Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy news of the week.
Sat, 24 Feb 2001
To: Clients, colleagues and friends.
Subject: Espionage & Privacy news of the week.
=====================================================
Kevin's Security Scrapbook® is published on an irregular
basis for a select audience. HTML versions are archived at
http://www.spybusters.com/Security_Scrapbook.html
===================================================== SPECIAL SECTION -- Bad Week For Bad Spies
SPECIAL SECTION -- The Odd Stuff =====================================================
SPECIAL SECTION -- Bad Week For Bad Spies
No Bail Bond... A long-time FBI agent has been charged with spying for Moscow since
1985, in what is being characterized as the worst case of espionage in
FBI history. The agent is accused of handing over highly classified
documents and betraying American intelligence sources and electronic
surveillance methods in exchange for an estimated $1.4 million in cash
and diamonds. The agent, Robert Philip Hanssen, was arrested at a park
near his home in Vienna, Va., Sunday night. Federal agents moved in
shortly after seeing Hanssen allegedly deposit what appeared to be
classified information at a "dead drop" at the park. Attorney General
John D. Ashcroft at an afternoon press conference called the incident a
"very serious breach" of national security and a reminder that "the
security of . . . our nation, our free society is an international
target in a dangerous world" and that threats to the United States are
"as intense as they have ever been." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29478-2001Feb20.html
The real Ramones made more...
A veteran FBI agent has been arrested and accused of being a double
agent who earned £1 million (about 1.4 million USD) from his Kremlin paymasters. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_214254.html?menu=
Play of the day... (Authorities) "always talk like they have a great case, but we'll see."
- Plato Cacheris, Robert Philip Hanssen's attorney.
"If they just asked me nicely..."
Demetrio Chavez says torturers used drugs, electric shocks and even
drilled a hole in his head to make him forget about his drug-trafficking
partnership with Peru's chief of security. Chavez's story keeps the
spotlight where it has been for months – on Vladimiro Montesinos,
Fujimori's feared spymaster, who is believed to have fled Peru in a boat
in October as the regime collapsed. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010210/aponline022911_000.htm
Throw The Book at him...
Miami woman seeks damages for Cuban spy who loved her...
A woman who unwittingly married a Cuban double agent testified Tuesday
that she felt like a political pawn... Martinez said she met the former
Cuban air force major when he was brought to a Bible study class by his
cousin, an FBI agent. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/daily/detail/0,1136,37500000000111612,00.html
So... did you know?
Hanssen was due to retire from the FBI in April.
"Ya na na ya na" (Thus proving not all winners are gracious and classy.)
MOSCOW -- A day after U.S. authorities announced the arrest of an
alleged FBI mole accused of passing secrets to Russia, Russia's Foreign
Intelligence Service on Wednesday extolled the heroism of its spies of
yore and said they had contributed to world peace. Boris Labusov,
spokesman for the Foreign Intelligence Service, said the timing of the
presentation ... was coincidental. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/world/830477
Pizza maker says rival used pie spy...
In a case of alleged corporate espionage, Kraft Foods, the country's
biggest food maker, has sued its biggest rival in the frozen pizza
business, Schwan's Sales Enterprises, claiming that Schwan's improperly
obtained trade secrets. In its legal argument, Kraft cites the Illinois
Trade Secrets Act, which it says classifies information as confidential
as long as a company makes "reasonable efforts" to keep it that way. http://www.naplesnews.com/01/02/business/d584198a.htm
Note...
"Business Secret" protection - under several statutes - requires showing
extra protection efforts. Eavesdropping audits are powerful proof. They may even keep you out of court in the first place. Call us. 800-635-0811
... and the moral of this story is....
The breakup of the Soviet Union and the lessening of superpower
tensions, coupled with an increase in industrial and economic espionage,
in fact make for a more complicated world of spying and counterspying.
"Espionage is still a thriving, healthy business," says John Beam, a
27-year Central Intelligence Agency veteran. " http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/02/21/fp1s3-csm.html
SPECIAL SECTION -- The Odd Stuff
Random scan, or pot luck...
Supreme Court to consider whether privacy, high-tech snooping are at odds...
FLORENCE, Ore. - Early one morning in 1992, officers in an anti-drug
task force pointed a high-tech thermal-imageing device at several houses
in this quiet coastal town of 5,000 people. Inside, Danny Lee Kyllo and
his neighbors were asleep, unaware that the government was
electronically scanning their homes by measuring heat emissions. The
case is being closely watched as a guide for a whole new generation of
spy toys and detection devices that law enforcement officials are using
to gather evidence against potential lawbreakers. http://cgi.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010220/3079426s.htm
... and you thought subliminal advertising was a problem.
Neil Johnson has a job that's nothing if not unusual: He investigates
how to uncover concealed messages embedded in sound and video files. http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,41861,00.html
Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy news of the week.
Sat, 17 Feb 2001
To: Clients, colleagues and friends.
Subject: Espionage & Privacy news of the week.
=====================================================
Kevin's Security Scrapbook® is published on an irregular
basis for a select audience. HTML versions are archived at http://www.spybusters.com/Security_Scrapbook.html
===================================================== SPECIAL SECTION -- Washington Wires
SPECIAL SECTION -- History's Mysteries =====================================================
SPECIAL SECTION -- Washington Wires
"...and, lunch in Langley." The secret world of espionage is a little less secret today.
In Washington DC, former agents from American and Russian intelligence
have joined forces to offer a highly unusual bus tour to the public. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1163000/1163173.stm
"Next stop... Justification Station."
(The FBI says...) As long as there have been law enforcement agents,
they have tried to listen in on what the bad guys are planning. In
early times, that meant standing next to a window in the evesdrope, the
place where water from the eaves drips, to overhear conversations. As
communications went electronic, eavesdropping did, too: Gen. Jeb Stuart
hired a tapper to intercept telegraph messages in the Civil War. And by
the 1890's, two decades after Alexander Graham Bell's first call to
Watson, the first known telephone wiretaps by the police were in place.
The Internet, in turn, has provided new frontiers for law enforcement
tappers. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/08/technology/08CARN.html?ex=982836325
"...which is hexadecimal for Vegetarian."
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) disclosed on Tuesday that
it has given its controversial "Carnivore" e-mail surveillance software
a new, more innocuous name, dubbing the program "DCS1000." http://www.newsfactor.com:80/perl/story/7505.html
Espionage BattleBots -- Echelon v. Carnivore
Echelon is in the lead... NSA listens to bin Laden... The U.S. case
unfolding against him in United States District Court in Manhattan is
based mainly on National Security Agency intercepts of phone calls
between bin Laden and his operatives around the world. http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=159822
SPECIAL SECTION -- History's Mysteries
Video and photographic evidence from the site of the plane crash that
killed John F. Kennedy Jr. has either been destroyed or mysteriously
gone missing as a family court battle looms over the accident. The US
Navy has conceded it destroyed up to eight hours of video footage taken
by divers recovering the bodies (out of respect for the family)... http://www.smh.com.au/news/0102/13/world/world7.html
"I may not be Rich, but..."
Jailed American Jewish spy Jonathan Pollard has appealed to Israel's
Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon to push for a pardon from US President
George W. Bush, the Israeli media reported on Sunday. http://www.timesofindia.com/120201/12mide6.htm
(Ex) President Bill Clinton ignored a recommendation from the CIA last
month when he pardoned former Navy intelligence analyst Samuel L.
Morison, the only government official ever convicted of leaking
classified information to the media. http://washingtonpost.com:80/wp-dyn/articles/A17274-2001Feb16.html
Karachi Kops...
The story is apocryphal but it's instructive in a humorous sort of way.
Emperor Bokassa sent off Pierre Cardin and wanted a uniform designed. He
wanted purple trousers, a red shirt, plush yellow jacket and a hat with
ostrich feathers. "Is it for you, your Majesty?" the French designer
asked. "No" said the Emperor, "it's for my secret service." http://www.dawn.com/2001/02/13/op.htm#4
AND THE USUAL SUSPECTS...
College for corporate spies...
New Simmons center will train 'competitive intelligence' pros...
At Simmons, students will study information-gathering techniques.
They'll ponder ethical and moral dilemmas and explore the appropriate
roles for corporate intelligence operations. Simmons maintains its
program, which is open to men, is the country's first to offer a degree
in competitive intelligence. http://www.bostonherald.com (2/2/01)
-- Do You Know Who's Watching You?
It could be your boss, your government, your spouse, or a sexual creep.
As technology explodes, the law can't keep up.
-- Homing device
How your cellphone tracks your movements...
-- Peeping Toms Go Electronic
Cheap, tiny spy cameras make women increasingly vulnerable to digital voyeurs...
NASHUA, NH -- The school teacher accused of secretly videotaping his
pupils as they undressed resigned yesterday. http://www.bostonherald.com/ (2/3,4,6/01)
BOSTON, MA -- Man arrested for using a spy camera...
...undercover Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority detectives who
caught him filming up a woman's skirt with a hidden camera and watching
the broadcast live on his laptop computer. David Gould, 47, who works
for a Cambridge software company, will be arraigned today ... on charges
of lewd and lascivious behavior and disorderly conduct http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/lnib302162001.htm
BOSTON, MA -- Suspect charged with videotaping others in health club...
Evan Arquimides Mojica, 41, of Cambridge was ordered held on $500 bail
after pleading innocent in Boston Municipal Court to charges of
recording oral communication without consent, lewd and lascivious
behavior and disorderly conduct. http://www.bostonherald.com/
Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy news of the week.
Sat, 10 Feb 2001
To: Clients, colleagues and friends.
Subject: Espionage & Privacy news of the week.
=====================================================
Kevin's Security Scrapbook® is published on an irregular
basis for a select audience. Issues are archived at
http://www.spybusters.com/Security_Scrapbook.html
===================================================== SPECIAL SECTION -- EMAIL Wiretaps / Wireless LAN eavesdropping
SPECIAL SECTION -- Spy busts of the week
SPECIAL SECTION -- The Weird Stuff
SPECIAL SECTION -- James Bond's gun and wiretap detector =====================================================
SPECIAL SECTION -- EMAIL Wiretaps / Wireless LAN eavesdropping
Recent UK Surveillance Controversies...
--not the first time Donaldson has alleged his phone has been bugged.
--former Secretary of State admitted she sanctioned the bugging of a car.
--men hunting near Blackwatertown, discovered surveillance equipment.
--claims ... that the British government bugged telephone calls from Ireland.
--claim... military intelligence placed tracking device on Gerry Adams' car.
--uncovering of military ‘spy-posts’ in vacant flats ... regular occurrence.
--fears over the health implications of surveillance equipment emerged. http://www.irishnews.com/current/news13.html
"You can accomplish more with a kind word and a shillelagh than you can
with just a kind word."
PI Secrets...
Want to find out if someone has been in a federal prison,
call the National Inmate Locator (202) 307-3126. http://www.bop.gov/inmate.html
California...
A private investigator (McCallister) who worked for a ... man ... in a
bitter custody battle ... was convicted ... of eavesdropping, conspiracy
to commit eavesdropping and conspiracy to commit stalking. McCallister
... from a condominium adjacent to hers ... made videotapes and
audiotapes. http://www.latimes.com/communities/news/inland_empire/
Michigan...
Police are looking for clients of a Brighton modeling agency after the
owner was arrested on a charge of secretly videotaping women as they
changed clothes. Dennis McVittie, 50, of Northville faces a charge of
felony eavesdropping. Brighton and Northville police ... confiscated
more than 200 videotapes. "Not all of the videotapes contain recordings
of these women changing," ... "We are in the process of reviewing the
tapes and trying to identify other potential victims."
(Please... leave no stone unturned.) http://detnews.com:80/2001/livingston/0102/06/c05l-183948.htm
SPECIAL SECTION -- The Weird Stuff
Sell Your Psychic Hotline Stock...
Mind Reading 'Polygraph' Debuts
(from company web site)
Brain Fingerprinting works as follows...
Words or pictures relevant to a crime are flashed on a computer screen,
along with other, irrelevant words or pictures. Electrical brain
responses are measured non-invasively through a patented headband
equipped with sensors. http://www.BrainWaveScience.com/
Russians Bugged by Mighty Mice...
The plan was for a microphone to be hidden in the Russian's penthouse
apartment and hard-wired to recording equipment in another apartment
three stories below.... http://www.nypostonline.com/news/worldnews/23018.htm
SPECIAL SECTION -- James Bond's gun and wiretap detector...
Our spies tell us...
James Bond's gun, a Walther PPK, was a Walther... air pistol!
(Say it ain't so, Jimbo.)
"David Hurn (photographer) recalls that when he was commissioned to
shoot the Bond portraits required for the publicity campaign for the
second Bond film ...it was decided that the main image in the poster and
advertising campaign.. should be ..a strong portrait of Sean Connery as
Bond 007, with his Walther pistol... According to the photographer, when
Connery arrived at his studio for the shoot, it was discovered by
publicist Tom Carlile that no one had brought the gun needed for the
shoot, a small Walther automatic [Walther PPK]. By chance the
photographer practised air pistol target shooting as a hobby and had the
air pistol he used for this purpose, also a Walther, to hand ...It was
decided...that without telling Sean or the other representatives of
United Artists - we would use my pistol for the pictures and presumed
that should anyone have doubts on their seeing the name Walther on the
gun, they would be reassured. This was, in fact, the case. In
theory...the long barrel of the air-pistol..was to be removed by
airbrushing during the designing of the actual poster - in practise
..this was never done."
Want to buy James Bond's gun?
It's for sale!
Bond memorabilia goes on the block Feb. 14, 2001 at Christie's.
Estimated sale price... $5,000. - $7,000. (2/14 - Actual sale price $20,437.41)
"A Walther air pistol held by Sean Connery as James Bond, in the
photo-shoot used for the main image in the poster and advertising
campaign for the 1963 United Artists/Eon film From Russia With Love; the
air pistol, a Walther Cal. 4-5 LP Model 53, no. 054159, in presentation
case with sight elements; accompanied by a letter concerning the
provenance from the vendor, Magnum photographer, David Hurn, stating
that the image he shot of Connery holding this Walther air pistol was
...used to promote every Bond film till "You Only Live Twice". " http://www.Christies.com
James Bond's Telephone Bug Detector...
In From Russia With Love, James Bond used this phone bug detector when
inspecting his Istanbul Hotel room. http://www.Christies.com/index.asp?action=lotdetail&id=1992033
(search 'wiretap') (2/15 - Did not sell. Item "Withdrawn.")
For the real deal, call Murray Associates.
Kevin
... whose trademark black water pistol remains
in the clutches of Vice Principal Leo Hurley.
Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy news of the week.
Sat, 03 Feb 2001
To: Clients, colleagues and friends.
Subject: Espionage & Privacy news of the week.
===================================================== Kevin's Security Scrapbook® is published on an irregular
basis for a select audience. Issues are archived at http://www.spybusters.com/Security_Scrapbook.html
===================================================== SPECIAL SECTION -- European Spy News
SPECIAL SECTION -- Camera Shy
SPECIAL SECTION -- The Celebrity Spy Corner =====================================================
SPECIAL SECTION -- European Spy News
Eavesdropping on GSM cell phones now a concern...
The Swedish IT and telecom company Sectra has received a repeat order
... for its eavesdrop-secure GSM telephone Tiger. ... Current
eavesdropping debate in Norway fuels interest in the Tiger. ...
Norwegian Police detected the use of eavesdropping equipment for the
first time. The risk of industrial espionage was such that Attorney-
General Hanne Harlem and the mobile telephone operators Netcom and
Telenor instituted measures including a public warning to ministers and
international industry organizations with respect to the transmission of
confidential and sensitive information via GSM telephones. http://www.hoovershbn.hoovers.com/bin/story?StoryId=CoNt40bKbytaWmdK
Brit accuses U.S. of snooping...
The European Parliament received a detailed report last week that
contains evidence of a 10-year effort by the U.S. government to use its
intelligence technology to help U.S. companies win commercial contracts.
P.S. Europe admits it too taps corporate nets. http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/stories/
Ukrainian E-aster Eggs... A group of Ukrainian software developers say they've developed several
programs that can turn America Online’s ICQ instant messaging software
into a spy tool... "With this great program you can send and receive
messages from any UIN you want! Now you can find out all secrets of your
enemy or have fun on your friends -- try and enjoy it." http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/2001/4/ns-20661.html
IN OTHER NEWS...
And you thought eating rats was in bad taste...
(G. Gordon) Liddy refused to back off his claims that the 1972 break-in
at Democratic headquarters was orchestrated by Nixon lawyer
John W. Dean III, who wanted photographs that could have linked his
future wife to a call-girl operation. http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Life Imitates Lexicon ... Bugs is Bugs
Sandia National Laboratories has successfully tested mobile, electronic
microbugs -- sensor-equipped robots the size of a nickel. ... capable of
silently scampering under a door, quietly rolling into a corner and
eavesdropping on whatever is going on inside. Only about 1/4 cubic inch
in size ... "They're small enough to sneak under most doors, ... a team
of six Sandia researchers is developing a suite of microsensors ...
starting with a miniature microphone and radio transmitter. Researchers
could equip it with a microcamera (but not yet)... http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com:80/national/bugs02.html http://www.courierpress.com
Did You Know...
Your car has a 'black box'!
... Police can now read the "event data recorder" units that are part of
auto air-bags. The information includes speed, braking, whether the
driver's seat belt was fastened, if the ignition was turned on after the
air bag went off and if there were other impacts before the one that set
the airbag off. http://www.thestar.com/
Australian bosses claim right to snoop on e-mail...
Gary Brack, said employers have to use surveillance methods to
protect themselves from possible misuse of the e-mail system.
"You've got to protect employers who need to make sure the kind
of espionage that does go on in work places ... have to have the
capacity to search in one way or another."
(Put down the Foster's, mate. What was that middle part again?) http://www.computeruser.com/news/01/01/30/news18.html
SPECIAL SECTION -- Camera Shy
Palm Springs -- The city considers putting surveillance cameras
downtown. Merchants say they'll deter crime; critics fear Big Brother.
Jim Stewart says, "We're losing our freedoms enough as it is... it's
definitely not a good idea for the celebrity image." (and you thought he was...) http://www.inlandempireonline.com/news/stories/013001/camera30.html
ACLU decries Super Bowl surveillance...
The American Civil Liberties Union has protested the use of high-tech
surveillance equipment at last Sunday's Super Bowl. ... police video
cameras focused on the faces of tens of thousands of unsuspecting fans
and workers and compared (them) with digital portraits of suspected
criminals and known terrorists. (We understand that there were about 18
positive matches made.) http://www.usatoday.com:80/usatonline/20010202/3039525s.htm
Last month - Giants Football Espionage...
This month - Giants Baseball Espionage...
For nearly half a century since Bobby Thomson hit the home run that won
the 1951 National League pennant for the New York Giants, Ralph Branca,
the Brooklyn Dodgers right-hander who threw that fastball, has known
that the Giants were using a high-powered telescope and a buzzer system
late that season at the Polo Grounds to alert their batters to the next
pitch. ... several '51 Giants acknowledged the presence of a telescope
that was perched behind a window in Manager Leo Durocher's office in the
center-field clubhouse and the buzzer system connected to the Giants'
dugout and right-field bullpen. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/01/sports/01ANDE.html
Coming to a theater near you... (March 30, 2001)
'Spy Kids' packs action without all the violence. ''It's the story of
two kids who have to save their spy parents...
(Another brick in the 'hey kids, spying is acceptable' wall?) http://www.usatoday.com:80/usatonline/20010202/3039268s.htm
Next year... cement shoes.
A Georgian spy is hoping to break into the Guinness Book of Records by
swimming two kilometers (more than a mile) in a swimming pool with his
arms and legs tied. He regretted that the Guinness compilers have no
category of records for tied-up swimmers. http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=271658
Eavesdropping Detection Services
United Kingdom Eavesdropping Detection Services
