SpyCam Story #447 - The Neighbor

Q. "I am being overlooked by a neighbor's camera and was just wondering if there was a anything that could interrupt or jam the filming/picture of a WIRED night/day cctv. Any ideas would be much appreciated. Many thanks."

A. I love easy questions. Once you have tried all the civil things (a polite request to re-aim the camera, threat of filing a voyeurism complaint with the police, etc.) there is always the sharp stick in the eye approach.
Here is what other people are doing...
Ouch #1
Ouch #2
Ouch #3
Ouch #4
Ouch #5
Good luck!
Kevin

DIY Spy Tip #089 - "...with 'friends' like you..."

If you are still relying on Google to snoop on your friends, you are behind the curve.

Armed with new and established Web sites, people are uncovering surprising details about colleagues, lovers and strangers that often don't turn up in a simple Internet search. Though none of these sites can reveal anything that isn't already available publicly, they can make it much easier to find. And most of them are free.

Zaba Inc.'s ZabaSearch.com turns up public records such as criminal history and birthdates. Spock Networks Inc.'s Spock.com and Wink Technologies Inc.'s Wink.com are "people-search engines" that specialize in digging up personal pages, such as social-networking profiles, buried deep in the Web. Spokeo.com is a search site operated by Spokeo Inc., a startup that lets users see what their friends are doing on other Web sites. Zillow Inc.'s Zillow.com estimates the value of people's homes, while the Huffington Post's Fundrace feature tracks their campaign donations. Jigsaw Data Corp.'s Jigsaw.com, meanwhile, lets people share details with each other from business cards they've collected -- a sort of gray market for Rolodex data. (more)

"Watch the donut, not the hole."

NY - Police arrested a Kings Park Dunkin' Donuts employee at 10:26 pm last Thursday for allegedly setting up an illegal surveillance camera in the shop's women's bathroom.

Danish Qureshi, 25, of Huntington Station, an employee of the Dunkin' Donuts at 101 Pulaski Road in Kings Park, allegedly installed a wireless pinhole surveillance camera in the women's bathroom, according to police. Qureshi was using his wireless laptop computer to observe occupants of the bathroom while he was sitting in his nearby vehicle, police claim.

An area resident who owns similar surveillance equipment called police after he intercepted the signal and observed the bathroom on his television, Suffolk police reported. (more)

FutureWatch - Video Vigilantes

New Zealand - A Christchurch cul-de-sac has thwarted its boy-racer problem with secret video surveillance.

Business owners and the only resident of Dalziel Place in Woolston were fed up with weekly crowds of boy racers converging on their street, doing burnouts, defacing properties and throwing bottles.

Cameras set up by a surveillance company that has its headquarters on the street captured footage of six cars and their drivers breaking the law.

The footage was passed on to police and all six drivers last week had their cars impounded for 28 days. (more)

SpyCam Story #445 - More Workplace Voyeurism

Australia - Federal police (AFP) are investigating how women at SBS' headquarters in Sydney were filmed in a changing room two years ago.

The AFP told SBS management about two weeks ago they had found photos of three women on the home computer of a man who works there. It is alleged the photos were taken by a camera installed in the room in 2006.

SBS managing director Shaun Brown says the suspect has been suspended from his job.

"Clearly the AFP had in their possessions the photograph," he said.

"They obviously had the identity of the suspect, they knew where the suspect worked and they appeared to put two and two together and concluded that the offence took place on these premises." (more)
So, why did it take 2-years for the staff to be informed?

The Dawn of the VoIP Bug

"...transform the existing power lines in your home or small office into a high-speed network solution. Without running wires, PLC-185S takes advantage of your existing electrical wiring to create or extend a network environment. PLC-185S is also an ideal solution for homes or small offices where concrete walls, floors in multi-storied buildings, or other architectural barriers could inhibit a wireless signal.

Just plug the PLC-185S into an electrical outlet and it can turn every electrical outlet into a possible network connection to connect to any network devices, such as wireless router, network cameras, and video servers." or VoIP bugs :) (more)

Eavesdropping Movie - "Monte Rouge"

Title: Monte Rouge
Writer/Director: Eduardo del Llano
Time: 15 minutes
Plot: Electronic eavesdropping.
Setting: Cuba.
Humor: Dark, subtle; like Monte Rouge.

"...two plain-clothed security agents knock at the door of a young man, Nicanor O'Donell.

"Good morning, my name is Rodríguez. This is comrade Segura," they tell him. "We're here to install the microphones."

"Our mission is to install microphones in your home to listen directly to the anti-governmental comments you make," the SDE (state security) agent says.

Nicanor can't believe. To him it is a bad dream or a bad joke.

The agents explain that they run a pilot scheme to make their work "more inclusive." No longer will the SDE break in to the houses of suspects to place microphones, they will just knock on the door and ask the house owner to let them install them. All in the name of "more openness."

In exchange they ask that Nicanor accepts the "obvious limitations" of having only two microphones placed in the house (one in the bathroom). And, to ensure that all subversive conversations are held in that place, offering to install a free mini-bar in the bathroom to get guests to go there for these conversations.

In a mild mannered conversation (with some dark undertones), they explain they know all about him: his black market dealings (exchanging a table from a museum with a guard of the museum for a VCR), the conversations he has had with friends in bars, ... The say he was selected for this test program because of his "excellent analysis" that goes beyond "more bitching" (and the fact that he lived close to the station while they had no access to a car).

They also ensure him that the devices are independent of the electricity grid (Cuba is known for its blackouts) as it "hardly would make sense to make eavesdropping dependent of the electricity." The young man is also warned that it is known to them that he also makes some positive comments about Cuba, but that he is to refrain from that "crap" as doesn't interest them and is a waste of their time.

The author stresses that he did not mean to indict Cuba's state security system, he just wanted to create and describe an present absurd Kafkaesque situation. He succeeded.

In Cuba and abroad there is a lot of speculation that del Llano and the other participants in Monte Rouge, could face reprisals for the irreverent clip. Let's hope that the popularity of the clip will protect them."
(en español: video Part 1 video Part 2)

SpyCam Story #443 - Reality YOU tube

Millions of Americans have wireless cameras in their homes and cars, purchased for security or to monitor children — but it turns out the devices could be making those they're meant to protect more vulnerable.

Reporter Tom Regan of ABC News' Atlanta station, WSB-TV, investigated how video cameras may be providing an unwelcome window into your private life.

From a baby's nursery, to a restaurant, to an office, private scenes proved shockingly easy to eavesdrop on with minimal equipment in a recent WSB-TV outing.

Regan's team bought a $100 rearview camera from a local auto parts store, installed it in an S.U.V. and simply drove around. They were amazed by the images picked up by the wireless monitor that came with the rearview camera... (more with video report)

And so, our list of residential snitch devices grows longer...
• 1960's - AM wireless intercom systems.
• 1970's - FM wireless intercom systems.
• 1980's - Cordless telephones.
• 1990's - Wireless audio baby monitors.
• 2000's - Wireless TV baby/security monitors.

What ABC News didn't mention is that professional burglars have taken advantage of these technologies for over 50 years. Their latest tool is a sensitive, compact video scanner.

SpyCam Story #442 - Webcam Hijack Warning

Experts at SophosLabs™, are warning computer users about the importance of properly securing PCs, following news that a man who allegedly used computer malware to prey upon young women has been charged in Canada.

According to media reports, 27-year-old Daniel Lesiewicz has been charged with using spyware to take over the webcams of women as young as 14 and coerced them into posing naked for him. (more)

The Essential Guide to VoIP Privacy

What you need to know about protecting the privacy and confidentiality of IP phone calls.

People generally assume that their private phone calls are just that: private. VoIP users, however, shouldn't take privacy for granted. (neither group should)

The problem with most VoIP calls is that they travel over the Internet, a very public network. This means that calls are vulnerable to snooping at various points throughout their journey. And even private-network VoIP calls can be tapped if access can be gained to the physical wiring.

As a result, business competitors, employees, criminal gangs, tech hobbyists and just plain snoops can all listen in to a business's outgoing and incoming VoIP calls. All that's needed is a packet-sniffing program, easily downloaded from the Internet, and perhaps a tiny piece of hardware to tap into a physical wire undetectably.

But the news isn't all bad. Methods and systems are available to safeguard VoIP traffic... (more)

CBS 46 Investigates: Cell Phone Spying

New cell phone “spyware” has made it easy for just about anyone to bug your phone and uncover details of your private life, communications experts say.

The “spyware," marketed to suspicious spouses, parents and employers, can turn just about any cell phone into a high-tech spying device.

A quick search on the Internet reveals dozens of "spy phone" programs ranging from $4 to $400. Some “spyware” works on Bluetooth technology, while others require a download onto a "smart" phone, like a Blackberry or Web-based device. CBS 46 Investigative Reporter Wendy Saltzman tested Flexispy, high-end software that experts say allows people to eavesdrop on calls, download e-mails, and even track a person's GPS location at the touch of a button. (more) (video) (similar subject, different source)

16 Extra Eyes in the Florida Eye Institute

SpyCam Story #441
The mysterious tale of 16 SpyCams, 16 Microphones, and a recorder!

FL - A 45-year-old Vero Beach woman has been arrested on eight felony charges that allege illegal electronic eavesdropping on doctors, copying hard drives from their computers and the theft of a laptop.

But the seven-page complaint filed by the State Attorney's Office against Brenda Doan-Johnson, of the 3400 block of Atlantic Boulevard, does not explain why she supposedly paid a Melbourne man to place cameras and microphones in the private offices of three doctors at the Florida Eye Institute in Vero Beach.

Both a Jan. 24 Vero Beach Police report and a Jan. 28 civil lawsuit filed by three of Dr. Paul V. Minotty's business partners, say Minotty, founder of the institute, had hired a private investigator and the police report identified her as Doan-Johnson.

According to the state attorney's complaint affidavit, Doan-Johnson paid Mark Lynch, of Spy Source Warehouse in Melbourne, with a $6,000 personal check as deposit on $13,000 to install 16 video cameras, 16 microphones and a digital recorder at various places in the Florida Eye Institute — including the offices of doctors Karen Todd, Mark Gambee and Val Zudan.

Lynch worked after business hours for six days, starting Jan. 11, to install the equipment, the affidavit states, noting that audio recording apparently did not function.

Investigators reported that Doan-Johnson introduced Lynch to two other people who also were working in the building, identifying them as computer forensic specialists who were copying the hard drives from the desk computers of doctors Gambee, Todd, Zudan and Thomas Baudo.

According to investigators, Lynch phoned Gambee (!?!?!) Jan. 24 and told him about installing the electronics in Florida Eye Institute offices — including Gambee's office. The Vero Beach police were called to Florida Eye Institute the same day.

Gambee told Vero Beach officers his computer was missing. Doan-Johnson returned it, saying it was thought to be company property... (more) ...and, more to come as this case unfolds.

FutureWatch - Eavesdropping on GSM Cell Phones

A web service that will make it easy and inexpensive to crack the GSM A5/1 encryption protocol, quickly enough for a call that is still in progress, is slated to launch at the end of April. Living right at the intersection of open hardware, open source software, software as a service, and cryptography, the service will reduce the cost and effort of cracking GSM call encryption by at least an order of magnitude.

The service is being developed by members of the GSM Software Project and demonstrates just how much things have changed in the world since the GSM system was designed. Various approaches to cracking both A5/1 (the European standard) and A5/2 (the weaker US standard) have been available for some time but this one is unique in that it should be available to researchers and hackers at the end of April in hosted api form instead of pdf.

Back in 1997, this overview of the GSM system declared that "Enciphering is an option for the fairly paranoid, since the signal is already coded, interleaved, and transmitted in a TDMA manner, thus providing protection from all but the most persistent and dedicated eavesdroppers." After all, such a radio encoding scheme made the signals invisible to typical radio band scanners.

Today, however, the availability of the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP), an open hardware software defined radio that sells for about $700, combined with work being done at GNU Radio project to codify the GSM waveform (also targeted for the end of this month), makes this once reasonable point of view seem quaint. Good encryption is now a must and it appears that A5 no longer qualifies. (more)

...and, 85% declined to answer.

"Me, My Spouse and the Internet"
Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford,
Survey Results...
• 20% of married Internet users admitted to reading their partner’s emails and text messages; and
• 13% to having checked their partner’s browser history.
More than 6,000 married people were invited to take part in the study. The final sample involved 929 couples, with both partners completing a questionnaire. (more) (Project website.)

Surveillance Desensitization Continues

Hal Niedzviecki writes...
I ask (Ursula) Lebana how things have changed since she opened Canada’s first spy store back in 1991.

“People who came into the store at that time were quite shocked,” she tells me. “They never realized cameras were that small. They said, ‘Oh my God, that’s scary. And isn’t it terrible to monitor the nanny? Where’s the trust?’”

Sixteen years later, business is booming. “Now people say, ‘Oh, I want a hidden camera,’” says Lebana, who has since opened SpyTech locations in Ottawa and London, Ontario. “They are more willing to use them now. They’re more familiar with it. I’m even getting repeat customers... (more)

SpyCam Story #440 - The Dentist

TX - An Ennis dentist accused of videotaping his female employees in their changing room with a hidden camera pleaded guilty...

The employees went to authorities in August after finding a video camera in a room where they changed into and out of medical scrubs at Durbin's dental office. According to an affidavit, the women confronted Durbin, who admitted making video recordings.

Stephen C. Durbin, also a city commissioner in Ennis, got five years of community supervision with deferred adjudication in the plea agreement on a state jail felony charge of improper photography or video recording. (more)
"She said my boy I think someday
You'll find a way
To make your nat-u-ral tendencies pay!
Yooou'llll be a Den-tist!"

SpyCam Story #439 - Action Jackson (update)

CA - Three more victims have come forward in the Jackson spying case that began in October when a woman alerted police she saw a camera lingering above an uncovered opening of a changing room at Holiday Cleaners.

Alex Ko, a 35-year-old Pine Grove resident, allegedly recorded digital videos and photographs of women as they undressed in the cleaner's changing room from May to August 2007. Ko runs the business with his parents and siblings. (more) (original story)

Blackemail, Espionage or Just Coincidence?

MA - Two staff members in the school superintendent’s office spied on e-mails sent to Cambridge School Committee members over the span of one month. (more)

...administration officials did not tell the School Committee they were receiving committee e-mails from parents and others. A School Committee member only found out the two school officials were copied into School Committee e-mails after they hit “reply all” and found the duo copied in the e-mail. 14 days after it was discovered, School Committee members voted to enter contract negotiations with Superintendent Thomas Fowler-Finn. (more)

"Blank Reg! Is that you?"

UK - Yobs wrecked CCTV cameras outside a Preston community centre just 48 hours after they were installed. But pictures of the vandals have been captured on the cameras they tried to destroy.

The community of Tanterton won government funding to put up four cameras at a notorious troublespot near the row of shops and community centre in Village Green Lane. (more) (video)

Price Drop!!! GSM Bugs now on sale - $35.00

Alert - The hottest new bugging devices are now among the least expensive. GSM SIM bugs are like cell phones, but without the keypad. Eavesdroppers call and listen from anywhere in the world.

At one time these devices sold for $250.-$500. The price has plummeted to $35.-$55. Why? The same reason their sister product (the cell phone) is often a give-away item... Economy of scale; thus proving consumer demand is fueling mass production.

Corporate Concern...
At these prices, "salting" offices with bugs becomes practical. Imagine... Buy in bulk and get custom silk screening - "Air Quality Monitor - Do Not Disturb." Even if accidentally seen, it might be accepted - "Every office has one of these."

Corporate Solution...
Periodic Eavesdropping Detection Audits are now an integral part of corporate security. Not having an eavesdropping detection program is negligence.

from a seller's web site...
"The GSM SIM Bugs are advanced audio surveillance devices. The SIM spy ear comes with compact design and embedded microphone system. This audio surveillance listening system no need software and no configuration required. Very easy to use. The only one thing you need to do is insert a pre-paid GSM SIM card into SIM card slot of the spy sim bug. Then you could hide it in an inconspicuous location and starts excellent listening surveillance." (more)

"See anything, dude?" (crash!!!) "April Fool"

17-year-old accused of trying to spy
WI - Michael Q. Ruby (17) of Omro, Wisconsin was with two others who were trying to see into a Larrabee Street apartment when Ruby pushed one of the others through the window, damaging the screen. Ruby told police he and his friends went to the Larrabee Street residence to see if they could find an acquaintance there with underage girls... (more)

Congressman Ordered to Pay in Wiretap Case

A federal judge has ordered Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) to pay nearly $1.2 million to House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), settling a legal dispute over McDermott's actions in leaking the contents of an intercepted 1996 conference call involving Boehner and other Republican leaders.

Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia,... had already levied a $60,000 civil fine against McDermott in 2004 for violating federal wiretapping statutes by receiving the intercepted audiotape of the conference call and releasing its contents to several members of the media....

Boehner was speaking on a cellphone in Florida, where his conversation was illegally recorded by a couple who heard it on a radio scanner. (more)

Investigative Techniques for the Trial Lawyer - Wiretapping: Part I

...we have probably all wondered if our conversations via phone were being taped.

There are federal and state (all 50 and DC) statutes governing the use of electronic recording equipment. The unlawful use of recording equipment may not only give authority for civil proceedings against the perpetrator of illegal taping, but may also give rise to criminal charges.

Today’s Bulletin gets right into the meat of how and where the taping of private telephone conversations is allowed...

Interesting exceptions to the rules...
In California, generally an all party consent state, one party alone can record if criminal activity (e.g. extortion) is anticipated or involved.

In Arizona, the subscriber to a telephone service can record telephone conversations with no party consent when criminal activity is involved. (more)

"Make a periscope" science class experiment gone horribly wrong?

Wales - A peeping Tom attached a mirror to the end of a piece of wood to spy on his next-door neighbour as she undressed, a court heard...

During the hearing, prosecutor Ian Kolvin produced the home-made spying device which consisted of a strip of wood with a broken piece of glass fastened to one end... "The defendant denied any sexual motivation," said Mr. Kolvin. (more)

17 Signs That You Are Being Wiretapped

compiled by voip-news.com
Do you hear strange noises on your phone line?
Do you feel like your secrets aren't safe?
You're not as paranoid as you might think.

Mobsters and cheating spouses aren't the only ones that get wiretapped. In fact, just about anyone who possesses confidential information is a prime target for a wiretap, so it's important that you know the warning signs. Keep an eye out for these subtle clues to avoid becoming a victim of information theft.

1. Your secrets are out.
2. You hear strange noises, like clicking, static and humming.
3. Your phone makes noise on its own.
4. Your radio has strange interference.
5. Your environment just seems different.
6. Your outside phone box has extra hardware
7. You find a recording machine.
8. You're being blackmailed.
9. Your receiver has extra hardware.
10. You notice a lot of utility trucks near the premise
11. Your TV has interference.
12. You are the victim of a burglary, but nothing was stolen.
13. Your wall plates are moved.
14. You've had a mysterious repair.
15. There are no signs.
16. Your phone company doesn't help.
17. You use a cordless phone.
(more)
(The Private Citizen's Guide to Detecting Amateur Wiretaps)

13 Fired For Spying

At least 13 hospital employees are being fired, and 6 suspended, after an investigator concluded that they broke the rules by accessing (Britney) Spears' medical records without any particular reason (except their own curiosity).

Not only would Britney's medical files give them the answers to some closely guarded secrets, but a photocopied page could sell to the tabloids for thousands. (more) Hip, HIPPA, Hooray

Inside the Shady World of Spy Gadgets

by Mike Elgan...
The online catalogs have names like Spy World, Spy Source and even Spy Zilla. The wonderful and disturbing new world of spy gadgets offers obscure, often expensive devices -- available in most cases to anyone with a credit card.

Most spy gadgets should be and could be used for legal and ethical purposes -- but you know they probably won't be.

Hidden cameras, secret microphones, GPS tracking devices, telephone voice changers, camera and microphone detectors, computer and cell phone snooping devices, cell phone and Wi-Fi "jammers" -- spy gadgets are sold vaguely and euphemistically as "security" or "surveillance" products. But you can bet they're popular with perverts, snooping bosses, suspicious spouses, cheaters, blackmailers, criminals and terrorists.

Nobody monitors who buys this stuff or what they use it for... (much more)

Smart businesses regularly conduct eavesdropping detection inspections. If you're not looking, you're not finding. Call us.

SpyCam Story #438 - "Er's mud in yer eye"

UK - A Greenock dad who feared he was being spied on by a CCTV operator decided to take matters into his own hands — by spray painting over the lenses. (more)

Using Your Mobile to Spy on Your Spouse

ALK Technologies, a New Jersey-based company selling software that turns cell phones and PDAs into satellite tracking devices, asked men and women if, given the chance, they would like to use mobile phones to spy on their partner’s comings and goings 24/7. Two times as many women as men polled—some 63% vs. 29%—said they would like to track the movements of their mates. Interestingly, only 44% of women and 41% of men wanted the roles to be reversed and to be tracked by the people they are spying on.

The survey showed that the younger they are, the more jealous people tend to be: Some 56% of 18- to 29-year olds said they would seize the opportunity to snoop, compared to 45% of people aged 41 to 50. People older than that are either more secure or don’t care anymore. Only one-fifth of people 51 to 60 wanted to know where their mates were at every moment. (more)

New Gadget Can Spy On Text Messages

Suspicious spouses can check out their husband or wife's deleted texts with a new gadget. The £76 ($149.00) device can get all the data off a mobile telephone's sim card - including messages and numbers that have been deleted. The information can then be transferred to a PC or laptop through a USB port. BrickHouse Security say it is ideal to "spy on your wife, husband, teens or colleague". (more)

Unsecured Wi-Fi Could Compromise Your Identity

CBS3.com - Special Report...
The wireless internet signal you rely on for convenience could be making things easier for internet intruders. Police said hackers could be using your computer to download illegal music, child porn, or even your bank information.

Using a simple can antenna from his car, George Sandford can burglarize homes from hundreds of yards away out in the open and without wearing a mask.

"You can open bank accounts. You get drivers licenses, you can get practically anything you want," Sandford said.

All by using relatively low tech equipment, just about anyone with knowledge can hack into computers using unsecured wireless internet or Wi-Fi signals of unsuspecting people...

"I can build a body of information about you, your back accounts," Sandford said.

Jamie Smith spoke to one unsuspecting resident, "We were able to get onto your internet just a few seconds ago," and Rebecca Hansen of Swarthmore responded, "No."

Rebecca is a client of Tech Guides Incorporated and George Sandford is far from a thief. He is actually Tech Guides' security expert. He sat down and showed Rebecca how to secure her Wi-Fi something everyone should do.

"Not securing your wireless networking is pretty much putting a sign on your house saying 'Hey, we're open,'" Sanford said. Only about half of homes with Wi-Fi are locked. If you don't your computer's connection could be slowed down by others accidentally using your Wi-Fi. (complete story with video)

• Directions for securing your Wi-Fi

Abusive Teacher Caught On Tape

A Houston mother, who said her daughter was well-behaved at home, was worried about what was going on in her child's classroom because the girl had been suspended four times for bad behavior.

Teacher: 'Y'all Are Just Stupid Kids'
So, Diana Mijares decided to secretly bug her daughter's backpack and was shocked to hear what was on the tape.

"It made us concerned," Mijares said on "Good Morning America" today. "It was enough and we needed answers."

Megan Mijares' digital tape recorded mostly mundane moments at Memorial Elementary School's prekindergarten class, but then it captured the teacher yelling at the group of 4- and 5-year-olds. All of it happened without Megan's or her teacher's knowledge.

"You're just a bad kid," the teacher says on the six-hour tape. "You're mean to me, so I get to be mean to you."

The teacher, who was not identified, continues to harshly scold the children.

"You are all just stupid kids. I swear to God," the teacher says. "You are just all stupid kids." (more) (video)