Russian Metro to Track Lost / Stolen Phones

(подталкивать, подтолкнуть, подмигивание) A major Russian newspaper reported that Moscow’s metro system is planning what appears to be a mobile phone tracking device in its metro stations—ostensibly to search for stolen phones.According to Izvestia (Google Translate), Andrey Mokhov, the operations chief of the Moscow Metro system’s police department, said that the system will have a range of five meters (16 feet). “If the [SIM] card is wanted, the...

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World's Biggest Data Breaches - Infographic

A beautiful way to get the point across...Be sure to visit the interactive original HE...

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And, the winner of Who's Got the Biggest Electronic Ear is...

"According to the Max Planck Institute, you're 100 times more likely to be surveilled by your own government if you live in the Netherlands or you live in Italy," Baker said. "You're 30 to 50 times more likely to be surveilled if you're a French or a German national than in the United States." (mo...

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Israel's Verint to Get Indian Government Contract for Interception Tools

India - Verint's leadership team recently met communications minister Kapil Sibal in Israel and indicated the company's desire to work with the government to intercept all forms of encrypted communications to address India's cyber security needs.Sibal has also apprised Israel's IT & communications minister Gilad Erdan about engaging Verint to implement an interception solution. "Verint is willing to work with the Indian government to address the issue of intercepting encrypted communications like Gmail, Yahoo-. mail and others. It will...

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Surveillance Camera Hack to be Reveled at Black Hat

A US security expert says he has identified ways to remotely attack high-end surveillance cameras used by industrial plants, prisons, banks and the military, something that could potentially allow hackers to spy on facilities or gain access to sensitive computer networks. Craig Heffner, a former software developer with the National Security Agency (NSA) who now works for a private security firm, said he discovered the previously unreported bugs in digital video surveillance equipment from firms including Cisco, D-Link and TRENDnet...He plans to...

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ISPs Grossed as Feds Net Passwords

The U.S. government has demanded that major Internet companies divulge users' stored passwords, according to two industry sources familiar with these orders, which represent an escalation in surveillance techniques that has not previously been disclosed. If the government is able to determine a person's password, which is typically stored in encrypted form, the credential could be used to log in to an account to peruse confidential correspondence or even impersonate the user. Obtaining it also would aid in deciphering encrypted devices in situations...

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Wiretap Evidence Included in SAC Capital Case

The evidence of insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors LP includes court-authorized wiretaps, a U.S. prosecutor said at the $14 billion hedge fund’s arraignment in federal court in Manhattan.“The discovery will be voluminous, including a large number of electronic recordings, including electronic messages, instant messages, court-authorized wiretaps and consensual recordings,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Antonia Apps told U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor...

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NSA says there are three different PRISMs

(Updated: July 28, 2013)Yesterday, German media wrote about an official letter from the NSA, which was sent to the German government to clarify some misconceptions about PRISM. This because German media and politics were heavily confused after it became clear that there's more than one program named PRISM.The NSA letter explains what the PRISM data collection program is about and then confirms that this program is different from a more common military...

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Double-Edged Sword Zone - Protect Your Office with iSpy (FREE)

iSpy (64-bit) uses your webcams and microphones to detect and record movement or sound and provides security, surveillance, monitoring and alerting services. You can Control cameras with PTZ, one-click or auto upload to YouTube, auto FTP to any servers, Listen to and monitor audio live over the network, connect and monitor as many cameras and microphones as you like, import and export object lists to share with colleagues, connect multiple computers in a group and manage over the web. FREE Download. (free warning sticker - download and print) Of...

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Did You Know... Surprising Spy Facts!

• The new NSA center in Utah is 15 times the size of MetLife Stadium, home to the New York Giants and Jets, and 7 times bigger than the Pentagon. (more) • Spy blimps can stay aloft for almost 3 weeks. (more) And, they are coming to Washington, DC (more) (video)• 1,600 intelligence gatherers working at the Rivanna Station along with NGIC— DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency), NGA (National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and the frequently-in-the news National Security Agency (NSA)— call them the "crown jewels" of the Department of Defense intelligence....

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Happy Birthday, CIA

On July 26, 1947, President Truman signed the National Security Act, creating the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (mo...

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Hot Stock Tip...

Invest in SPYs Spies.The string of revelations about America's surveillance apparatus by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has cast a spotlight on the growing number of American companies involved in electronic spycraft.It hasn't visibly damped enthusiasm among Silicon Valley investors and military contractors looking for ways to get into a business many see as one of the few growth areas left as U.S. military spending contracts.Some...

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The Other Domestic Spying Scandal

With all the concern about the government spying on us, is it any wonder that couples spy on one another?Dating site SeekingArrangement.com surveyed over 22,000 Americans and found that 55% admitted to spying on their partners. In Houston, at least according to the survey, it isn’t that bad. Only 48.8% of the people admitted to spying, which ranks us as the 10th most trusting city in the county. (mo...

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Business Secrets Leak via Personal Devices

The smartphone revolution opened the floodgates to the BYOD (bring your own device) trend among workers... More than half of information workers own the devices they use for work, according to Forrester Research, which surveyed almost 10,000 people in 17 countries, and that proportion is likely to increase, says David Johnson, a senior analyst at Forrester. The groundswell caused many IT directors to simply throw up their hands. A study published...

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Android Phones - The New Corporate Espionage Tool

Alcatel-Lucent’s Kindsight subsidiary has released figures that show an increase in malicious software (malware) used by hackers to gain access to devices for corporate espionage, spying on individuals, theft of personal information, generating spam, denial of service attacks on business and governments and millions of dollars in fraudulent banking and advertising scams.“Malware and cybersecurity threats continue to be a growing problem for home...

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SIM Card Flaw Could Allow Eavesdropping on Phone Conversations

Vulnerability in the security key that protects the card could allow eavesdropping on phone conversations, fraudulent purchases, or impersonation of the handset's owner, a security researcher warns.Karsten Nohl, founder of Security Research Labs in Berlin, told The New York Times that he has identified a flaw in SIM encryption technology that could allow an attacker to obtain a SIM card's digital key, the 56-digit sequence that allows modification...

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You’ve Nicked Hackers... Now Expose the Buggers

UK - Phone hacking is a crude but preventable means of invading someone’s privacy. You can go to jail for it — and many journalists face this risk as they await trial.By comparison, breaking into a telecoms substation, plugging into a landline and intercepting private phone calls and computer traffic is a really serious crime. Yet while those journalists were arrested at dawn and charged after long periods on police bail, nobody has been arraigned...

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The Wild Wild West - Town to Issue Drone Hunting Permits

Deer Trail, a small Colorado town, is considering a measure that would allow its residents to hunt for federal drones and shoot them down.“Is it illegal? Of course it is. But it’s also illegal to spy on American citizens,” resident Phillip Steel told CNN in a phone interview. “If they fly in town, we will shoot them down.” Steel said he wrote the ordinance after he learned the Federal Aviation Administration “loosened regulations that would allow...

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Bug Found in Office of Berlusconi's Judge

An electronic bug was found in the offices of the Italian judges due to hear a final appeal this month by former premier Silvio Berlusconi against a tax fraud conviction, news reports said Friday.An employee of the Court of Cassation discovered a device used to record or intercept conversations and alerted police Thursday afternoon, the Rome-based Il Tempo newspaper said.The bug, which was removed by police, did not have any batteries, the daily...

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If You Can Pee, You Can Make a Phone Call

If asked what would be a great power source for mobile phones, it’s a fair bet that most people wouldn't make urine their first choice. But that's exactly what a group of scientists at Bristol Robotics Laboratory in the UK have done. As part of a project to find new ways to provide electricity for small devices in emergency situations and developing countries they have created a new fuel cell system powered by pee. The key to this rather unorthodox...

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Mobile Security Apps Perform Dismally Against Spyware

via Josh Kirschner at Techlicious...Mobile spyware can have a devastating effect on your life; the constant fear that a spouse, significant other or even employer is following your every move, knows everything about your life and has completely removed any vestige of privacy...And spyware is not as rare as you may think. According to mobile security company Lookout, .24% of Android phones they scanned in the U.S. had surveillance-ware installed...

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Android Malware that Gives Hackers Remote Control is Rising (Technical but important news.)

via... Sean Gallagher - Ars Technica Remote access tools have long been a major part of targeted hacker attacks on individuals and corporate networks. RATs* have been used for everything from hacking the e-mail boxes of New York Times reporters to capturing video and audio of victims over their webcams. Recently, wireless broadband and the power of smartphones and tablets have extended hackers’ reach beyond the desktop. In a blog post yesterday,...

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New Jersey Supreme Court Restricts Police Searches of Phone Data

Staking out new ground in the noisy debate about technology and privacy in law enforcement, the New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday ordered that the police will now have to get a search warrant before obtaining tracking information from cellphone providers.The ruling puts the state at the forefront of efforts to define the boundaries around a law enforcement practice that a national survey last year showed was routine, and typically done without court oversight or public awareness. With lower courts divided on the use of cellphone tracking data,...

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If You Think The NSA Is Bad, Wait To You See South Korea’s Surveillance State

SEOUL, South Korea — Americans are apparently blasé about government eavesdropping.In the days after former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed that Washington spies extensively on its own citizens, polls found that about half of Americans have no problem with such snooping, as long as it protects them from terrorism.But a scandal unfolding here in South Korea illustrates how such domestic snooping can easily harm a democracy....

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NSA Leak Highlights the Power of Spying - Irish Eyes Aren't Smiling

Ireland - Entrepreneurs are worried. Not because they have something to hide from US authorities, but for fear of breaking contractual liability. "I'm currently setting up two businesses here," said Jude Braden, who employs 12 people in Dublin-based data-related businesses. "My problem is that under Irish and EU law, I have a duty to protect the data of my clients. I can potentially be sued if my clients' data gets out into the public domain. But the events of recent weeks and months puts me in a position where I may not be able to fulfill...

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New slides about NSA collection programs

(Updated: November 12, 2013)Over the last month, the publication of various slides of a powerpoint presentation about the top secret NSA collection program PRISM caused almost worldwide media attention. Less known is that a number of new slides about other NSA collection programs were published on July 6 by the Brazilian newspaper O Globo.These and a few other slides were also shown on Brazilian televion, combined with an interview with Guardian-columnist...

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Bremont Codebreaker Crypto Watch Turns Position of Earth into a Usable Measurement

The Bremont Codebreaker is a limited edition chronograph that uses original artifacts from the famous cryptographic facility to commemorate British code breaking efforts during the Second World War.Bletchley Park was one of the best kept secrets of the Second World War and remained so for decades after until the story was made public in 1974. The ancient estate with its Victorian mansion was the headquarters for the Government Code and Cipher School...

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Keeping the NSA in Perspective

by George Friedman, StratforIn June 1942, the bulk of the Japanese fleet sailed to seize the Island of Midway. Had Midway fallen, Pearl Harbor would have been at risk and U.S. submarines, unable to refuel at Midway, would have been much less effective. Most of all, the Japanese wanted to surprise the Americans and draw them into a naval battle they couldn't win.The Japanese fleet was vast. The Americans had two carriers intact in addition to one...

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Hackers Turn Verizon Box into Spy Tool

Researchers at iSec hacked into a Verizon network extender, which anyone can buy online, and turned it into a cell phone tower small enough to fit inside a backpack capable of capturing and intercepting all calls, text messages and data sent by mobile devices within range..."The level of technical skill that you need to break into one of these, people are learning college. A malicious person could put one of these, with a battery, in a backpack,...

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Attack of the Cyber Mercenaries

A British intelligence report says that other nations are hiring hackers to launch attacks against their enemies, a trend it described as particularly worrying.Have board, will travel. ~K3y5LingRThe warning over cyber mercenaries came in an annual report published by Britain's Intelligence and Security Committee, a watchdog body of senior lawmakers that oversees Britain's spy agencies. (mo...

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Watergate Redux

The Dallas, Texas offices of law firm Schulman & Mathias were broken into two weeks ago by two burglars caught on surveillance camera. The two stole three computers. Damon Mathias, a partner at the firm, said Attorneys said the burglars may have been hired to steal documents related to State Department whistleblower Aurelia Fedenisn, who is represented by the firm...In early June, Fedenisn gave CBS News a draft State Department Inspector General report which offered the details of allegations that alleged sex crimes involving diplomats — ...

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Free Webinar - Corporate Espionage via Mobile Device

Corporate Espionage via Mobile DeviceWednesday, July 10, 201302:00 PM Eastern DT (11:00 AM Pacific)Duration: 45 MinWe discuss the topic of mobile risk and espionage via compromised mobile device. viaForensics' Director of R&D Thomas Cannon recently demonstrated "Corporate Espionage via a Mobile Device" as a proof of concept attack. In this demonstration, an innocent application is leveraged to harbor malware and exfiltrate data from a mobile...

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New insights into the PRISM program

(Updated: October 1, 2013)Last Saturday, June 29, the Washington Post unexpectedly disclosed four new slides from the powerpoint presentation about the PRISM data collection program. This disclosure came as a surprise, because earlier, Guardian-journalist Glenn Greenwald said that no more slides would be published because they contain very specific technical NSA means for collection, for which The Guardian would probably be prosecuted.That The Washington...

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