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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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Spy tool maker can be sued for wiretap violations.

A federal appeals court in Ohio has revived a lawsuit against a company accused of helping a husband spy on his wife and her online friend in violation of state and federal wiretap laws. The case is one of several in recent years to highlight the increasing presence of easy-to-use electronic spy tools in domestic life and divorce proceedings, where evidence of infidelity can carry a tremendous advantage.

2016-12-16T20:23:31-05:00August 18th, 2016|
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Is Pokémon Go poking holes in your security?

Pokémon Go players could be using corporate accounts or devices to play the game. According to cloud platform provider CloudLock, the first release of the Pokémon Go app, which launched in the United States in early July, requested full access to users’ Google accounts (which were used to register player accounts) through an OAuth connection. This permission, which most users granted without reading the registration screen or considering potential security implications, allowed the app to access to all of the information synced to a user’s account, including contact, calendar and files stored on the device.

2016-12-16T20:23:31-05:00August 17th, 2016|
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Hidden camera found in apartment vent.

Small covert cameras are difficult to spot. Neighbors are on edge in an Indianapolis apartment complex after a couple found a hidden camera in their apartment. The couple found the camera in their bathroom vent Sunday. We are regularly called to inspect areas to help insure privacy. Not just bathrooms, but targets could include offices, conference rooms, or any place where privacy and confidentiality is desired.

2016-12-16T20:23:32-05:00August 17th, 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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Wireless keyboard eavesdropping threat

Security researcher Marc Newlin, of Bastille Networks, has revealed a security hole in a number of wireless keyboards and mice. They dubbed the hacking tool “KeySniffer“. The vulnerability can allow a hacker to eavesdrop on everything being entered from confidential text to passwords or financial information.

A similar hack was developed last year by @SamyKamkar for intercepting certain Microsoft keyboards.
Marc Newlin found vulnerabilities in the following manufacturers keyboards (there may be vulnerabilities in other products, these are just the ones tested at Bastille):

  • Anker
  • EagleTec
  • General Electric
  • Hewlett-Packard
  • Insignia
  • Kensington
  • Radio Shack
  • Toshiba

Some of these manufacturers have already issued software updates to fix the security holes. Marc’s page has links and more details for these products here: https://www.keysniffer.net/affected-devices
 
 


Marc Newlin explains the Keysniffer vulnerability.

The keyboards with this vulnerability use 2.4 GHz radio transmission. Although the 2.4 […]

2016-07-27T22:49:59-04:00July 27th, 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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Tech alert: Manipulating phone commands by distorted audio and radio transmission.

Techniques that can hijack “always listening” features.

Electronic Voice Image

by Charles Patterson

The introduction of voice recognition to numerous devices and phone apps adds a new security element to consider. Google Now (“OK Google”), Siri, Cortana, and the Amazon Echo are working their way into our lives. Can voice control be surreptitiously used for espionage, eavesdropping, or security attacks? Here I look at two types of research being done. One using distorted audio and the second using radio waves to take control of a phone.

Always listening

At a recent talk I attended, a few cell phones had gone off during the presentation. The speaker apologized to the crowd, “Sorry for the interruptions…”, as soon as he said the word “sorry”, though, someone’s iPhone woke up and said, “Sorry, I could not understand your request”.  The phone had thought the presenter said “Siri” and tried to interpret his sentence as a command.

YouTube videos and TV shows […]

2016-12-16T20:23:32-05:00July 16th, 2016|
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First rule of Spy Club- Don’t post about it on social media!

Russian FSB graduates party and post it online.

Don’t post it! This could be said for many jobs, professions, and organizations. If the work you do has any confidentiality to it, don’t go posting social media updates unless you are sure it’s public knowledge. And if you’ve had a little too much vodka, you may want to turn your phone over to a designated sensible person.

A group of new graduates of Russia’s Federal Security Service – the FSB, Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti, celebrated by renting a fleet of Mercedes, driving wildly around Moscow, being stopped by police and posting pictures and videos of themselves online.

Image from YouTube of partying Russian spies. Image from YouTube of partying Russian spies.

The Times [thetimes.co.uk] reported the following:

Fifty of the newest recruits to the FSB, Russia’s secret intelligence service, are being investigated for misconduct after they celebrated their […]

2016-12-16T20:23:32-05:00July 14th, 2016|
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Motivation for becoming a spy.

From a recent interview published at pri.org.

What would it take to turn you into an informer against your country?

For Gregory Allen Justice, a Boeing engineer from Culver City, California, arrested by the FBI last week on espionage charges, the answer appears to have been $3,500. That’s the amount he was allegedly paid for thumb drives containing classified satellite information he gave a man he believed to be a member of a Russian intelligence agency, but who was in fact an an undercover FBI agent.

The government’s affidavit also shows why Justice might have needed that money. He allegedly told the undercover officer that he needed the cash to pay for his homebound wife’s medical bills. The FBI investigated and found that much was true, but there was more: Justice was also allegedly sending thousands of dollars in cash a month to a mysterious woman in Connecticut whom the affidavit only […]

2016-12-16T20:23:32-05:00July 14th, 2016|
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Defense Contractor Arrested on Spy Charges Involving Satellites

Report from military.com

LOS ANGELES — A California man charged with allegedly attempting to sell sensitive information used in military and commercial satellites to the Russians was ordered jailed without bail Friday.

Gregory Allen Justice of Culver City was arrested Thursday by FBI agents.

Authorities say the 49-year-old engineer, who worked for a Los Angeles defense contractor, provided proprietary software technology and other information to an FBI agent he thought was a Russian spy.

He was charged with economic espionage and violating the U.S. Arms Export Control Act.

“Mr. Justice allegedly placed his own interests of greed over our national security by providing information on sensitive U.S. technologies to a person whom he believed was a foreign agent,” Assistant Attorney General John P. Carlin said in a statement Friday. “In the wrong hands, this information could be used to harm the United States and its allies.”

An attorney for Justice could not immediately be […]

2016-12-16T20:23:32-05:00July 11th, 2016|
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Illinois man charge with eavesdropping after posting video on Facebook.

from LeRoyFCPress.com by Jerry Nowicki

LeROY, Il – A vocal citizen was arrested for trespassing at city hall last week, and the incident has the city council considering added security measures at the building.

William Morgan, 51, of LeRoy, was arrested on Thursday, June 30 for Criminal Trespass to State Supported Property, Disorderly Conduct and Eavesdropping…

Williamson said Morgan secretly recorded City Administrator David Jenkins in Jenkins’ office on June 29 which led to the eavesdropping charge. That video was posted to a Facebook page linked to Morgan later in the day, but Morgan’s page and the video have since been deleted.

The June 29 video showed Morgan loudly complaining about downtown garbage cans which he believed had not been emptied on schedule…

The June 30 arrest came after Morgan returned to city hall and once again alleged misconduct regarding the city’s response to the previous day’s visit. That’s when […]

2016-07-09T19:35:49-04:00July 9th, 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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Corporate espionage by former employees

Recent industrial espionage concerns hit two major US corporations. Both IBM and Monsanto allege that former employees stole proprietary computer files and programming code that ended up in the hands of the Chinese.

Information is the most valuable asset of corporations today and they must take steps to protect it. Along with checking their computers, TSCM sweeps should also be considered anytime there is suspicion that a former or current employee might be involved in espionage.

Businessmen talking

From www.nasdaq.com

Monsanto Co. sued a former computer programmer, alleging he stole proprietary files after resigning to explore a job at a Chinese seed company.

The lawsuit comes as the agriculture industry’s embrace of high-tech software and analytics, led by big companies like Monsanto and Deere & Co. as well as startups, has opened up new risks. Monsanto in 2014 confirmed a security breach in one of its servers, […]

2016-12-16T20:23:33-05:00June 22nd, 2016|
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