Security at Fordham University, Rob Joyce, the director of the NSA Cybersecurity Directorate, said that AI is helping his agency detect Chinese operations targeting U.S. critical infrastructure that might evade traditional defensive measures. more