More falling spy stuff

South Korea - A pilotless South Korean spy aircraft crashed Thursday near the border with North Korea and there were no casualties on the ground, the South Korean military said. The aircraft from the 5th South Korean Army Corps went down near a factory in Pocheon, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, shortly after it took off for a regular mission...

Some windows of the factory were broken but no one was injured on the ground.

The aircraft type was not immediately known, but Yonhap news agency said it was believed to be the locally developed RQ-101, which is 4.8 meters (16 feet) long and weighs 250 kilograms (551 pounds).

Happyton the Unhappy - Spy Chief

The US Treasury said Wednesday it had blacklisted the chief of Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence Organization and a nephew of Robert Mugabe, the African state's president.

The Treasury identified Zimbabwe's spy chief as Happyton Bonyongwe in a statement which also announced that Leo Mugabe, a nephew of the country's president, would also be subjected to targeted US financial sanctions.

"The US financial system is closed to Robert Mugabe, his cohorts and their businesses," said Treasury official Adam Szubin, who runs the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. (more)

"So, where does a 10,000 lb. spy satellite land?"

Anywhere it wants to! (rim-shot)

Did 'ya hear about the 'American Fallen-Idol' star?
It never made it to the Heavy Metal Band! (rim-shot)

How about 'The Spy Who Slagged Me?' (rim-shot)

The U.S. military is developing plans to deal with the possibility that a spy satellite expected to fall to Earth in late February or early March could hit North America. (Ok, I'll stop the jokes.)

Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, head of the U.S. Northern Command, said Tuesday that the size of the satellite suggested some pieces would not burn up as the orbiting vehicle re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere and would hit the ground.

A U.S. official confirmed that the spy satellite, which has lost power and no longer can be controlled, was launched in December 2006 and could weigh as much as 10,000 pounds. (more) (video report)

Stay tuned for more news about the final ride of US 193 / NORAD ID: 29651.

Listen to your neighbors from across the street!

Naaaahhh,
just kidding.
...or, maybe not?

Duncan Wilson is a designer. He describes his invention this way...

"Every object and surface in our environment has a whisper; subtle tremors and vibrations that are usually undetectable to the human ear, produced by the activity and movement of daily life.

What if these sounds were audible? How would that change our aural awareness, perception of space and attitude towards objects? Would it be possible to ‘compose’ our own soundtrack using our walls and objects as a new form of instruments? Madsounds is a proposal for a different appreciation of our environment, space and objects by making it possible to identify, combine and manipulate these sounds.

We designed OTTO (Greek for ‘ear’); a device that makes hidden sounds audible. This is achieved via a thin polymer piezoelectric contact that senses weak vibrations and plays them as a sound through an integrated speaker. OTTO can be positioned on almost any surface through a combination of suction and magnets. By placing several units on different objects, one can select and create a new sonic experience and a form of ambient music appreciation, thereby utilising our space as a multidirectional audio platform." (more)

"...and stop saying 'loopy coolie'!"

A Florida woman who believed she was about to get fired has been accused of deleting $2.5m worth of computer files to seek revenge on her employer.

Jacksonville Sheriff's officials say Marie Lupe Cooley, 41, used her own account credentials to access the server of Steven E. Hutchins Architects and delete seven years' worth of drawings.

Cooley went on her silent rampage after finding a help-wanted ad placed by her boss. It described an open administrative assistant position that sounded remarkably similar to hers.

As it turned out, the help-wanted ad listed a position available in the office of Hutchins's wife. Cooley's job was never under threat, though it probably is now. (more)

Disgruntled employees also sneak in and plant bugs to find out who will be sacked. When was your last eavesdropping detection inspection?

More Spyphone Software Being Released

...from the manufacturer's web site...
ChinTAHO TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
Product Name: Mobile Phone Bidirectional Monitor
Model No.: MO-B-001 手機雙向監聽軟體

1. Not limited to any mobile phone
2. Not limited in time
3. Instant telephone alarm
4. Instant news in brief alarm
5. Outlying remote switch
6. No record kept back
7. Speedy and convenient modification
8. Installs in one minute
(more)

Why do I mention it?
So you know what you're up against.

1,000 taps a day!?!? Quick, call Ripley's

UK - Britain is in danger of becoming a "surveillance state" as authorities including councils launch bugging operations against 1,000 people a day. ...

The report, by Sir Paul Kennedy, the Interception of Communications Commissioner, has fueled fears that Britain is becoming a state where private communications are routinely monitored.

It also found that more than 1,000 of the bugging operations were flawed. In some cases, the phones of innocent people were tapped simply because of administrative errors. (more) (+1-407-345-8010)

Choo Shoe Gumshoe Tapper Story

UK - A private detective who helped to spy on the Jimmy Choo shoe boss Tamara Mellon was jailed for 21 months today.

David Carroll, 60, from Highgate, north London, played a leading role in a City-based agency operation, Active Investigation Services (AIS), which specialised in computer hacking and telephone tapping. ...

Engineers later found that hundreds of made-to-order tapping kits had been installed across the country by a former engineer on the AIS payroll.

The court heard that Carroll's tenure at AIS saw him involved in efforts to spy on a waste management company's critics, tap the phones of a client's wife suspected of having an affair, and target Mrs Mellon.

The company charged £3,000 for phone tapping, itemised line billing was priced at £750 a month, while personal banking information could be bought for £2,000 and confidential medical records for £500. Hacking into a computer was available for £5,000. (more)

Diana thought al-Fayed was bugging yacht

Princess Diana thought luxury store owner Mohamed al-Fayed was spying on her during her last voyage on his yacht before she died in a Paris car crash, her sister told the inquest into Diana's death on Monday. ...When asked by lawyer Ian Burnett if Diana had talked about being bugged, Sarah McCorquodale (Diana's sister) said, "She thought the boat was being bugged by Mr al-Fayed Senior." (more)

Spy vs Spy - The DC Tunnel

March 5, 2001 - Russia's Foreign Ministry has demanded details of a secret tunnel allegedly built underneath the Soviet Embassy in Washington for eavesdropping.

Present and former U.S. officials told CNN the tunnel -- under what is now the Russian Embassy -- was built by American intelligence services and packed with millions of dollars worth of sophisticated equipment. (more)

Spy vs. Spy - The East Berlin Tunnel

On a rainy day 52 years ago, the cover was blown on one of the biggest espionage plots of the Cold War. Soviet and East German forces announced that they had found a quarter-mile-long tunnel that the CIA had burrowed into East Berlin as part of a massive wiretapping operation.

Though the audacious project had come to a crashing end, news of the discovery generated unrestrained glee across the Atlantic at CIA headquarters. America's spymasters were thrilled by the world's response: admiration for the CIA's daring and technical prowess, and a general assumption that the agency had roundly snookered the Soviets.

The truth was much more complicated. Unbeknownst to the CIA, the Soviets had known about the tunnel all along. (more)
Book: Battleground Berlin: CIA vs. KGB in the Cold War

The Ultimate Wiretap

The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret

Seth Shulman closely examines the race to build the first telephone and uncovers potential bombshells with The Telephone Gambit. Although Alexander Graham Bell is widely accepted as the father of the telephone (despite the fact that rival inventor Elisha Gray submitted a similar claim the same day Bell filed his patent), Schulman provides intriguing evidence questioning if the scales were deliberately tipped in Alexander's favor. Was the venerable inventor party to theft from Gray's own research?

While researching Alexander Graham Bell at MIT's Dibner Institute, Seth Shulman scrutinized Bell's journals and within them he found the smoking gun, a hint of deeply buried historical intrigue. Delving further, Shulman unearthed the surprising story behind the invention of the telephone: a tale of romance, corruption, and unchecked ambition.

Bell furtively—and illegally—copied part of Elisha Gray's invention in the race to secure what would become the most valuable U.S. patent ever issued. book

...just in time to see the other one.

India successfully launched an Israeli spy satellite into orbit on Monday January 21, 2008. The launch of the TECSAR satellite by an Indian-made rocket was carried out in clear weather at 9:15 am local time (0345 GMT) from the Sriharikota space station in southern India. (more) (the other one)

DUCK!

A disabled American spy satellite is rapidly descending and is likely to plunge to Earth by late February or early March, posing a potential danger from its debris, officials said Saturday.

Officials said that they had no control over the nonfunctioning satellite and that it was unknown where the debris might land. (more)

Quote of the Day

"We're long past alligator clips on copper wires." - Roger Pilon, writing in The Wall Street Journal about a bipartisan surveillance authorization measure that's already passed the Intelligence Committee. (more)

Senior Russian spy's secrets revealed in new book

"Comrade J.: The Untold Secrets of Russia's Master Spy in America after the End of the Cold War"

Once a senior KGB officer who says he was driven by patriotism, Sergei Tretyakov says he defected in 2000 because he lost faith in post-Soviet Russia and he's now ready to tell his story for the first time.

As deputy head of intelligence at Russia's U.N. mission from 1995 to 2000, Tretyakov directed spy operations in New York and at the United Nations. He says his agents included a former Soviet bloc ambassador and a senior Russian official in the Iraqi oil-for-food program.

Tretyakov's defection with his wife and daughter in 2000 caused only a minor flurry and was shrouded in secrecy.

A new book by former Washington Post journalist Pete Earley reveals he was among the most senior Russian agents to defect to the United States, and that he was a double-agent passing secrets to Washington for up to three years before 2000. (more)

China's Secret Police Target Britain's Sailors in Spying Row

"You don't need a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows."
Britain's Olympic sailing team have been targeted by the Chinese secret police for conducting "illegal meteorological surveys" at the 2008 Games' venue, Qingdao. The Royal Yachting Association, whose teams have been more successful than any other sports at the past two Olympics, set up a weather station in Qingdao to analyze the conditions that will influence August's races. But towards the end of 2006 the weather station, which cost £8,000, was confiscated by the Chinese authorities and has not been returned.

"With the approaching of the Beijing Olympics, foreign illegal meteorological surveys have emerged in several Olympic cities," said the official portal, China.org.cn. "Three cases involving the US, the UK and Australia have been reported since last year. Foreign violators installed illegal monitoring equipments (sic) under the auspices of pre-match preparation. (more)

How secure are your text messages?

"For most people, the answer is ...don't worry."
(That, according to Time Magazine, who didn't see this.)

"In the mayor's case (see last story), the reason his messages have been exposed is because of the specialized service the city has contracted with to handle wireless communications between city officials. Although the scandal is already being dubbed BlackBerrygate by wags, the gizmo the mayor and Beatty used to communicate wasn't a BlackBerry at all.

It was a SkyWriter, and although it looks a lot like a BlackBerry, it's a dedicated messaging device provided to the city by SkyTel, a Mississippi-based wireless company that specializes in providing paging and messaging services to large corporations and governmental bodies through its own wireless network and devices.

"Every message sent over the SkyTel network ... is recorded, including: Date and time the message was sent... 'From' address... 'To' address... Length of the message..Entire message content up to 2,000 characters ," notes the company on its Web site in an article about the "benefits of message archiving."

For major corporations and governments, the automatic archiving of such messages is important, where legal requirements mandate the storage of all business- or government-related communications. But tell the mayor that's a benefit today." (more)

'Sex, Lies and Texting’

A scandal envelops the mayor of Motown...

MI - It's bone-chillingly cold in Detroit, and the big auto show is going on, but all anyone can talk about is the scandal consuming Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick--the one a local TV station calls "Sex, Lies and Texting."

Once known as America's first hip-hop mayor, Kilpatrick, 37, had notably toned down his living-large lifestyle in his second term as the mayor of Motown. But this week, his partying past caught up with him.

The Detroit Free Press published text messages between Kilpatrick (who is married with children) and his chief of staff, Christine Beatty (divorced with children), that seem to confirm what both have denied under oath: that they had an illicit affair. (more)

SpyCam Story #428 - Counterspy High

MA - Students (Jason Kuo and Nathan Yeo) writing for Newton South High School's newspaper (Denebola) discovered that secret cameras were installed in their school.

"Two cameras are located near the locker rooms and are enclosed in black translucent domes. Three others are in halls around the school and are disguised as smoke detectors. They have clear views of bathrooms that school administrators believe are at most risk of vandalism." (more)

"It's just really concerning that the general public just wasn't made aware of the fact that they installed these cameras," said Jason Kuo, a managing editor who worked on the story.

School Principal Brian Salzer wrote an internal e-mail, "They were installed without permission from anyone. I didn't know they were up! The students broke the story to (Superintendent) Jeff Young, School Committee and me." ...Salzer, who wouldn't speak on camera, admitted he later learned who installed the cameras but refused to reveal names. He also indicated in his e-mail that he believed the cameras would be removed soon. (more)

Researchers Develop 100% Accurate Electronic Face Recognition

Researchers claim they have perfected a system that uses computers to accurately identify images of people's faces, which could aid in the apprehension of criminals in public places such as airports that use surveillance cameras. (more)

SpyCam Story #427 - From Cell to Cell

MA - A 2006 graduate of New England School of Law will stand trial on Jan. 29 in Boston Municipal Court on charges of wiretapping, aiding an escape and disturbing the peace for allegedly using his cell phone to record the arrest of a 16-year-old juvenile in a drug case.

The matter, which stems from an Oct. 1 incident, has drawn the ire of local legal heavyweight Harvey A. Silverglate — who has penned an op-ed on the case for the Jan. 28 issue of Lawyers Weekly — and others who worry about the consequences for “concerned citizens” who choose to record possible police misconduct. (more)

UPDATE - 2/1/08 - A Boston lawyer charged with wiretapping, disturbing the peace and aiding the escape of a suspect while using his cell phone to film a Boston Police officer won dismissal of the aiding-an-escape charge in Boston Municipal Court yesterday.
It pays to be a lawyer...
The trial of attorney Simon Glik is not the first time Massachusetts has pursued wiretapping charges against citizens with cameras. A Brighton District Court jury on Dec. 5, 2007 convicted protester Peter Lowney, 38, of Newton, of wiretapping when he video recorded a Boston University police sergeant during a demonstration - despite that officer's repeated instructions to stop taping. Lowney was sentenced to six months probation and ordered to pay a $500 fine. (more)

Isiah Thomas doesn't deny 'spies' claim

NY - Perhaps he was worried that Big Brother was listening in, but an extremely cautious Isiah Thomas did not deny Larry Brown's damning contention that the Garden was a veritable spy nest during Brown's one season coaching the Knicks.

Finally breaking his silence on his disastrous season in New York, Brown told Philadelphia Magazine that "they had security people standing close to me in press conferences, and spies throughout the arena."

So welcome to another PR mess for the Knicks. When asked yesterday after practice if Brown had ever complained to him about the spies, Thomas - Brown's boss in 2005-06 - took a long pause, but never denied the charge when he said, choosing his words carefully, "I don't think we need to revisit any of that." (more)

Ever wonder what the future will bring?

Ever consider that today was somebody else's future?

What were they thinking about us?

Were they correct?

David Szondy knows.
You will find him here.
Take all the 'tours'.
You will never see your future the same again.

Need a daily dose to make you feel superior to your ancestors? Visit Ephemeral Isle.

Spy on Guam News Junkies

Ever wonder what the News Hounds on Guam are craving?

This is your chance to spy on them. (more)

Skim Scam

Australia - Criminals are using wireless technology to skim personal identification numbers from bank cards at ATMs while sitting up to 100m away.

Detective Superintendent Brian Hay of Queensland police said the new technology also meant skimmers no longer needed to install spy cameras on ATMs to record PINs.

"All the card data is transmitted to their laptops while they're having a cup of coffee up to 100m away,'' he said. "They design the keypad overlays for specific types of ATMs so it makes them very difficult to detect.''

Police found the technology could be bought on the internet from black market websites. (more)

Hot Tip - "Buy Tiawanese CCTV stock."

Research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan forecasts that the global video surveillance equipment market will grow from US$800 million in 2006 to US$10 billion in 2008. (more)

Another one of the Masters framed

Mere hours after the release of Tim Masters, the Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck held a press conference signifying a new chapter in the case.

In 1999 Masters was convicted of murdering and mutilating Peggy Hettrick in 1987, when he was 15 years old. Today, Masters conviction was overturned due to new DNA evidence pointing to a different suspect...

“I won’t name anybody particularly, but (we’re investigating) individuals within the Fort Collins police department, and the scope involved possible perjury and illegal wiretapping,” Buck said. (more)

Max Means Business

FIA president Max Mosley has revealed that any Formula One team caught spying in the future faces expulsion from the championship.

McLaren were fined £50million and kicked out of the 2007 constructors' championship by the FIA's World Motor Sport Council in September after they were found guilty of being in illegal possession of Ferrari technical data, but their drivers - Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso - were allowed to retain their championship points and fight for the drivers' crown.

Mosley added: "In the case of McLaren everybody said 'oh, a hundred million dollars', but the alternative would have been to exclude them - and that would have been more expensive!" (more)

Spy History - OSS - A Living History Website

"The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was created on June 13, 1942 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt who understood America's need for an intelligence service similar to Britain's Special Operations Executive (SOE).

Its director was Major General William "Wild Bill" Donovan, a World War I Medal of Honor winner, the only person to win our nation's four highest military honors, and the father of the CIA and US Special Forces." (more) (OSS wikipedia) (The OSS Society)

OSS Reborn is a website created by my good colleague Charles Pinck and his father Dan Pinck, who served in the OSS. The website tells the history of this exciting - and life saving - espionage organization. It also goes one step further - living history. OSSreborn.com solicits contributions! This will get very interesting.

In the meantime, pick up a copy of Dan Pinck's memoir, Journey to Peking: A Secret Agent in Wartime China.

Hacking Wireless Headsets

It is good to see other security consultants are beginning to spread the message, too. The following is a cautionary tale and a friendly reminder from an article by Secure Network Technologies)

Those cool wireless headsets keep your hands free – and give hackers the ability to eavesdrop on your conversations...

In offices all over the world, users are becomingly increasingly enamored with those wireless "hands-free" headsets that allow the speaker to move around the office while continuing a conversation on the phone. But have you ever wondered how secure those headsets are?

We purchased a commercially available radio scanner. These devices are available at any local electronics retailer at prices ranging from $80 to several thousand dollars. We chose a scanner capable of monitoring frequencies from 900-928 Mhz and the 1.2 Ghz ranges, which is where many of the popular hands-free headsets operate.

We took a position across the street from the facility and started up the scanner. Within seconds of turning on the device we were able to listen to conversations that appeared to be coming from our client's employees. Several of these conversations discussed the business in detail, as well as very sensitive topics. After some careful listening, we determined that the conversations were indeed coming from our customer. (more)

Official Spybuster's solution for increased privacy...
Purchase wireless headsets which use digital transmission in the 1.9 GHz, 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz frequency ranges. Avoid headsets using Bluetooth transmission (here's why)

Product Suggestions...
GN Netcom GN9300 GN9120
Plantronics CS70N CS55

SpyCam Story #426 - Long Arm Gets Third Eye

Scotland - Spy cameras are to be fitted to the uniforms of Scottish police officers for the first time, in a new hi-tech initiative in the fight against crime.

The cameras will be in open view on the uniforms or body armour of officers on patrol and will be used to gather evidence to help secure convictions.

Initially, recorded footage taken by the CCTV cameras will be downloaded to a computer, but SCS Security Design, the company behind the scheme, is developing software that will allow images from the cameras to be beamed back live to the force's CCTV control room. (more)

The Art of SpyCams - "Trioptisamongus"

"Trioptisamongus"
inspiration

SpyCam Story #425 - Amy Winehouse

The list of celebrities caught unaware by covert surveillance sadly grows. This time, it is Amy Winehouse - caught on camera - reportedly "blitzed out of her skull and struggling to talk after sucking in crack fumes from a glass pipe." (story & video of the incident)

Whatever you think about this story, remember, your privacy can be violated - and broadcast on the Internet - in an instant, using similar techniques.

Reduce your risk...
In addition to Bob's sage advice below, have a specialist conduct periodic bug sweeps for you...

Walk on your tip toes
Don't try "No Doz"
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes... (more)

From the Flase Alarm files...