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Surveillance alert: Elf On A Shelf and a Santa Spy Cam

Ontario professor Laura Pinto thinks the popular “Elf on a Shelf” toy is conditioning children for growing up in a surveillance state. Is that any different than Santa knowing when you are sleeping, when you’re awake, and if you’ve been naughty or nice? It is apparently quite sinister.

from the Inquisitr.com

Laura Pinto is a digital technology professor at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Pinto recently published an academic report which argues that the Elf On The Shelf book fosters a “sinister” message. The “Who’s The Boss” paper claims that the idea of an elf reporting back to Santa Claus each night in regards to the behavior of children, “sets up children for dangerous, uncritical acceptance of power structures.”

What you looking at?

Elf on the Shelf is a story about how

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:45-05:00December 17th, 2014|

Internal threat: Spying, subterfuge and stolen treasure- Inside Nike and Adidas

by Drew Harwell, Washington Post

The massive heist from the world’s biggest sportswear firm was, as Nike attorneys allege, an inside job.

Nike vs Adidas

Faking a broken laptop, one of the sneaker giant’s top directors is said to have met secretly with an interloper to copy some of what a Nike lawsuit this week called the firm’s “most important and highly confidential” intelligence.

Days later, the director and two other elite designers defected to the firm’s bitter rival, allegedly scrubbing e-mails and text messages that, attorneys said, hid “evidence of their betrayals.”

The claims of stealth and subterfuge have reignited Nike’s decades-long sneaker war with Adidas, the German-based shoe titan and Nike’s chief competitor. But they have also cast a spotlight on the high-stakes palace intrigue hidden beneath the world’s fiercely competitive, multibillion-dollar sneaker and sportswear empire.

Exec Security2014-12-16T17:40:52-05:00December 16th, 2014|

NORAD tracking Santa for over 50 years

For almost 60 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa’s flight.

The tradition began in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement misprinted the telephone number for children to call Santa. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief’s operations “hotline.” The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given updates on his location, and a tradition was born.

In 1958, the governments of Canada and the United States created a bi-national air defense command for North America called the North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD, which then took on the tradition of tracking Santa.

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:45-05:00December 13th, 2014|

Wiretapping ATMs

News came out last month [here] on information security blog Krebsonsecurity.com, about attacks on European ATM machines that involved cutting into the machines and tapping into the wires that connect to the internal card reader. The hole would then be covered up with a fake decal or sticker. Photos supplied by NCR now show what such attacks could look like.

A hole left by crooks who added “wiretapping” or “eavesdropping” theft devices to a compromised ATM. Image: NCR.

“In this attack, the ATM fascia is penetrated close to the card reader to create a hole large enough for the attacker to reach inside the ATM and place a tap directly onto the card reader in order to skim card data as it is read by the ATM,” NCR said in an advisory it produced on the increasingly common attacks.

A key element in all aspects of security […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:45-05:00December 9th, 2014|

Future watch: iPhone with laser beams, 3D mapping, more…

Consumer technology eventually encroaches on ideas that were only dreamed of in the past. Developments come quickly these days, so it’s worthwhile to keep an eye on where things are going. An eavesdropping technique that has been difficult to deploy in the past, could also be built right into an iPhone if this reported patent comes to fruition. Lasers can be used for eavesdropping by beaming onto a distant object or window pane, then interpreting reflections of vibrations of that beam in order to get audio from the target room. If the lasers described below get built into a smart phone, I’m sure it wouldn’t be long until an app is developed for using them for eavesdropping as well. As it is, though, a pocket-sized 3D laser mapping device would also be a spy’s delight.

“such technology may result in museums and other public venues [not to mention engineering and […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:46-05:00December 8th, 2014|

NSA tools highlight the need for Cyber Security and TSCM to work together.

Pages leaked from the supposed National Security Agency – Advanced Network Technology (NSA-ANT) catalog reveal eavesdropping and spy technology using advanced wireless communications (revealed in Der Spiegel in 2013 here). Edward Snowden may not be on your Christmas list, and the NSA may or may not be out to get you, but here’s the thing, if the NSA has such devices, surely other nation states and advanced criminal espionage organizations can be expected to have similar items available. In the past, one may have assumed this type of technology existed, but now there is clear description of some of the potential threats.

A number of the NSA-ANT product sheets are displayed on Wikipedia as well as other websites revealing leaked information. Take a look at a few of them listed below.

Detection of such devices goes beyond the normal cyber-crime security efforts. These miniature circuits can appear as standard pieces […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:46-05:00November 28th, 2014|

Cyber bugs studied used for disaster rescue, real bugs…

by Kelly Dickerson, LiveScience.com

Remote-controlled cyborg cockroaches could one day be among the first responders at disaster scenes to help locate survivors.

A team of researchers at North Carolina State University has created a swarm of cyborg cockroaches, nicknamed “biobots,” that are equipped with microphones to pick up sounds and trace them to their sources. The researchers hope the biobots could one day be used in disaster-relief situations to locate survivors.

Cyber cockroach, equipped with microphones and transmitters could aid in disaster rescue.

Each cockroach has a tiny circuit board “backpack” attached to it that researchers can use to control the bug’s movement. Some of the biobots have a single microphone that can capture sounds at a disaster scene and send them back to personnel. Others have a series of microphones that can pinpoint the source of a sound and then steer […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:46-05:00November 27th, 2014|

Genie put back in the bottle with $500,000 fine. First ever conviction for cellphone eavesdropping software.

A man who advertised and sold the notorious StealthGenie mobile-phone spyware has pleaded guilty to federal charges, earning himself a $500,000 fine, the Department of Justice said Tuesday. Hammad Akbar, a Danish citizen originally from Pakistan, was arrested in September and charged with advertisement and sale of interception devices — a category that includes spyware apps like StealthGenie. Once the app was secretly installed on the target phone, it would remain undetectable while recording every phone call and text, every photo and every email, among other things. The app, which investigators said was designed for use by “stalkers and domestic abusers,” could be installed on iOS, Android and BlackBerry devices. “This illegal spyware provides individuals with an option to track a person’s every move without their knowledge,” the FBI’s Andrew McCabe said.

Akbar allegedly sold a copy […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:46-05:00November 27th, 2014|

Top Secret History: maps printed on silk, smuggled in Monopoly games to aid prisoners of war

Wall tiles and Free Parking: escape and evasion maps of World War II

By Debbie Hall, Mapforum.com

Waddington PLC, the printing company best known for its games including Monopoly, was involved in a most unusual venture during the Second World War: printing maps on silk, rayon and tissue paper for military use and smuggling some of them to prisoners of war. Last year an archive of correspondence relating to the military maps, along with samples of the maps themselves, was donated to the British Library Map Library. A small fraction of the archive, relating to the initial planning and the early days of the project, is currently the subject of a small exhibition at the British Library, and a few items are reproduced here.

Silk map, to aid escaping prisoners in WWII

When you look at these maps the unusual materials are […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:46-05:00November 27th, 2014|

NC: City Hall installs cameras AND listening devices.

Southport, NC, City Hall appears proud to have a new security system- 8 cameras AND listening devices. I guess they may have not paid attention to problems other city offices have faced around the country. University of California Police Department and Nelson, NH City Hall are two examples where law suits were brought with allegations of eavesdropping (see Exec Security posts here and here). Once you add audio to your recordings you face a different set of rules. I wonder how long it will take until they are asked to remove the microphones due to law suits?

SOUTHPORT, NC (WECT) –Southport residents who visit City Hall to pay a bill will be watched and heard in a different way from here out.

On every hall, every corner, and every doorway a camera will be watching your […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:46-05:00November 26th, 2014|

Pennsylvania “All Party Consent” rule stops judge, alleges eavsedropping

Are recording systems running in your conference rooms? Make sure you treat recordings responsibly and know your laws. Microphones can be very sensitive, picking up unintended conversations.

A courtroom in Stroudsburg, PA has a sensitive recording system in place, but Pennsylvania is one of the few (12) states that require that all parties must give their consent if a conversation is to be recorded. Comments from Judge Jennifer Sibum revealed that she had overheard private attorney conversations.

According to a source, the district attorney’s claims against Judge Jennifer Sibum surfaced from comments the judge made last month on the bench to lawyers in the courtroom who were present for a status conference, a routine court procedure. One of the lawyers in court Oct. 29, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the judge said she was “unhappy with some of the things she heard on these tapes.”

“She […]

Exec Security2014-11-25T21:01:36-05:00November 25th, 2014|

UC Police say bosses eavesdropped on them

Take-away: if you have a video system that also records audio, then you’d better make sure all of your employees have agreed to be monitored, or else disable the audio. Whether or not the UC police surveillance system was used nefariously, once people (especially the union) discover that they are being recorded, that opens the door to lawsuits. During regular TSCM sweeps we have often found audio devices that were installed with apparently good intentions yet they put the company at risk for legal action such as this.

Department secretly installed a surveillance system throughout its headquarters, according to a lawsuit filed by a police union

By Kale Williams, San Francisco Chronicle

IRVINE, Calif. — A University of California campus police department secretly installed a surveillance system throughout its headquarters, including in bathrooms, and recorded officers’ private conversations, according to a lawsuit filed by a police union.

Devices installed throughout UC Irvine’s police […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:46-05:00November 22nd, 2014|

CIA has a new clue to it’s own personal puzzle.

from WIRED magazine, 11/20/2014

In 1989, the year the Berlin Wall began to fall, American artist Jim Sanborn was busy working on his Kryptos sculpture, a cryptographic puzzle wrapped in a riddle that he created for the CIA’s headquarters and that has been driving amateur and professional cryptographers mad ever since.

To honor the 25th anniversary of the Wall’s demise and the artist’s 69th birthday this year, Sanborn has decided to reveal a new clue to help solve his iconic and enigmatic artwork. It’s only the second hint he’s released since the sculpture was unveiled in 1990 and may finally help unlock the fourth and final section of the encrypted sculpture, which frustrated sleuths have been struggling to crack for more than two decades.

Kryptos, a sculpture by American artist Jim Sanborn located on the grounds of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley, […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:46-05:00November 21st, 2014|

Australia: Obama strips down entire hotel floor to search for bugs and listening devices

Hotels can be fertile ground for eavesdropping. Security teams for executives as well as politicians should consider hotel TSCM sweeps to be part of their standard protocol especially when important meetings are planned.

Brisbane, Australia, via DailyMail, Nov 9, 2014

U.S. security officials have stripped down an entire floor of a Brisbane hotel and removed furniture to prevent President Barack Obama being spied on during his stay for the G20 summit this weekend.

Mr Obama’s security agents ordered beds, mirrors and bedding be removed from rooms surrounding the suite where the President will stay at the five-star Marriott Hotel in Queensland’s capital city, the Courier-Mail reported.

The floor will be checked for bugs before Mr Obama arrives on Saturday, to ensure he can make secure phone calls and conduct meetings.

President Obama and his staff will occupy […]

Exec Security2014-11-17T11:10:28-05:00November 17th, 2014|

X FACTOR judge Louis Walsh is convinced his dressing room is bugged.

Louis Walsh believes that recording gear has been hidden in his room at Wembley Stadium to sabotage his chances. And he is so obsessed about it he makes anyone who comes to see him go into the toilet when they want to talk to him.

X-Factor judge, Louis Walsh

Louis, who is mentoring the groups, has two acts left in the show, eight-strong boy band Stereo Kicks and the mixed-sex quartet Only The Young. Both have been struggling and have been involved in sing-offs. Now Louis is convinced their efforts have been sabotaged. A show source said: “He thinks people have been listening in to his briefings and advice to disadvantage them.”

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:46-05:00November 17th, 2014|

Alabama man indicted for installing eavesdropping device.

Baby monitors are at it again

Times Daily, Florence, AL, By Tom Smith Senior Staff Writer

FLORENCE — Police said a Florence man has been indicted for breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment, installing an eavesdropping device and stalking her.

Court officials said indictments have been issued against Charlie Mack Dean III, 52, 1825 Darby Drive, Florence, for second-degree domestic violence, second-degree stalking, criminal surveillance, installing eavesdropping device and second-degree theft of property.

The indictments were issued during the recently concluded October grand jury session. Reports indicate Dean was arrested May 27 on the charges.

Florence police Detective Justin Wright said according to reports the stalking began after Dean’s former girlfriend ended their relationship. “It had been an on-again, off-again relationship, and she finally ended it,” Wright said. “He never physically hurt her, just harassed her and […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:46-05:00November 15th, 2014|

Business travel safety brochure, courtesy of the FBI

The FBI offers a printable two page travel safety brochure with helpful tips for keeping executives safe and secure during international trips.

It emphasizes the need to take corporate espionage seriously:

Corporate espionage is an increasingly serious threat for a business traveler. The perpetrator may be a competitor, opportunist, or foreign intelligence officer. In many countries, domestic corporations collect competitive intelligence with the help and support of their government. To mitigate this risk, your organization’s critical information and technologies should not reside on any hard copy or electronic device you take unless it is absolutely necessary, and if so, then you must safeguard the physical access to the information by using encryption and keeping the material on your person at all times. Hotel safes are not adequate protection.

There are sections for “Before You Go”, “During Your Stay”, and “Upon Your Return”. It includes advice ranging from not allowing foreign storage devices to connect […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:46-05:00November 13th, 2014|

Darkhotel points to the need for TSCM sweeps to enhance cyber security

The Darkhotel cyber threat highlights the need for corporations to take regular TSCM sweeps seriously.

Darkhotel, so named by Kaspersky Labs, is a malware attack that has been operating at least since 2009, focusing on executives visiting hotels especially in Asia.

A key element in these reports, according to Kaspersky’s research, is that the Darkhotel group often knew a target’s room number, full name, and length of stay before they arrived. This indicates that the perpetrators would have done extensive intelligence gathering and surveillance of the intended targets prior to the travel. In this light, TSCM sweeps become much more significant in the fight against cyber attacks and protection of information assets.

Kaspersky explains how the Darkhotel malware works:

[The hackers] wait until, after check-in, the victim connects to the hotel Wi-Fi network, submitting his room number and surname at the log-in. The attackers see him in the compromised network and trick him into downloading and installing […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:46-05:00November 11th, 2014|