Sat Nov 30, 2002
Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy News of the Week.
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 -- Security Director News - VoIP ===================================================
SPECIAL SECTION -- Security Director News - VoIP
****** This is very important. ******
*** You really need to read this. ***
VoIP is an acronym for a new type of telephone system. It stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. Chances are good your company will want to make the switch from the PBX (Private Branch Exchange) system they are using now, to VoIP. Here's why...
- Calls become digital packets and move via the Internet - virtually free of charge.
- The equipment required to do this is standard - cheap - computer gear.
- Telephone techs are history. The IT guys can handle it. Less overhead.
A Siren's Song... Cheap, cheap, cheap. Big-time cheap.
The boss loves cheap! Free lunch!
VoIP here we go...
You become contrapuntal... It is up to YOU to tell the boss there is no "free lunch."
In fact, this one has pins and razor blades in it.
You will not be a welcome face at that meeting.
The VoIP libretto... ...it is not necessary to install a physical connection (tap) to breach security in a VoIP phone. In fact, a VoIP phone is already connected to every device on the Internet from supercomputers on T3 links to home PCs with dial-up modems. http://www.eetimes.com/in_focus/communications/OEG20021014S0072
The VoIP White Paper Symphonies in Uh-Oh Major... - The Cisco IP Phones Compromise
- Security Risk Factors with IP Telephony based Networks
- Multiple Vulnerabilities with Pingtel xpressa SIP Phones
- More Vulnerabilities with Pingtel xpressa SIP-based IP Phones
- VoIP Black Hat Briefings USA 2002 http://www.sys-security.com/html/projects/VoIP.html
Liner Notes... So far, most users implementing VoIP seem to be primarily concerned with issues such as interoperability with data networks, voice quality and latency, rather than with security... http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security
Corporations that are implementing voice over IP (VoIP) technologies in a bid to cut communications costs shouldn't overlook the security risks that can crop up when the voice and data worlds converge, users and analysts say. http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security
...security issues in the data and voice worlds, while these issues are in fact very similar, have been seen to be completely separate in the minds of most users. Users have been exposed to the risks of sending data over the Internet while at the same time having the expectation that telephone conversations are strictly confidential. With the convergence of the voice and data worlds the real similarities of the security concerns will become apparent. http://rr.sans.org/VOIP/sec_concerns.php
This feature provides support for a basic wiretap facility for VoIP calls, as required by the United States Federal Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). The wiretap facility is based on the MAC address of the cable modem, so it can be used for either data or digitized voice connections. (Note: All communications systems - not just VoIP - are becoming CALEA compliant.) http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/
...and who is that singing out of tune? (Hint... think, love child of Max Headroom and Daisy Duck.)
There are significant security issues concerning VoIP. Eavesdropping on a TDM circuit requires a physical connection. Eavesdropping on an IP call only requires a good hacker with a "sniffer" program. Encryption could be added for the voice; however, encryption/decryption requires lots of CPU horsepower AND induces latency. The amount of latency could have an impact on the Quality of Service. http://www.tsm1.com/VOIPProd.htm
So what song and dance can you do for your 800 pound gorilla?
Early implementations of anything - especially communications systems - rarely address the security issues. Getting 'it' up, running and hyped always comes first. Remember cellular, cordless and wireless LAN technologies? Eventually, the VoIP security issues will be fully addressed. Until then - short of not adopting the technology (my favorite at this point) - here are some security things you can do...
- Encrypt VoIP traffic and run it over a VPN. (Say 'hi' to Daisy Headroom for me.)
- Make sure you’ve properly configured your firewalls.
- Check to see if your networking and security vendors have support for Session Initiation Protocol and the International Telecommunication Union’s H.323 voice protocol.
- Consider segmenting voice and data traffic by using a virtual LAN. This will limit the threat posed by packet-sniffing tools and minimize disruption in the event of an attack.
- Think about using proxy servers in front of corporate firewalls to process incoming and outgoing voice data.
- Make sure that server-based IP PBXs are locked down and protected against viruses and denial-of-service attacks. http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security
- Cisco SIP-enabled IP phones - Put them on private, non-Internet-addressable addresses and make sure there is good perimeter security for the LAN through the use of firewalls and intrusion detection systems, such as Cisco Intrusion Detection System Sensors (Cisco IDS). http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk652/tk701/
These suggestions do not address all the VoIP security problems ...and some of them are pretty significant. Stay tuned.
Sat Nov 23, 2002
Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy News of the Week.
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 -- People You Would Least Suspect of Spying ===================================================
This week's monster mash of miscreants all seem to have "trust me" jobs.
Who would ever suspect that lurking in these "professions" are Mothras who can't resist the flame of illicit knowledge? </sarcasm> http://www.onlyinternet.net/awinterrowd/kaiju/gallery/mothra4.au
(Enjoy the Mothra fight song while you read.)
SPECIAL SECTION -- People You Would Least Suspect of Spying
Used Car Salesmen Lexington, Kentucky - Former employees of a used car salesman charge that he illegally eavesdropped on their phone conversations at work. Julie Brown and Susie Haywood say their former boss recorded their private phone calls in the office without permission. They got a warrant and had him arrested. Jack Goble says he's not guilty and he's fighting the case in court. Lexington Police say eavesdropping is a felony that carries one to five years in jail. http://www.wtvq.com/MGBJZO0WA8D.html
Your Friendly Landlord (SpyCams) Kansas - Landlord William Lemesany was sentenced Tuesday in Douglas County District Court on three misdemeanor counts of eavesdropping on his tenants in 1999. District Judge Jack Murphy sentenced Lemesany to one year in the county jail on each count, but after 60 days, Lemesany will begin serving 18 months of supervised probation. On Oct. 16, Lemesany pleaded guilty to drilling peepholes in his tenants' walls in the Parkway Terrace Apartments and watching those in the apartments from maintenance closets. He initially had been charged with 10 counts of eavesdropping, but the state dropped seven of the charges. Murphy also outlined the conditions of Lemesany's probation. He must complete psychological treatment, complete 100 hours of community service and isn't allowed to be in a building for maintenance unless supervised by another person. http://www.cjonline.com/stories/112002/kan_landlord.html
Lexington, Kentucky (again) - A techno-savvy Lexington man this week gained the dubious distinction of being the first person indicted in Fayette County -- and possibly the state -- on the new charge of felonious video voyeurism for allegedly electronically peeping on his roommates in various states of undress and as they had sex. According to police records, Jonathan Ryan Sexton, now 28, offered a 24-year-old woman -- then a Best Buy co-worker, now a manager of another store -- and her beau a room in his home on Jairus Drive for $270 a month. The couple accepted, and told police that they thought nothing of it when Sexton installed a satellite receiver box in their bedroom soon after they moved in in February. The promise, they said: a TV would be installed soon. ... Six months later... On inspection, the beau found that the satellite box concealed a camera wired to the recorder through the walls. http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/news/local/4462862.htm
India - It was probably not the first time that Pankaj Chopra was indulging in his fetish. But this time around, he did not have to clamber up walls or peep through keyholes. The 35-year-old contractor in west Delhi indulged himself conveniently seated in his plush office. But the hi-tech voyeur could not keep at it: Kamna (not real name), one of the five women tenants on the first floor of Chopra's three-storey house, pulled the wire on him, literally. While in the shower, Kamna's eyes strayed towards a rounded, glass-like protrusion on the ceiling. The panic button went off and to confirm her worst suspicions, she climbed on a stool, wrapping a towel around her and peered closer. She identified it as a Web camera. Kamna alerted her friends and they found that the cables led to the second-floor office of Chopra, their courteous and ever-smiling landlord. The startled women, all in their early twenties, notified the police. http://www.the-week.com/22nov17/events5.htm
TV Reporter (becomes SpyCam Voyeur... legally) Chicago - Target 5 reporter Lisa Parker said she wanted to see the "electronic eavesdropping" with her own eyes. So she bought three cameras, "the kind you find pitched all over the Internet," she said. ... The wireless camera sends a video signal to a receiver, so it can then be viewed on a computer or TV. Easy reception -- for both the camera owner and anyone with similar equipment who wants to eavesdrop. The Hauser family agreed to help Parker test the cameras, and Parker set out to "peep, with permission" on the Hausers and their four children. The three wireless cameras were mounted... Then, Parker's Target 5 team set up shop in a van across the street. ... Target 5 team easily intercepted and recorded video from all three cameras inside the Hauser's home. ... Parker reminded viewers about a recent case in DuPage County where a family inadvertently recorded video of their neighbors allegedly beating a foster child in their custody. The video was recorded on their home monitoring system. That case is still in court. ("inadvertently"???) http://www.nbc5.com/money/1772153/detail.html
Protest Groups Texas-based anti-abortion group Life Dynamics (LDI) recently released a report, alleging that it secretly-taped telephone exchanges with receptionists and staff at abortion clinics in 49 states ... Litigants are now reviewing state wiretapping laws to see if LDI committed violations in states where consent from both parties is required. http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=7287
Cops Troy, New York - A former police officer was sentenced Thursday to probation for illegally taping his estranged wife's phone calls last year, according to authorities. Sgt. Joseph Carney, 35, was fired by the Rensselaer Police Department following his jury conviction Aug. 29 on felony counts of eavesdropping, according to Rensselaer County District Attorney Kenneth Bruno. http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/
Arizonia - Maricopa County has paid $200,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a former deputy who claimed that Sheriff Joe Arpaio forced him off the job because he talked to the media and went to county prosecutors with corruption allegations. ... Barnes went to County Attorney Rick Romley to report that sheriff's deputies were being used to wiretap Tom Bearup, a former Arpaio aide who became the sheriff's political nemesis. ... The allegations led to an investigation by the FBI, which found insufficient evidence of illegal wiretapping. (...so why settle?) http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/1120arpaio.html
Rhode Island - A former Providence police chief may be investigated for alleged illegal wiretapping, News Channel 10's I-Team reported. The I-Team has learned that a resolution passed by the Providence City Council asks for an internal police investigation into illegal wiretapping and surveillance. Former Police Chief Urbano Prignano Jr. and his former No. 2 man, Capt. Jack Ryan, may end up subjects of the probe... Several sources told the I-Team that in late 1999 and early 2000, then-City Council President John Lombardi and Councilman Joseph Deluca were the subject of secret police surveillance. http://www.turnto10.com/news/1732250/detail.html http://www.turnto10.com/news/1740298/detail.html
Middle Township, New Jersey - A township police officer has accused Detective Gregg J. Taylor of spying on him in an attempt to ruin his career. Taylor, 47, is retiring Friday after admitting to "conduct unbecoming a public employee" by misusing civilians in his police investigations. Tamala Marks, a local woman who claimed to help the township detective in his police work, told prosecutors Taylor taught her how to illegally monitor cell-phone conversations, then used the information she developed to get search warrants... http://nl9.newsbank.com
Lawyers
He was forced to close his practice for one year in the 1990s for ethical violations after he was found guilty of misrepresenting and concealing facts from insurance companies involving two accidents in the early 1980s and for wiretapping a 1984 Shenandoah County divorce case. http://www.winchesterstar.com/TheWinchesterStar/
Politicians Texas - Wisegerber, of Dayton, served as Precinct 4 Commissioner from June to November last year after Commissioner Toby Wilburn was arrested in a wiretapping scandal that left the seat empty. http://www.southeasttexaslive.com/site/news.cfm
Government Contractors
Tommy Roshto (warehouse owner), who is serving a five-year probation sentence for admitting to wiretapping Williamson's phone, has said he paid $30,000 in bribes to Bob Odom (Agricultural Commissioner)... http://www.wbrz.com/stories/110302/new_odomda.html
Co-workers
You'd never eavesdrop on your work colleagues on purpose. But those taupe-carpeted prefab cubicle walls just can't keep the latest rumor and intrigue from your ears. What happens when a made-up juicy tidbit is overheard and then runs amok? We decided to find out. Here are some uncensored rumor reactions...
"I told my girlfriend on the phone that I read in a magazine that having an affair with a younger man is good for your health and wondered if I should try it. Some co-workers overheard me, and one said, 'It sure beats broccoli and running on a treadmill.' Another said, 'I volunteer!'" - Susan Johnson, customer service representative, Dallas http://www.lhj.com/lhj/story.jhtml?storyid=/
In other news... "Okay, I give up."
He can hear anything before it makes a sound.
He can sense anything before it happens.
He can vanish before you realize he’s even there.
Meet him next Valentine's Day at a theater near you... http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/daredevil/
Wed Nov 20, 2002
Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy News of the Week.
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 -- Security Director News
SPECIAL SECTION -- World Spy News
SPECIAL SECTION -- SpyCam News
SPECIAL SECTION -- FutureWatch
SPECIAL SECTION -- The End ===================================================
SPECIAL SECTION -- Security Director News
Cut, paste and pass on... The SpyCam epidemic continues to peek. The most disturbing story this week (and they are all very disturbing) was about one man who crept up to homes and aimed his camera in the windows. He taped over 100 people - of all ages.
The local police department issued a list of tips to help reduce the chance of anyone else becoming the victim of a voyeur...
Protect Yourself From SpyCam Voyeurs - Close your drapes and blinds at night.
- Install outdoor lighting and motion-sensitive lights outside your home.
- Trim back shrubs that provide hiding places outside your windows.
- Place a layer of gravel or river rock outside windows to make noise when someone walks in that area. Low shrubs with thorns or spines planted under windows are helpful.
- If you see suspicious activity around your home or a neighbor's home, call 911 immediately. Do not confront the person yourself.
- If the suspicious person leaves, try to get as much information as you can to help police officers, including the license plate number of any vehicle used and a description of the suspect. http://heraldnet.com/Stories/02/11/7/16059806.cfm?cityid=18
"We wish they all could be California,
We wish they all could be California ...laws." California law now demands that the public be informed when government or corporate databases are breached. ... Over strenuous objections from the business lobby, California enacted a sweeping measure that mandates public disclosure of computer-security breaches in which confidential information may have been compromised. The law covers not just state agencies but private enterprises doing business in California. Come July 1, 2003, those who fail to disclose that a breach has occurred could be liable for civil damages or face class actions. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2002/
Digital CCTV's dirty little secret... (Teresa Lang's opinion)
"Many of the digital CCTV surveillance systems are using compression of 500:1 or greater. One of the big selling points I noticed was that each vendor had a monitor where they were showing the live images captured by the camera. In most cases the images were very good, and very detailed. However, I also noticed that customers were not told that this was live feed from the cameras, and had not been through the compression process. ... Most digital surveillance images are so compressed, they have the same pixilated appearance that is used on television to protect an individual’s identity. When you have to rely upon the images from a surveillance camera as evidence for you when you go to court, then the most minute details are vital. The basis for forensic video analysis or the process that is used to identify and isolate evidence on video tape or CCTV is in the details. ... In most cases, the details will determine whether the person in court is the one whose image was captured by the camera, or just one of several people fitting a general description that may or may not be the one in the image. As you see, the entire case could fail if the video image does not have sufficient detail for a unique identification to be made." http://www.infosecnews.com/opinion/2002/11/13_03.htm
If your Ten Most Wanted List includes stolen property, check this out... International Stolen and Lost Property Database - "Its Been Stolen" - providing a community service to the Internet since Nov 2000. This site is supported by volunteer time and donations. http://itsbeenstolen.com/
SPECIAL SECTION -- World Spy News
How to tell if you're wiretapped in Germany?
Check your phone bill! German police have been forced to admit that dozens of criminal suspects had learned their phones were being tapped when the evidence showed up on their monthly phone bill. A technical problem led to several suspects receiving September phone bills with charges for a connection to an unknown voice-mail number. German authorities can only use wiretapping in serious cases such as murder, money laundering, kidnapping or treason. ... Telecommunications authorities said that nearly 20,000 lines were currently being tapped. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2387269.stm http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/5/27917.html
How do you tell if you're wiretapped in Johannesburg?
Check your email! Subject Line: "phone watch"
"Dear Mark,
* We are in place and listening to 5177 and 8326
* Difficulty with 6101
* No success with number 6322
* Online next week 5030
Regards, Andre"
Johannesburg - Missing documents and evidence of phone tampering had forced Durban Roodepoort Deep (DRD) to hire Associated Intelligence Network (AIN), a private security company, said DRD chairman Mark Wellesley-Wood. Wellesley-Wood confirmed that the e-mail address was his, but said he had not seen the document before and questioned its authenticity. "I haven't a clue what phone watch is, I don't know who Andre is, the numbers don't make any sense, it's a complete phony. I have nothing in my e-mail box for that date [and] I wouldn't know how to delete an e-mail," he said. He was not aware whether AIN tapped phones or not.
((("wouldn't know how to delete an e-mail" - puh-leeeze))) http://www.businessreport.co.za/general/busrep/
How many Swedes does it take to screw a giant? Three Swedes have been charged with industrial espionage after allegedly leaking information from telecoms equipment giant Ericsson. ... (update) A Russian diplomat is likely to be expelled from Sweden in connection with a possible case of industrial espionage against telecoms equipment giant Ericsson, an intelligence source said on Thursday. http://www.intelligentx.com/newsletters/technology/
Plug in the Hoover, J. Edgar...
In a 56-page opinion overturning a May decision by the ultra-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the three-judge panel (special panel from the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ) said the expanded wiretap guidelines sought by Attorney General John Ashcroft under the new USA Patriot Act law do not violate the Constitution. http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20021118_975.html
Did you know?
- Most American spies have been white males younger than 30.
- Almost half (46%) of known American spies had only a high school education or less.
- Between 1947 - 2001, twice as many spies volunteered than were recruited. Spy trends... - Globalization will demand a new understanding of the meaning of loyalty to the nation (corporation) and how espionage intersects with loyalty.
- The current revolution in information and communications technologies is changing the scope and practice of espionage: spies' methods of collection, synthesis, and transmission are shifting to take advantage of opportunities in these new technologies. (...so keep our number handy.)
Report: Espionage Against the United States by American Citizens 1947-2001 http://www.ncix.gov/news/index.html
Seven out of ten people said, "Hot damn. How can I do that!" What would you say if someone could pick up confidential information about you right out of the air, just by driving down the street? The fact is, things like credit card numbers and any private information that passes through computers, whether in stores or your home, is vulnerable to theft. Behind most computers is a spaghetti-like tangle of wires -- too messy for most people. So more computers now communicate without being connected by wires at all, making them more convenient, but also prime targets for "drive-by spies." http://www.nbc6.net/ikeseamans/1784744/detail.html
They also said, "Hot damn. I wanna do that too!"
Cordless keyboard wrote on neighbor's computer... While a Stavanger man typed away at his desktop computer his text was also streaming in on his neighbor's machine in a building 150 meters away. Hewlett-Packard have never received a complaint like it. http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=427668
"We're back..." The Navy spy plane downed after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet last year has taken its first test flight, 16 months after it was shipped back to the United States in pieces. The repaired EP-3, a four-engine surveillance and reconnaissance airplane, took off from Dobbins Air Reserve Base at Friday morning and flew for about two hours. http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/4546803.htm
SPECIAL SECTION -- SpyCam News
SpyCam Quote of the Meek... "...this is a very inappropriate use of video technology."
Phil Katz, president of the Brookline Educators Association.
Camera spotlights the school's best ...and the brightest. Brookline, Massachusetts - Boys taking showers in a Brookline High School locker room may have been secretly being observed by a hidden video camera until the apparatus was discovered 12 days ago by a BHS football player. Police are searching for the person or persons who installed the camera which was found on Oct. 26 taped to exposed piping above the shower room and was wired into the school's electrical system. ... Phil Katz, president of the Brookline Educators Association, said he has not heard of any teachers being questioned. ... Katz, who works in the school, said the incident was not announced and some teachers learned about it faster than others. ... Katz said it is clear to him that "this is a very inappropriate use of video technology." http://www.townonline.com/brookline/news/
SpyCam - Worst Case of the Week Lynnwood, Washington - Police have arrested a Lynnwood man (Phillip Kraus) suspected of videotaping at least 100 unsuspecting people inside their homes.... The man, 39, allegedly crept up to Lynnwood-area homes, pressing his camera to windows to tape people in their most intimate moments, said Lynnwood police detective Sgt. Steve Rider. http://heraldnet.com/Stories/02/11/7/16059806.cfm?cityid=18 http://www.komotv.com/stories/21372.htm
SPECIAL SECTION -- FutureWatch
Zoominator The small screen size of mobile phones and other handheld devices is a perennial source of frustration for users who want to navigate the Web via next-generation data networks. A promising solution to this problem is the Zoominator, which allows users of any Internet-enabled device to magnify portions of a Web site with a single touch. Created by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Geophoenix, this patented technology can convert any Web content and bring it into "Zoom space." http://dt.prohosting.com/70s/childtv/zoomsong.au (sing along!!!) http://www.wirelessnewsfactor.com/perl/story/19895.html
The Cool Phones are Coming! ... the Mover SH251iS looks so damn cool. The i-mode phone has a 310,000 pixel CCD camera on board but the big draw with this thing is its supposed 3-D LCD display. The 2.2-inch TFT LCD panel knocks out the requisite 65,536 colors and, apparently, any image taken with the internal camera can go through the "3D editor" function and be turned into a three-dimensional image. The camera also has a macro function and can take 10 seconds' worth of moving images. There's even a 1.2 inch, 5.536-color STN "sub display" on the front of the clamshell phone so you don't even have to open it up. Standby time is 360 hours, with 135 minutes of in-use time, and the whole thing only weighs 110g. Voila. (NTT DoCoMo) http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/article/news_toppage/0,,11678,00.html (Japanese)
123 years old and fading fast - Edison's light bulb... LEDs traditionally have been used for signals and indicators, not actual illumination. ... This year, Lumileds introduced 5-watt units that begin to give enough output for room lighting. They are incredibly small, last a dozen years, and don't put out much heat, which changes the types of fixtures they require. In addition, some LED fixtures allow for adjustments not just in brightness but also in color, opening whole new palettes for architects and designers. http://www.lumileds.com http://www.business2.com/articles/web/0,1653,45089,FF.html?nl=wn Okay, so everyone knows about LEDs.
...but here is lumintainment with some wild potential.
If only Edison could be here to see this... http://www.coolneon.com/ (click on Gallery)
Yes, yes ...but you can stick that DVD you know where... Minuscule mobile telephones, tiny electronic organizers and portable DVD players are nice. But they'd be so much less cumbersome if they were surgically implanted under your skin. Paving the way is a company in Palm Beach, Fla. called Applied Digital Solutions, which recently started a program to implant subdermal microchips based on the same radio-frequency identification technology used in E-ZPass. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/10/technology/10SLAS.html
Magic wands going hi-tech.
Kids going Hogwart wild... Conjure Wands are magical-feeling wands for wizards and artists of all ages. A wand is operated by moving it in a specific sequence of motions, called a Spell. If a particular Spell is performed properly, the Wand then generates an interactive display of lights. Each display of lights is specific for a particular Spell, and, because of the functionality of the MEMSIC sensor, the displays are interactive with the operator's motion, changing their color or pattern in a manner dependent on the direction or force of the motion. http://www.memsic.com/memsic/corporate/press_release.asp?itemid=16 http://www.magic-lab.com/wands.html
SPECIAL SECTION -- The End
Cheesebox / February 16, 1909 - November 11, 2002 / New York, New York
I was advised by a family member that Gerard "Cheesebox" Callahan, Sr. passed away. He had been in a nursing home in New York. For newcomers and colleagues from outside the US who may not be familiar with him... his biography is called: CHEESEBOX - Being the life and times of Cheesebox Callahan, King of the underworld's "wiremen." http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0131283979
Cheesebox speaks on what to do if you find a bug... "The really important thing to do, as I’ve said, is to notify the phone company, the cops, the FBI and everyone else as soon and as noisily as you can. If you were me, you would probably also get a couple of baseball bats and wait around in the dark to see if you could get a shot at the creeps when they come back to look at their work. But this I don’t necessarily recommend." http://www.spybusters.com/History_1958_Cheesebox.html
Sun Nov 10, 2002
Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy News of the Week.
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 -- The Missing Eavesdropping Stories
from...
THE WILD WEST
THE MIDWEST
THE EAST
THE REST OF THE WORLD
THE FUTURE
THE ARTS ===================================================
SPECIAL SECTION -- The Missing Eavesdropping Stories
I don't send you every eavesdropping item that urps up in the news. Too many. Every month I weed out dozens of them to save room for other items. This issue, I thought I would let you see what you are missing. The following are the eavesdropping-related stories I didn't send during a recent 30-day period.
As you will see, eavesdropping comes in many, many flavors. Not all of them distasteful...
Not to mention George Burns' camera riddled house... In the brilliant 1967 British television series The Prisoner, Patrick McGoohan portrayed a character known to the audience only as No. 6, who was imprisoned in an isolated, outwardly idyllic, crime-free oceanfront community identified simply as The Village. Far from a true paradise, The Village was actually a platform designed for pervasive surveillance, complete with hidden cameras, microphones and other eavesdropping devices entwined throughout its structure. No. 6 was always under the watchful gaze of cameras -- his every move and gesture recorded and analyzed by unseen observers. ... For those who dare complain about video surveillance, the standard law enforcement response is that there's no expectation of privacy in public places. Given the capabilities of today's technology, this is utter nonsense. Let's say a creepy little guy in a trench coat started following you around whenever you left your house... http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,55994,00.html http://www.spybusters.com/clocks.html (The Mushroom McGoohan clock)
Kiddy counterespionage... Phone flirting has exploded as the SMS - short message service - craze sweeps the nation. ... Teenagers were attracted to text because it was cheaper than a phone call, was private and personal, and avoided the danger of parents eavesdropping. http://news.com.au/common/story_page/
Phone flirting was not specifically mentioned... The Office of the Secretary of Defense has issued a memorandum that prohibits the use of many types of wireless technology in the Pentagon and in much of the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force until the military has developed a wireless security strategy, which it expects to do with assistance from the National Security Agency. ... The document points to concerns that wireless LANs and other types of wireless technologies may permit remote eavesdropping and unauthorized entry into Pentagon systems if they're not used with the appropriate security. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,105588,00.asp
Eavesdropping to the rescue... (Moscow theater incident) U.S. cable news station MSNBC quoted anonymous security officials involved in the crisis as saying that when President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared that "foreign terrorist centers" were aiding the rebels, he was relying on information obtained by agents eavesdropping on their conversations. MSNBC also reported that security officials credited the success of the raid on the bugging of the hostages' phone conversations, http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2002/10/29/041.html
Eavesdropping to the rescue again... (Washington sniper incident) U.S. marshals then did some electronic surveillance of pay and cell phones used by Malvo's friends in the area. By Tuesday, that eavesdropping led them back to the D.C. area, and a home in Clinton, Md. http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/49749.htm
Black Sox Ops...
Say it isn't so, Joe. FBI agents illegally videotaped suspects, intercepted e-mails without court permission and recorded the wrong phone conversations during sensitive terrorism and espionage investigations, according to an internal memorandum detailing serious lapses inside the FBI more than a year before the Sept. 11 attacks. ... The mistakes extend beyond those criticized in a rare public decision this summer by the secretive U.S. court that oversees the surveillance warrants. That court admonished the FBI for providing inaccurate information in warrant applications. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-2079623,00.html http://www.wofford.edu/southernseen/1998archive/19981207.htm
THE WILD WEST
"We weren't bent on nothin', your honor.
Just tryin' to make a buck." A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the convictions of two anti-government Montana Freemen sentenced for participating in a scheme that involved printing bogus checks on a home computer... The pair argued that federal law allows wiretapping as a last resort and that other investigative means should have been employed before a judge approved the electronic eavesdropping. The circuit court agreed in principle with such a position, but said the government is afforded "considerable latitude" to wiretap suspected members of a criminal conspiracy "bent on the government's destruction." http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories
...and we all remember the American Protective League, right? Nevada - Ex-Sen. Richard Bryan urged his former colleagues in Congress Thursday to have the courage to stand up against politically popular restrictions of civil liberties in the name of strengthening national security. ... Bryan predicted that within a decade, U.S. historians will be highly critical of the congressionally approved Patriot Act, allowing eavesdropping on attorney-client conversations... http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2002/10/17/26188.php?
Next week in Dilbert... Eavesdropping is as old as conversation. An efficient, if socially taboo, tool for collecting information, eavesdropping turns plots in literature and twists relationships in cinema. ... And in the modern office, eavesdropping has become a fundamental, if invasive, aspect of cubicle culture. ... If you're talking on a cell phone in public, assume somebody's listening. "Companies really need to be training their employees on this matter. They need to incorporate cell-phone usage into their privacy policies," says Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a consumer advocacy program. http://www.myinky.com/ecp/me/article/0,1626,ECP_2256
"An eavesdropper hears no good about themselves." (Editorial) "If Latinos are bunched up in the office and they're speaking Spanish, they're more than likely not talking about you. Honest. ... We're not being rude. If you were part of the conversation, we would speak English. Last I heard, however, eavesdropping is rude too." http://www.arizonarepublic.com/opinions/articles/1005
"I Libertine?" Aurora, CO - Arapahoe County Clerk Tracy Baker's troubles with sex, eavesdropping and e-mail could be just the magic his Libertarian challenger in the November election is looking for. http://www.zwire.com/site/News.cfm?BRD=1947
THE MIDWEST
Kansas SpyCam Fan... A 23-year-old Brewster, Kan., man sits in a Thomas County, Kan., jail after coaches and players discovered him allegedly videotaping a girls’ locker room following a volleyball game in Brewster the first weekend in October. Adam F. Juenemann of Brewster could be charged with aggravated burglary, criminal damage to property, criminal trespassing, sexual exploitation of a child and eavesdropping. http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/754/public/news376615.html
Kansas SpyCam Fanatic... A jury awarded a total $1.29 million to six former residents of a Lawrence apartment complex where someone drilled peepholes into bedrooms and bathrooms. William J. and Mary E. Lemesany, owners of the Parkway Terrace Apartments, were found liable for damages ranging from $180,000 to $231,710 in the lawsuits brought by four men and two women. A jury in Douglas County District Court returned the verdicts Tuesday. The plaintiffs had asked for $250,000 apiece, their attorney, Peter A. Jouras Jr., said. The cases go back to 1999, when a tenant told police about peepholes drilled into apartments from a maintenance hallway. The hallway normally was kept locked, police said. From inside the apartments, the holes looked like old nail holes. ... In a separate criminal case, William Lemesany faces 10 misdemeanor counts of eavesdropping. http://www.cjonline.com/stories/101102/kan_pbriefs.html
... A Lawrence man has pleaded no contest to eavesdropping on tenants at an apartment complex by looking through peepholes. William Lemensany entered the plea Wednesday on all three counts. He faces a maximum sentence of one year in county jail and a fine of twenty-five hundred dollars for each of the counts. Last week, Lemensany and his wife were found liable for more than one million dollars in damages to six former tenants. The judge has ordered a psychiatric evaluation and sentencing is scheduled for November 19th. http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/127421.html
Code-Breaking Insects
Steal Plants' Defensive Signals,
Enabling Counterattack!!!! "It's a cloak-and-dagger world out there in the fields," said co-author May Berenbaum, the head of the entomology department at Illinois University. When insects attack, many plants activate a cascading signal of jasmonate or salicylate, that can act both as poisons for herbivores and as attractants for natural enemies of the insects. By recognizing the signaling molecules, earworm caterpillars produce detoxifying enzymes. ... the signal-eavesdropping capability provides earworm caterpillars with prophylactic protection against plant defenses! http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/10/021017065807.htm
"Ignorance of the law is no excuse, counselor." Illinois - All the judges from the 1st Judicial Circuit have been recused from hearing a case involving Union County public defender Patrick J. Cox, who was arrested in July on charges of criminal delinquency of a minor and felony eavesdropping. ... The charges allege that Cox asked a minor to record a conversation between the minor and another person without that person's knowledge. Also, Cox allegedly provided the tape recorder and instructed the minor how to operate and hide the device. http://www.southernillinoisan.com/rednews/
THE EAST
SpyCam legislation-promise makes Biggio news... New York - Republican Jacqueline Biggio said while there are eavesdropping laws against secretly recording conversations, "Videotaping someone in a school locker room or shower, is not." ... "I would promote passing a video voyeurism law to protect the individual's rights to privacy," Biggio said. http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics
(bzzt crackle pop...)
"Good motives, sincerity, and infinite love can conquer the world." (Editorial) "Before September 11, Mr. Tenet's (CIA Director George Tenet) most spectacular blunder was the failure to detect India's 1998 nuclear tests. CIA spokesman William Harlow's explanation was that the CIA had been hoodwinked by India's "denial and deception" campaign to hide its test preparations. Translation: We had no human agents in place to tell us the truth, and the clever Indians foiled our satellites and technical eavesdropping." http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20021007-69852184.htm http://www.sriramakrishna.org/vvksay.htm
THE REST OF THE WORLD
"I couldn't help but hearing you might need some help." A teenage girl tried to kill herself after being spanked on the bare bottom with a metal coathanger by a doctor (psychiatrist Darren Holdsworth). Yesterday, the High Court in Glasgow heard how Holdsworth, 35, preyed on the vulnerable girl after eavesdropping on a conversation she had with her parents in a Glasgow restaurant. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/page.cfm?objectid=
ISDN Tap Stopper... There are a number of different ways in which virtual snoops can infiltrate systems and source private information. ...even by electronic eavesdropping and wiretapping. In this age of multimedia communication, every opportunity exists for eavesdroppers to gain access to public ISDN networks. ... The BlueCrypt range offers total ISDN Encryption for video, voice and data... http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/computing/2002/0210090823.asp?
Now called the G. Wiz Ifyadare Bar and Deli... Ottawa -- A man who videotaped women using the restroom at his bar was sentenced Tuesday to 60 days in a work-release program. The sentence for Darrin A. Votaw, 32, of Lawrence, was reduced from three years in jail as part of his agreement to plead no contest last month to five counts of eavesdropping. Votaw, the former co-owner of G. Williker's Bar and Deli, was charged in February with secretly videotaping women using the restroom at the business. http://www.cjonline.com/stories/100902/kan_taping.html
"...and to the republic of wiretapping for which it stands..." Korea - Allegations that the nation's top intelligence agency illegally wiretapped politicians, businesspeople and government officials continued to roil political parties yesterday. ... "The public is seized with fear about the widespread wiretapping by the state agency. This government is making this nation 'the republic of wiretapping,' in which cabinet ministers have to use public phones and a former prime minister has to carry five mobile phones," GNP Chairman Suh Chung-won said. http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/Weekly2002/10.22.2002/Korea4.htm
Spies Like Us II? OTTAWA -- Two deported Soviet sleeper spies have married their Canadian lovers and are attempting to immigrate to Canada, according to a new book on Canada's secret service. ... Their plot to move to the U.S. to pilfer industrial and technical secrets was foiled by CSIS and the RCMP. ... CSIS spokesman Nicole Currier said Mitrovica's book is peppered with fabrications. http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2002/10/22/2338.html http://www.hollywood.com/movies/detail/movie/182120
THE FUTURE
You're going to be invited to the VoIP party line... There are three types of security threats that are particularly problematic in a VoIP environment: eavesdropping, theft of services and denial of service. In the past someone had to physically attach to a telephone circuit with a wiretap to eavesdrop on a phone call. With VoIP, interception can take place anywhere in the network. ... Literally everyone in the entire world on the Internet has a potential tap on your VoIP phone. http://www.eetimes.com/in_focus/communications/OEG20021014S0072
THE ARTS
Surveillance as Art... - The Washington State Supreme Court rules that it is not illegal to take pictures up women's skirts in public places.
- An Indiana woman is caught beating her daughter by a parking lot video camera, with the film soon broadcast on television stations across the country.
- And talk of improved measures to catch suspected terrorists raises frequent questions about possible threats to the civil liberties of innocent Americans.
This is the age of the hidden camera, the security screen, the X-ray scan, the e-mail trail, the illegal or illicit act caught on tape. Surveillance is everywhere, wanted or unwanted, which is why this weekend's annual cultural inquiry at Richard Hugo House in Seattle is so timely. "We picked 'surveillance' as our topic a year and a half ago," says organizer Trisha Ready, "and we've seen it become more and more relevant ever since." http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/books/89673_surveillance04.html
Eavesdropping at the movies... "Read My Lips" - The homely, highly competent, but overworked Carla (Emmanuelle Devos) is ignored by her colleagues unless they need her to bail them out of a jam. She's rebuffed every time she angles for a better position or a higher salary. Instead, her boss agrees to let her bring in a trainee. The employment bureau sends Paul (Vincent Cassel), a good-looking younger man with no clerical skills. But the mousy Carla keeps him on, even when she learns he's a thief on parole. As he fuels her repressed fantasies, Carla, whose lip-reading ability is useful for eavesdropping, decides that she and Paul can help each other get ahead. (In French with English subtitles. ...or read the lips.) http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ReadMyLips-1113145/reviews.php
Santa is not the only one into surveillance... Discovery Channel Stores Have The Tools Of The Trade For Wanna-Be Spy Kids - Whether they're eavesdropping on big brother's conversation, or trying to solve the latest cookie caper, kids love to play spy games. This holiday season, the Discovery Channel Store and Discovery.com have the tools of the trade for would-be secret agents and espionage enthusiasts. Following are must-have gizmos to help crafty kids run their own covert-ops from backyard treehouses or basement playrooms. You can reach the story directly by going to... http://www.newstream.com/cgi-bin/display_story.cgi?7383 Spy Listener -- $17.95 - Hear secret conversations from up to 30 feet away. Attached to sleek cool-looking sunglasses, the Spy Listener has headphones and a "listening scope" that picks up directional sound. Ages 6+ http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/021015/150327_1.html Undercover Girl Secret Listener - $26.99 - Here's a listening device disguised as a CD player! Closed, the Secret Listener looks like a CD player, but open it's a super-sly listening device for catching clues up to 30 feet away! Features top secret compartments and storage, covert listening dish, secret notepad for recording crucial clues and a hidden pen for note-taking action. Two earphones allow you to listen alone of with a friend.Ages 6+ http://www.niftycool.com/ungirseclis.html
Eavesdropping Detection Services
United Kingdom Eavesdropping Detection Services
Magic wands going hi-tech.