Exec Security, Author at Exec Security TSCM - Page 3 of 13

About Exec Security

.

The effects of bugging an office, 12 years later, FBI bugger reflects on Phila incident.

A bug in your office could hurt you in many ways. Theft of information is one, but the revelation that the bugging took place can have other ramifications as well. The discovery of an FBI bug in the mayor’s office by the Philadelphia Police, may have cost the opponent his election- even though he had nothing to do with it at all.

If you suspect that listening devices may have been installed in your office or conference room, the inspection and any follow up investigation needs to be handled very discretely.

Mitch Blacher from NBC10 was able to interview J.J. Klaver, the FBI agent who planted the bugs.

Site of 2003 FBI bugging operation, office of Philadelphia Mayor John Street

Former FBI Agent Who ‘Bugged’ Mayor Street’s Office Speaks Out by Mitch Blacher,

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:38-05:00November 16th, 2015|

Happy 101st Birthday of Hedy Lamarr, and thanks for frequency hopping.

November 9, the Google Doodle (on Google’s home page) celebrated the birthday of Hedy Lamarr, born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, 9 November 1914 – 19 January 2000.

She is most known for being a beautiful movie star, but she was also a talented inventor who helped develop spread spectrum frequency hopping technology, used in World War II. Though the US Navy did not adopt the technology until the 1960s, the principles of her work are now incorporated into modern Wi-Fi, CDMA and Bluetooth technology.

Her official website: https://www.hedylamarr.com/

Google’s tribute:

Here is a short History Channel presentation “The Patent Files”:

Happy Birthday, Hedy.

Exec Security2015-11-09T09:24:04-05:00November 9th, 2015|

Did Anti-Francis Cabal Plant a Spy in the Vatican?

The Daily Beast reports:

VATICAN CITY — For many inside the Vatican, Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui was trouble from the start. The willowy 32-year-old brunette raised eyebrows almost immediately in 2013 when, at 30, she was handpicked by Pope Francis as the only laywoman on an eight-memberadvisory panel called the Commission for Reference on the Organization of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See.

On Monday, the Vatican confirmed that Chaouqui, along with a Spanish monsignor named Lucio Vallejo Balda, who was the secretary of COSEA, had been arrested for leaking documents to journalists.

Sound familiar? It should. In 2012, Pope Benedict’s butler Paolo Gabriele was arrested for just the same crime, and the butler was charged with leaking to just the same journalist, Gianluigi Nuzzi, who has a new book coming out this week.

His previous book, His Holiness, is widely believed to be the last straw that led to the eventual resignation of […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:38-05:00November 6th, 2015|

Ohio dispatcher resigns following eavesdropping investigation

from cleveland.com

LORAIN, Ohio — A Lorain police dispatcher handed in her resignation after officials said she eavesdropped on a call between her supervisor and another dispatcher and improperly accessed her co-workers’ schedules.

LeeAnne Failing — who is married to Lorain Police officer Lt. Michael Failing — used her husband’s password to access a feature in the police department’s dispatching software to listen to a call, an internal investigation shows.

Michael Failing faces a 30-day unpaid suspension for letting his wife use his username and password, according to a report. Lorain Police Chief Cel Rivera recommended that Michael Failing be demoted to sergeant if he is disciplined again within the next year.

LeeAnne Failing also user her husband’s access to the computer system to look up information about her co-workers at least 29 times, the report concluded. Rivera wrote in his report that it was possible that she accessed the department’s system more than 29 times, “but the evidence was […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:38-05:00November 6th, 2015|

China: Spywatch, keeping an eye on your neighbors, dial 12339 to report a spy.

New York Times reports:

Seen a Spy? With New Hotline, China Invites You to Call It In

To the tangle of emergency phone numbers in China — 110 for the police, 119 for fire, 120 for ambulance — add another: dial 12339 to report a spy.

The spy hotline made its debut in the northeastern province of Jilin on Sunday, according to a report in the state-controlled newspaper Jilin Daily, one year after the Chinese authorities introduced a new counterespionage law.

The hotline, run by the Jilin state security bureau, was set up to help citizens who encounter behavior that would harm China’s national security to report the matter immediately to state security organs, the Jilin Daily article said.

It warned of individuals or groups who “steal, pry out, buy or otherwise illegally obtain state secrets or intelligence, or […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:38-05:00November 2nd, 2015|

Deutsche Telekom gets into TSCM, emphasizing the seriousness of eavesdropping and wiretap protection.

from telecompaper.com, Netherlands, 11/2/1015

Deutsche Telekom offers wiretapping protection for companies

Deutsche Telekom announced that it is helping companies to protect sensitive information with specialist technicians screening offices and conference rooms for eavesdropping technology and weak spots. X-rays of harmless-looking objects such as coffee pots, telephones and PC mouses are taken. The system examines USB sticks, electrical sockets and wires, scan hollow spaces with telescopic and endoscopic cameras and measure radio frequencies to find hidden transmitters. They can even detect unsecured DECT equipment. Deutsche Telekom’s wiretapping protection service is aimed at both DAX 30 companies and medium-sized enterprises that wish to protect confidential business information, for example when corporate acquisitions are being negotiated or bids for auctions are being prepared. Once the scan has been completed, the Deutsche Telekom experts provide customers with a report detailing the results. They also show companies how they can improve information and eavesdropping protection […]

Exec Security2015-11-02T13:56:48-05:00November 2nd, 2015|

Tech alert: Hacking Siri or Google Now through radio waves

Researchers in France have found that by beaming radio waves at the headset wire attached to a smart phone, they can modulate the radio waves to cause the signals in the headset wires to interpret it as voice, thus triggering the voice commands of Siri or Google Now services.

A lot of things have to be right for this to work- the smart phone must have a wired headset, the headset must have a microphone, (give them time, Bluetooth may be next), and the radio signal needs to be a powerful signal broadcast nearby with a large antenna, and you need to be oblivious to your phone suddenly reacting to unknown forces.

If you see a coworker pointing an antenna like this at your smart phone you might have cause to worry.

Voice communication can be “transposed” into other forms of modulation fairly easily. Besides radio […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:39-05:00October 15th, 2015|

Espionage in history: How Soviets used IBM Selectric keyloggers to spy on US diplomats

Interesting article from ArsTechnica.com discusses the sophisticated bugging efforts made by the Soviet Union during the Cold War era. The information was revealed in 2012, with the original document published by the NSA available here, from the Center Cryptologic History.

A National Security Agency memo that recently resurfaced a few years after it was first published contains a detailed analysis of what very possibly was the world’s first keylogger—a 1970s bug that Soviet spies implanted in US diplomats’ IBM Selectric typewriters to monitor classified letters and memos.

IBM Selectric Typewriter

The electromechanical implants were nothing short of an engineering marvel. The highly miniaturized series of circuits were stuffed into a metal bar that ran the length of the typewriter, making them invisible to the naked eye. The implant, which could only be seen using X-ray equipment, recorded the precise location of the […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:39-05:00October 13th, 2015|

Corporate printer vulnerability via wifi – using drones and a Roomba…

Corporate offices often have centralized printers connected to their wired network for shared printing. That can sometimes be inconvenient so what’s a good assistant to do? Run out to the local office supply store to pick up an inexpensive desktop printer. These printers usually have wifi built in and turned on by default.

When sweeping corporate offices we regularly find such printers while performing our network inspection. The wifi is usually unsecure and open for anyone to log into. If the staff (or executives) are using the wifi for their local printing, they then may be opening up themselves for hacking and spoofing as described in the Wired article below. We’ve even found executives bringing in their wifi printer from home just for the convenience.

The researchers in the article used a drone to reach the upper floors of an office building, but a disgruntled or over zealous employee could perform the same hacks […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:39-05:00October 8th, 2015|

Dissident Chinese artist finds his studio was bugged

Ai Weiwei has posted a number of pictures of what he says are listening devices found in his Beijing studio. The Chinese dissident artist captioned one photo of a bug on Instagram with “There will always be surprises”. His friend Liu Xiaoyuan confirmed the bugs were found after the artist returned from a trip to Germany. Xiaoyuan tweeted that they were found when redecoration started on Ai’s home and were found in the office and a living room.

This Instagram photo shows a listening device behind a plug socket in a wall

The pictures show the devices were hidden in electric sockets. ‘There will always be surprises’ was Ai Weiwei’s caption to this photo

The artist has retweeted an article saying listening devices had been found at his studio. His mother Gao Ying told Radio Free Asia that she believed the […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:39-05:00October 6th, 2015|

Old Israeli spy device found by Lebanese army

Times of Israel reports artificial rock containing camera, four batteries found in town near border; device said to date from before Israel’s withdrawal in 2001.

A device concealed in an artificial rock in the southern Lebanese town of Bani Hayyan. According to the Lebanese Army, the device is an Israeli surveillance camera. (screen capture: Lebanese Armed Forces Facebook page)

Soldiers from the Lebanese Armed Forces claimed Wednesday to have found a rock concealing an Israeli spying device in the south of the country.

The army said it found the device in the town of Bani Hayyan, around four kilometers from the border with Israel.

According to a report in al-Manar, a Hezbollah-affiliated website, the device included a camera and four batteries.

In a short video clip released by the Lebanese Army, a shiny surface appearing to be the lens of a camera can be seen through an […]

Exec Security2015-10-01T19:05:15-04:00October 1st, 2015|

Pennsylvania man admits to wiretapping and harassment

Pennsylvania is one of the twelve “all-party-consent” states, requiring that for a recording of a conversation to be legal, all parties in the conversation must give their consent to the recording. Defendant in this case recorded calls on his cell phone without the other parties’ permission.

WEST CHESTER >> An East Goshen man who secretly recorded telephone conversations with his ex-wife, her attorney’s office, two police officers and others, and who also made profane telephone calls to a Common Pleas Court judge and officials in the Chester County Domestic Relations Office, has admitted his culpability in those crimes.

On Wednesday, William Robert Wheeler pleaded guilty to charges of wiretapping and harassment, as well as driving under the influence, before Judge Patrick Carmody, who deferred formal sentencing to allow Wheeler to apply for the county’s alternative sentencing program for repeat DUI offenders.

Attorneys on both ides of the case — Deputy District Attorney Thomas […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:39-05:00October 1st, 2015|

Winning at chess- use spy technology and Morse code.

Italian chess player allegedly uses a spy pendant containing a hidden camera to cheat during Italian tournament (www.telegraph.co.uk)

An Italian chess player has been expelled from one of Italy’s most important tournaments after he allegedly used Morse code and a spy pendant containing a hidden camera to communicate with an accomplice.

Arcangelo Ricciardi entered the International Chess Festival of Imperia ranked 51,366 in the world, but astonished rivals as he breezed through the early stages of the competition to reach the eighth and penultimate round.

Jean Coqueraut, who refereed the tournament in Liguria, northern Italy, said he began to suspect something was wrong early on in the competition.

“In chess, performances like that are impossible,” he told La Stampa newspaper. “I didn’t think he was a genius, I knew he had to be a cheat.

“I kept on looking at him. He was always sitting […]

Exec Security2015-09-11T18:39:16-04:00September 11th, 2015|

Visual hacking- something worth looking at

The new iPhone 6s touts a 12 megapixel camera and the Samsung Galaxy S6 a 16 megapixel camera. You can get a lot of detail with such a camera. It may be time for corporations to re-think their employee policies and restrict photography to help employees, managers, and executives understand the potential for information leakage and theft from photos taken around the office. A selfie taken at an office or cubicle could unwittingly expose confidential information from computer screens, calendars, or posted notes (how many cubicles still have passwords posted?)

A recent article by Dan Burks at AmericanBanker.com looks into this problem. While he is mainly referring to banks, the problems and solutions apply to all industries.

…A visual hack could involve someone inside a bank branch or back office, such as a customer or delivery person, taking a picture of an employee’s computer screen. It could also involve capturing information from documents […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:39-05:00September 10th, 2015|

Sports: Ex-Patriots hinted that the locker room may be bugged – says Tony Dungy

from Sportsgrid.com

On Thursday’s “Dan Patrick Show,” Tony Dungy — a regular on the program — casually threw out a very disconcerting bit of information about the Patriots’ intelligence gathering procedures. He made a point to say that this kind of stuff — which essentially amounts to spying — is not confined to New England. He’s just “heard” that it might definitively occur within the walls of Gillette Stadium.

Dan Patrick: “Did you think that your locker rooms were being spied on?”

Tony Dungy: “We had a few ex-Patriots that said, ‘You better be careful what you do in the locker room and what you say,’ and that kind of thing. I think a lot of that is psychological warfare, you know, they want to think certain things and worry about more about what’s going on off the field than on it. You can’t worry […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:39-05:00August 21st, 2015|

Japan: Government taking steps to fight industrial espionage

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The National Police Agency will soon team up with the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry to fight industrial espionage.

Joint measures will include visits by police officers to about 10,000 domestic corporations with cutting-edge technology to give them advice, according to NPA sources.

Under the plan, which will be implemented as early as this autumn, companies with state-of-the art technology will also be provided with the latest information about how industrial spying is conducted, according to the NPA sources.

The move reflects growing concerns that the theft of leading technology from domestic companies could lower the international competitiveness of Japan’s corporate sector.

The economy ministry will list companies with sophisticated technologies or products that might be targeted by industrial spies from overseas and provide the information to the NPA.

Based on instructions from the NPA, officers of prefectural police forces will visit the companies’ head offices, plants and laboratories.

They will […]

Exec Security2015-08-11T17:56:21-04:00August 11th, 2015|

FBI offers video with insight into economic espionage

The FBI has recently produced a video called “The Company Man: Protecting America’s Secrets” that illustrates how a US company was targeted by foreign agents and how the company worked with the FBI to set up a sting operation to catch the perpetrators.

“Economic espionage is a problem that costs the American economy billions of dollars annually and puts our national security at risk. To raise awareness of the issue, the FBI and the National Counterintelligence and Security Center have launched a nationwide campaign and released a short film aimed at educating anyone with a trade secret about the threat and how they can help mitigate it.”

The full Company Man video is about 36 minutes long, but the FBI also have other related videos that are worth looking into, including interviews with corporate attorneys, security directors, and FBI agents discussing the threat of corporate espionage. Of […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:39-05:00August 7th, 2015|

SC Mayor arrested on wiretap charges- when computer hacking is not enough…

Mayor Rodney Turner of Lyman, South Carolina was arrested along with an associate on computer hacking and wiretap charges. It is important to recognize that while cyber crime receives the majority of attention these days, oral communication is still very much at risk and needs protection. None of the reports we read gave any indication of the wiretapping techniques used but they do refer to interception of oral communications. We will be following this story to see if there is any indication of how wiretapping of the town hall was accomplished.

From Gannett Greenville Online:

The mayor of the town of Lyman was arrested Wednesday in connection to a wiretapping investigation, state law enforcement officials said.

Rodney Dean Turner, 58, of 303 Earl Drive, was charged with wiretapping, misconduct in office and misconduct in office by a public official, according to warrants.

Warrants allege Turner failed to faithfully execute the responsibilities and power […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:39-05:00August 6th, 2015|