Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy News of the Week.
February 15, 2004
To: Clients, colleagues and friends.
Subject: Espionage & Privacy News of the Week.
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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 -- Snoop Scoops
SPECIAL SECTION -- Web Wires
SPECIAL SECTION -- The Fun Stuff ===================================================
Cautionary Tale #771 - Camera 54, where are you? Kansas - A man accused of using a camera to spy on women at a hospital bathroom is found guilty. 36-year-old Timothy Nicholson was taping them in the bathroom of a co-ed locker room. ... Nicholson was using the hospital's equipment without authorization to execute his crimes. The state will recommend a suspended sentence and two years probation. (The hospital may not be so lucky given possible civil law suits. Make sure you have a written policy on the proper use of your surveillance equipment and periodically check to make sure your equipment is being used properly.) http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/592217.html
Cautionary Tale #772 - Why inspect? Because anyone can get TWO wireless pinhole spy cameras and a receiver for less than the cost of a dinner at a nice restaurant... $29.99 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?
Cautionary Tale #773 - Computer snooping - A new trend. Washington - Republican snooping through Democrats' tactical memos on President Bush's judicial nominees has grown into a full-blown Capitol Hill uproar - with comparisons to Watergate, accusations of court tampering and conservatives attacking senior GOP senators. ... Senator Kennedy compared it to Watergate. "In those days, break-ins required a physical presence, burglar's tools, lookouts and getaway cars," he said. "Today, theft may only require a computer and the skills to use it and the will to break in." http://www.benningtonbanner.com/Stories/0,1413,104
Cautionary Tale #774 - Think I was kidding about #773? Think again. Israel - There was a computer heist in a Haifa branch of the Israeli Postal Service, successfully stealing 56 thousand Shekels (a sum equal to about 13 thousand US Dollars) using a wireless networking device planted in a computer rack and hooked into the local computer network.
Reports claim the scam took place as follows:
1. The break-in... installing the Wireless Gateway/Entry Point. 2. "Dispensable Mob Soldiers" (as termed by the Police) of what the Police believe to be a vast and sophisticated crime gang, opened legitimate new accounts at the Postal Service bank. 3. A person, supposedly using a laptop at the distance of a few hundred meters, gained access to the Postal Service bank computer systems and initiated money transfers, illegally transferring money to the newly-opened accounts. 4. The perpetrators then attempted to withdraw the funds from the new accounts, which led to the arrest of four suspects. The suspects have yet to cooperate with the authorities, which are trying to locate the "brains" as well as the "hacker" behind the operation.
An Israeli Police official was quoted saying "This computer crime takes us to year 3000." (Yo, Po. This only takes us to the day it was done. The year 3000 is beyond your wildest imagination. I guarantee it.) http://www.math.org.il/post-office.html http://www.math.org.il/post-office2.html
Special thanks to: Gadi Evron,
Senior security and virus researcher,
eSafe, Aladdin Knowledge Systems.
and
Bruce Schneier
Founder and CTO
Counterpane Internet Security, Inc. http://www.counterpane.com
for this story.
Please Note... Our service also checks for rogue wireless LANs (802.11b et.al.) and locates covert wireless spy cameras. http://www.spybusters.com/
Security Director Question of the Week...
Q. "What would be needed to look for a specific word or words being spoken or used within a large number of voice-mails?" A. Fast-Talk Telephony, an audio search engine designed to let organizations better manage and mine audio information. The new product was created to search for key words, phrases and proper names within any recorded conversation or voice message, regardless of recording quality. Fast-Talk Telephony can search 20 hours of recorded conversations in one second with 98 percent accuracy. http://www.fast-talk.com/
SPECIAL SECTION -- Snoop Scoops
When you're in deep water it's a good idea to keep your mouth shut! Wiretapped phones, hidden video cameras and microphones. Law enforcement uses them all to catch criminals. But there are indications more and more people are using under cover equipment to spy on co-workers and loved ones. Even though in many instances it's illegal you won't find a lot of criminal cases involving eavesdropping in the courts. Why? Many people who discover they're being spied on are just too embarrassed to file charges. http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=1641707 http://video.wtnh.com/news/2004/feb/clips/ (Video News Report)
Most people don't act stupid: it's the real thing! Scott Fawell, a former top aide to George Ryan, could feel the breath of federal investigators on his neck, so he decided to do a little cleaning and redecorating at his government office at Navy Pier. Fawell had his office and others swept -- for listening devices, at a cost of $16,500. He rented out a special spy clock for his office for $400 a month, one that could alert him if a visitor was wearing a bug and working for the FBI. ... Fawell, 46, is now serving a 61/2 year prison sentence. He could see his prison time increase substantially for the contract he allegedly fixed while heading McPier. http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-mcpier11.html
Most people don't act stupid: it's the real thing II! Telephone conmen have come up with a new ruse to raid credit cardholders' accounts by posing as fraud investigators from card issuers such as Visa and Mastercard. The unsuspecting victims are approached by telephone, with the investigator' questioning them over an unusual spending pattern' on their credit card. When the cardholder denies the purchase, they are told a refund will be made and are then asked for their card's three-digit security number to confirm it is still in their possession. Subsequently the card account is milked over the next few days. http://www.ds-osac.org/view.cfm?
Latest word on the Street... Philadelphia - First, the FBI tapped the phones of a Muslim cleric and businessman operating out of a rundown building in Mount Airy. Then, they tapped the phone at the plush Center City office of über-lawyer Ronald A. White, a wealthy power broker obscure to the public but well-known to the politicians who coveted his campaign cash. Next, federal authorities tapped the city's treasurer, an eager young acolyte of White's who helped dole out lucrative city bond work. Finally came the big leap: a bug in the mayor's office (Mayor Street of Philadelphia, PA). By the time the bug was pulled out of the ceiling of the mayor's office four months ago, the FBI already had reams of evidence: spools of tape from at least eight phone taps and three office bugs, for starters. http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/7899958.htm
More words on the street... Microphones that will listen to street noise during the Olympic Games are being added to surveillance cameras around the city to improve security, Greece's public order minister said. ... and flatly denied that the cone-shaped microphones will be used to monitor conversations or broadcast instructions to bystanders. http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/
Intelligence Historian And Spy Technology Expert
To Speak At The U.S. Air Force Museum Feb 18th Dayton, Ohio -- The James Bond-like world of espionage and spy technology is brought to life when Mr. H. Keith Melton speaks at the U.S. Air Force Museum on February 18 at 7:30 p.m. During the lecture, Mr. Melton will discuss the "Evolution of Tradecraft," which looks at the development of espionage and supporting "spy devices," up to and including World War II. In addition, he'll also discuss his latest book, Ultimate Spy, which remains the largest selling reference book of the last ten years with more than 280,000 copies in print worldwide. The book is also frequently used as an introductory handbook on espionage for many newly hired employees within the intelligence community. ... The U.S. Air Force Museum is located on Springfield Pike, six miles northeast of downtown Dayton. It is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day). Admission and parking are free. Contact: Rob Bardua (937) 255-4704, ext. 330 http://www.centennialofflight.gov/user/news_releases/press_afSpy.htm
We'd rather you call him a Principal... Georgia - A woman has given pictures of a flasher to police, after photographing the man while pretending to miss a call on her mobile phone. ... Those photos along with the car licence plate she recorded helped police arrest Theodore Robert Neuman, who immediately resigned as director of the community schools program for Duluth High School in Georgia, where he was once the headmaster. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/
"If I'm lying, I'm dying." (Get the casket.)
Voice-stress analysis, an alternative to the polygraph as a method for lie detection, is already widely used in police and insurance fraud investigations. Now, however, it is being touted as a powerful and effective tool for an array of new applications -- everything from the screening of potential terrorists in the nation's airports to catching wayward spouses in messy marital disputes. Despite its booming popularity, a number of federally sponsored studies have found little or no scientific evidence to support the notion that existing voice-stress technologies are capable of consistently detecting lies and deceptions. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/02/040211080041.htm
SPECIAL SECTION -- Web Wires
"ohhh, Seese-co... You got ze stinkin' VoIP surveillance?"
"ohhh, Pahn-cho... Sí. Be sure to obey ze law, eh ha ha Blaahahaaaa." Network equipment giant (Cisco) has announced eavesdropping service availability for VoIP telephony. ... surveillance capability has been built into a number of products. ... Cisco provides an easier means to do something that is already possible. If the service provider encrypts it's traffic, the standard provides mechanisms for ISPs to turn over encryption keys to law enforcement agencies. Wiretaps are normally made only with judicial oversight, but Cisco says its up to users to make sure that relevant laws are observed and obeyed. http://xatrix.org/article3221.html
"ohhh, Seese-co..." In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), written on behalf of the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the US Justice Department, FBI Deputy General Counsel Patrick W. Kelley urges federal communications regulators to delay setting rules for Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems until law enforcement and national security concerns can be addressed. Law enforcement agencies worry that it may be difficult to place wiretaps on VoIP systems in the same way as surveillance is possible for 'regular' telephones. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/7884914.htm
Cable modems - the new party line - now with free spyware! The topography of cable modem networks typically puts between 500 and 1,000 homes in a neighborhood on the same circuit, their Internet traffic all mingled on the same co-ax cable. Subscribers are prevented from eavesdropping on their neighbors' traffic by their own modem... (however) The program, called Sigma, was released in its final version last month, and has reportedly been downloaded 350 to 400 times a day ever since. ... (Check your cable modem service contract for this.) "All Subscriber's ethernet traffic ... will be reflected by the cable modem in an unencrypted form onto the cable network and be subject to eavesdropping." http://www.securityfocus.com/news/7977 "Your #1 Resource for Cable Modem Hacking..." http://www.tcniso.net/ (Sigma freeware)
SPECIAL SECTION -- The Fun Stuff
Industrial Espionage puts the 'ie' in movie! "Paycheck" - Ben Affleck plays Michael, a 'reverse engineer' - this means he studies new technology to figure out how it works, and then copies and improves on it. He is paid large sums of money for this sort of industrial espionage, and then, once the job is done, his memory is erased so that he can't reveal what he's been up to. http://www.di-ve.com/dive/portal/portal.jhtml?id=123700&pid=1 http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/paycheck/medium.html
Ice Disney World.
Here is this year's real family vacation... SpyRetreat - 2004 The Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies of Alexandria, Virginia, invites you to join them at the luxury resort, The Homestead, in Hot Springs, Virginia for SpyRetreat™, April 25-30, 2004. http://www.spytrek.com/spyretreat/index.html
SpyRetreat™ is sponsored by: http://spymuseum.org/ http://afio.com/
You know about...
One hand clapping.
A tree falling when no one hears it. But what about water balloons being popped in zero gravity?
Complete your eclectic metaphysical education here... http://microgravity.grc.nasa.gov/balloon/blob.htm
My stomach has known this for decades... Princeton physicist Paul Chaikin's passion for M&M candies was so well known that his students played a sweet practical joke on him by leaving a 55-gallon drum of the candies in his office. Little did they know that their prank would lead to a physics breakthrough. The barrel full of the oblate little candies made Chaikin think about how well they packed in. A series of studies have shown they pack more tightly than perfect spheres -- something that surprises many physicists and Chaikin himself. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story
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