SpyCam'er Back in Court

MI - The child pornography and eavesdropping case against former Egelston Township Treasurer Brian Lee Hill is back on the local court schedule.

Hill is set for a pretrial conference 9 a.m. March 8 before 14th Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks on five counts of making or producing child sexually abusive material and five counts of using a computer to commit a crime, plus three counts of eavesdropping by installing a video device.

The eavesdropping charges, a two-year felony, are for allegedly snooping with a hidden camera on male teenage exchange students using the shower in his home at 1265 Drent. (more)

When Spies Go Bad

Estonia - Commander of Estonian Defense Forces, General-Major Ants Laaneots relieved on Tuesday the head of the military intelligence branch from his duties following allegations of spying on government officials.

The General Staff of the Defense Forces said Monday that Major Riho Uhtegi has been transferred to cadre reserve "due to service demands," but experts believe his dismissal is directly related to recent reports in the media that the Estonian military intelligence had been involved in "illegal activities."

Estonian newspaper Eesti Ekspress reported last week that military intelligence officers have been spying on defense ministry's staff and made attempts to recruit informers among officers, politicians and journalists. (more)

"Like this cat was watchin' me, man."

Acoustic Kitty was a CIA project launched in the 1960s attempting to use cats in spy missions. A battery and a microphone were implanted into a cat and an antenna into its tail. Due to problems with distraction, the cat's sense of hunger had to be removed in another operation. Surgical and training expenses are thought to have amounted to over 10 million British pounds.

The first cat mission was eavesdropping on two men in a park outside the Soviet compound on Wisconsin Avenue in Washington, D.C.. The cat was released nearby, but was hit and killed by a taxi almost immediately. Shortly thereafter the project was considered a failure and decided to be a total loss. (more)

Trojan Horse Trick #742

Security, spy gear disguised as ordinary household items...

Many of his cameras are disguised as ordinary household items - smoke detectors, clock radios and VCRs. They use secure digital video cards, similar to camera memory sticks, that plug into computers and make it easy to find the moment of truth.

And espionage has never been so affordable: Prices on digital video recorders have gone down in the last five years from $1,200 to $499.

So we thought we'd take a look at some of the most covert devices on the market, straight from Q Branch. After all, you only live twice. (more)

Trojan Horse Trick #741

"What a beautiful gift. Thank you!"

BIG mistake. One lamp is equipped with a microphone, attached to an always-on GSM cell phone, which is powered-up as soon as you plug your lamp into a wall outlet.

Doesn't matter where you put them - bedroom or office - the person now eavesdropping on you is just a phone call away ...anywhere in the world!

When was the last time you had your lamps checked? How about all those other items which surround you?

Beware of Geeks bearing gifts. (more)

Govt defends ‘spying’ amidst outrage

Kenya - Politicians and church leaders have expressed outrage over reports that the Government was spying on politicians to gauge their individual strengths on an election year. ...

But two Cabinet ministers Mr Amos Kimunya (Finance) and Mr Njeru Ndwiga (Co-operatives) defended Internal Security Minister Mr John Michuki, whose docket includes the Provincial Administration over the move, saying there was nothing about it that was unbecoming. (more)

Masons hit by bugging

Ireland - Police have launched an investigation into suspicions that meetings at one of Northern Ireland's largest Masonic Halls was bugged, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal today.

It is understood that the PSNI launched the probe after recordings were received in the post by Masonic officials at the headquarters of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Antrim at Rosemary Street in Belfast.

Police are investigating if the recordings are of secret rituals held in the building which is the main meeting place of freemasons in Co Antrim, one of the largest lodges in Ireland. (more)

Who watches you at work?

New Zealand - You might think that you're entitled to a certain amount of privacy at work, but this isn't always the case. Some employers have gone as far as putting secret cameras in employee changing areas and gotten away with it. Katrine Evans, assistant privacy commissioner, says privacy is governed by several principles and no methods of surveillance is completely banned. (more)

You're just 60 seconds away from being spied on!

SnoopStick is a USB flash drive type device that allows you to monitor what your kids, employees, or anyone [including Y-O-U] using your computer is doing while on the Internet. And, you can monitor them live, in real time, from anywhere in the world.

Simply plug the SnoopStick into the computer you want to monitor. Then run the setup program to install the SnoopStick monitoring components on the computer. The whole process takes less than 60 seconds.

The SnoopStick monitoring components are completely hidden, and there are no telltale signs that the computer is being monitored.

You can then unplug the SnoopStick and take it with you anywhere you go. No bigger than your thumb and less than 1/4" thick, you can carry it in your pocket, purse, or on your keychain.

Any time you want to see what web sites your kids or employees [or Y-O-U] are visiting, who they [or Y-O-U] are chatting with, and what they [or Y-O-U] are chatting about, [they or Y-O-U] simply plug in your SnoopStick to any Windows based computer with an Internet connection and a USB port. SnoopStick will automatically connect to the target computer.

...snoopstick it to them with some of these features...
- Send the user a pop up message alert. A good way to tell them they're busted!
- Turn off/on Internet access with the SnoopStick locally or remotely.
- Set allowable times for Internet access.
- Prevent users from using certain types of Internet programs.
- Block access to specified ports.
- Block access to web sites.
(more)

Picked as a winner, here, on 2/8.

Germany's "The Lives of Others," a searing look at totalitarian powers once wielded by East German secret police, the Stasi, won the Oscar for best foreign language film on Sunday.

The film by first-time filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck won rave reviews for its portrait of a Stasi agent who, while bugging a couple's home, develops an unexpected sympathy for them.

Malaysian state drops plan to spy on unmarried sex

A conservative state in Malaysia has dropped plans to recruit a network of spies to report unmarried couples having sex.

The Chief Minister in the northern state of Terengganu says the plan was scrapped after the Malaysian Prime Minister voiced his opposition to the plan.

The Prime Minister had called the proposed spy network an invasion of privacy, warning that it could also send the wrong message to foreign tourists.

"Do your own homework!"

A female science professor shares her personal spying experience... (more)

All of us know the feeling. It started in Third Grade when they looked over your shoulder. It continues now in the corporate world with co-workers and other corporations stealing your ideas and hard work.

The accompanying comments to her post are interesting, too. No consensus of moral opinion. Scary.

Nothing has changed except smart people now conduct quarterly searches for bugs and wiretaps.

...and you thought they were Sneakers.

Comverse continues to be at the center of an international wiretapping controversy which has serious implications for U.S. security. Interesting investigative report by FOX News, which is now rumored to be classified.

Up the creek...

Mozambique Minister spying on lazy workers...

Mozambique's Labour Minister, Maria Helena Taipo, early this morning surprised her employees, that were supposed to attend the public, by looking into complaints about the Ministry's service. Shocked about the staff's late arrival, she ordered a day's wage cut for all. (more)

Sometimes, surveillance does not require any electronics!

Spouse Spies

From mobile phones that double as transmitters to private eyes in far-away countries, companies are banking on the suspicions of spouses...

Responding to popular demand among wives whose husbands frequently visit China on business, due diligence companies are marketing new mobile phone eavesdropping technology for wives to listen in on their hubbies' phone conversations there. ...

When eavesdropping is not enough, many due diligence companies can ratchet up their services to include paying off Chinese police to follow a cheating Taiwanese husband and catch him, literally, with his pants down, the report added. (more)

On jamming cell phones...

"A client has asked me for information on blocking or jamming cellular phone and R/F signals from his corporate office." (from a well-respected security colleague)

Hi Sir,

Can't blame clients for asking. This is a fairly common request. In the U.S. jamming is illegal, but (more importantly) clients need to consider the civil and criminal lawsuit possibilities.

"I couldn't call 911 from the bathroom where Charlie had his heart attack. I was doing CPR and couldn't leave him to use a regular phone. He died!!!"

Who had this illegal jammer installed?
[enter client's name here]

Who installed it?
[enter electrician's name here]

Who advised them to do it?
[enter security specialist's name here]

Lotz-o-deep-pockets to pick.

Everyone wants a simple, cheap solution. Jamming and shielding are security sirens. They only look attractive, in a Ms. Smith sort of way.

Alternate client solutions...
- Establish a clearly defined 'no cell phone at work' policy.
- Establish consequences for non-compliance.
- Enforce it consistently and equally.
- Install cell phone detectors to alert when a cell phone is in use.
- Forget about shielding out other RF (bug) transmissions.
- Establish a regular TSCM audit schedule to search for bugs.
- Improve perimeter and general information security.
- Periodically, test for leaks.

I am sure all this just echos what you have already told them in different words. This rant, however, may help you to show them that your colleagues back you up.

If the client insists, send him the T-shirt and say "Good-bye."

~Kevin

"This is your Captain... listening."

A Japan Airlines pilot has been arrested on suspicion of planting bugging devices at the house of a flight attendant with whom he once had a romantic relationship, it was learned Friday.

According to police, Masahiro Nomura, 39, installed two radio-transmitting concealed microphones in the woman's house in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, and eavesdropped on her from June 2002 to November.

The relationship between Nomura and the flight attendant, 34, ended in October. She later found the microphones in a plug and an electric socket in her living room. She contacted the police, and they seized a receiver from Nomura's house on Feb. 9. (more)

Pssst... Wanna buy a KGB spy map?

What did the Russians ever do for us?
The spine-chilling fact is that they did more than you think.

Every Soviet leader from Stalin to Gorbachev knew not only where you lived but how to get there by tank. For over 50 years, before, during and after the Cold War, the Soviet military undertook the most comprehensive global survey ever attempted and created detailed, accurate maps of practically every country in the world.

Satellite images, high altitude aerial reconnaissance including spies on the ground were used to collect all possible information. (more) (sample) Ideas... Makes a cool wall hanging, or placemats.

Walter Mitty's PI avatar - another SpyBot

Boasting a motion detector, video camera, microphone and loudspeaker, Spyke is the ultimate Wi-Fi-enabled robot. We love him and so will you!

Main Features
- Spy robot - Spyke moves, watches, speaks and listens
- VOIP phone - Use your Spyke as a wireless VOIP phone (compatible with Skype 3.0 PC technology)
- Digital Music Player - listen to your own music over Wi-Fi with Spyke
- Video Surveillance - When a movement is detected, Spyke activates an alarm on your computer or sends you a picture by email
- Wi-Fi card included
- Motion sensors activate automatically when something happens
- Returns to recharging station automatically when battery is low
- Control on local Wi-Fi connection or remotely on internet (more)

SnitchBot News - Smokers, your butt is burned.

Robot manufacturer Tmsuk, Kyushu University and the Kanazawa Institute of Technology from Japan have all put their expertise together to develop a robot that can sniff out smoke. (more)

Spy Briefs (aka dirty underwear)

Sales of fake detective badges soar...
Kuala Lumpur - Rights groups reacted angrily on Thursday to a Muslim Malaysian state's plans to hire spies to catch couples engaged in extramarital sex, fearing it would lead to abuses of power. ... Under the plan, spies trained by Terengganu's religious officials will be located in hotels and parks. They will be rewarded for tipping off authorities about couples caught in compromising situations. (more)

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Meanwhile, over in Thailand...
Thailand's Shin Satellite has denied spying allegations by the Kingdom's military government. Despite that, Thai coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin vows to take back control of the satellites. (more)

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What's wrong with this picture?
Indonesia - On Monday, parliament's law commission will examine Mr Ruki (Chairman, KPK anti-corruption agency) over the counter-claims concerning the purchase of a $5 million phone tapping system by the corruption watchdog. ... The KPK was the only senior agency that had not been probed for corruption and the $5 million it paid for the wiretapping equipment was too high, cabinet minister Yusril Mahendra said. (more)

Spy Art

Art imitates life...
Build your own private spy agency. Travel around the world, trade with state secrets, weapon systems, spy codes, WMD, hire secretaries, agents, lawyers, helicopters and soldiers, establish agency stations and search for politicians. Game contains more than 30 missions including CIA Unlimited, Gen. Noriega, USAF, Colonel Gaddafi ,BND, Prime Minister, RAF, Cold War, Bin Laden, Sadam, KGB, Law Firm... (more)

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Art Watches Back...
City officials in Chicago placed surveillance cameras on top of giant twin towers designed by the Spanish artist Jaume Plensa using funds from the US Department of Homeland Security.

Paul Gray, co-owner and director of Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago which represents Plensa in the US, said the city “did not get permission from the artist” to use his towers in this way.

“When we learned about the concerns of Chicago’s art lovers, we took them down immediately,” says Kevin Smith, a spokesman for the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications. (more) "...and, we really don't care for the long security lines at O'Hare either."

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Watch Art, Watch Spies...
"The Good Shepherd,” a chilly film about a spy trapped in the cold of his own heart, seeks to put a tragic human face on the Central Intelligence Agency, namely that of Matt Damon. The story more or less begins and ends at the Bay of Pigs. (more)

The Oscar-nominated director of "The Lives of Others" says his next movie won't be about secret surveillance -- he wants to do "lots of other stuff." (more)

Deja Vu, the recent Denzel Washington film about an ATF agent, is not a particularly interesting film in its own right but gains significance when we locate it in the evolution of the surveillance film. This venerable tradition includes Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954), Antonioni’s Blowup (1966), Coppola’s The Conversation (1974), Tony Scott’s Enemy of the State (1998), Spielberg’s Minority Report (2002), Michael Haneke’s Caché (2005), and Scorsese’s latest offering, The Departed (2006). (more - an excellent read)

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“The more technology you use,
the easier it for them to keep tabs on you.”
~Edward 'Brill' Lyle

"Learn How To Spy On Top Ten Sites"

The hype...
"Have you heard about the new site ... that helps you beat your competition by spying on it?" (more)

The reality...
secretpagespy.com

The verdict...
We checked it out. If you are willing to trade your email address and your valuable time for a looong commercial message for marketing aids, in the hopes of gaining illicit 'spy' information on your competitors, using a few repackaged Internet search tools... Well, you get the idea.

Why smart organizations check for bugs... quarterly.

A controversy over covert video and audio surveillance equipment discovered in public buildings in a rural Ontario municipality has one elected official invoking the Watergate scandal.

The hidden cameras of Highlands East, in the Haliburton area, came to light last year at a fire hall. The station's commander had previously been dismissed when he and other volunteer firefighters were caught on tape drinking beer after the municipality had adopted a no-alcohol policy.

Highlands East Reeve Dave Burton and deputy reeve Jim Mackie, newly elected last November, are both volunteer firefighters, and criticized the use of surveillance in that matter and assumed it had ceased.

Mr. Mackie said he was astonished when a device was discovered in December concealed in a light fixture in the Gooderham firehall.

"The camera was powered up and broadcasting both audio and video, it was set up so anybody within about 300 feet who had that type of receiver could watch in there and listen with impunity."

After that discovery, Mr. Mackie said he went looking for other devices and found a hidden camera in the local arena, and another on the wall of the municipal building in Wilberforce.

Mr. Mackie said he was surprised by how "insidious" the device found in the fire hall was — no bigger than a loonie (a Canadian $1.00 coin measuring 26.5 mm). (more)

Stop & Shop... & Cop

MA - With help from US Secret Service agents, Stop & Shop Supermarket Cos. executives scrambled yesterday to determine how many consumers may have had their credit and debit card data stolen by high-tech thieves who apparently broke into checkout-line card readers and planted the equivalent of bugs to steal information. (more)

...at Stop & Shop, thieves manipulate a point-of-sale device and plant a bugging device to capture card numbers and personal identification codes. ... Stop & Shop said it was first notified last week by a bank that credit-card numbers were stolen from its stores. (more)

Some enchanted evening, you may see a stranger...

(Yet another interesting eavesdropping gadget. From the seller's ad...)
"Bionic ear allows you to hear a conversation from across a crowded room.

With the Spy Ear II, you have access to the latest technology in audio spying. Its mini size, lightweight and skin tone color allow you to hear from great distances without anyone knowing that you are wearing it. The ultra-sensitive microphone allows for crisp, clear audio all in a discreet, tiny earpiece.

There is a volume adjustment that allows you to easily change the volume and hone in on certain conversations.

Simply put, this tiny, cutting-edge device will turn any average Joe into a secret agent." (more)
If you see someone with this, sneak up behind them and snap your fingers.

County eavesdropping lawsuits settled...

...for $837,500.00

MI - Eight plaintiffs filed lawsuits in U.S. District Court in 2005 and 2006, alleging Michael Bridson (Undersherriff) had electronically eavesdropped on personal telephone conversations and, in some cases, repeated what he heard to others. (more)

Moral... Eavesdropping is expensive. Prevention is cheap.

DuPont Data Theft Shows Insider Risks

DE - Gary Min worked as a scientist at DuPont for 10 years, focusing on research involving a type of high-performance film. He also covertly used DuPont’s computer systems to steal trade secrets valued at more than $400 million shortly before joining a rival company.

Min’s case, the details of which were unsealed last week by the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware, is the latest — and perhaps most extreme — example of the dangers posed to corporate data by rogue insiders. ...

Although Min downloaded or accessed about 15 times more documents than the next-heaviest user of the EDL did during the period in question, his activities appear to have gone unnoticed until after he submitted his resignation. (more)

How to prevent a $400,000,000.00 problem...
Have a counterespionage program in place.
• Check IT records,
• inspect for bug and wiretaps,
• and conduct counterespionage security surveys
...regularly.

We can help.

Field Report on Swedish Bugging Protests

Sweden - Saturday, demonstrations were held in four major cities in Sweden to protest against the bill to allow a governmental authority, the FRA, to bug data traffic of any Swedish citizen at will. Surpassing the United States in privacy abolishment, this bill allows the government to spy on any data traffic, including phone calls, SMS, e-mail, web traffic etc.

...a person named Thom Kiraly went up and read an interesting poem about bugging. It ended with “Listen to the citizens - but do it in the right way!” (more)

Spy Hard II

The press is having fun with this one, but keep in mind that talented people, working under extreme pressures, working "24", with limited information will make more than the normal amount of mistakes. Being able to admit one's mistakes is admirable, too. ~Kevin

UK - An official report into the actions of Britain's spies has left them looking more like the bumbling French detective Inspector Clouseau than swish, sophisticated James Bond.

It reveals they make an "unacceptably high" level of blunders.

More than 4,000 errors were recorded in a 15-month period, including tapping the wrong telephones and intercepting post from a suspect's address even though he had moved house.

It is the first report of its kind from Sir Swinton Thomas, the outgoing Interception of Communications Commissioner. ...

The most common mistake was simply entering the wrong telephone number on a tapping warrant. (more) (more)

The important part of this report went under-reported...
The long-established principle that the phones of MPs and peers cannot be tapped by the security services places them above the law and could prevent investigations into serious crime or terrorism, the prime minister's eavesdropping watchdog warned yesterday.

Sir Swinton Thomas urged Tony Blair to overrule objections by MPs, including some cabinet ministers, to the phone tap ban. (more)

Illegally bugged Czechs entitled to compensation

Prague - Czechs whose telephones were illegally wiretapped by the police would be entitled to compensation from the state under an amendment to the Penal Code drafted by the Justice Ministry... (more)

KPMG infiltrated - no business is immune.

An inside look at how the accounting giant was infiltrated by private intelligence firm Diligence.

In the spring of 2005, Guy Enright, an accountant at KPMG Financial Advisory Services Ltd. in Bermuda, got a call from a man identifying himself in a crisp British accent as Nick Hamilton. Hamilton said he needed to see Enright about matters of utmost importance.

Over the course of two meetings, Hamilton led Enright to believe he was a British intelligence officer, according to a person familiar with the encounters. He told Enright he wanted information about a KPMG project that Hamilton said had national security implications for Britain. Soon, Enright, who was born in Britain, was depositing confidential audit documents in plastic containers at drop-off points designated by Hamilton.

But Nick Hamilton was not an agent of Her Majesty's secret service, and the documents never found their way to the British government.

Nick Hamilton was in fact Nick Day, now 38, a onetime British agent and co-founder of Diligence Inc., a Washington private intelligence firm... (more)

As you can see, corporate espionage is now big business. Infiltration and eavesdropping are two espionage tricks which go hand in hand. Keep our number handy. ~Kevin

Eavesdropping up in yet another country

Bangladesh - The interim government has intensified mobile phone tapping and email monitoring of a large number of individuals, ranging from politicians to journalists.

On the watch list are political leaders and businesspeople with dubious track record, past and present top bureaucrats with political affiliations, listed criminals, and also a few journalists and civil society members, sources in the telecom companies and intelligence agencies said. (more)

Dispatchers File Federal Wiretapping Lawsuit

Iowa - Three dispatchers at the Clinton County Law Center have filed a federal lawsuit claiming their personal phone calls were taped while they were at work. (more)

Belgium investigates alleged wiretapping in Brussels

Belgium - Former Euro-deputy Koldo Gorostiaga assured that "all signs and precedents point at Spanish secret services." They showed the alleged wiretapping system during a press conference.

Belgium's Minister of Justice Laurette Onkelinx announced, during an appearance in the Federal Parliament, that a judicial investigation had been opened to find out if the offices of the Basque outlawed Batasuna party in Brussels had been wiretapped and if it had been the work of foreign secrete services, which would suppose "a violation of the sovereignty principle." (more)

Pellicano Splash Landing

CA - Initially dubbed one of Hollywood's biggest scandals, the Anthony Pellicano wiretapping affair is landing with a thud.

A Feb. 15 Los Angeles Times story declared that prosecutors had filed "the latest and perhaps final federal indictment" in the case. But no one new was charged; the indictment merely adds more details of Pellicano's alleged wiretapping, including how he conspired with attorney Terry Christensen to tap the ex-wife of Kirk Kerkorian. (more)

Record number of wiretaps in 2006

Japan - Police in 2006 used a record-breaking number of authorized wiretaps to arrest 27 people nationwide in nine drug cases, Justice Minister Jinen Nagase told a Cabinet meeting Friday.

Compared with only five wiretaps conducted in 2005, the sharp rise "indicates authorized wiretapping seems to be taking hold as a means of criminal investigations," a Justice Ministry official said. (more)

Eavesdropping Prevention Trick #633

Does the office loudmouth sit near you?