Lawsuit against Colts alleges app is eavesdropping. But is it really? What determines an eavesdropping threat?

Most are familiar with the old question, “If a tree falls in the forest, but no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?”  Here is the new one that lawyers are facing: “If a microphone is turned on, but no one is there to hear it, is it still eavesdropping?”

Fear of eavesdropping is helping to spawn lawsuits as so many devices in daily use now come with some sort of microphone built in. An Indianapolis Colts fan has brought a lawsuit against the Colts, their app developer, YinzCam, and LISNR who created the technology used.

The Colts smartphone app uses fairly new technology to help deliver news, information, and ads to their fans. It supposedly can activate the smartphone microphone and be able to detect ultra high frequency sounds, far above the normal range of […]

2016-12-16T20:23:31-05:00November 3rd, 2016|
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Fitting a fake cell tower into an office printer

An engineer has shown how you can sneak a tiny cellphone base station into an innocuous office printer.

The idea is the brainchild of New Zealand’s Julian Oliver, who was inspired by the Stingray cellphone snooping technology now in widespread use by the cops and FBI. He was looking to see how such tech could be hidden and what better to do this in than the humble office.

 

SMS hacking

 

The printer still does its main job of spewing out documents, but now – using code Oliver developed and published – it also acts as a fake cellphone tower that detects and communicates with nearby phones and sends them SMS messages

 

[Read more]

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/02/printer_spy_box/?mt=1478140328427

 

2016-12-16T20:23:31-05:00November 2nd, 2016|
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IOT Update: Arlo Pro battery powered camera now with audio- creating a more serious eavesdropping threat.

Earlier this year I wrote about a few different consumer security cameras on the market that pose unique eavesdropping threats (here).

One of the more popular cameras has been the Arlo, sold by Netgear, available at outlets such as Best Buy and Sam’s Club. The Arlo was a replacement for the Netgear VueZone camera and was easy to use as a video device, but it only recorded video, no audio, so it was not able to eavesdrop on conversations (thankfully). It also required an active internet connection for the base unit. This would make it a bit more difficult to install in a corporate environment where the network may have active security in place.  We found that Arlo cameras have been discovered being used as covert residential spy devices, but have not seen them used for corporate level eavesdropping espionage yet. The new version makes it a much more significant threat.

 

arlo-pro-hub-and-camera Arlo Pro, […]

2016-12-16T20:23:31-05:00October 14th, 2016|
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Royal bugging? NOT. News of William and Kate being bugged deemed false.

Celebrity status has it’s downside- gossip. News recently came out in the British tabloids  (RadarOnline) that Prince William and Kate Middleton had listening devices found throughout their home.

It seems they can relax. Another popular site, GossipCop.com, which tries to police the tabloids, asserts the claims are all false.

Headlines from RadarOnline Headlines from RadarOnline

Gossip Cop points out:

According to RadarOnline, Queen Elizabeth has supposedly handpicked her grandson, Prince William, to become the next king when she either abdicates the throne or passes away, despite her son, Prince Charles, being next in line. As a result of this alleged development, the site claims Prince Charles is now trying to dig up dirt on his son that will prevent him from becoming king.

A so-called “source” tells the outlet that security at Prince William and Middleton’s royal residence recently discovered their “phones were tapped and the rooms were bugged,” […]

2016-12-16T20:23:31-05:00October 14th, 2016|
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Evidence of eavesdropping may be right in front of you.

Even the best eavesdroppers may be nervous or have a lot on their minds. This could cause them to be careless when planting a bug or listening device. This would be true if they were spy-shop amateurs, disgruntled employees, or even state sponsored agents. Failure to clean up well after installing a device could be the clue that gives them away.

2016-12-16T20:23:31-05:00October 5th, 2016|
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Espionage Research Institute International holds 2016 TSCM and Counterespionage Conference

Our blog posts have been a bit scarce recently due to a fairly busy schedule. One weekend was well spent attending the 2016 conference of Espionage Research Institute International (ERII), held in yearly in the Washington, DC area.

erii-logo

ERII is made up of a number TSCM and other security professionals who are interested developing their craft and learning more about the threat of espionage, counterintelligence, and countermeasures against eavesdropping and other spy tactics. More information on the organization can be found at www.erii.org. J.D. Leasure and his wife Lisa did an excellent job of putting the program together.

This year’s conference included a number of valuable presentations.

An update on cellular surveillance was given by Jason Dibley, director of QCC Global, UK.
John Minor, fiber optic expert, presented a good look into threats facing fiber networks. Retiring TSCM-er Tim Johnson […]

2016-12-16T20:23:31-05:00September 30th, 2016|
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Eavesdropping on City Hall- Phone System Used for Wiretapping

Former Lake Station mayor had secretly recorded approximately 425,000 calls between Oct. 12, 2011, and Aug. 13, 2015, and continued the activity even after being released on bond as his federal corruption cases were pending. An audit of your phone system operations can help reveal potential misuse such as this. Almost all telecom systems in use today have features that can allow various forms of eavesdropping to take place.

2016-12-16T20:23:31-05:00September 5th, 2016|
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Family feud: NY man charged with eavesdropping on his family.

Bottom line: don’t spy on your family! Many people who want to play James Bond end up looking more like Inspector Clouseau. The vast supply of monitoring devices available from online spy shops tempt many to eavesdrop on their bosses, competitors, friends and families.

A Bloomingburg, NY, man was charged Thursday, 8/18/2016, with eavesdropping on family members.

State police said their investigation found that Joseph Codi, 33, of Bloomingburg, used a hidden electronic monitoring device over a month long period to overhear conversations between other family members without their consent or knowledge. Codi was charged with eavesdropping, a felony.

No further information is available at this time.

Family members must have been a little annoyed to want to turn him in to police.

[Read more]

2016-08-31T15:25:39-04:00August 19th, 2016|
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History: Spy radios, hacking when it counts.

World War II can be thought of as the first electronic war. Radio technology was firmly established commercially by the late 1930s and poised to make huge contributions to the prosecution of the war on all sides. Radio was rapidly adopted into the battlefield, which led to advancements in miniaturization and ruggedization of previously bulky and fragile vacuum tube gear. Radios were soon being used for everything from coordinating battlefield units to detonating anti-aircraft artillery shells.

2016-12-16T20:23:32-05:00August 16th, 2016|
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U.S. spy services involved in Rio Olympics security

More Than 1,000 U.S. Spies Protecting Rio Olympics

from NBCNews.com

U.S. intelligence has assigned more than 1,000 spies to Olympic security as part of a highly classified effort to protect the Rio 2016 Summer Games and American athletes and staff, NBC News has learned.

Hundreds of analysts, law enforcement and special operations personnel are already on the ground in Rio de Janeiro, according to an exclusive NBC News review of a highly classified report on U.S. intelligence efforts.

In addition, more than a dozen highly trained Navy and Marine Corps commandos from the U.S. Special Operations Command are in Brazil, working with the Brazilian Federal Police and the Brazilian Navy, according to senior military officials.

The U.S. military, as expected, has placed larger military units on call should a rescue or counterterrorism operation be needed, the officials said.

The classified report outlines an operation that encompasses all 17 […]

2016-12-16T20:23:32-05:00August 8th, 2016|
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Anti-Spy-Phone attachment being developed by Snowden and Huang

Edward Snowden and Andrew Huang are designing a device to help protect smartphones from eavesdropping.

Whether you are a journalist worried about government control, or anyone with confidential conversations, their idea could help protect your phone. Edward Snowden expressed the concern that sophisticated malware could control your phone to make it transmit information when you are not aware, even if the phone had been placed in airplane mode.

He is working with  Andrew “Bunnie” Huang, a research affiliate from MIT Media Lab. The proposed device would be able to attach to an iPhone 6 and monitor the activity of the unit’s radio systems, detecting activity in any of the frequency bands, cellular, Bluetooth, Wifi, GPS, or NFC. It could then alert the user of possible eavesdropping activity.  The device would be an external sleeve, and not built in to the phone, thus it would not be susceptible to any hacking of the […]

2016-12-16T20:23:32-05:00July 21st, 2016|
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Old spy techniques still apply- homing pigeons and shortwave radio code numbers.

New technology always presents new challenges for combating espionage, but the old techniques don’t go away and continue to be used. Recent news regarding ISIS and North Korean spycraft points to this.

Jordanian security forces capture homing pigeon delivered by ISIS

[Jerusalem Post] In a press conference that took place on Wednesday, the commander of the Border Guard announced that his forces captured a homing pigeon sent by ISIS fighters in Iraq.

Jordanian Border Guards have captured a homing pigeon sent by ISIS to a resident of the Hashemite Kingdom, the Jordanian daily newspaper al-Ghad reported.

ISIS is reportedly using homing pigeons.

In a press conference that took place on Wednesday, the commander of the Border Guard, Brig. Gen Saber al-Mahayreh, announced that his forces captured a homing pigeon sent by ISIS fighters in Iraq to a person residing in Jordan with a letter addressed to him.

According […]

2016-12-16T20:23:32-05:00July 21st, 2016|
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History: Caversham Park-End of an era for BBC listening station

This bit of history just in from BBC news, bbc.com,

BBC monitoring
BBC Monitoring began in 1939 as an operation to allow the British government to access foreign media and propaganda during World War Two

For nearly 75 years BBC staff at a sprawling stately home on the outskirts of Reading have been listening in to some of the world’s most seismic events, from the rise of the Nazis to the death of Stalin and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Since 1943 Caversham Park has been the home of BBC Monitoring, whose offices still summarise news from 150 countries in 100 different languages for the BBC.

But after a £4m funding cut, the remaining journalists, academics and translators are to leave […]

2016-12-16T20:23:32-05:00July 7th, 2016|
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Jobs lost over eavesdropping

Recent news points to the need to have clear company policies regarding eavesdropping and listening devices. Educate your employees that eavesdropping is illegal.

Illinois tech director arrested on eavesdropping charges

Law enforcement officials in Knox County, Ill. earlier this week arrested a longtime IT employee of Abingdon-Avon School District #276 on electronic eavesdropping charges in connection with a recent data breach, according to local reports.

The Register-Mail has reported that Mark Rogers, the district’s technology director, surrendered himself on Wednesday and was subsequently arrested on three felony eavesdropping charges. Another report by KWQC elaborated that Rogers is accused of using a webcam to secretly record a private conversation without permission.

KWQC also confirmed that the arrest ties into a data breach that occurred in January, was publicly disclosed in May, and included allegations of changing grade-point averages and tampering with emails.

“The charges are all eavesdropping,” said Rogers’ attorney Elisa Nelson, the Register-Mail article reports. “There was not […]

2016-12-16T20:23:33-05:00June 26th, 2016|
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