No bugs found in former Nortel building, Defence officials now say
Ottawa Citizen, October 1, 2013 by David Pugliese

OTTAWA — The Conservative government says Defence officials have assured it that no listening devices have been found at the former Nortel campus, contradicting previous security concerns raised by both former Nortel and government intelligence employees.

Former Nortel employees have contacted the Citizen to say that the listening devices were found when Department of National Defence officials did their initial security sweeps of the facility, purchased for DND’s new home.

DND documents also indicate that concerns about the security surrounding the former Nortel campus were raised last year within the department. A briefing document for then-Defence minister Peter MacKay warned that the public announcement that the DND was moving into the complex before it could be properly secured created a major problem.

“This not only raises the level of difficulty of verifying appropriate security […]

The Stasi was an Eastern Germany version of the KGB, established by the Soviets in 1952. Just like the KGB, the Stasi was mostly busy looking for enemies of the people, employing round-the-clock surveillance, and eavesdropping on German citizens. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, people assaulted the Stasi headquarters, dissolved the organization, opened its archives to the public, and created a museum in the main building.

Stasi Museum 

On the evening of January 15th in 1990 demonstrators took possession of the headquarters of the Ministry for State Security (MfS) in Berlin-Lichtenberg. The Berliner Bürgerkomitee (Berlin Committee of Citizens) started here the closure and disorganisation of the MfS. One week later the Zentrale Runde Tisch (The Central Round Table) decided that a memorial place and research centre should be established in the former House No. 1 in the Stasi-Headquarters.
The new government of the GDR, formed after the elections on March 18th in […]

Problem with the auction, it is just parts from an old NEC phone system that happens to have the words “Bulger phone switch” written on the side. The claim is that it came from surplus FBI parts although they deny it. $3500 is bit steep for busted phone parts.

‘Bulger wiretap’ electronics on eBay

From the Boston Herald, by Laurel Sweet

A Connecticut history buff is selling a pile of electronic stuff on eBay that he claims was the surveillance equipment used “to tap phone conversations” and gather evidence against convicted mob killer James “Whitey” Bulger while he was on the lam — and which was later salvaged from a scrap heap — but the FBI says it’s not what it is purported to be.

Available on eBay for $3500, sold by universityarchives02

John Reznikoff of Westport is asking nearly $4,000 for […]

from KTVB.com Boise, ID

BOISE, Idaho — The leader of the public hospital in Blackfoot, ID has pleaded guilty to second-degree stalking in the wake of an investigation by the Idaho Attorney General.
Bingham Memorial Hospital Chief Executive Officer Louis Kraml entered the plea Friday in 7th District Court.
He was indicted last month along with three other hospital staff for recording telephone calls made by and to former hospital director Robert Rosin and staff. The wiretapping allegedly occurred between June 2009 and August 2010.
In a plea agreement, Kraml pleaded guilty to misdemeanor stalking and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. But the judge suspended the sentence and withheld judgment in the case.
The Attorney General has issued a warrant for the arrest of Jack York, one of three information technology employees accused of helping Kraml.

also from am-news.com:

Kraml was indicted […]

 {this would have been a good deal for Auction Hunters…}

Goes under the hammer in September

By Matt Peckham @mattpeckham  TIME News Feed

How far would you go to smuggle a clutch of cellphones into a prison? Strap them with packing tape to a cat, then let the poor unwitting feline sneak over a prison fence to deliver the contraband goods?

Guards at a prison in northern Russia noticed just such a feline perched on a fence, reports the Moscow Times. Upon closer inspection, they discovered the cat had several cellphones and chargers secured by tape encircling its abdomen. The cat was caught last Friday attempting to bypass a security perimeter around Russia’s Penal Colony No. 1, a prison located near the Republic of Komi’s capital city, Syktyvkar.

“Two packages were taped to the animal’s back,” said the Republic of Komi’s penitentiary service in a statement. “When the packages were unwrapped, guards found objects prohibited in the penitentiary facility — two […]

• By Joel Hruska on January 15, 2013 at 4:00 pm 
• from extremetech.com

 AMD has filed (and been granted) a request for immediate injunctive relief against multiple former employees that it alleges stole thousands of confidential documents. Named in the complaint are Robert Feldstein, Manoo Desai, Nicholas Kociuk, and Richard Hagen. All four left AMD to work at Nvidia in the past year. The loss of Feldstein was particularly noteworthy, as he’d been the head of AMD’s console initiatives for years. Feldstein was behind the work that landed AMD the Wii U, PS4, and Xbox Durango. He also worked closely with Microsoft during the Xbox 360′s development cycle and brought that contract to ATI prior to AMD’s acquisition.

The AMD complaint states that “He [Feldstein] transferred sensitive AMD documents, and in the next six months, the three defendants either did the same thing, violated ‘no-solicitation of employees’ promises, or […]

 “I understand why people leak, because everyone wants to feel important and prove that they know things,” one employee said.

from Wired.com,  August 8, 2012, By Robert Beckhusen

pic.twitter.com/h9L2RYWc 

https://www.theverge.com/2012/8/2/3215016/wi-fi-police-london-olympics

Apparently they were searching the airwaves for unauthorized wifi hotspots, or perhaps other wireless network problems. Similar steps can be taken for office environments. If someone set up a rogue access point in your office, that could open your network to intruders and a number of associated problems. Electronic systems are available that can monitor wifi as well as cellular signals in an office or building and locate and identify any unauthorized signals. Check with us if you need more information.