Slurpee Sound Cups - Now Imagine a Cup Made with Wiretaps

By now, you probably know all about 7 Eleven's Bring Your Own Cup Day, the minimart's annual event during which anyone can bring practically any sort of container into the store and fill it up with Slurpee, all for the same low price.
Well, earlier this fall during BYO Cup Day in Australia, 7 Eleven, along with its agency Leo Burnett Melbourne, took the cup idea up a notch by allowing consumers to fill up radio ads with Slurpee.

Come again? Yes, radio ads became drink containers in the inventive campaign "Slurpee Sound Cup" campaign. 7 Eleven took the sound waves of three radio spots, themed around Viking opera, Brazilian soccer fans and randy whales, and transformed them into a series of distinctive 3D-printed vessels that were given away to Slurpee fans for the big day. Consumers could also download the 3D files and make the cups themselves. video

Big Taps in The Big House

Thousands of confidential phone conversations between inmates and their lawyers have been recorded 

by a leading prison phone company that also serves New York City jails — a major data breach exposed by a hacker, according to a report.

The anonymous hacker believes the company, Securus Technologies, is violating prisoners’ constitutional rights by recording privileged conversations, The Intercept reported Wednesday.

Of 70 million phone-call records obtained by The Intercept, 14,000 were for legally protected calls made to prisoners’ attorneys, The Intercept said. more

Uninstall InstaAgent From Your Phone Now

By Andy Boxall
If you’re one of the thousands of people with an app named Who Viewed Your Profile – InstaAgent installed on your smartphone, stop using it and delete it right now.

Why? Because it’s stealing your password, transferring it to a server, and then posting images on your Instagram account suggesting others should also download the app.

The app is a third-party Instagram client that promised to tell you who visited your Instagram account, something it could only do once you’d handed over your username and password. This function was never carried out, and the app’s sole intention was to steal Instagram logins. more

Dial 12339 To Report a Spy in China (Let the SWATing Begin)

China has set up a new national hot line for reporting “spies” as authorities grow increasingly sensitive over national security issues. 

The new service was set up by officials in the north-eastern province of Jilin, the local New Cultural Newspaper said Sunday, with reports saying those who suspect “espionage activity” can call 12339.

“The hot line targets foreign organizations and individuals who conduct espionage activities or who instigate and sponsor others in conducting them,” the fiercely nationalist Global Times newspaper said.

A list of "guidelines" to help people identify spies appeared on Chinese social media soon after the hot line was announced, however it was unclear where it originated.

Potential spies included “those with vague job tiles and a lot of money” and “those who bring up controversial topics at parties and then only observe the discussion”, said the guidelines, which had been shared widely on Chinese messaging app Wechat. more

"If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy"

An excellent, thought provoking article on how others are predicting our next moves...

(excerpt from Walter Kirn's article in The Atlantic.) "I was already growing certain that we, the sensible majority, owe plenty of so-called crackpots a few apologies. We dismissed them, shrugging off as delusions or urban legends various warnings and anecdotes that now stand revealed, in all too many instances, as either solid inside tips or spooky marvels of intuition.

The Mormon elder who told me when I was a teenager back in 1975 that people soon would have to carry “chips” around or “be banished from the marketplace.”

The ex–Army ranger in the 1980s who said an “eye in the sky” could read my license plate.

The girlfriend in 1993 who forbade me to rent a dirty video on the grounds that “they keep lists of everything.”

The Hollywood actor in 2011 who declined to join me on his sundeck because he’d put on weight and a security expert had advised him that the paparazzi were flying drones.

The tattooed grad student who, about a year before Edward Snowden gave the world the lowdown on code-named snooping programs such as PRISM and XKeyscore, told me about a childhood friend of his who worked in military intelligence and refused to go to wild parties unless the guests agreed to leave their phones locked outside in a car trunk or a cooler, preferably with the battery removed, and who also confessed to snooping on a girlfriend through the camera in her laptop.

The night I vowed never again to mock such people, in January 2014, I was standing knee-deep in a field of crusty snow at the edge of a National Guard base near Saratoga Springs, Utah, a fresh-from-the-factory all-American settlement, densely flagpoled and lavishly front-porched, just south of Salt Lake City. Above its rooftops the moon was a pale sliver, and filling the sky were the sort of ragged clouds in which one might discern the face of Jesus. I had on a dark jacket, a dark wool cap, and a black nylon mask to keep my cheeks from freezing.

The key would be surviving those first days after the ATMs stopped working and the grocery stores were looted bare.

I’d gone there for purposes of counterespionage..." more

Smart Sheriff Chased Out of Town

Remember our Smart Sheriff post from May? 
South Korea created this spyware for cell phones. 
I'll wait while you check it out.

UPDATE: South Korea pulls plug on child monitoring app
The most widely used child surveillance app in South Korea is being quietly pulled from the market after security specialists raised serious concerns about the program’s safety...

Smart Sheriff’s disappearance is awkward news for South Korea’s effort to keep closer tabs on the online lives of its youngest citizens.

A law passed in April requires all new smartphones sold to those 18 and under to be equipped with software that parents can use to snoop on their kids’ social media activity. Smart Sheriff, the most popular of more than a dozen state-approved apps, was meant to keep children safe from pornography, bullying, and other threats, but experts say its abysmal security left the door wide open to hackers and put the personal information of some 380,000 users at risk. more

Security Director Alert - 80% Chance Your Card Key System Can Be Bypassed

A device the size of a quarter that can be installed in 60 seconds on a proximity card reader could potentially be used to break physical access controls in 80 percent of deployments.

The device, dubbed BLEKey, is used to read cleartext data sent from card readers to door controllers to either clone cards or feed that data to a mobile application that can be used to unlock doors at any number of installations.

The hack unveiled at Black Hat is worrisome for facilities reliant on proximity cards and readers for access to buildings in critical industries or enterprises. Researchers Eric Evenchick, an embedded systems architect at electric car manufacturer Faraday Future, and Mark Baseggio, a managing principal consultant at Optiv (formerly Accuvant), used the ubiquitous HID cards and readers in a number of successful demos during their talk, but said that it’s likely the same weaknesses that facilitate their attacks are present in devices from other manufacturers. more video

Really Scary: 29:35 minutes into the video they explain how to make a card-key interceptor, stick it into a back pack, go to the target workplace, get in an elevator with employees (or just close to one of them), secretly read everyone's cards, and make a clone card.
Happy Halloween ~Kevin

The Disorderly Orderly, or Spycam Peek-A-Boo in the ICU

India - Police have arrested a 30-year-old male orderly of Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre

on charges of filming women after allegedly putting up spy camera in changing room for nurses.

A nurse spotted the spy camera in the changing room inside the intensive care unit (ICU) on the third floor and alerted a security guard, said sources.

Police have reportedly recovered two obscene video clips from his spy camera, which was installed for around 12 hours, said sources. Police will now try to retrieve deleted data, added the sources. more

Police vs Spy Blimp in PA - Shotguns Preveil

PA - State police used shotguns Thursday to deflate a wayward military surveillance blimp that broke loose in Maryland and floated for hours before coming down into trees in the Pennsylvania countryside.

Curious residents trickled into a staging area as the military began gathering up some 6,000 feet of tether, the blimp’s huge hull and a smaller tail piece, a process expected to take at least through Friday.

The white behemoth still had helium in its nose when it went down in a steep ravine on Wednesday afternoon, and the easiest way to drain the gas was to shoot it, U.S. Army Captain Matthew Villa said. State police troopers peppered the blimp with about 100 shots. more How it all started.

The Ultimate Spy vs Spy

via Mark Frauenfelder, Boing Boing
It was a wordless one-page comic about two oddly pointy faced spies, one dressed in black and the other dressed in white. Other than their different colored outfits, they behaved identically. They hated each other and created elaborate Rube Goldberg type machines to try to kill each other. Sometimes their machines worked, often, they’d backfire. They were tricky but usually too clever for their own good.

This anthology colorizes 150 “Spy vs Spy” comics drawn by Antonio Prohías from 1961 until his death in 1987. The book also includes a collection of “Spy vs Spy” comics by the talented cartoonist Peter Kuper, who took over the strip when Prohías died. The anthology features a section of wonderful “Spy vs Spy” tribute drawings by noted cartoonists such as Peter Bagge, Bob Staake, Darwyn Cooke, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, and Bill Sienkiewicz. There’s also a biography of the Cuban-born Prohíasm and a new 4-page color strip by MAD luminary Sergio Aragones about his friendship with Prohías. With all the new material here, this book is a must for anyone who loves “Spy vs Spy.”

Spy Vs Spy: An Explosive Celebration
by Antonio Prohías and Peter Kuper
Liberty Street, 2015, 224 pages, 8.8 x 0.8 x 11.2 inches
$16.46 at Amazon

Spycam Ejection

Australia - A Brisbane landlord has been slammed for installing CCTV cameras inside his rental property and spying on his tenants, who he evicted once they complained.

Renters Ben and Lila - who withheld their surnames - told Channel Nine's A Current Affair they noticed they were being recorded on the first day they moved into their new apartment.

The security camera was set up in the lounge room, switched on and recording.

According to the program, the furious flatmates immediate flicked the switch on the camera, before they were contacted by the landlord who said they had to turn it back on.  more video

Crackdown on Users of DroidJack Spyware

Law enforcement officials in almost half a dozen European countries have searched the homes of people suspected of having used software to spy on mobile phone users...

In Germany, prosecutors searched the homes of 13 people on Tuesday, they said, adding raids had also taken place in Britain, France, Belgium and Switzerland. They did not have further information on the raids in other countries.

The suspects in Germany, aged between 19 and 51, are believed to have bought and used smartphone software DroidJack, which allows surveillance of phones that use Google's Android...

The software allows users to monitor a smartphone's data traffic, eavesdrop on phone conversations or hijack a phone's camera without its owner noticing. It can also be used to spy on smartphone users as they access online banking systems. more

Bud Flight - Spies on the Go

The two-state battle for a federal spy agency’s new regional headquarters is heating up,
with Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon on Wednesday announcing plans to publicly push to keep the agency in St. Louis as hundreds of supporters gathered across the Mississippi River to tout a potential Illinois location.

At stake in the bistate regional fight are more than 3,000 high-tech jobs at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency paying an average of $75,000.

The defense and intelligence agency is considering four sites to replace its current location near the Anheuser-Busch brewery south of downtown St. Louis. more

Business Espionage: Buy Your Batting Average with Blackmail

Former big leaguer Lenny Dykstra admitted to spending "half a million bucks" on private investigators to dig up dirt on umpires during his playing career.

Dykstra says he then used the information not necessarily to bribe umpires, but to intimidate them into giving him favorable calls. "Fear does a lot to a man," he says. Here's the video:


 "Their blood is just as red as ours. Some of them like women, some of them like men, some of them gamble," said Dykstra. He then imagined a scenario in which he asked the umpire if he "covered the spread last night" after a called strike, then the strike zone shrunk to his advantage.

"It wasn't a coincidence that I led the league in walks the next few years," he added. Dykstra led the league with 129 walks in 1993 while with the Phillies. His previous career high was 89 walks, though he missed plenty of time with injuries. Dykstra's walk rate did spike from 1993-94:

This App Turns Your Smartwatch into an Eavesdropping Device

There are times when being able to easily record audio is a serious advantage in your day to day life. Whether that means you do it for work, school, or anything else, now you can easily do it with Wear Audio Recorder on your Android Wear device. Whether it's a short moment or a full meeting, this app has got you covered.

Wear Audio Recorder has a fantastic look that is both simple and stylish. Unsurprising when you realize that they're using Google's Material Design. On your Smart Watch, this app doesn't have a ton of features. What it does, it does well. Recording is as simple as opening the app, and tapping record. more

Why do I mention it?
So you will know what you're up against.

Spies in Space: The Final Frontier in Espionage

Space, the ‘final frontier’, is rapidly becoming an extra-terrestrial battleground for corporate espionage and other types of cyber attack as hackers seek to gain commercial advantage from rival networks operating in the $330-billion space economy...

The amount of data now being beamed between satellites supporting commercial networks on earth is growing rapidly, making them a ripe target for cyber attacks, said Luca del Monte, a senior strategist at the European Space Agency, and one of many experts who attended the annual International Astronautical Congress last week in Israel.

Space presents a double opportunity for hackers – the hardware up in orbit and the information it transmits. more

The 'Spy in a Bag' Case Continues

Gareth Williams was blackmailed with 'staged photos in Las Vegas hotel room' by Russian spies, claims former KGB agent...

A former KGB major says he believes Gareth Williams was murdered by Russian hit men as the MI6 spy refused to become a double agent, even after they blackmailed him by taking compromising, staged photographs.

The former major and intelligence officer Boris Karpichkov, who was exiled from Russia and now lives in the UK with a new identity, told his version of events to The Daily Mail. He claims to have a source high up in Russian intelligence services.

Mr William’s dead body was found locked in a bag in his Pimlico flat in 2010. He has been a codebreaker at GCHQ but at the time was on secondment to MI6 at their offices in Vauxhall, London. more

Criptyque Launches Pryvate™, the First Fully Secure Communications Platform

Criptyque, the secure communications provider, today announced the launch of Pryvate™, the first all-encompassing and fully encrypted communications platform for mobile devices. Pryvate secures communication services across email, voice calls, conference calls, video calls and instant messenger to protect consumers and businesses from cybercriminals, intruders, corporate espionage, hackers and more.

The Pryvate application provides triple-layered security powered by top-of-the-line 4096-bit encryption, with AES 256-bit key management and DH key exchange. It offers truly seamless independent, network agnostic security combined with high quality of service at a low cost.

Initially available on Apple and Google Play stores, the service provides security by generating unique encryption keys on the devices of both users who communicate via the application. Once a key is used, a new key is created for every subsequent interaction and auto renew for every call, IM, message, session etc. Pryvate has no access to users’ encryption keys past, present or future: making it impossible to leak, hack, collaborate or give away keys, which makes all communication through Pryvate totally secure and impervious to hacking. more

Business Espionage: HSBC Nemesis Falciani Mocks Swiss Justice a Mile From Border

Herve Falciani, the Frenchman wanted on charges of industrial espionage in Switzerland, has opted to skip his trial at the country’s top court and instead plead his case before a jury of journalists at a French hotel, less than a mile from the Swiss border.

The Frenchman was the star attraction at a conference billed “Investigative Journalism in the Time of Wikileaks” Wednesday at the Domaine de Divonne. The hotel and casino is a 20-minute drive from Geneva, where Falciani took client data from HSBC Holdings Plc’s private bank nearly a decade ago. more

What's in The Washington Post basement?

Nixon tapes and Cold War spy photos.

Deep in the basement of the Washington Post newsroom, national security reporter Walter Pincus is rediscovering 40 years worth of handwritten notes, White House telephone records and declassified spy photos. As the Post prepares to move into a new building in December, he’s digging up details on many of the historical stories he’s worked on. (Jorge Ribas and Jayne W. Orenstein / The Washington Post) more

Corporate Espionage that Flies Below the Radar

by Kevin G. Coleman, SilverRhino
Headlines about economic, corporate and industrial espionage have been in abundance lately and for good reason... Several subject matter experts agree that much of these espionage activities that target businesses are criminal-based.

Recently while on the executive floor of one large company a new twist to espionage tradecraft popped up.

Drone at office window story.

After entering a conference room, a note on the whiteboard caught my attention: “DO NOT ERASE.” Seeing that on a whiteboard filled with financial numbers, notes, diagrams and so on is not an uncommon occurrence. When I was looking out the windows, I saw a drone slowly fly by. Given the camera capabilities that are now available and becoming common on drones, it would not be difficult to capture what was on those whiteboards. The images are digitally captured, cropped, enhanced extracted and then sold...

Today economic, corporate and industrial espionage is big business. With significant money being made selling corporate secrets, this threat will only grow. more

His Spy Got Caught and was Arrested. The Handler Disavowes it as "Silly"

David Vitter calls spying arrest ‘silly’; Sheriff Newell Normand says Vitter would be ‘worst governor in Louisiana history’ 
 
Louisiana - The bungled political espionage that unfolded hours before Saturday’s election has exposed and perhaps deepened the enmity between U.S. Sen. David Vitter and Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand, fellow Republicans who traded barbs Monday as Vitter turned his attention to the gubernatorial runoff next month.

The animus between the two elected officials traces its roots to a similar split between Vitter and the late Harry Lee, Normand’s combative predecessor. And the relationship appears to have reached a nadir after Normand caught a private investigator hired by Vitter’s campaign secretly recording the sheriff’s regular coffee gathering at the Royal Blend cafe in Old Metairie. more

A Tale of Two Law Suits - Eavesdroppers Won, Targets Zero

Facebook Wins Dismissal Of $15 Billion Privacy Lawsuit
It’s been more than three years since a federal judge in California heard arguments in a large class-action lawsuit filed against Facebook over its questionable privacy practices. Finally, on Friday that judge sided with the social network and threw out the case — while leaving open the option for plaintiffs to revise and re-file their case.

The complaint involves Facebook’s tracking of users both while they are logged in as Facebook users and after they log off.

The plaintiffs argued that, in exchange for offering free access to Facebook, the company “conditions its membership upon users providing sensitive and personal information… including name, birth date, gender and e-mail address,” and requires that users accept numerous Facebook “cookies” on their web browsers that allow Facebook to track that a user’s Internet browsing history — which is then marketed to advertisers.

Of particular concern to the plaintiffs was Facebook’s continued tracking of users even after they had logged out of Facebook. more

ACLU lawsuit against NSA mass spying dropped in federal court
A federal district court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union against the National Security Agency over its mass surveillance program.

Ashley Gorski, a staff attorney with the ACLU national security project told The Guardian the mass spying program was innately harmful, arguing it violates “our clients’ constitutional rights to privacy, freedom of speech, and freedom of association, and it poses a grave threat to a free internet and a free society.” more

A Downer for Drones

There's recently been a run of new anti-drone systems introduced to deal with potential threats from UAVs, but these have been on the large and expensive side. To provide an affordable alternatives to plug the gap between shotguns and truck-mounted systems, national security research and development firm Battelle is introducing DroneDefender. Billed as the first portable, accurate, rapid-to-use UAV counter-weapon, it's a rifle-like raygun device that uses a radio beam to jam drone control systems and stop them in midair. more

Get Ready for Spectre - Battle of the Bonds Infographic

Battle of the Bonds: Kisses, Cocktails, Kills, Cars & Cash – An infographic by the team at GB Show Plates

Jealous Wives and Girlfriends Can Now Snoop on their Partner using a Spy Belt

Jealous wives and girlfriends can snoop on their fellas with a spy gadget disguised as a belt.

A tracking device hidden in the leather monitors the wearer’s location every 60 seconds. And it can be controlled remotely through Android and iPhone apps without the wearer noticing.

Unwary men could receive one as a present without knowing what they have let themselves in for.

The Belt Tracker, sold by Spymaster, in Marylebone, London, has a 12-hour battery life and can be used in 220 countries without incurring data roaming charges. It even has a flight safe mode to comply with airline regulations.

The GPS device was originally designed to monitor people working in dangerous environments, such as undercover police. And it can be used to track children and give peace of mind to parents. more

Scientist Pleads Guilty to Corporate Espionage

Researcher Xiwen Huang pleaded guilty Friday to one count of stealing trade secrets. But the legal battle over the punishment the former Charlotte resident receives already is underway.

Federal prosecutors say the 55-year-old chemical engineer stole proprietary technology and hundreds of pages of documents over the last decade from his government and civilian employers, including a company in Charlotte. Huang’s goal, according to court documents, was to aid both the Chinese government and his own company, which he started in North Carolina to do business in his Asian homeland.

Huang faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He will be sentenced at a later date. Imprisonment is all but certain. more

Ai Weiwei Discovers Eavesdropping Devices in His Studio

Ai Weiwei has posted a number of pictures of what he says are listening devices found in his Beijing studio.

The Chinese dissident artist captioned one photo of a bug on Instagram with "There will always be surprises".

His friend Liu Xiaoyuan confirmed the bugs were found after the artist returned from a trip to Germany.

Xiaoyuan tweeted that they were found when redecoration started on Ai's home and were found in the office and a living room.

The artist also posted a video clip of firecrackers being set off in a metal bucket next to one of the devices. He wrote "Did you hear it?" next to the video. more

Gang Using Spy Cam, Bluetooth for Exam Paper Leaks Busted

India - Police have busted a New Delhi-based gang involved in assembling spy cameras and bluetooth devices in undergarments and shirts to facilitate question paper leaks in important competitive exams across the country.

...the accused used to assemble spy cams and bluetooth devices in shirts, briefs and vests, mobile hardware kits, and other equipment to get the question papers leaked out from the exam centres...

...the kit included an android smartphone which was connected with a spy cam in cuff of a shirt. The question paper was clicked by some candidate or a staff member through spy camp and smuggled outside the examination centre through drop box application.

The paper was then distributed through e-mails or WhatsApp to a team of six to eight teachers, who solved the paper. The candidates, who paid for the solved paper, were given a bluetooth ear device which did not require mobile handset and acted just as receiver. The accused had assembled a set with 40 mobile phones through which the answers were dictated to the candidates... more

Phone on Drone Hacks Wireless Printer

You might think that working on a secured floor in a 30-story office tower puts you out of reach of Wi-Fi hackers out to steal your confidential documents.

But researchers in Singapore have demonstrated how attackers using a drone plus a mobile phone could easily intercept documents sent to a seemingly inaccessible Wi-Fi printer. The method they devised is actually intended to help organizations determine cheaply and easily if they have vulnerable open Wi-Fi devices that can be accessed from the sky. But the same technique could also be used by corporate spies intent on economic espionage. more

Operation Armchair - Son of The Thing, or...

...how a small Dutch company, helped the CIA to eavesdrop on the Russians.

"A small company from Noordwijk, Dutch Radar Research Station, worked for the CIA for decades. It built sophisticated listening devices that the Americans used against the Soviet Union. I came across this story when a schoolmate gave me papers of his grandfather. Along with intelligence expert, Cees Wiebes, I reconstructed in eighteen months the never told key role that this Dutch company played during the Cold War." ~ Maurits Martijn
(A long, but interesting story.) 

IP Protection: Don’t Expect Government Help

If actions – or in this case inaction – speak louder than words, the message from the U.S. government to the private sector regarding defense against cyber economic espionage by China is clear: “You’re on your own.”

That remains true, in the view of multiple experts, even after Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama announced an agreement last week that, according to a White House press secretary Fact Sheet, “neither country’s government will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information, with the intent of providing competitive advantages to companies or commercial sectors.”

...the agreement refers only to the governments of both countries – not their private sectors...

Kevin Murray, director at Murray Associates, said the reality is that, “both leaders know economics comes first. “Waving an ‘agreement’ in the air may mollify some of their constituents,” he said, but the subtext of promising that “governments” won’t do it acknowledges the reality that they, “can't control all the rogue hackers out there. All they can say is that their governments are not behind it, and they don't condone it. Meanwhile, cutouts will manage the "consultants" who make money with their data-vacuums." more

In China Counterespionage is Everyone's Job... by law

Counter-espionage Law of the People's Republic of China (interesting highlights)
Adopted at the 11th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress on November 1, 2014.

• Chapter I: General Provisions

Article 4: Citizens of the People's Republic of China have a duty to preserve national security, honor and interests; and must not endanger national security, honor or interests. All State organs, armed forces, political parties and public groups, and all enterprises and organizations, have the obligation to prevent and stop espionage activities and maintain national security. State security organs must rely on the support of the people in anti-espionage efforts, mobilizing and organizing the people to prevent and stop espionage conduct threatening state security . 

• Chapter II: Functions and Powers of State Security Organs in Anti-Espionage Efforts

Article 12: As needed for investigation of espionage activities, and on the basis of national provisions, state security organs may employ technological investigative measures upon strict formalities for approval.

Article 13: National security organ counterintelligence work, organizations and individuals can check electronic communication tools, equipment, and other equipment and facilities in accordance with the regulations. Where situations harmful to state security to national security are discovered in the course of an inspection, the state security organ shall order rectification; and where rectification is refused or after the rectification requirements are still not met, they may be sealed or seized.

Where situations harmful to state security to national security are discovered in the course of an inspection, the state security organ shall order rectification; and where rectification is refused or after the rectification requirements are still not met, they may be sealed or seized.

• Chapter III: The Duties and Rights of Citizens and Organizations 

Article 19: State organs, groups and other institutions shall educate their units' personnel on the maintenance of State security, and mobilize and organize them to prevent and stop espionage activity.

Article 20: Citizens and organizations shall facilitate and provide other assistance to anti-espionage efforts.

Article 25: Individuals and organizations must not illegally hold or use special-purpose spy equipment needed for espionage activities. Special-purpose spy equipment will by verified by the State Council department responsible for national security in accordance with relevant national provisions.

• Chapter IV: Legal Liability

Article 31: Where state secrets relating to anti-espionage efforts are disclosed, the state security organs give 15 days of administrative detention; where it constitutes a crime, criminal liability is pursued in accordance with law.

Article 32: For those in unlawful possession of state secret documents, materials and other items, as well as those who unlawfully possess or utilize specialized spying equipment, state security organs may conduct a search of their person, items, residence and other relevant locations in accordance with law; and confiscate the state secrets documents materials and other items they unlawfully possessed, as well as the specialized spying equipment they possessed or utilized. Where the unlawful possession of state secrets documents, materials or other materials constitutes a crime, pursue criminal responsibility in accordance with law; where it does not constitute a crime, state security organs give warnings or administrative detention of up to 15 days.

• Chapter V: Supplementary Provisions

Article 38: Espionage conduct as used in this law refers to the following conduct... more

Bugged: Russian Roach Rampage (Warning: Sensationalist Reporting)

The terrifying cockroach robo-SPY that could soon perform reconnaissance missions for the Russian military...

• Robot is fitted with photosensitive sensors to track its surroundings
• The 4-inch (10cm) mechanical roach moves like the Blaberus giganteus
• A sample of the robo-bugs is being planned for Russian armed forces
• Future models will be able to camouflage themselves, spy on people with portable cameras and carry out reconnaissance missions

Move over James Bond, your job is under threat from an army of robo-spies that look and move like cockroaches.

Researchers have created insect bots, inspired by the Blaberus giganteus species of roach, capable of scanning rooms and tracking their surroundings.

Fitted with sensors, these mechanical bugs can cover 12 inches (31cm) a second and the technology has already piqued the interest of the Russian military.

Researchers have created a robotic cockroach (pictured main), inspired by the Blaberus family of roaches (B. craniifer shown on top of the robot), capable of scanning rooms and tracking its surroundings. The mechanical bug can cover 12 inches a second

The bionic cockroaches were designed by engineers Danil Borchevkin and Aleksey Belousov at Kaliningrad's Kant University.

Each robot is 4-inches (10cm) long and fitted with photosensitive sensors, as well as sensors that detect contact, meaning they can constantly look out for obstacles. more

Man Admits Wiretapping, Harassment of Judge... and DUI

PA - An East Goshen man who secretly recorded telephone conversations with his ex-wife, her attorney’s office, two police officers and others, and who also made profane telephone calls to a Common Pleas Court judge and officials in the Chester County Domestic Relations Office, has admitted his culpability in those crimes.

On Wednesday, William Robert Wheeler pleaded guilty to charges of wiretapping and harassment, as well as driving under the influence, before Judge Patrick Carmody, who deferred formal sentencing to allow Wheeler to apply for the county’s alternative sentencing program for repeat DUI offenders. more

Spying Coffee Cup Lid Worthy of James Bond

This may look like an ordinary coffee cup.

But the innocent-looking container could soon become a potent new weapon in the fight against criminals, fraudsters and enemy spies.

The plastic lid is similar to those handed out by coffee chain giants, such as Starbucks and Costa.

The lid, which looks like it could have been devised by James Bond's gadget guru Q, has been created by Bodmin-based LawMate UK.

Inside, it is fitted with hi-definition filming equipment and an eavesdropping device that can listen in and record conversations, even in a room full of people.

Investigators will be able to use the device to gather crucial evidence, and can activate it by pressing the letter H – which stands for Hot – on the lid.

The firm, based at the Mid-Cornwall town's Callywith industrial estate, has already sold more than 100 of the gadgets, which are designed to fit any takeaway cup in the UK. more

U.S., China Vow Not to Engage in Economic Cyberespionage

President Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged Friday...

that neither of their governments would conduct or condone economic espionage in cyberspace in a deal that sought to address a major source of friction in the bilateral relationship.

But U.S. officials and experts said that it was uncertain whether the accord would lead to concrete action against cybercriminals. more

----

Question from a reporter...
Without government assistance, what can private sector organizations do to protect themselves more effectively from China stealing their IP?

Answer...
#1 - Realize that computer hacks are not perpetrated solely by someone sitting at a remote computer exploiting a software glitch they just discovered. A close look at many cases shows other elements of espionage in the path to the hack... social engineering, sloppy security practices, lack of oversight, multiple forms of classic electronic surveillance, blackmail, infiltration of personnel, etc.

The misconception that "this is an IT security problem" has lead to a morphing of corporate information security budgets into a lopsided IT-centric security budget. Thus, pretty much ignoring that most information in their computers was available elsewhere before it was ever converted into data! This situation is like having a building with one bank vault door, while the rest of the entrances are screen doors.

Here is what the private sector can do for themselves...
• View information security holistically. Spread the budget out. Cover all the bases.
   - Provide information security training to all employees.
   - Create stiff internal controls. Enforce them.
   - Conduct independent information security audits quarterly for compliance, discovery of new loopholes. Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM) is the foundation element of the audit. A TSCM sweep is conducted to discover internal electronic surveillance (audio, video, data), and verify security compliance of wireless LANs (Wi-Fi), etc.
~Kevin

Ex-Spies Join Cybersecurity Fight

Firms turn to cloak-and-dagger tactics to infiltrate hacker groups and pre-empt attacks.

Their job: Befriend hackers to find out about attacks before they even happen.

Last year, Black Cube, an Israel-based firm that specializes in gathering intelligence online, asked one of its bank clients for access to some of its internal HR and payroll data—sensitive enough to look like the spoils of a real cyber theft, but not enough to affect operations.

When Black Cube accessed the information, it left a digital trail that made it look like it had broken into the bank’s networks and stolen the data. By dangling this bait, Black Cube operatives posing as hackers infiltrated a group of cyber thieves that had been circling the bank, according to a person familiar with the sting, helping thwart an attack.

With the pace and severity of corporate cyberattacks increasing, a growing number of small cybersecurity and business intelligence firms like Black Cube are deploying the same sort of cloak-and-dagger moves that governments and police have long used to penetrate spy rings or break up terrorist cells. more

Android Apps Get Graded for Privacy - What's App on Your Phone?

A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have assigned privacy grades to Android apps based on some techniques they to analyze to their privacy-related behaviors. Learn more here or browse their analyzed apps.

Grades are assigned using a privacy model that they built. This privacy model measures the gap between people's expectations of an app's behavior and the app's actual behavior.

For example, according to studies they conducted, most people don't expect games like Cut the Rope to use location data, but many of them actually do. This kind of surprise is represented in their privacy model as a penalty to an app’s overall privacy grade. In contrast, most people do expect apps like Google Maps to use location data. This lack of surprise is represented in their privacy model as a small or no penalty. more

Concerned about Android spyware, click here.

Sports TSCM: Manchester United Searched Hotel for Bugging Devices

UK - Manchester United reportedly organised for their hotel to be searched for bugging devices prior to Saturday's match against arch rivals Liverpool...

According to the Manchester Evening News, security men used devices to check a meeting room at the Lowry Hotel before Van Gaal discussed tactics for the game.

The report adds that the Premier League giants have been checking hotels for more than a year after a bugging device was found in a meeting during the 2013-14 season. more

Police: Fired Officer Used Drone to Spy on Neighbors

GA - A Valdosta police officer was out of a job as of Monday evening after being arrested for reportedly using a drone to eavesdrop on a neighbor.

Officer Howard Kirkland, 53, of Ray City, was fired Monday morning, Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress confirmed.


He had been on suspension since September 4th. He was arrested at the police department by Lanier County Sheriff's Deputies on September 10th. The sheriff's office had been conducting an investigation for about a week. more

Twitter Slapped With Class-Action Lawsuit for Eavesdropping on Direct Messages

Twitter has been slapped with a proposed class action lawsuit, which alleges that the service uses URL shorteners in violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and California’s privacy law.

According to court documents filed Monday, Texas resident Wilford Raney brought the complaint to federal court in San Francisco, citing that although “Twitter represents that its users can ‘talk privately,’ Twitter ‘surreptitiously eavesdrops on its users private direct message communications.”
The complaint alleges that Twitter “intercepts, reads, and at times, even alters the message” as soon as someone sends a direct message. more

Giving Up Privacy in the Name of Security

Cicada Drones Will Eavesdrop in Swarms Like Their Creepy Namesake

The U.S. Navy has developed tiny drones that can fly in swarms like cicada bugs, the organisms that give the drones their names.

In this case, "Cicada" is short for Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft. They're small yellow devices that can fit in the palm of one's hand and are made of only ten parts. They can fly up to 46 miles per hour almost silently.

The military described the drones as "robotic carrier pigeons," though unlike the birds historically used to send messages, these drones have an array of sensors that monitor things like weather and location data, as well as microphones that or eavesdropping on anyone in the vicinity.

The Cicada drones are meant to be deployed in swarms; they will reportedly be used behind enemy lines to determine things like troop positions, whether or not a car is on a road, and where military forces should be deployed.

For now, the tiny devices cost $1,000, but the government plans to manufacturing them more cheaply: about $250 per drone. The future of surveillance drones is, apparently, a relatively inexpensive one. more

Security Director Alert - Worker Admits to Bathroom Spycam - Think Forseeability

If you don't have a written Recording in the Workplace Policy, and an in-house inspection procedure, right now is the time to get one in place. Contact me. I can help you do this, easily and inexpensively. ~ Kevin

AZ - A worker at a Cottonwood business was arrested on suspicion of voyeurism after police said he hid a cellphone in a women’s restroom.

Oscar Valles, 22, of Rimrock, admitted during police questioning that he placed the cellphone behind a plant in the bathroom to record one of his coworkers, officers said.

Valles said he knew the coworker changed clothes there each at the end of her shift each day. He said he did not mean to record any other person but was not able to retrieve his phone before others used the restroom, according to police. more