Sun Mar 30, 2003
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 – Thinking Different.
SPECIAL SECTION -- Eavesdropping News
SPECIAL SECTION -- SpyCam News
SPECIAL SECTION -- Memory Loess ===================================================
SPECIAL SECTION -- Security Director News – Thinking Different.
Think like a stockholder... "...security professionals have overlooked a powerful reason for implementing security, the requirement of many legal jurisdictions for a duty of care.
Negligence can be summarized as follows:
- If you have a duty of care to protect me from harm (or $ loss);
- and if you are in breach of that duty;
- and if as a result I suffer harm;
- then you have to pay me damages." http://www.chi-publishing.com/ (Ken Lindup, 2/2003, Vol 8, P. 21)
Think about expanding this concept... Geographic profiling pioneer Kim Rossmo has been likened to Sherlock Holmes; his Watson in the hunt for serial killers is a digital sidekick -- an algorithm he calls Rigel. Detective Rossmo, 47, is the inventor and most zealous proponent of criminal geographic targeting (CGT), more commonly known as geographic profiling. ... His interest is in the most neglected of the Five W's: Where did the offender strike? From this Rossmo can usually calculate where, most likely, he lived. http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/article/0,12543,435555,00.html
Think about not always believing that recording... The secretly taped encounter or telephone conversation - when one of the parties is unaware ... is to document or tease out "truths" that might otherwise remain hidden. The actual effect is often confused misstatements by the unaware party, or tenuous admissions responsive to leading questions that had put words in his or her mouth. Scientific discourse analysis is the method of choice for piercing the quandary of such communication and to assess the efficacy of the information therein contained.
By Marilyn A. Lashner, Ph.D. in The Forensic Examiner magazine (2/2003) http://www.acfei.com/forensic_examiner.php http://www.expertwitness.com/form/profile.phtml?uname=LASHNER
Think about the business parallels...
U.S. intelligence-gatherers, using a combination of foreign agents in Baghdad and technical eavesdropping and spy equipment, believe they've forced the Iraqi leader to take extreme steps to protect himself. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm
SPECIAL SECTION -- Eavesdropping News
***Bug Find***
...and then we thought we heard a lot of snorting.
Yangon, Myanmar -- A visiting U.N. human rights envoy suspended his mission to Myanmar and left the country after finding a bugging device while conducting confidential interviews with political prisoners. The envoy, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro of Brazil, said he found the bug while talking to political prisoners in Insein prison - a wireless microphone under the table in the room where he was conducting an interview. ... "The authorities expressed regret on learning of the incident," according to a statement from the United Nations. "They gave the assurance that the incident would be investigated in full." http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/
What's... in my back yard?
A Jersey land war is caught on tape... Builder hired private eyes to prove town's prejudice... In the high-stakes war between builders and towns, developers often accuse local officials of going to questionable lengths to stop projects. Towns complain builders use high-priced lawyers to pummel them into submission. Now, both sides say they have proof of mistreatment by the other. In what has to be one of the most bizarre eco-spats, one side has caught the other on tape. Frustrated by years of what he considered prejudicial treatment by Readington Township officials, builder Mark Hartman hired private investigators to go undercover. Posing as environmentalists, the husband-and-wife team gained the trust of the mayor and township committee and secretly taped officials for more than two years. http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/
Here we come again, mmmm-mm-mm... The FBI and Justice Department are worried that Voice Over IP (VoIP) applications may become safe havens for criminals to communicate with one another, unless U.S. regulators make broadband services more vulnerable to lawful electronic eavesdropping, according to comments filed with the FCC this month. ... The government filing was prompted by the efforts of telecom entrepreneur Jeffrey Pulver to win a ruling that his growing peer-to-peer Internet telephony service Free World Dialup is not subject to the regulations that govern telephone companies. ... Free World Dialup has been called "Napster for Phones." http://www.businessweek.com/technology/ http://www.freeworldialup.com/
Stupid Lawyer Tricks... Document-shredding disclosures in a Seattle consumer-fraud lawsuit were not enough to kill a British banking giant’s plan to acquire Household International, but legal tempers are still flaring. ... Bob Parlette, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, said he was taken aback by a newly filed Household document disclosing that a private investigator (Jim Cronin) attended a meeting for potential class members and taped it. ... Said Parlette: “Whoever authorized such an eavesdropping for Household or on their behalf, I consider them to be ethically challenged.” http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/
More Stupid Lawyer Tricks... IL - A petition to disqualify Union County Public Defender Patrick Cox from trying criminal cases has been summarily denied... Cox is charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, official misconduct and illegal eavesdropping. The alleged offenses stem from a case in which the prosecution claims Cox had a minor female secretly tape a conversation with another person to get incriminating statements. http://www.thesouthern.com/rednews/2003/03/26/build/local/LOC004.html
And yet more Stupid Lawyer Tricks... Judge won't dismiss wiretapping charges against former Virginia GOP head... Edmund Matricardi III, 34, is scheduled to go on trial April 9 on five felony charges related to wiretapping for allegedly eavesdropping on two Democratic strategy sessions and recording one of them. Claudia Tucker, chief of staff to former state House Speaker S. Vance Wilkins Jr., has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for listening in on one of the calls. http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/03/17/gop.eavesdropping.ap/
Wi-Fi Spy Gets Stick In Eye...
It is no secret that wireless local area networks, or WLANs, can be probed by anyone within range of their radio signal, leaving them vulnerable to eavesdropping, unauthorized access and even viruses. In short, most WLANs have security loopholes large enough to drive a truck through. WEP (wired equivalent privacy), is the security mechanism that comes standard with 802.11 products, but its days are short-lived. That is because a new standard -- Wi-Fi protected access, or WPA -- is on the way... http://wirelessnewsfactor.com/perl/story/21081.html
But if it's 'secret'...
Ah, never mind. Washington - The Supreme Court rebuffed an attempt yesterday by civil liberties lawyers to challenge the secret wiretapping that has been one of the Bush administration's main legal weapons in the war against terrorism. http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/084/nation/
Meanwhile, south of the border...
Mexico City - Federal prosecutors brought the charges against Luis de la Barreda Moreno, the chief of the once-feared Federal Security Directorate from 1970 to 1977. ...its tools included wiretapping, spying, jailing without trial, torture and killing. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/30/international/americas/
Meanwhile, across the Pacific...
S. Korea - The prosecution arrested the head of the Gwangju office of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) Saturday in connection with an alleged wiretapping case involving the spy agency. http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic... Prague - Dzurinda's government is now faced with a scandal involving illegal wiretapping, with the Interior Ministry and the secret service blaming each other. http://www.interfax.com/com?item=Slov&pg=10&id=5625209&req=
Meanwhile, on Wall Street...
The security business in America has morphed into a $100 billion industry, said Morgan Keegan analyst Brian Ruttenbur, who watches companies that manufacture the products. Wednesday, stocks in companies involved in biometrics, X-ray screening equipment, wiretapping devices and communications intercepts were all up. http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/business/
...and one last Perle of wisdom...
UK - Cambridge intelligent software company Autonomy is set for massive turnover growth in the aftermath of war in Iraq as world governments scramble for the company’s eavesdropping technology to counter terrorism. ... Autonomy’s software simultaneously monitors hundreds of thousands of intercepted emails and phone conversations while they are taking place. http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/news/
SPECIAL SECTION -- SpyCam News
Where do all the hippest meet? (South Street, South Street)
New York - The latest fad to hit New York City's singles scene is "Dinner in the Dark." Imagine a gourmet four-course meal with champagne and fine wine -- served and eaten entirely in darkness. Only the waiters, wearing night-vision goggles, can see what's going on. Promoters promise the dinner is intimate and people lose their inhibitions in the pitch black, making it a great way to meet people. ... The least-impressed diners walked out midway through one recent "Dinner in the Dark," while the happiest ones bragged afterward about their conquests. "It was great. You got to grope strangers, like that blond woman right there," a 36-year-old business manager named Jeff said gleefully. http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=ourWorldNews
The hippest street in town... (Oh baby!)
Florida - A lady in red is a welcome visitor to any casino -- though she may not like the reason why. It seems the security cameras that casinos rely on for catching cheaters have the side-effect of seeing right through any clothing colored red. That's according to James Swain, an expert on the world of casino scams and card cheaters and author of the upcoming novel, "Sucker Bet" (Ballantine Books). He says he didn't believe security cameras were capable of such X-ray-vision until he viewed a piece of casino videotape which clearly showed a female blackjack dealer's derriere through her pants. Swain says the cameras also see right through clothing made of polyester, bad toupees and cheap suits. http://www.ncbuy.com/news/wireless_news.html
East Street. New York - The Assembly yesterday unanimously passed a video-voyeurism bill that Democrats say is tougher than one proposed by Gov. Pataki. http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/71139.htm
West Street. Everett, Washington -- A Lynnwood peeping Tom accused of videotaping hundreds of people having sex or in various stages of undress was sentenced yesterday to more than 9-1/2 years in prison. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/112701_voyeur15.html
Park Avenue...
New York - The time for "Stephanie's Law" is now, says a Brooklyn woman who learned the hard way that there are no laws to protect victims of videotape voyeurism. The 43-year-old administrative assistant, who wants to be identified only as Cedra, became a video victim when her boyfriend, Michael Martinez, secretly captured a sexual tryst they had at a posh Park Avenue apartment building. Martinez, 50, had hidden the camera's lens inside the sleeve of a shirt he hung near the sofa. When she discovered she was being violated, Cedra's lover tried to quiet her hysteria by giving her the tape. She said he swore it was the first time he'd ever videotaped her. But the Brooklyn mother doesn't believe him. She's fearful that he may have been selling tapes of their sex sessions to his friends or worse - posting them on the Internet. http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/71654.htm
South Street's the best street... Port Orchard, IN - The Bremerton Senior Center maintenance man who rigged a video camera in the women's restroom was sentenced to two years in prison. Gary Sheflo, 50, apologized to the victims Monday when was sentenced in Kitsap County Superior Court. He had been jailed since pleading guilty Feb. 4 to two counts of voyeurism. The camera was spotted last December by the daughter of a Bremerton police officer during the department's children's Christmas party at the senior center. http://www.komotv.com/stories/23710.htm
...to make a law for you.
Maryland - The penalties for violating Maryland's 3-year-old video voyeurism law are too lenient given the seriousness of the crime, lawyers and one Howard County victim told members of a House committee yesterday. Learning that she had been videotaped while using a bathroom at a North Laurel school left Amy Hudak with "lifetime scars." ... Hudak was one of three people who testified yesterday in favor of a bill that would make video peeping a felony and raise the maximum prison sentence from six months to five years - the same penalty contained in the state's wiretapping statute. http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/howard/bal-ho.peep
New book... ''Secret Empire,'' by Philip Taubman, a longtime correspondent for The New York Times, chronicles the development of ''national technical means,'' the euphemism for overhead reconnaissance, both aerial and space-based. Taubman celebrates ''the inventors and risk-takers who revolutionized spying'' and calls for a new generation of technological swashbucklers to create tools for the perils facing the United States at the beginning of the 21st century. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/23/books/review/023ROLANT.html
National Weather Service Reports - Shortest Winter in Iowa History... Mount Sterling, Iowa - Lying could be perceived as more than just a character flaw in this southeast Iowa town. It could become a crime. ... Four City Council members have proposed an ordinance against fibbing. Acting Mayor Jo Hamlet said he's tired of the exaggerating that comes with stories in the town of 40 residents famous for its hunting and fishing. "We wanted to slow down on this lying," Hamlet said this week. "Plus, I'm bored. ... It's been a long winter." http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/5504016.htm
What invention can't you live without? ...computer, car, celly...
Nope! While it may seem that technology gadgets are Americans’ most coveted items, teens and adults agree that the toothbrush is the one invention they cannot live without. http://web.mit.edu/invent/n-pressreleases/n-press-03index.html
...and we hope history repeats itself this week - 3/28/193
The Roman ruler Pertinax is murdered by the Praetorian Guard. There was no obvious successor and no Senatorial volunteers.
Ba-Boom...
Here we come,
walkin' down the street,
get the funniest looks from everyone we meet... A Moroccan publication accused the government Monday of providing unusual assistance to U.S. troops fighting in Iraq by offering them 2,000 monkeys trained in detonating land mines. http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030324-064259-1443r
Sun Mar 23, 2003
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 -- IT'S THE LAW
SPECIAL SECTION -- SurveillanceWorld
SPECIAL SECTION -- SpyCam News
SPECIAL SECTION -- FutureWatch
SPECIAL SECTION -- Mind Pelage ===================================================
SPECIAL SECTION -- Security Director News
Think Different.
Make Crime Pay! When someone commits a crime against your business you press criminal charges. You probably also try for restitution. But, why stop there? Hey, cover your expenses. Ask for the dollar amount of your security budget that was necessary to catch them in the first place!
"Can't be done."
Don't bet on it.
Safeway just sued a shoplifter for their security costs ...and won.
Special thanks to Robert McCrie, Editor, "Security Letter" for bring this idea to our attention.
Electronic eavesdropping is key to a first strike... (Just like we keep telling you.)
...speaking on condition of anonymity... A senior, former covert operative of the CIA told United Press International that the "most important" information was obtained by a small group of Delta operatives who infiltrated a fiber optic communication center in Baghdad, compromising its communications. ... "Saddam was in the building when that stuff went off," said one U.S. official. ... it was believed Saddam had suffered damage to one of his inner ears. http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030321-020114-4031r
...which calls into question the effectiveness of their routine sweeps. PARIS -- The European Union has uncovered a bugging operation directed at five of its 15 member nations, the organization announced. ... Listening devices were found late last month in the offices of the French, German, British, Austrian and Spanish delegations in a headquarters building, officials said. European officials said they had not determined who had placed the devices. ... The devices were uncovered in a routine sweep by the union's security services. ... This is the first time in the building's history that a spy operation has been uncovered, officials said. The devices could have been present for some time, perhaps years, they added. We assume "awe" was out of the question... European officials reacted to Wednesday's disclosure with shock and anger. "The first thing I can do is to condemn this act," said Foreign Minister George Papandreou of Greece, which holds the six-month rotating presidency of the union. http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2864063.stm http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/20/
BugWatch - Universal Infinity Bug Manufacturer claims it listens into any room (or phone) from anywhere in the world. http://www.sesp.co.il/olduib.htm
Cautionary Tale # 887 - Laptop Security Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry lost a laptop computer containing sensitive campaign information. Campaign spokesman Chris Lehane said the laptop was stolen from his car while he was eating lunch. Lehane said a waiter told him he saw a middle-aged man pull up next to Lehane's car, smash a window, snatch the computer and speed off. "The information in the computer far exceeded the value of the computer," Lehane said. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news
Worker tracking service coming to Nextel phones... A service that lets enterprises track their employees to within a few feet using GPS (Global Positioning System) has made the leap from embedded hardware in vehicles to mobile phones. At Road Inc. has teamed up with Nextel Communications Inc., in Reston, Virginia, to offer its MRM (Mobile Resource Management) system on mobile phones. Two Motorola Inc. handsets sold by Nextel, the i88s and i58sr, have GPS capability built in and can be used by the MRM service, said Linda Standen, At Road's vice president of marketing. http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=789361
For Sale - Used Drug / Explosives Detector
Manufacturer: Ion Track Model: Itemiser http://www.drugwipe.com/
Did you know? • Telephone and pager company toll records are not confidential, as no constitutional prohibition is violated by their disclosure to the government. This includes call records at hotels too. It doesn't mean they will release a record of your calls to anybody who asks, but they could. Some state laws are more restrictive.
• Your e-mail is not protected by the electronic surveillance laws if someone simply reads it off your computer screen, or after you print it out.
Law of Electronic Surveillance, By Hon. James G. Carr and Prof. Patricia L. Bellia, release #32, 3/ 2003
Tagging their ears was not passed... The Senate Judiciary Committee voted on Thursday to give the government new anti-terrorism powers to wiretap foreigners suspected of being "lone wolves" plotting violence. http://www.govexec.com/news/
SPECIAL SECTION -- SurveillanceWorld
N1SPY The FBI has a fleet of aircraft, some equipped with night surveillance and eavesdropping equipment, flying America's skies to track and collect intelligence from suspected terrorists. The FBI will not provide exact figures on the planes and helicopters, but more than 80 are in the skies. ... Other aircraft are outfitted with electronic surveillance equipment so agents can pursue listening devices placed in cars, in buildings and even along streets, or listen to cell phone calls. ... The FBI has been using airplanes since 1938. http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/03/14/fbi.spy.planes.ap/
Wow! So it was our choice all along... Webcams, tracking devices, and interlinked databases are leading to the elimination of unmonitored public space. ... Ultimately, surveillance will become so ubiquitous, networked, and searchable that unmonitored public space will effectively cease to exist. ... It’s not all about Big Brother or Big Business, either. Widespread electronic scrutiny is usually denounced as a creation of political tyranny or corporate greed. But the rise of omnipresent surveillance will be driven as much by ordinary citizens’ understandable—even laudatory—desires for security, control, and comfort as by the imperatives of business and government. “Nanny cams,” global-positioning locators, police and home security networks, traffic jam monitors, medical-device radio-frequency tags, small-business webcams: the list of monitoring devices employed by and for average Americans is already long, and it will only become longer. Extensive surveillance, in short, is coming into being because people like and want it. http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/farmer0403.asp?p=0
A Moneypenny for your thoughts... A British intelligence employee is under criminal investigation in connection with the leak of a National Security Agency memorandum calling for stepped-up eavesdropping on countries whose United Nations Security Council votes on Iraq could be crucial, police reported. The investigation of a 28-year-old female employee of Government Communications Headquarters, known as GCHQ, appears to confirm the authenticity of the NSA memo printed last week in The Observer, a British newspaper. An NSA spokesman declined to comment. http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/
Next... SMS translation lessons.
Until recently, police conducting wiretaps on services such as mMode from AT&T Wireless and PCS Vision from Sprint PCS could intercept only phone conversations. Millions of instant messages or photos were off limits to crime fighters' wiretaps because the necessary eavesdropping technology didn't exist. Now, VeriSign, Cisco Systems and other members of 2-month-old Global LI Industry Forum (LI stands for "lawful interception") say they have finally developed the answer, beginning with VeriSign's NetDiscovery service, which was introduced at the CTIA Wireless 2003 show here Monday. http://news.com.com/2100-1039-992832.html http://www.gliif.org/ http://www.transl8it.com/cgi-win/index.pl
SPECIAL SECTION -- SpyCam News
SpyCams go to war... The veteran cameraman from ABC News was excited. As his flight prepared to land at Kuwait International Airport, he explained how the Pentagon had given him permission to use his latest toy: the so-called “lipstick cam”. The lipstick cam is so small that it can be attached to a Marine helmet and feed back live pictures from the battlefield. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-602210,00.html
"See you around the campus." ...further details. A Livingston College first-year student was arrested Thursday when his roommate and his roommate's girlfriend discovered he had allegedly set up a Web cam to watch them have sex. Lech Kolodziej was charged with wire-tapping statute 2A:156A-3A for unlawfully intercepting oral communication, said Lt. John O'Neil of the Rutgers University Police Department. Kolodziej pointed his Web cam at his roommate Patrick Nitka and Nitka's girlfriend, Domenica Rinaldi, two Livingston College sophomores, without their knowledge. He then left the room and told them he would be spending the night elsewhere, according to a report by The Home News Tribune. Kolodziej then went a few doors away, where he and about five other people watched Nitka and Rinaldi through Yahoo instant-messaging service, according to the report. http://www.dailytargum.com/news/390477.html?mkey=106085
SPECIAL SECTION -- FutureWatch
No HackTapAttackCrack Crypto Lite MagiQ’s first product is a quantum cryptographic solution featuring unbreakable encryption. ... Quantum cryptography is, as my college physics professor would have said, "counterintuitive" science. The basics are these: The sender of the data transmits the encryption key (not the data itself) in a series of photons -- essentially, tiny bursts of light, in which the polarization of the photons carries the data. The receiver reads the polarization of the photons to get the key. The mind-bending part of the science is the guaranteed security of the key's transmission: Due to quantum physics, if any machine copies or reads the key before the intended recipient, the polarity of some of the photons will change, and the intended receiver will be able to detect this and thus determine that the key is not secure. http://www.business2.com/articles/web/0,,48158,00.html http://www.magiqtech.com/
Holographic Windows The Holoscreen is the mannequin of the 21st Century. In a storefront window, it looks like there is an image suspended on a piece of glass that comes out of nowhere. The illusion is not magic... it's a new projection technology from Hitachi. http://www.exn.ca/Stories/2003/03/18/56.asp
Silent Music
A bizarre experiment in soundless music has revealed how people's emotions are affected by noises they cannot hear. ... Those feeling uncomfortable when the concert began, found their mood turning to anger. Others, who had felt happy, started to notice sensations of joy. http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0300whatson/
Send Secret Messages with a Wave of Your Hand. Kyocera announced that it would sell a cell phone called KURV. One of its features is called Airtext. It consists of a row of small red lights on the top of the phone. Enter a short text message and then wave the phone back and forth in front of you with the lights pointed away from you. The lights flash the message in such a way that a person across a room can read it as you wave it. We've seen it demonstrated and, trust us, flirty teens will love sending messages like "yer cute" across a room at a loud party. http://www.forbes.com/2003/03/21/cx_ah_0321tentech.html
The Very United Colors of Benetton. In a move wireless industry analysts say will infringe on customers' privacy, clothing designer Benetton plans to weave radio frequency ID chips into its garments to track its clothes worldwide. ... While there is no indication Benetton intends to track its customers with the tags, privacy advocates are worried that the technology could lend itself to unauthorized customer monitoring. http://news.lycos.com/news/story http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,58006,00.html http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAZPSUA6DD.html
Predicting success. Polyphonic's Hit Song Science (HSS) analyzes the underlying mathematical patterns in unreleased music and compares them to the patterns in recent hit songs. The new technology can isolate individual patterns in key aspects of the music that humans tect and that help determine whether or not they like a given song.
(Imagine expanding this concept to other human endeavors... like security programs.) http://www.polyphonichmi.com/
SPECIAL SECTION -- Mind Pelage
Directory Assistance will soon have your number, your portable number... Looking for a friend but don't have her phone number with you? For now, you can call directory assistance for her home number, but her wireless digits are off limits from 411. That's about to change, however. After years of hesitation, cellular providers are getting close to making wireless numbers available to 411 callers. http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/biztech/03/19/wireless.show.ap/index.html
From the New York Toy Fair... Far and away the creepiest new toy theme is snooping. An outfit called Wild Planet is bringing out an entire line of spy gear for kids. The products include a motion sensor, a metal detector, a tracking device with perimeter alerts and a gizmo that looks like a portable CD player with earphones but is actually a listening device that can pick up conversations from the other end of the lunchroom. Wild Planet is marketing this one specifically for girls -- on the assumption, presumably, that they talk about one another more than boys do -- but surely it would appeal to most reasonably paranoid preteens, which is to say just about any seventh grader you can think of. But, wait! There's more... Then there's Liar Liar Pants on Fire, a new board game produced by a company of that name. The inspiration for Liar Liar is another old pre-electronic standby, truth or dare, but the wrinkle here is that in addition to hundreds of embarrassing questions that the players can ask one another -- some suggestions are ''Have you ever secretly stayed up past your bedtime to watch TV?'' and, in a more advanced version, ''Have you ever urinated in the shower?'' -- the game includes an actual, palm-size lie detector. This part is not a toy, the company assures us, but a working electronic device, measuring blood flow and skin response, that was developed by Dan Tibbs, a former polygraph examiner with the Niagara Regional Police in Canada. But, wait! It gets worse... And the real purpose of the game, it becomes apparent if you log onto the company Web site, is not just to help the family while away rainy afternoons but, rather, to enable parents to interrogate their children in a pleasant and entertaining way. ''Can help spot children at risk of drug abuse,'' one endorsement says, and another, by a child named Alyshia, adds, ''Makes it fun to tell your parents things you've been too afraid to tell them.'' Next year, Liar Liar Cattle Prodder? http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/09/magazine/09WWLN.html http://www.liarliarpantsonfire.com/
When in Karachi try the Glazed Roast Squab... Drug traffickers in Pakistan are using carrier pigeons to beat the latest technological advances in surveillance. http://www.ananova.com/news/
Police Property Room Auctions On-Line
Today’s law enforcement agencies have property rooms full of stolen or forfeited goods. The rightful owners are not easily identified, and once merchandise is no longer needed as evidence, it must be disposed of properly. Enter Property Bureau. http://propertyroom.com/
Our hero.
Terrorists,
WMDs,
Political Bullies,
and now... Telemarketers. President Bush last week signed legislation creating a national "do-not-call" list intended to help consumers block unwanted telemarketing calls. http://news.findlaw.com/ap_stories/
Sat Mar 8, 2003
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 -- SpyCam News
SPECIAL SECTION -- Animal Spy Tech
SPECIAL SECTION -- World Spy News
SPECIAL SECTION -- The End ===================================================
SPECIAL SECTION -- Security Director News
Instant Alerts 1 - When it hits the fan, know when to run, duck or cover.
Yahoo! - It sends news alerts from the two major newswire services, Reuters and The Associated Press , directly to any e-mail address, including e-mail-capable mobile phones, PDAs and pagers. http://alerts.yahoo.com/config/ MSNBC.com - Its alerts sometimes arrive ahead of those from the Yahoo! service, but they're not as comprehensive. http://www.msnbc.com/tools/newstools/e/emailextra.asp
"We've sampled several other news alert services, including those from CNN.com, ABCNews.com and CBSNews.com - and found them all to be significantly behind the other two in terms of time, consistency and depth." http://www.forbes.com/2003/03/07/cx_ah_0307tentech.html
Instant Alerts 2 - You Have Mail!
HEY, IT'S EMERGENCY MAIL!!!!!!!! Get notified of an emergency by email from your local, regional and national government sources. (free) http://www.emergencye.com/
Eavesdropping Inspection Question of the Week
Q. "Is (a re-inspection) the same inspection, or a modified / streamlined / low-key follow-up?"
A. For our clients who have us inspect several times per year (quarterly is common), we do modify our procedures slightly each visit. Clients rarely notice, but we do this to increase effectiveness. Repetitive check-listing fosters horse-blinder-vision and gives the enemy predictable workarounds.
Occasionally I hear of others offering streamlined / different "levels" of inspection. This sales gimmick shows great diligence in squeezing every penny out of a client. However... the "let's only clean one side of the cat box" logic flaw is obvious.
Our philosophy is more physician-like... Run the appropriate tests. Administer the proper remedies. Keep the clients healthy. No shortcuts.
In today's business environment, inspections do not have much cumulative pro-active value when conducted less than twice per year. In these cases, we approach each inspection with a fresh eye every time.
New magazine may stop IT from eating your lunch... The IEEE Computer Society has created a new magazine called "Security and Privacy" specifically for the security community. The magazine intends to present a balanced mix of scientific research and practical security discussion. One key aim is to cut through the security hype promulgated by commercial trade magazines. http://www.computer.org/security/
Cautionary Tale #781 - Cafe keystroke logger eats PINs. Japan - The Metropolitan Police Department arrested two men (Ko Hakata, 35 and Goro Nakahashi, 27) on suspicion of withdrawing 16 million yen ($137,144.) after obtaining the personal identification number from a computer at an Internet cafe. ... According to the police, Hakata allegedly installed software that records everything that is typed on a keyboard on one of the computers at an Internet cafe. ... Hakata allegedly installed software known as Keylogger, onto computers at 13 Internet cafes in Tokyo over the past two years. He allegedly visited the cafes every couple of weeks to acquire the PIN numbers and passwords of Internet users who had visited the cafes and typed their information into the computers. ... The police said Hakata had 720 debit and credit card numbers and the profiles of 195 female users, who had accessed a dating site, in a file he had stored on the Internet when the police arrested him. They suspect Hakata of being involved in additional crimes. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20030307wo23.htm
...which is about the same percentage of businesses
we see which have active eavesdropping problems... VanDyke Software announced the results of a security-related survey commissioned through Saurage Research. Saurage contacted 710 small and medium-sized business in the fourth quarter of 2002 to learn their priorities in protecting their enterprises. ... five percent were concerned about telecommunications eavesdropping and three percent were concerned about wiretapping. (It is likely the words wiretapping and eavesdropping got reversed in the press room.) http://www.wininformant.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=38256
... or malicious corporate disinformation
being parroted by people who don't double-check their sources. An e-mail "alert" making the rounds reported that... "UPS uniforms have been purchased over the last 30 days by person(s) unknown on eBay. Law enforcement is working the case, however no suspect(s) have been identified. Subjects may try to gain facility access by wearing these uniforms." Relax, UPS spokesman Norman Black says, and don't worry about the report. "Call it urban legend or call it hoax, there's nothing to it." http://www.courier-journal.com/business/news2003/03/02/
(The day this email hit here I did a 30 day search of 'sold items' on eBay and found that about 20 UPS uniformed Teddy bears and one UPS T-shirt had been sold. Verifying is easy. Check. Don't become a pawn in someone else's hoax, or corporate smear campaign.)
FutureWatch - World’s Thinnest Digital Camera
Cheap (about $129.) - Velcro one to the visor of every security vehicle.
At a mere 1/4 inch thick, the Ultra-Pocket™ re-defines the pocket digital still camera ... a camera the size of a credit card, weighing in at 1.2 ounces. Ultra-Pocket’s Autobrite technology ensures that bright regions of a scene never saturate, so details are crisp and clear. (Very cool!) Recently, this sleek camera received the distinction of "World's Thinnest Camera" by Guinness World Records. http://www.smalcamera.com/ultrapocketcamera.html http://www.cheapgeek.net/assets/ (photo of camera)
SPECIAL SECTION -- SpyCam News
CU around the campus... New Jersey - A Livingston College student has been arrested for allegedly hiding a camera in a dorm room in an attempt to spy on his roommate and the roommate's girlfriend having sex. College officials say Leck Kolodziej set up the camera and linked it to the Internet so he and some friends could watch in another room. http://www.news12.com/NewCDA/articles/
SpyCamer's slide bumps video voyeur bill to the top. New York - Top aides to Gov. Pataki and legislative leaders met yesterday in a bid to end the deadlock on a long-stalled bill to toughen penalties for video voyeurs. ... The sudden Assembly interest coincided with the outrage surrounding the recent sentencing of a Long Island landlord who escaped jail time, despite secretly taping his tenant in her apartment. Prosecutors and victim Stephanie Fuller expressed frustration that landlord William Schultz could not be charged with anything more than criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor. http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/70034.htm http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/70123.htm
Extortionography Report #054
(The translation is rough on this one, but here is the gist of it...)
Couples in India are recording their private exploits, and some of them are going to commercial video - photography labs to have a memento CD made. Privacy is promised. Then, guess what! Thousands of clandestine copies hit the "home market'. "The police say initial blackmailing for ransom before the video is released could not be ruled out." http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030209/main6.htm http://www.spybusters.com/Extortionography.html
Civilian Technology Transfer - Hi-tech Cheese Cutter Detector.
At an air base near Kandahar, Afghanistan, an electrically powered airplane the size of a buzzard hovers near the runways. In its nose, a tiny camera beams a video stream back to a laptop computer being operated by a U.S. military team overseeing security. ... Some of the mini-UAVs can carry microphones to listen for enemy vehicles or sniffers that could detect a chemical agent. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/5289896.htm
SpyCam tape expected to stand court test...
He said he did it out of concern for his kids. He did it because he didn't know what was going on. And he did it to get proof, after detectives told him they couldn't do anything because they didn't have any. But when Stephen Finegan secretly videotaped his estranged wife in the Inverness home they once shared and consequently caught her having sex with a 16-year-old boy she taught at the Debbie Cole School of Dance, he set into motion a number of legal and ethical issues. ... Professor Joseph W. Little of University of Florida Law School agreed that the video could be used as evidence. http://www.sptimes.com/2003/03/08/Citrus/Tape_expected_to_stan.html
SPECIAL SECTION -- Animal Spy Tech
...like, "The rats are turning into lemmings, doctor." Lund, Sweden - A single 2-hour exposure to the microwaves emitted by some cell phones kills brain cells in rats, a group of Swedish researchers claims. (Leif G. Salford of Lund University Hospital in Sweden) If confirmed, the results would be the first to directly link cell-phone radiation to brain damage in any animal. ... Salford cautions that the results may not apply to real-world cell-phone use. On the other hand, he notes, "there might be negative consequences in the long run." http://www.sciencenews.org/20030222/fob1.asp
...like, "The moose is acting stupid, doctor." Stockholm, Sweden - Scientists hope to track the eating habits of 25 moose that are being tagged with cell phones. Seven times a day, the specially built phones will send automatic SMS updates to researchers at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, 34 miles north of the capital, Stockholm. http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/
Phone numbers... the electronic leash... Finland - Combining a wireless phone with a global positioning system (GPS) chipset, Benefon has teamed up with a firm called Pointer Systems... The result is a wireless phone that can be strapped to the back of a hunting dog, sending the dog's location back to its master while tracking hunting prey. The hunter can also dial up the dog's phone to give verbal commands. It can also let the hunter listen to the dog's bark, which can vary depending on what kind of animal the dog is tracking. http://www.forbes.com/2002/08/28/0828tentech.html
Phone numbers... your electronic leash...
...the company-issued mobile phone you're carrying has been blessedly silent all day. You pull up to a restaurant thinking of an extended lunch. Before your feet cross the threshold of the entry, the phone starts to chirp. The boss wants to know why you're parked in front of a restaurant and not on your way to a sales call. ... Sound a little disconcerting? It's not terribly far from reality. The combination of wireless networks, such as those used for mobile phones and pagers, with the 24-satellite constellation that makes up the Global Positioning System is what makes the above scenario possible. http://www.forbes.com/2003/03/04/cx_ah_0304tentech.html
Spying on the turtle race... Tortoises are frequently buried alive in their burrows when home sites are cleared and leveled ... a converted spy camera allowed members of HOPE Wildlife Rehabilitation Center to peer into the burrow from above ground. Their aim was to remove the tortoise from its burrow, which was under a new home site, and move it to a place where the animal would stand a better chance of survival. (A gopher tortoise, or Gopherus polyphemus, will die within three months if it can’t climb out.) The camera helped HOPE members determine whether the burrow was vacant or occupied. ... HOPE doesn’t have the money to buy a camera, but it is registered nonprofit organization and would accept a donation. (Hint.) http://www.incitrus.com/clubs&orgs/clubs&orgs0037.htm (HOPE Wildlife) http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/577/public/news427897.html
SPECIAL SECTION -- World Spy News
Senate panel approves expansion of wiretap power... The bill amends the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which authorizes electronic surveillance of foreigners associated with foreign powers or terrorist organizations. This bill would cover someone not necessarily associated with foreign powers or terrorist groups. The legislation expands the meaning of "foreign powers" to include any non-U.S. citizen who is thought to be engaging in terrorism or planning terrorist acts. It is aimed at the so-called "lone wolf" operative who might be planning terrorist activities but might not be readily identified with a foreign power or terrorist organization. Surveillance would not be limited to people living overseas since there is no restriction in the bill to eavesdropping on foreigners living in the United States. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0303/030703cdam2.htm
"So what?"
Security Council diplomats today shrugged off a British newspaper report that the super-secretive National Security Agency had ordered an eavesdropping "surge" on their telephones to determine their voting positions on a resolution that would pave the way for a U.S.-led war against Iraq. "The fact is, this sort of thing goes with the territory," Pakistan's U.N. ambassador, Munir Akram, said in an interview. "You'd have to be very naive to be surprised." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37250-2003Mar3.html
Hague haggles...
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende yesterday intervened in an ongoing conflict between Queen Beatrix and her niece, Margarita de Bourbon de Parme, defending the monarch and her Press service against accusations of telephone bugging. Princess Margarita has publicly accused both the queen and the Royal Information Service (RVD) of taping conversations they had with her and her husband. http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/arc_Articles.asp?
West Coast. Bugs, Bosses and Bombs! Soon to be a TV movie? Hollywood - Federal prosecutors want a Hollywood private detective jailed while he awaits trial on weapons charges in connection with a case targeting a reporter researching actor Steven Seagal. Anthony Pellicano, 58, was arrested and released in November after he posted $400,000 bond, following a probe into allegations Pellicano hired a man to threaten a Los Angeles Times reporter researching a story about an alleged Mafia extortion plot targeting Seagal. ... Pellicano was indicted in December on one felony count of possessing unregistered firearms and one misdemeanor count of unlawfully storing C-4 explosive. If convicted, Pellicano faces up to 11 years in prison. In court documents released Monday, a federal prosecutor contends that Pellicano had conducted or was conducting illegal wiretapping. ... "It's complete nonsense; it never happened," said Pellicano's criminal defense lawyer, Donald Re. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/
East Coast. Bugs, Bosses and Booty! Soon to be a TV movie? New York - Mafia bosses demanded cushy, high-paying jobs for their relatives and cronies at Ground Zero and may have stolen no-show pay during the eight-month cleanup of the site... The Post first revealed allegations of mob activity at Ground Zero two weeks after the 2001 terror attacks... That led to the installation of global positioning satellite devices in trucks that carried debris... The Department of Investigation also hired four auditing firms to ensure the $500 million cleanup of the World Trade Center site would not become a Mafia feeding frenzy. ... Their auditors are still poring over invoices submitted by the four major construction firms that worked on the project, sources said. At one point during the cleanup, the monitors asked the DOI to perform sweeps on their on-site offices to ensure no one was eavesdropping on their conversations. http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/69746.htm
SPECIAL SECTION -- The End
This week in spy history (3/7/90) - Play Misty for me. The CIA stages a fake satellite explosion of a KH-11 spy satellite code named Misty which was in low earth orbit. Both American and Russian sources reported Misty's destruction, but amateur astronomers have shown that this was a deception to allow it to achieve a higher, less detectible orbit. http://www.msnbc.com/news/599637.asp http://www.weddingvendors.com/music/lyrics/song-449.html
Sat Mar 1, 2003
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 -- Case Study 721 - Bugging Lawyer - The Arrest
SPECIAL SECTION -- Privacy News
SPECIAL SECTION -- Energizer Dust Bunnies ===================================================
SPECIAL SECTION -- Security Director News
Eavesdropping Alert - New Spy Phones from Slovakia (manufacturer's product description)
SPYMOBILE MODEL A
The SPYMOBILE is from outside a standard normally functioning GSM NOKIA mobile phone. When you call SPYMOBILE from one of 3 special numbers (any 3 numbers can be stored in to a memory), you can listen to the ambient of SPYMOBILE and nobody can recognize you;
- when you call the SPYMOBILE, the SPYMOBILE activates itself to a special mode, where:
- in this mode the SPYMOBILE does not show any activity (no lights, no display change, no sound, no vibration)
- the SPYMOBILE itself does not product any sound from it's speaker / earphone
- only the microphone receives the sounds from ambient, what you can listen to in remote telephone or mobile phone, from which you have called the SPYMOBILE.
When anybody calls the SPYMOBILE from any normal number (that is not one of 3 stored special numbers), the SPYMOBILE behaves as any normal mobile phone.
The usage:
- police, security service and National information agency
- detectives
- watching your teenager kid
- uncover unfaithful spouse / partner
- check out employee's activity / fidelity
- car / home / office surveillance - monitoring GSM device
________________________________________
SPY MOBILE MODEL B
Functionality identical device with model A, but after manual switching off, the device automatically switches itself on within 45 seconds (invisible operation). The device behaves from outside as normally switched off device in this mode. Internally the device can receive.
The device in this mode :
- does not show any outer sign of activity (light, sound, vibration)
- receives call from preprogrammed number
- rejects all other incoming calls and behaves to them as normally switched off device (inactive)
__________________________________________
1. Prices and delivery terms:
________________________________
model\ps 1pc 5pcs 10pcs
________________________________
model A 1750,- 1550,- 1400,-
model B 1800,- 1600,- 1450,-
Prices EXW in EURO currency.
Delivery by FEDEX, max. 1 week after payment confirmation.
"Fair warning.... SOLD!" James Courter, chief executive of the Newark, N.J.-based telecom IDT, will try to convince a bankruptcy judge in New York's southern district to nix a $250 million agreement to sell bankrupt Global Crossing to Hong Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison-Whampoa by claiming the sale would put vital U.S. national security information that might be transmitted over Global Crossing's network into the hands of China's communist government. ... Courter envisions a nightmare scenario where the Chinese government will tap into the communications of private companies in order to steal trade secrets or that they might even glean information from unencrypted government communications carried on the network. ... says Courter, "I'd much rather lose it to SBC or my neighbors at Verizon than have communist China control the network." http://www.forbes.com/2003/02/26/cz_mm_0226idt.html
Collaborative, secure and no musty aftertaste... Control access to sensitive corporate documents, at work or at home. ...a platform for automated policy-enforced information security. http://www.liquidmachines.com/
Double-edged office tool - Fax Logger
Transparently captures all incoming and outgoing faxes. Attaches to your existing fax machine. Turns faxes into text-searchable PDF files. Never lose another fax again. Helps corporations obey federal disclosure rules. ...Good idea - as long as you are the one who attached it to your fax line. (We'll let you know if you didn't.) http://www.link2it.com/products/fax2it.htm
SPECIAL SECTION -- Case Study 721 - Bugging Lawyer - The Arrest
Pennsylvania - The spurned lover of an Upper Merion woman is accused of secretly bugging her bedroom, listening to private and intimate conversations that she held there. Upper Merion police on Monday arrested a lawyer from Chester County, on charges of possessing an electronic device for unlawful purposes, the illegal interception of conversations, burglary, criminal trespass, harassment and harassment by communication.
"If these allegations are true, this is certainly not the type of conduct you like to see from members of the legal community," said Montgomery County First Assistant District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman.
The woman, who lives in an apartment in the King of Prussia section of the township, contacted Upper Merion police Feb. 21 to complain that the man was harassing her.
Since the breakup, the woman told police, she has received dozens of harassing e-mails and harassing voice mail messages at her workplace and at her new apartment, the criminal complaint said.
Some of these communications appeared to indicate that he had knowledge of conversations she had had in her apartment, the complaint said.
"She felt as if he had been listening outside her apartment door," the complaint said.
After receiving an e-mail from him concerning the details of a conversation she had had just hours earlier in her bedroom, the woman contacted police, advising them that she believed her apartment was bugged, the complaint said.
Searching her bedroom, police found two phone lines coming out of the phone jack. One was attached to a phone for which the woman paid. The other was attached to what appeared to be a listening device on the wall behind the woman’s bed and concealed by her entertainment center.
Police subsequently learned that the second phone line, which the woman said she was not aware existed, was paid for by him, the complaint said.
A listening device similar to, if not the exact type found by police, allows a person to dial the phone line to which it is attached to activate the device, with no beeper or whistle going off.
"It allows you to listen in on your premises with ease," touts a law enforcement and military equipment catalog in which the device sells for $179 on the Internet. "The unit’s sensitive microphone will pick up even a whisper up to 35 feet away." http://www.pottsmerc.com/site/news.cfm?newsid
Private Investigators / Information Brokers take note...
The 'Pretext Interview' is on its way out. New Hampshire - The court found first that private investigators and information brokers are obligated to those about whom they provide information if there is foreseeable harm, as in cases of stalking and identity theft. The court also found there is a reasonable expectation of privacy regarding Social Security numbers, but that work addresses are public. The court said it is a fact question, though, whether revealing a Social Security number is "offensive to a person of ordinary sensibilities" so as to support the tort of intrusion upon seclusion. ... Finally, the court found that pretextual calls used to obtain and sell information violate the state’s consumer protection laws. http://www.abanet.org/journal/ereport/f28stalk.html
Wiretaps - The Law Enforcement v. Privacy Conundrum Privacy advocates fear that the FBI's need to monitor Internet Age technologies, such as voice over IP, will give it far too sweeping powers. ... Today, dozens of new technologies need to be monitored, such as packet voice and cellular text messaging. And thousands of new service providers are now in business. ... In the old days, the FBI went head-to-head with the likes of AT&T or Verizon, each of which has an army of lawyers to fight off any onerous requirements. In an emerging area such as VOIP, however, small companies are on the cutting edge, and they have no money to staff a huge legal department. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/
No Minimum. No Reserve!
"I don't know another Web site that has a privacy policy as flexible as eBay's," says Joseph Sullivan. A little bit later, Sullivan explains what he means by the term "flexible." Sullivan is director of the "law enforcement and compliance" department at eBay.com, the largest retailer in the world. Sullivan was speaking to senior representatives of numerous law-enforcement agencies in the United States on the occasion of "Cyber Crime 2003," a conference that was held last week in Connecticut. His lecture was closed to reporters, and for good reason. Haaretz has obtained a recording of the lecture, in which Sullivan tells the audience that eBay is willing to hand over everything it knows about visitors to its Web site that might be of interest to an investigator. All they have to do is ask. "There's no need for a court order," Sullivan said, and related how the company has half a dozen investigators under contract, who scrutinize "suspicious users" and "suspicious behavior." ... Sullivan says eBay has recorded and documented every iota of data that has come through the Web site since it first went online in 1995. Every time someone makes a bid, sells an item, writes about someone else, even when the company cancels a sale for whatever reason - it documents all of the pertinent information. http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/objects/
GPS devices increasingly are used to spy on people...
While GPS technology that uses satellites has been a boon to millions who don't want to get lost, others increasingly are turning to the same technology to track people and keep an eye on them. Spouses who believe mates are having affairs, employers who suspect workers are misusing company vehicles or parents who wonder if their children are where they are supposed to be are among those using devices tied to the global positioning system of satellites. At Washington's WJLA-TV, employees say officials at the station have abused the technology. ...employees said the devices have been used to monitor them. As one cameraman drove along a highway, a manager phoned to tell him to stop driving so fast. Company officials confronted another cameraman, wanting to know why the company car was driven on the employee's day off. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/nation/1789996
SPECIAL SECTION -- Energizer Dust Bunnies
Intelectol - free samples with every new phone account? Someday soon North American telephone numbers might add up to 12 digits, including area code, instead of the current 10. Verizon, Qwest and BellSouth have urged the Industry Numbering Commission, which regulates the distribution of telephone numbers in North America, to "be proactive" about what the phone companies see as the newest threat to the dwindling supply of available phone numbers: voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP. http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57571,00.html http://www.intelectol.com/
ATM PIN burst security bubble in about 15 guesses...
Cambridge researchers have documented a worrying PIN cracking technique against the hardware security modules commonly used by bank ATMs. Mike Bond and Piotr Zielinski have published a paper detailing how a complex mathematical attack can yield a PIN in an average of 15 guesses. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/29425.html http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/TechReports/UCAM-CL-TR-560.pdf
Thomas Bayes discovers history repeats itself; President agrees... Bayesian theory can roughly be boiled down to one principle: To see the future, one must look at the past. Bayes theorized that the probability of future events could be calculated by determining their earlier frequency. Researchers are applying the idea to everything from gene studies to filtering e-mail. http://news.com.com/2009-1001-984695.html?tag=fd_lede1_hed How worried should we be? Take the test... (just substitute your own fears) http://www.gametheory.net/Mike/applets/Bayes/
The last juke box you'll ever need... The TerraPlayer streams Internet radio, holds up to 50,000 songs, and wirelessly transmits PC-based tunes to your stereo. http://www.terraplayer.com
These two should talk to each other...
A British journalist claims to have tracked down four people on Interpol's "most wanted list" in one hour and 22 minutes. Ian Cobain, of the Times, says he used widely available resources including electoral registers, internet search engines and commercial records. http://www.ananova.com/news/story
Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble has called for the establishment of a global network of fugitive investigators. ... Mr. Noble pointed out that Interpol's Fugitive Investigative Service has already demonstrated solid results. http://www.interpol.int/Public/ICPO/PressReleases/
Government orders more duct tape...
A defendant has had his mouth taped in a Texas court because he kept interrupting the judge and his own lawyer. The 36-year-old continually interrupted for about 20 minutes before Judge Darnell ordered bailiffs to seal his mouth with duct tape. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/
Blue Clouds
They hover on the edge of space. Thin, wispy clouds, glowing electric blue. Some scientists think they're seeded by space dust. Others suspect they're a telltale sign of global warming. They're called noctilucent or "night-shining" clouds (NLCs for short). And whatever causes them, they're lovely. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/18feb_nlc.htm (photos)
Eavesdropping Detection Services
United Kingdom Eavesdropping Detection Services
