Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy News of the Week.
January 28, 2004
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 -- This Week's Espionage Adventures
SPECIAL SECTION -- The Dust Bin ===================================================
Cam Ban Expands The popularity of camera cellular phones, which allow users to snap and send photos within a few seconds, are causing companies to worry that their privacy could be at risk. A few corporations are taking steps to secure their intellectual property and confidential information by not allowing camera phones in the workplace... http://www.ahwatukee.com/afn/community/articles/040121c.html
Sears Tower To Go Wireless // or: How to foster corporate espionage?
(As Brian Thomas Carroll keenly pointed out. http://www.electronetwork.org/)
Chicago's 110-story Sears Tower will be one of the first commercial buildings in the United States to offer Wi-Fi computer access on all floors. The 1,450-foot skyscraper will have an in-building wireless system provided by InnerWireless Inc. that will support celluar phones, paging, 2-way radio applications, high-speed wireless LAN (Local Area Network) and first-responder emergency service. Wi-Fi will work on all 110 floors, allowing tenants to forgo a traditional computer network and set up wireless networks. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/23049.html http://www.electronetwork.org/list/
(excellent newsletter on investigating electromagnetic reality)
SPECIAL SECTION -- This Week's Espionage Adventures
"They tap, they spy, they treat me like a leper, I tell ya!" The Albuquerque Police Department called in the Federal Bureau of Investigation to find out if someone unlawfully wiretapped an officer’s work phone inside a police substation. Captain Sonny Leeper says he found his phone tapped in January 2003. ... Sources say there was a U.S. marshal in Leeper’s office when the captain received a call alerting him to the alleged wiretap. ...the marshal had the master phone box inside the substation checked out and found a wiretapping device attached to Leeper’s phone line. http://www.kobtv.com/index.cfm?viewer=story
Extortionography News #023 - Secret Memos Hit Newspapers & Net... GOP staff members of the Senate Judiciary Committee were accused Thursday of passing along secret Democratic files to the media. ...Republican staff members gained access to the restricted files through a computer glitch and monitored the files from the spring of 2002 until at least April 2003. Looking over hundreds of memos, they were able to read talking points and accounts of private meetings. ... An investigation is under way into how excerpts from 15 Democratic memos showed up in the pages of the conservative-leaning newspapers and were posted to a Web site last November. http://www.troyrecord.com/site/news.cfm? http://www.spybusters.com/Extortionography.html
Hollywood PI tapped out... Anthony Pellicano, the high-profile private investigator whose clients included some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, was sentenced Friday to 30 months in federal prison for possessing two illegal hand grenades and a quantity of plastic explosives. ... But that does not mark the end of Pellicano's legal woes. He remains the target of a wide-ranging federal investigation into illicit wiretapping and a separate probe of a criminal threat made against a Los Angeles Times reporter. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pellicano
Hollywood PI - The rest of the story.... The cast of characters in the murky Hollywood drama surrounding the imprisoned private investigator, Anthony Pellicano, is already as colorful as the players in James Ellroy's "L.A. Confidential." Now another figure has emerged from Mr. Pellicano's past, someone with a story of her own to tell, and perhaps even to sell. The figure, Kat Pellicano, is a former wife of Mr. Pellicano and the mother of four of his children. Because she and he spent nearly 20 years together, F.B.I. agents are intent on questioning her as part of their investigation into whether Mr. Pellicano illegally wiretapped people, including Hollywood celebrities. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?
From the SOOFF - State Security Committee Chairman Bugged Kyrgyzstan - Controversy has erupted over the alleged “bugging” of a member of parliament’s office. The bugging controversy began January 14, when MP Ismail Isakov, who chairs the lower house of parliament’s State Security Committee, announced that he had discovered a listening device planted behind a radiator in his office... (SOOFF - Shoe On Other Foot File) http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav011604_pr.html
Spy This! New Zealand - Up to 60 protesters gathered Sunday at Waihopai Valley satellite station near Blenheim on the South Island for a peaceful protest against the use of the station as a "spy base" for the United States. ... The protesters who took their clothes off and laid down on the ground in the shape of a peace sign, wanted the station to be shut down. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-01/19/content_1283872.htm
"Be seeing you." ...at The International Spy Museum Spies on Screen: 50 Years of Spy TV -- Monday, 2 February 2004; 6:30 pm
Spend a fun, nostalgic, & insightful evening with your favorite TV Spies.
Made-for-TV spies—from I Spy’s Alexander Scott to Agent Mulder of The X-Files—and their radio forerunners have entertained and intrigued for decades, shaping our views of the covert world. Featuring clips from The Avengers, Secret Agent, and MacGyver, Dr. Wesley Britton, author of the just-released, comprehensive book, Spy Television, will reacquaint us with the exploits of vintage espionage heroes. ... International Spy Museum Executive Director, Peter Earnest, will help separate the fact from fiction, drawing on his own experience as a CIA Clandestine Operative. A book signing will take place after the program. http://www.spymuseum.org/do/programs.asp#4
Bra Wars It's a billion-pound business [English money, no pun intended :] in which the men do the talking, innovation is king and industrial sabotage is not unheard of. ...it is a world of industrial espionage and cut-throat takeover bids, full of white-coated teams in expensive labs trying to create the next conical, push-up, Cross Your Heart, Wonderbra, Ultrabra, or some other device named like a cartoon superhero... http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/story.jsp?story=483123
In China, private eyes spy, snap, tape from legal twilight zones... By some estimates, 700 to 1,000 small investigations companies now ply their trade, employing tens of thousands of paid informants, stalkers, disguise artists, cameramen and part-time snoops. Like much business in China, the industry exists in a legal twilight zone. Banned by the central government in 1993, private detective agencies became semi-legal again after a 2002 court ruling. Even so, there's no central registry, no federal licensing and only fuzzy legal interpretation about how gumshoes may operate. http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/world/7773356.htm
Extortionography News #024 - Church Spy Tactics on Porn Customers Pastor Jim Norwood has photographed the customers' cars in the (adult store) parking lot, carefully adjusting his digital camera so that each license plate is in focus. Each car owner will soon get a postcard in the mail from Norwood's Oakcrest Family Church. On the front will be a color photo of their vehicle in the video store parking lot. On the back will be a note: "Observed you in the neighborhood. Didn't know if you were aware there is a church in the area … please stop by next time. We'd love to have you visit." Norwood, 56, who says he is a reformed drug abuser on a mission to rid the town of sexually oriented businesses, calls the postcards an "invitation to church." http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/ http://www.spybusters.com/Extortionography.html
Interstellar Espionage:
While We're Watching Mars, Could Someone be Watching Us? Have aliens sent mechanical emissaries to our solar system -- robotic probes on a snoopy mission to reconnoiter Earth?It’s certainly an intriguing idea: sophisticated spy satellites from light-years away monitoring our planet, watching the slow evolution of life, and reporting back to their alien masters. Such a scenario has frequently appeared in the SETI literature, and Allen Tough, at the University of Toronto, has urged that we take the idea seriously enough to make a search for these alien "bugs."... http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_alien_shostak_040122.html
Imagine a quarter-sized wireless audio and color video bug...
for under $100. ...
that anyone can buy and use! "Introducing the World's Smallest “Truly Wireless” COLOR Video Camera. Measuring about the size of a quarter, concealing this camera is not a problem. Hide the camera virtually anywhere you can imagine!" http://www.youcansave.com/webcamsv.asp How does Murray Associates find these bugs for their clients? http://www.spybusters.com/Infrared.html http://www.spybusters.com/RRSA.html
SPECIAL SECTION -- The Dust Bin
Competitor College -- Your TDR doesn't need you any more. Virtual Cable Tester™ (VCT) cable diagnostic technology allows end-users and IT managers to quickly and remotely analyze the quality and attributes of the attached cable plant, helping pinpoint the cause of network cable malfunctions without deploying field support personnel or bringing down the network. This allows for a significant reduction in installation time, cable debug efforts and overall network support cost. With the Marvell VCT technology, each network system port can independently detect and report cabling issues without the need to unplug cables, connect cable testers and install loop-back modules at the far end -- all of which are necessary when using traditional cable meters. http://marvell.com/products/transceivers/singleport/VCT_White_Paper.pdf
Wisdom From the Old Country "Fa male e pensaci, fa bene e dimentichi"
Do ill and regret it, do good and forget it . http://www.allthingssicilian.com/
Sweet Dreams... "Takara Co., Ltd. has developed a device which helps users to have the dreams of their desires. It is called Yumemi Koubou (pronounced You-may-me Koh-bo), which in Japanese means “Dream Viewing Workshop” and is designed to help people shape their dreams before going to sleep. This product, which is expected to go on sale in May, 2004 at a suggested price of ¥14,800 (plus tax), combines multi-sensory stimulus and sophisticated sleep-dream research to create an environment conducive to having the specific dream the user desires. Developed in cooperation with Dr. Eiko Matsuda of the Department of Sociology and Humanities at Edogawa University, the Yumemi Koubou device contains an array of lights, a panel for attaching a photo or image, a fragrance dispenser, an IC voice recorder, a selection of internally stored background music, two speakers and a control panel and timer." http://www.takaratoys.co.jp/english/PR/040114.pdf
Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy News of the Week.
January 17, 2004
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 -- Consumer Spy Equipment Sales
SPECIAL SECTION -- Spying on ATMs
SPECIAL SECTION -- World Spy News
SPECIAL SECTION -- Weird Science or Scam?
SPECIAL SECTION -- Secrets
SPECIAL SECTION -- Food For Thought ===================================================
SPECIAL SECTION -- Security Director News
How to not to hire spies and terrorists... "Business owners, executives, human resources departments, and hiring managers should be aware that some job candidates they are interviewing could be terrorists. In addition to your company's standard screening and hiring procedures (skill testing, interviews, etc.) there are some things you can do to guard against unwittingly hiring our enemies..." http://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/ http://www.theinterviewdoc.com
Beijing Ducked or just Cooked Goose? China - A security officer in the Israeli Embassy in Beijing caught a group of Chinese technicians last month attempting to plant electronic eavesdropping devices in the embassy's telephone lines. ... The Chinese are known to conduct aggressive electronic eavesdropping operations on all foreign facilities in China. This was not the first time the Chinese had tried to plant eavesdropping devices on telephone lines, which are used for encrypted communications as well as for open telephone calls. http://216.26.163.62/2004/ea_china_01_04.html
Eavesdropping Detection Sweeps in Scotland... Blue chip companies in Scotland are spending thousands of pounds on anti-bugging devices, which "sweep" their offices and prevent rival firms from stealing trade secrets. ... Private investigators say some organisations are paying up to £10,000 to have their premises checked to keep sensitive information under wraps. ... Privacy International, a watchdog on government and corporate surveillance, estimates that more than 200,000 bugging devices and covert cameras are sold every year. Products include everything from "bugs" concealed in pens, calculators and credit cards, to an electronic olive on a cocktail stick. ... "People are becoming more aware of the technology available. Bugs are very cheap and can be bought for less than £100." - Stephen Grant, a partner with the Edinburgh-based investigators Grant & McMurtrie (See "Consumer" section below.) http://www.business.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1412152003
Leaked Memos at IBM - Open Boxes? Windows Slammed? "The memo, titled On Demand Initiatives, from IBM CIO Bob Greenberg, and forwarded to us (The Inquirer) by an insider at IBM on the West Coast, is encouraging senior execs at Big Blue to switch to a Linux desktop by the end of 2005." http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13485
Survey: Fast growth may open businesses to industrial espionage Nearly half (46 percent) of the fastest growing companies in the United States have suffered a recent breach of their information security, despite beefed-up precautions since Sept. 11, 2001, according to a new survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers. ... "As corporate technology becomes increasingly advanced, information security becomes all the more critical," says Mark Lobel of PricewaterhouseCoopers. "But it would appear that many surveyed CEOs have only scratched the surface, with relatively light adoption of many of the alternatives available to them." http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/
Just who’s spying on your flight department?
If your company has trade secrets to protect, experts warn to be on the lookout for foreign government spies. If you’re not the type to fret over conspiracies about black helicopters and shadowy figures in trench coats, you might want to inject a little paranoia into your life. Industrial espionage is a serious threat, warn security experts, but the perpetrators probably are not who you’d expect... http://www.ainonline.com/issues/01_04/01_04_spyingp66.html
Global Digital Surveillance Forum 2004 Gathering the world's best-of-breed in digital surveillance, Global Digital Surveillance Forum 2004 helps channel buyers to keep pace with up-to-date development and applications of digital surveillance. ... March 24-26, 2004, Hall 1, Taipei World Trade Center, Taiwan http://www.secutech.com/english/
Add-on encryption for GSM cell phones, fax machines,
speakerphones and analog landline phones.
PC300 - SNAPcell™ 300 PC300 is a unique and highly affordable solution that effectively prevents eavesdropping on cell phones. ... Unlike other existing GSM solutions which require you to purchase a dedicated and expensive cellular handset, SNAPcell™ is a ultra-small snap-on accessory with the popular Ericsson T-Series GSM handsets. Just plug it into the handset and enjoy end-to-end military-strength security at EFR voice quality! The encryption procedures are completely transparent and no user-intervention is required. Enterprise Private Trunk™ The secure gateway adds point-to-multipoint calling capabilities to the Snapcell™ along with additional security and administrative functions. The secure gateway can also encrypt all corporate communications including fax, conferencing, cellular and wireline transmissions from a central office. (Secure phones - cell or landline - which can talk to any other phone without the need for a second encryption unit at the other phone. An updated version of our early 90's "Vulnerable Path Encryption" idea. A service was once implemented by the now defunct PrivaCall company. Still an intriguing concept. Now available on a DIY basis.) PT100 - SNAPfone™ 100 PT100 is a small, lightweight, plug & play unit that secures analog phones, speakerphones and fax communications. PT200 for ISDN communications equipment. http://www.global-teck.com/english/telecomproducts.php
Quick Tests... (effectiveness of 'tests' untested)
Test whether your email system is vulnerable to email viruses and attacks. http://www.emailsecuritytest.com/
Check for high security events happening on your machine, such as users logging on to your machine, accesses to important files on your machine, failed logon attempts, security policy changes... http://www.eventlogscan.com/
SPECIAL SECTION -- Consumer Spy Equipment Sales
Question: How easy is it for the average person to obtain eavesdropping tools?
Answer: Let's find out... A few interesting numbers from google searches...
"listening device" 38,700 hits
"surveillance products" 38,900 hits
"spy stuff" 42,600 hits
"spy gear" 42,800 hits
and... the number of sites with references to sites beginning with "www.spy" 36,800 hits.
New ATM Fraud Scheme... The scheme makes use of devices attached to an ATM to read a customer’s details on his card and obtain the customer’s PIN. It appears that two pieces of equipment are placed onto an ATM. One fits onto the ATM’s card slot, and it looks very much like the usual ATM slot except that it protrudes more from the surface of the ATM than the usual one. The second device – containing a small camera - is a long strip placed onto the ledge just below the light with a small hole in it facing downwards situated above the key pad. This we assume reads the PIN. http://www.spybusters.com/jpeg/ATMfraud.jpg
Thieves plant spy cameras in Hong Kong ATM machines... Pinhole spy cameras capable of filming people tapping in their PIN numbers have been found hidden in two bank cashpoint machines in Hong Kong, a news report said on Thursday. http://www.news24.com/News24/Backpage/
ATM thief on probation... Valentin Raducan, 31, was arrested Nov. 5 in Truckee after local police noticed him talking with another man on a two-way radio in the vicinity of the U.S. Bank branch on Donner Pass Road. ... Officers also found a pinhole camera attached to the U.S. Bank ATM machine, which they believe was transmitting PIN numbers of potential victims to the laptop inside the van. http://www.theunion.com/
SPECIAL SECTION -- World Spy News
...and what about before? Taiwan - President Chen Shui-bian claimed yesterday that he has not allowed illegal wire-tapping of political parties or individuals since he assumed office May 20, 2000. http://www.etaiwannews.com/Taiwan/2004/01/14/1074045065.htm
Parents spy on teens by phone... Australia - Parents will be able to track their teenagers 24 hours a day using secret bounce-back SMS messages. Parents using the "text track" technology get a return SMS instantly revealing their child's location. Teens will have no idea when their parents have done a check-up. http://www.news.com.au/common/printpage/0,6093,8364562,00.html
Dragnet v. Internet USA - There are many reasons why the feds are concerned about VoIP, but most of all they want to retain the ability to tap phone conversations in investigations. Internet-based phone calls can be encrypted, making them much harder to be tapped than traditional circuit-switched calls. http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=45695
Governor signs Video Voyeurism legislation New Jersey - The bill makes video voyeurism a crime of the third degree in New Jersey, punishable by 3 to 5 years imprisonment and up to $15,000 in fines. http://tinyurl.com/yre6o
Janitor accused of videotaping students in restroom found dead... New York State - A janitor accused of secretly videotaping female students and faculty in a restroom at a suburban Rochester high school has died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said. Allen Wemes, 52, was suspended from his job as chief custodian at Pittsford Sutherland High School last month after school officials found videotapes that surreptitiously depict a dozen students and faculty in restroom stalls. http://www.wnbc.com/education/2723408/detail.html
Q. How can you tell this guy has been watching too much CCTV? California - The El Granada landlord accused of installing a video camera behind his tenant's bathroom mirror and tapping her telephone line will meet in closed session Thursday with the judge and prosecution to determine whether his case will move to trial. (A. It is in his eyes. See photo in article.) http://www.hmbreview.com/articles/2004/01/07/news/local_news/story3.txt
Well, duh! Gen X'ers are more savvy than boomers at cellular deception, a poll indicates. ... Wireless technologies have fostered distrust, lying and cheating - especially among the post-baby-boom crowd. Just ask Jessica Dobson, a reformed cell-phone snooper... http://tinyurl.com/2gz22
Think Big... Find Everything! Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer Inc., and Motorola Inc. said they will work together in developing wireless products for tracking people, pets and things. ... Mr. Wozniak said WOZ's base stations will have coverage zones as large as 10 square miles. http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20040108S0018
Stop Time. See the Unseen. The Mumford Time Machine is a programmable controller and intervalometer for special photographic effects. http://www.bmumford.com/photo/camctlr.html
Hottest Wrist Watch for 2004! The GammaMaster is a precision timepiece with a built-in Geiger counter. http://www.gammawatch.com/
From those wonderful folks
who brought you the "Love-Detection" algorithm... Lie detection eyeglasses. Weird Science? You decide... "One little gadget debuting at CES claims to put truth detection voice analysis on the bridge of your nose. "Voice Analysis Eyeglasses" provide real-time analysis on the inside of the lenses about whoever is talking at the time, says its maker, the Israeli company Nemesysco, which developed the technology for counter-terrorism and government customers." http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/ http://www.nemesysco.com http://www.nemesysco.com/PR010802.html ("Love-Detection")
Stops Gadget Blab... Just bag it. mCloak, the "off-switch" for always-on mobile wireless devices and technologies. A simple method of making your wireless stuff invisible to any other wireless stuff or signal that would want to communicate with it. http://startsimple.com/mobilecloak/index.html
The story of a President,
born of a Voodoo priestess,
who has escaped zombification several times,
yet refers to himself as... (Oh, never mind. Too weird.)
Saturday is Voodoo Day in Benin and preparations are in full swing. ... Voodoo Day was declared a national holiday in Benin more than a decade ago, under the administration of former President Nicephore Soglo. http://www.ds-osac.org/view.cfm?
This Spud's for You... German police are investigating after an angry man returned a computer he had just bought saying it was packed with small potatoes instead of computer parts. The store replaced the computer free of charge but became suspicious when he returned a short time later with another potato-filled computer casing. "The second time he said he didn't need a computer any more and asked for his money back in cash," a police spokesman said. http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1105_2-5139288.html
Nash your teeth on this... B&W M&Ms ... "On January 1, 2004, precisely at the stroke of midnight, a phenomenon occurred—the likes of which mankind had never seen. Gasps were heard far and wide as word spread: "M&M'S Chocolate Candies have lost their color!" The world's most colorful chocolate candies could only be found in black and white. People were puzzled. Perplexed. Some were downright peeved." http://www.mms.com/us/bw/index.jsp http://www.spybusters.com/guestbook.html (Yes, B&W accepted.)
Have it your way, Beavis... Police believe teenage pranksters are hacking into the wireless frequency of a Burger King drive-through speaker to tell potential customers they are too fat for fast food. Policeman Gerry Scherlink said the pranksters told one customer who had just placed an order: "You don't need a couple of Whoppers. You are too fat. Pull ahead." http://www.ananova.com/news/story/
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