In a first, a Manhattan federal judge presiding over a narcotics case has decided that drug evidence obtained through cell phone surveillance technology called “Stingray” won’t be admissible in court. StingRay (also known as “Hailstorm” or “TriggerFish”) is an “IMSI catcher“ basically acts like a cell phone tower, and sends out signals which force cell…
Category: Communications
OPSEC Tradecraft: Modern Clandestine Groups Face New Challenges
There were no mobile phones or recording devices allowed at this bizarre encounter. The digital era is perceived as posing new threats to the security of terror groups in Ireland in terms of their being tracked and covertly recorded. Source: The Guardian Bottom Line Up Front Compartmentation via unlinking Strict anti forensic practices to mitigate…
Surveillance State: Secret Rules Make it Easy for the FBI to Spy on Journalist
SECRET FBI RULES allow agents to obtain journalists’ phone records with approval from two internal officials — far less oversight than under normal judicial procedures. The classified rules, obtained by The Intercept and dating from 2013, govern the FBI’s use of national security letters, which allow the bureau to obtain information about journalists’ calls without going to a…
Deconstructing Terrorism: World-Check Terrorism Database Exposed
A financial crime database used by banks has been “leaked” on to the net. World-Check Risk Screening contains details about people and organisations suspected of being involved in terrorism, organised crime and money laundering, among other offences. Access is supposed to be restricted under European privacy laws. The database’s creator, Thomson Reuters, has confirmed an…
Surveillance State: Biometrics Coming To A Bank Near You Very Soon
The banking password may be about to expire — forever. Some of the nation’s largest banks, acknowledging that traditional passwords are either too cumbersome or no longer secure, are increasingly using fingerprints, facial scans and other types of biometrics to safeguard accounts. Millions of customers at Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo routinely…
Surveillance State: The F.B.I.’s Growing Surveillance Gap
There are more homegrown jihadists than the feds can actually watch. And not everyone likes what the FBI is doing instead. A day after Omar Mateen killed 49 and wounded 53 in an Orlando nightclub, purportedly under the banner of the Islamic State or other terrorist groups, the FBI announced that it had repeatedly scrutinized…
Surveillance State: The Olympics are Turning Rio into a Police State
The air is electric in Rio right now, and not just because of the surveillance cameras scattered all around the city Rio’s hundreds of surveillance cameras are easy to view on the 85 square meter display in the panopticon-style Center for Integrated Command and Control or the equally huge screen in the Operations Center…
Surveillance State: Hackers Have Found a Pulsating New Way to Spy on You on Your Phone and FitBit
Hackers may be pickin’ up good vibrations from your phone. All the better to surveil you with, my dear. Researchers at the Electrical and Computer Engineering school of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign discovered that the vibration motor in your devices can operate like a microphone, according to the researchers’ paper. That means, if…
Military Intelligence History: The Battle of Midway, The Complete Intelligence Story
The Battle of Midway in June of 1942 was one of the most important naval battles in world history and a turning point in the Second World War. Between June 4 and 7, aircraft from aircraft carriers Enterprise, Yorktown, and Hornet of the U.S. Navy’s Task Forces 16 and 17 ambushed and sank the Imperial…
Surveillance State: Warrantless Cell Tracking Now Legal
One more thing to check off in that very short list of “Reasonable Expectations of Privacy”. Whats Next I wonder? -SF A split federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that police do not need a search warrant before obtaining cell tower location data that can trace the long-term movements of a suspect’s mobile phone, while conceding…