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“Spy Wednesday” – Trusted advisors can become internal threats- for thirty pieces of silver.

The Wednesday before Easter is known to many as “Spy Wednesday”. It is recognized as the day on which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus. It can serve as a reminder that internal threats and betrayal can lead to very serious damages indeed!

Judas receives thirty pieces of silver.

“…The Wednesday before Easter is known as Spy Wednesday. The name comes from the Bible passage read in churches on that day,which explains the role that Judas Iscariot played in bringing about Jesus’death. According to the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church, Spy Wednesday marks the last full day of Lent and Holy […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00April 1st, 2015|

Smart phones not limited to smart people. Stupid criminals can still use technology.

Everyone seems to like stupid criminal stories.

Wanted by police in Maine for theft of a wood stove, Christopher Wallace announced his location on Snapchat. One of his trusty followers was kind enough to report it to police.

While the police were searching his girlfriend’s home, a bit over confident he posted again on Snapchat that he was hiding in a cabinet.

“While the deputies/officers were wrapping up their search, Wallace posted again on Snapchat. This time he posted that the police were searching for him in the house, and that he was hiding in a cabinet. Again, we received phone calls.” Somerset County Sheriff’s Office posted on it’s own Facebook page.

“A search of the kitchen cabinets turned up some food, some pots and pans, and also a pair of feet,” the police explained on the Facebook page. “The pair of feet just so happened to be attached […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00March 26th, 2015|

Walkie-talkies lead to eavesdropping accusations at SF Zoo

Many modern two-way radios have a feature that can allow a supervisor to remotely turn on the transmitter of one of the units of the connected radios. The user of that radio will be automatically put into hands-free communication with the supervisor or with others in the group, possibly with their knowledge. We reported on the vulnerability of this type of feature in a previous post [here]. The feature has legitimate application for such things as emergency response for medical or safety services. Knowing that the capability exists could lead others to misuse the feature for eavesdropping.

Workers at the San Francisco Zoo were abusing this capability in their radios. Their misadventures created union trouble with possible legal ramifications. Radios, telephone systems, intercom systems, all have features that can be misused. Employees need to understand proper use of the equipment. If you have such features you may want to consider having them […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00March 19th, 2015|

Tap, tap, tap, “is this thing on?”, from embarrassment to murder conviction- check your mic, you may be bugged.

Robert Durst should have paid more attention to Leslie Nielson in “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!”. For those who missed it, check out the clip below to see the type of embarrassment that can come from forgetting that your microphone is still on.

Durst, suspected in the 1982 disappearance of his wife, and the 2000 murder of his girl friend, was the subject of an HBO documentary “The Jinx”. In filming the final episode, filmmaker Andrew Jarecki suggests it is Durst ‘s handwriting on a note directing police to Berman’s body, Durst left his microphone on as he went to the bathroom. “There it is. You’re caught,” he said, adding “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.” Now he has a bit more to answer to.

Executives and others involved in public speaking or the media may find themselves from time to time wearing a wireless […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00March 17th, 2015|

Covert cameras found at Denver area Post Office

FOX31 Denver: Mysterious spy cameras collecting data at post offices

DENVER — Within an hour of FOX31 Denver discovering a hidden camera, which was positioned to capture and record the license plates and facial features of customers leaving a Golden Post Office, the device was ripped from the ground and disappeared.

FOX31 Denver investigative reporter Chris Halsne confirmed the hidden camera and recorder is owned and operated by the United State Postal Inspection Service, the law enforcement branch of the U.S. Postal Service.

The recording device appeared to be tripped by any vehicle leaving the property on Johnson Road, but the lens was not positioned to capture images of the front door, employee entrance, or loading dock areas of the post office.

An alert customer first noticed the data collection device, hidden inside a utilities box, around Thanksgiving 2014. It stayed in […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00March 16th, 2015|

Move over Furby, Eavesdropping Barbie is here.

A number of years ago, while performing an electronic countermeasures sweep in a Manhattan apartment, our non-linear junction detector (locates hidden electronics) alerted to one Barbie doll that was on display among a few other dolls. To further inspect the Barbie to be sure there was no concealed listening device, we removed her clothes, revealing only that it was a “Talking Barbie” with a circuit that played back pre-recorded phrases. Unfortunately, that was the moment the client came into the room to check on how we were doing. After explaining our peculiar actions, we had a good laugh.

Now though, a “Listening Barbie” (actually named “Hello Barbie”) is coming and this one may be a real threat. This off the shelf, WIFI enabled Barbie records conversations, remembering what it hears, processing it through a cloud server, and enabling it to respond with appropriate comments.

“Eavesdropping Barbie”

While this could sound like fun […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00March 11th, 2015|

Spoofing the boss’ email nets big profit.

Report from Brian Krebs www.krebsonsecurity.com explains how scammers are spoofing emails pretending to be from heads of corporations and requesting funds through wire transfer.

Known variously as “CEO fraud,” and the “business email compromise,” this swindle is a sophisticated and increasingly common one targeting businesses working with foreign suppliers and/or businesses that regularly perform wire transfer payments. In January 2015, the FBI warned that cyber thieves stole nearly $215 million from businesses in the previous 14 months through such scams, which start when crooks spoof or hijack the email accounts of business executives or employees.

In February, con artists made off with a whopping $17.2 million from one of Omaha, Nebraska’s oldest companies — The Scoular Co., an employee-owned commodities […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00March 11th, 2015|

Eavesdropping through web service- spoofed phone calls; NJ corrections deputy director on trial.

Just as employees, secretaries, and anyone handling confidential information need to be aware of phishing and spoof email scams, they should also be attentive to any phone calls that come through odd or suspicious circumstances.

Kirk Eady, a Hudson County Corrections deputy director, is on trial in Newark federal court for allegedly eavesdropping on the phone conversations on corrections union leaders. He made use of a website service that allowed recording of phone calls.

Prankdial.com’s Evil Operator service no longer appears to be available. Screen shot from www.archive.org

Prankdial.com offered a service they called “evil operator” where you could enter two telephone numbers and they would call each other, then you could listen in to the conversation. Prank Dial no longer appears to have this service on their site, but other prank websites offer something similar.

[…]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00March 11th, 2015|

Automotive industrial spy for hire

Brenda Priddy takes photos, good ones, of cars, and they’re in great demand.

She is careful not to break any laws. Her targets are out in the open on public roads and highways, usually found in Death Valley. That is where many car manufacturers test drive their newest experimental and concept vehicles. She spends all day on the road, “looking for future products, looking for test cars, looking for any cars that may be out of the ordinary that may have some hint as to the future of the vehicle”.

Her web site explains: “Brenda Priddy has earned a reputation as one of the world’s top automotive “spy” photographers. Her undercover exclusives are a regular feature of LeftLaneNews.com, autos.sympatico.ca and other popular websites. Her client list also includes such publications as AutoWeek, Car & Driver, Road and Track, USA Today and the New York Times. Brenda’s […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00March 8th, 2015|

Canada kicks out spies, sending them where? Mostly to the US…

Spying is a two way street. An article in OurWindsor.ca reveals that during the past decade, Canada has given the boot to 21 spies, 5 of them returned to the US.

From 2004 to 2014 Ottawa sent back to the U.S. five of a total of 21 of those barred from Canada “on security grounds for engaging in an act of espionage that is against Canada or that is contrary to Canada’s interests,” according to a document produced by Canada Border Services Agency.

It’s not clear whether the espionage was by foreign government agents or whether it was industrial espionage — that is, spying to obtain state secrets or spying that targeted intellectual property or corporate secrets.

A document released under the Access to Information law shows the suspected spies were permanent residents or foreign nationals deemed inadmissible on security grounds, but does not break down […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00March 8th, 2015|

Ponemon Institute study: Low tech information theft successful nine times out of ten

“Factors that made a noticeable difference in the amount of information collected were clean desk policies, standardized document shredding policies, suspicious reporting processes, and mandatory training and awareness.”

By Maria Korolov, CSO online

Researchers were able to get sensitive corporate information just by looking around corporate offices in 88 percent of attempts, according to a new study.

Michigan based Ponemon Institute sent researchers to 43 offices belonging to seven large corporations who had previously agreed to participate in benchmarking research. The researchers had valid identification as temporary employees, and management knew they were coming — though the office staff did not.

The researchers spent up to two hours in each office, wandering around, taking pictures of computer screens, and picking up documents marked “confidential” and putting them in their bags — all deliberately within full view of the regular employees.

In the vast majority of the cases, the regular office staff did not […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00March 2nd, 2015|

The ‘Real-Life Q’

Gizmodo has an interesting interview with Ralph Osterhout, a man who builds spy gadgets for a living, interview by Sean Hollister.

As a boy, Osterhout was so enamored with Ian Fleming’s Bond novels that he decided to become a spy himself. He trained himself to shoot, drive, fight, even build his own weapons and gadgets. He studied the Bond films and, at the age of 22, built his own miniature submarine like the ones in the Bond classic Thunderball. He started a company building high-tech dive gear, and traveled around Europe to visit the exotic Bond locales he’d read about. “I stayed at the same hotels, went to the same restaurants and villages, smoked John Player No. 10 cigarettes,” he once told Wired.

That’s roughly when the US government came calling. They needed Bond-grade gear for their elite Navy SEAL divers. Soon, […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00February 22nd, 2015|

In a ‘nation of eavesdroppers’, everyone can hear you!

If it’s trending in Britain, you can be sure it’s happening all over. British telecom company O2 surveyed 2000 people about casual eavesdropping. If you don’t have a “Cone of Silence”, you may need to heed their warning.

Here are some of the results from O2‘s survey:

Over 80 per cent of Brits admit to eavesdropping on other people’s phone conversations while on a train or platform
Nearly 9 in 10 think that people have no reservations while talking on the phone in public
60 per cent of Brits think people would benefit from some kind of etiquette guide when it comes to talking on the phone whilst using public transport
O2 has produced the very first public transport mobile phone etiquette guide to help Brits use their phone considerately

Maxwell Smart’s Cone of Silence

84 per cent of people admitted to listening in […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00February 16th, 2015|

Dating apps pose corporate security risk, says IBM

Reporting by Bill Rigby, Reuters: The millions of people using dating apps on company smartphones could be exposing themselves and their employers to hacking, spying and theft, according to a study by International Business Machines Corp.

IBM security researchers said 26 of 41 dating apps they analyzed on Google Inc’s Android mobile platform had medium or high severity vulnerabilities, in a report published on Wednesday.

IBM did not name the vulnerable apps but said it had alerted the app publishers to problems.

Dating apps have become hugely popular in the past few years due to their instant messaging, photo and geolocation services. About 31 million Americans have used a dating site or app, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center study.

IBM found employees used vulnerable dating apps in nearly 50 percent of the companies sampled for its research. Using the same phone for work and […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:41-05:00February 14th, 2015|

LA Confidential; West Hollywood council deputy suspended in eavesdropping case

We’re not sure how this eavesdropping was accomplished, whether through a bugging device or perhaps just through the phone. Phone call recording is often a built in feature for phone systems, but can also be performed through the use of external devices. Phone technicians could have access to the recordings. Even digital phones and VOIP phones can be recorded easily. It could be legal in many locations, if the person doing the recording is part of the conversation. What happens with the content of recordings, on the other hand, could be illegal and can often lead to detrimental results. Wayward employees or staff often think they acting righteously as whistle blowers when committing eavesdropping, but they could be breaking the law and end up in prison.

By Hailey Branson-Potts, LA Times;

A West Hollywood City Council aide has been suspended and is being investigated by sheriff’s detectives on charges of eavesdropping on […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:42-05:00February 14th, 2015|

Locations revisited- record of frequent locations stored on iPhone

Last September we mentioned how the “Location Reporting“ services built into your smart phone was keeping track of where you’ve been, using an opt-in Google service. Mike Leclair, of Sumuri, creators of Mac and PC forensics software, while investigating his iPhone, came across a “Frequent Locations” option buried withing iOS privacy settings. Here is some of his report from the Sumuri blog: Surviving Digital Forensics

Mike Leclair, 1/28/2015;

iOS has a built in feature that, as far as I can tell, is working like GPS locator. I have been testing this and so far all the dates, times and map locations that my iPhone is collecting are accurate. This feature is on by default and all you need is access […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:42-05:00February 11th, 2015|

Wearable Tech Alert: Store and forward 60 seconds of audio from your wrist- anytime, anyplace

From smart TV’s to Amazon Echo, new devices all around us are listening. A new tech item scheduled for shipping this month promises to bring personal eavesdropping and BYOD threats to a new level.

The Kapture device, funded by Kickstarter, is a wearable device that constantly records all audio in it’s vicinity. It is designed to be worn on the wrist, with a clip-on option, a little like a cross between a Fitbit and Apple Watch. It is constantly recording, but remembers only the last 60 seconds.

At any moment, if you feel that something you just heard is worth saving- just tap the unit and it will send that 60 second audio clip to your phone via bluetooth. You can use their smartphone app to record longer segments. Their web site also explains, “The Kapture wristband allows for about 25 audio klips to be saved locally. Once your phone is back […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:42-05:00February 9th, 2015|

TV vs Reality: former intelligence officers discuss new NBC spy show “Allegiance”

NBC’s new spy drama “Allegiance” was previewed at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, along with a panel discussion with former intelligence officers including Vince Houghton, historian and curator at the Spy Museum, CIA analyst Mark Stout, and former KGB General Oleg Kalugin. Their comments offer some insight into the real world of spying.

10 Things We Learned Watching Allegiance at The International Spy Museum,
By Nancy Dunham, February 7, 201, pastemagazine.com

If you watched the premiere of Allegiance, NBC’s new spy drama, on Thursday night, you likely wonder what the creators can possibly do to top it. Modern day sex, lies and videotape—not to mention some pretty gnarly torture and a spy-within-a-spy plots—kept us on the edge of our seats when we previewed it at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.

Still, questions arise as to whether or not the show, which centers on a 40-something Brooklyn couple (she’s Russian-born, […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:42-05:00February 9th, 2015|