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“Burner phones” – George Clooney recognizes their value.

Pay-as-you-go phones (aka “burner phones”) can be purchased without the need to set up an account, so the phone will not be tied to your identity. When someone has concerns that their smart phone may have been hacked or compromised, a good option is to pick up a burner phone to use for those phone calls that need to be kept private and confidential. The less expensive models that are not “smart phones” will not support apps that may contain spyware. It is much cheaper and quicker than having a smart phone analyzed electronically for spyware.

George Clooney and his new wife recognized burner phones as a way to help control some of the privacy of their recent wedding.

TMZ reported the rules for wedding guests:

— Leave your cellphone in your hotel room
— If you think you may need your phone, then bring it … but leave it at […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:47-05:00October 1st, 2014|

Cars may be monitored for quality assurance… eavesdropping feature built in to some new vehicles.

New security feature “Valet Mode” can be turned on to record vehicle activity, including cameras and conversations when your vehicle is left in the hands of others. “All party consent” laws in many states causes manufacturers to consider updates.

Valet Mode = Eavesdropping Mode

GM warns Corvette spy feature may break law

Chris Woodyard, USA Today

General Motors is warning Chevrolet Corvette buyers and owners not to use one of the car’s most exotic high-tech features because it could inadvertently result in committing a crime in some states.

The feature involves “Valet Mode,” an aspect of the Performance Data Recorder in the 2015 Corvette, which is built in Bowling Green, Ky. It allows owners to secretly record conversations in their cars and performance data when they’re not along for the ride, such as when the car is being parked by a […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:47-05:00September 30th, 2014|

Where have you been? Google knows.

If you have a Google account and you have Google apps’ “Location Reporting” or “Location Services” active on your phone, you can find out where you have been for just about any day that you have had the feature turned on. These could be apps on an iPhone or iPad, or just built into your Android phone. Whenever an app shows you that something is nearby, suggests local businesses, or helps you find the closest gas station, it’s using Location Reporting.

It is an “opt-in” service, but many people have said yes to it without realizing when they first initialized a new phone. Location Reporting sends your GPS or other location information to Google periodically through out the day. The information that has been logged for your device can be viewed here: https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0/
It looks like this:

With this service you can see the basic […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:47-05:00September 24th, 2014|

Landlord used baby monitor to eavesdrop on tenants.

TOWANDA, PA. Sept 9, 2014: A Towanda landlord, who is accused of possessing child pornography and using an electronic device to listen to a tenant having sex, is being held on $500,000 bail, according to court records. Daniel L. Bell, 65, of Towanda was charged Monday with 19 counts of possession of child pornography and three counts of wiretapping, both third-degree felonies, police said.

…The illegal activity was uncovered during a search that the Bradford County Probation Department conducted of Bell’s residence on April 4, police said. At the time, Bell was on probation and being supervised by the Probation Department, police said. During the search, the Probation Department seized the receiver unit for a baby monitor, which the Probation Department had information to believe Bell was using to eavesdrop on a tenant of his who lives in an adjoining building, police said.

…The sending unit for the baby monitor, which includes a […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:47-05:00September 10th, 2014|

King City’s eavesdropping case re-opened. City administrators gave eavesdropping instructions.

Revisiting the problems of King City, CA., if you recall in a previous episode, the City Council brought in their local phone vendor to review their PBX system. They found that while there was the capability of listening to room conversations via the intercom features, it was not active during their investigation. That really doesn’t prove anything, but it apparently was enough for the Council to drop the case. I think they probably wanted the situation to go away quietly.

The District Attorney has decided to re-open the case, though, due to the revelation that instructions were sent from City Hall administrators to previous city managers with instructions on how to enable the microphone to eavesdrop on employees.

From the Monterey County Weekly; Saturday, September 6, 2014; by Sara Rubin

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:47-05:00September 6th, 2014|

Voicemail hacking scandal with George Clooney (coming to the big screen)

The voicemail hacking scandal that caused the collapse of News of the World, Rupert Murdoch’s UK tabloid, is about to be made into a movie, taken on by director George Clooney.

Journalist Nick Davies recently published the book “Hack Attack” telling the story of how he took on the News of the World and their investigators who hacked phones, listened to live calls, sent Trojan horse emails, bribed the police, and committed burglaries to dig up tabloid scoops. (Available at Amazon [here]). George Clooney will be heading up an adaptation of the book for Sony pictures, scheduled to begin filming in 2015.

From the Hollywood Reporter:

George Clooney has made the call on his next directing project. The actor-producer-director will helm an adaptation of the book Hack Attack, exploring the British phone-hacking scandal surrounding Rupert Murdoch‘s news […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:48-05:00September 6th, 2014|

King City closes case into wiretapping allegations

ExecSecurity reported a couple weeks ago about a case in King City, CA, where the city manager was accused of eavesdropping on conversations between the police chief and other parties. This monitoring was suspected of being accomplished through improper use of telephone system features.

The town took the steps to have their phone system vendor investigate the phone system. The vendor’s report indicates that they did not find and physical wire taps or improper wiring connections, but the report explains that features of the system could have allowed monitoring to happen. The report only indicates that monitoring was not happening at the time of their inspection and that the features of the manager’s phone were no different from any other phone. Unfortunately, the accessibility of such features to all phones does not indicate that they were not used improperly.

The city council was apparently satisfied that no eavesdropping had taken place, though, and has closed […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:48-05:00September 2nd, 2014|

Spy History: John Walker Jr., spy family ringleader, dies in prison at 77

John A. Walker Jr., a former Navy officer who in 1986 pleaded guilty to recruiting his son, a brother and a friend into a spy ring that stole military documents and sold the information to Soviet agents, died on Thursday (8/28) at the federal prison complex in Butner, N.C. He was 77.

His death, at the prison medical center, was confirmed by Chris Burke, a spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons.

Mr. Walker was a Navy communications specialist when he began spying for the Soviets at the height of the Cold War in 1967. After his arrest in May 1985, the government said he had led one of the most damaging spy operations in American history. All four members of it were convicted.

Mr. Walker worked alone initially and by most accounts without an ideological […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:48-05:00September 2nd, 2014|

Voicemail hacks still prevalent, causing fraudulent phone charges to small businesses.

There are a number of reasons to try to keep your voicemail secure. The most significant may be to prevent theft of information. Celebrities and politicians could be the most obvious targets, the escapades of reporters working for Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World are testament to this (see Hack Attack). Business leaders and decision makers should also be concerned, of course, much proprietary information is left on voicemail messages.

Many businesses though, have found their voicemail systems compromised resulting in very large phone bills due to fraudulent calls.

The Better Business Bureau recently warned of it, calling it a “new” type of fraud. It is far from new, though. At ExecSecurity, we have worked on such cases starting as far back as 1996, and I’m sure incidents were probably occurring ever since voicemail systems were first put to use.

From KMTV in OMAHA, Neb. – The Better Business Bureau is warning about a new kind […]

Exec Security2014-09-02T12:41:54-04:00September 2nd, 2014|

Legality of police recording their own phone lines under question.

Are any of your phone lines being recorded for “quality assurance”? Make sure your company policies cover how and when this is done and that employees are aware of it. South Bend, Indiana, Police Department is in court because the recording process that was set up on certain extensions years ago was still going on, yet the officers using those lines were not aware of it.

At the heart of the matter is they want to determine if the content of the calls can be revealed in court. If the recordings were done legally as part of the standard police recording system, then the content can be revealed. If the recordings are determined to be illegal, then the content must remain confidential.

Exec Security2014-08-23T18:13:47-04:00August 23rd, 2014|

Former IT director enters plea in wiretapping case

Ignorance of the law as well as “just following orders” is no excuse. Former hospital IT director faces felony charges while the well liked CEO apparently behind it all was only charged with a misdemeanor of stalking.

Idaho, KIDK Eyewitness News

BLACKFOOT, Idaho – Former Bingham Memorial Hospital IT Director Jack York changed his plea in a wiretapping case.

He entered an Alford plea one count of interception of wire, electronic, or oral communication, a felony. An Alford plea means he maintains his innocence, but will not fight the charges.

York made the move as part of a plea deal. The two other wiretapping charges were dropped. He is accused of setting up devices to record phone calls in a doctor’s office in 2009 and 2010. York said in court he didn’t know what he did was a crime.

His attorney, Ann Taylor, said York […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:48-05:00August 23rd, 2014|

‘Low-tech’ spycraft tricks

from BBC Future, Frank Swain

Despite ubiquitous surveillance and fancy gadgets, there are still simple, old-fashioned ways that spies and criminals can avoid detection, says Frank Swain.

The F-21 buttonhole camera - 1970 (International Spy Museum)

The F-21 buttonhole camera – as used by the Soviet Union, Europe, and North America in the early 1970s (International Spy Museum)

In the wake of Edward Snowden’s revelations about the US National Security Agency’s activities around the globe, authorities in Russia and Germany declared they were investing in a foolproof counter-surveillance technology: mechanical typewriters. Patrick Sensburg, the head of the Bundestag inquiry into NSA spying, told a reporter from German TV programme Morgenmagazin the suggestion was “no joke”.

Is this the key to thwarting cybersnoopers? (Thinkstock)

Low-tech countermeasures […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:48-05:00August 23rd, 2014|

City manager accused of eavesdropping through phone system.

All major phone system have features that can be used for listening in to conversations. This could be legitimate monitoring by supervisors, but the systems could also be compromised to allow unauthorized eavesdropping. There are also methods for activating speakerphone mics to listen in to room conversations. In King City, CA, the city manager is accused of listening in to room conversations through his phone.

The Californian

An early May search warrant of Michael Powers’ office indicates the King City city manager may have surreptitiously listened to confidential conversations regarding an alleged for-profit tow scheme…

“Investigators believe that Powers arranged the KCPD telephones set-up in a way that allows him to activate the microphone in Chief Hegwood’s office (and others) without their knowledge and consent,” according to the warrant.

On April 17, Diaz and Ferreria met with Hegwood in his office. Topics of discussion included Officer Christopher Craig’s towing practices […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:48-05:00August 13th, 2014|

Tech news: Extracting audio from video, or how to turn a bag of chips into a microphone

As technology advances, new threats to privacy emerge as well. What only takes place in a lab today, may be more commonplace in the near future.

The team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Microsoft and software firm Adobe created an algorithm that created useful audio from the videoed vibrations caused by soundwaves of a glass of water, the leaves of a plant and even a packet of crisps filmed through soundproof glass.

‘We’re recovering sounds from objects,’ said lead researcher Abe Davis in a statement. ‘That gives us a lot of information about the sound that’s going on around the object, but it also gives us a lot of information about the object itself, because different objects are going to respond to sound in different ways.’

Typically this technique requires a high-speed camera recording separate video […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:48-05:00August 5th, 2014|

New book “Spymaster: The Secret Life of Kendrick”, story of British MI6 officer in WWII.

A historian’s new book examines the valiant spying effort made at a highly secretive house in Buckinghamshire, which may have saved London from the same fate as Hiroshima.

Dr Helen Fry has written Spymaster: The Secret Life of Kendrick, which tells the story of the top MI6 officer at the heart of Britain’s Second World War intelligence work, Colonel Thomas Kendrick.

Kendrick at his desk in Latimer House in the Second World War

From 1942, he worked for the British Secret Service from Latimer House near Chesham where he led the operation of spying on German prisoners of war and eavesdropping their conversations.

Dr Fry said: “I find the topic fascinating, I wanted to find out more and more and uncover it in the book. Kendrick has not had much attention and he has taken a lot to his […]

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:48-05:00August 2nd, 2014|

Eavesdropping Goes Postal

Postal worker accused of eavesdropping

WATERTOWN, NY — State Police arrested a Watertown postal worker for trying to tape a confidential conversation.

Troopers arrested 50-year-old John L. Sullivan after they say he placed a recording device in a U.S. Postal Vehicle in an attempt to record a privileged conversation.

Sullivan was given an appearance ticket for eavesdropping, a felony.

Exec Security2014-08-02T21:02:53-04:00August 2nd, 2014|

Fox News: One method for dealing with hidden cameras…

ANCHORAGE, AK — A group of researchers studying sea lions in Round Island, Alaska, saw a fox coming along. Being the curious people they are, they decided to set up a video camera to record the animal.

Unfortunately, the fox was more aware of its surroundings than the sea lions. The animal immediately spots the camera, chomps down on it and tries to carry it away to eat later.

After a brief chase, the researchers were able to recover the camera. The fox managed to chew off part of the lens.

Exec Security2016-12-16T20:23:48-05:00July 27th, 2014|

Prague: Czech-ing for bugs

More and more influential players are resorting to meetings abroad or in secluded areas

Prague, July 16 (ČTK) — Czech politicians, lobbyists and influential businessmen are seeking new places safe from bugging for their meetings in reaction to extensive wiretapping not only in offices but also in luxurious hotels and restaurants where they used to meet in the past, Lidové noviny (LN) writes today.

It names a recent case in which a bugging device was found in the office of a senior official of the Czech Energy Regulatory Office (ERÚ) as well as the wiretapping scandal in neighboring Poland that almost led to the fall of the government. “A politically incorrect” conversation between Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski and former Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski was wiretapped in a restaurant in Warsaw and then released to the public.

Recently, controversial Czech lobbyist […]

Charles Patterson2016-12-16T20:23:48-05:00July 27th, 2014|