Law Enforcement Training and Resource Group LLC., (www.letrg.com) has come out with a new suite of applications for all smart phones. The suite is built around the needs of the first responder’s response to services calls.
This suite is available for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry smart phones and should be used with those phones with at least a 5 megapixel camera (for best results). The suite of more than a dozen different applications comes complete. The applications are divided into: tools, calculators, and evidence.
Tools include a caliper, level (in degrees and percentage of slope), audio officer notes, field contact report, DOA notes, and References files. The three calculators included are Skid Mark Calculator (for minimum speed, Yaw, and friction factor), pictorial blood spatter trajectory calculator, and a pictorial digital dimension calculator. The evidence applications include two for photos (pre-scaled and scaled photo sets), two apps for video (again one pre-scaled and one for scaled video) along with a field contact audio recorder.
After a simple two step setup, the suite is ready to use. All evidence files are encoded with metafiles that include: agency identifier, officer identifier, case number, GPS location of the scene, date, time, and picture/video/audio numbering.
Upon completion of the call the responder should download the case folders onto a computer with a DVD disk drive and then label the DVD with the case number for evidence, remembering to always follow agency SOPs.
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Last week, an Indian hacker crew successfully broke into a secured Indian military government network. The group, the Lords of Dharmaraja, posted documents that infer Apple, Nokia, and Research In Motion gave the Indian government backdoor access to their devices in exchange for mobile phone market rights. Indian government officials say the files are forgeries; however, they fit in perfectly with what we know about mobile phone surveillance in 2012.
Fast Company has reported extensively on smartphone and computer security fears. In the documents, which have been posted on multiple mirrors, India military intelligence refers multiple times to a system known as RINOA SUR. According to ZDNet India’s Manan Kakkar, the RINOA portion of the acronym refers to “RIM, Nokia, Apple,” while the SUR portion is unknown. The documents describe a backdoor mobile phone surveillance system in great detail. The documents also infer that network access was granted to the Indian government in exchange for the right to sell to Indian consumers.
The pervasiveness of government smartphone and computer surveillance in the United States is unknown. Several days ago, a federal appeals court revived the Jewel vs. NSA [PDF] lawsuit, which alleges that the National Security Agency (NSA) routinely engages in warrantless surveillance of electronic communications. According to privacy watchdog group EPIC, a secret 2002 executive order granted the NSA the authority to conduct warrantless surveillance of electronic communications. The Jewel vs. NSA lawsuit was filed by Carolyn Jewel, a Los Angeles-area romance novelist who found evidence that showed details about her online activity were being given to the NSA by her Internet service provider.
Other intelligence agencies may be involved in warrantless surveillance of mobile telephone and Internet communications as well. The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a lawsuit in late October alleging that the PATRIOT Act has “secret interpretations” that allow government agencies to conduct dragnets of e-traffic. Under these interpretations, it seems that large numbers of Americans–both individuals and businesses–can be targeted for surveillance if the FBI has determined they are “relevant to a government investigation.” No warrant is required.
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The public should be informed when a building or facility operator uses systems to track the location and movements of mobile phones, a data privacy expert has said.
Phone-tracking systems are used in some shopping centres and in other environments such as at stadium concerts and in refugee camps. The system helps to build up a picture about the mass movement of people, the chief executive of a company that operates such technology told Out-Law.com.
Data protection law only applies to information that qualifies as ‘personal data’. The information these systems gather is unlikely to qualify as personal data when read on its own but could identify individuals when combined with information from other sources, according to Kathryn Wynn, an expert in data privacy at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com.
This means that operators should inform mobile users when the technology is in use, she said, because some of the information gathered could later become personal data, depending on the processing of it.
“If the company is just tracking customers’ movements on a single visit to a shopping centre and is not able to collect shopping habit information about individuals on a long term basis it would appear that the information collected is more like geolocation data rather than technology which is akin to a [website] cookie,” Wynn said.
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You may be seeing less spam in your email inbox and more on your Facebook wall, according to internet experts.
That’s because spammers are increasingly targeting social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.
According to the Wall Street Journal, spammers hit four million Facebook users every day. However, Facebook is fighting back by blocking 200 million malicious actions a day. Those are posts with links to things like viruses, spyware and malware.
With more than 800 million users, experts say preventing and detecting spam on Facebook is becoming more difficult.
They say there are ways you can protect yourself and your devices.
“If you see a post on your wall that looks suspicious delete it immediately,” Nicholas Skrepetos, CTO of consumer software for Support.com told 9NEWS. “If something doesn’t look right it’s probably not right. Don’t install applications on Facebook if you aren’t 100 percent sure that they’re safe. If you see someone that says, ‘Hey install this really cool application. It will let you see who’s looking at your profile,’ it’s probably not true.”
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With Indian security agencies being unable to intercept encrypted communications from BlackBerry, Google’s Gmail, Nokia Pushmail and internet telephony provider Skype, among others, the telecom department has sought the expertise of US agencies – on both technical and regulatory fronts – on intercepting such messages in a readable format.
The telecom department (DoT) had conveyed this request to Interpol Secretary-General Ronald K Noble, who was in India last month, officials aware of the discussions said.
The development comes as the Indian security agencies have been searching for options to intercept encrypted communications after several setbacks on this front. Last year, as first reported by ET, a government panel set up to examine security threats regarding 15 forms of communications, including Google’s Gmail, Research in Motion’s BlackBerry services, Nokia’s email offerings and Microsoft Skype, among others, that cannot be tracked by law enforcement agencies here, had ruled that no service be banned purely on the grounds that it cannot be monitored.
Besides, as a long-term solution, the committee has recommended that the upcoming Central Monitoring System be made capable of intercepting any form of communication service offered within the country. But the Home Ministry and Intelligence Bureau whose members were part of the panel, did not sign these recommendations and had given their dissent note.
The panel has also said that a short-term solution involved India forcing operators who offer such services to either locate servers in the country or share encryption keys with security agencies and assist security agencies here in monitoring these services.
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“You could now listen in 100% completely undetected” — that’s the promise one company makes on its website to anyone who wants to eavesdrop on someone else’s cellphone.
Spy technology is now available to the average person who wants to glean cellphone information, read private emails, and track someone’s location using global positioning systems. And increasingly, experts say, the technologies are being used by spouses and partners to track, harass and stalk. “Technology has just exploded. It’s so sophisticated now and it’s very easy to utilize these different technologies to keep tabs on a person and find out where they’re going,” said Gina Pfund, chief assistant prosecutor of the Domestic Violence Unit in Passaic County.
The person watching or listening is often a family member and frequently a suspicious or controlling partner. They have scanned Facebook pages, viewed online web-browsing histories, and examined cellphone records for proof. But some take it a step further, planting spyware on smart phones and computers.
Easy-to-use spyware is heavily marketed online to find out if a spouse is cheating. It can be installed on computers to monitor keystrokes, emails and passwords and to take screen snapshots.
And within minutes, software can be loaded on a smart phone to allow a third party to monitor calls, view text messages and photos, and track a person’s location and movement via GPS. The builtin microphone can also be activated remotely to use as a listening device, even when a phone is turned off. And the phone user will have no idea that he or she is being spied on, say technology experts.
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When George Orwell’s classic novel “1984″ was first published in 1949, it foreshadowed a society with an omnipresent Big Brother watching our every move.
But it did not foresee how technology would allow us to become ‘Little Brothers.” Or that so many would be using GPS tracking features in smart phones, webcams in bedrooms and surveillance cameras just about everywhere else to monitor what others are doing at all hours of the day.
From businesses monitoring criminal activity, customer flow and employee performance to private citizens protecting their property, watching over their families and seeking a lifestyle of convenience, there has been a boom in do-it-yourself security options.
“There’s no doubt that the cost, advancement and capacity of technology to provide things like remote video for protective purposes has really made it available to a much broader range of businesses and for people, as well,” said Hank Monaco, vice president of marketing for ADT Commercial Security in Boca Raton.
Mudassar Ismail owns several restaurants and he can monitor all of them in real time and record the video feeds.
“I can watch [surveillance] cameras on my phone and my laptop,” Ismail said.
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This was an exciting year in the Internet security community, with big tech firms like Sony and RSA getting hacked and putting consumer data and corporate networks at risk, and reports of attacks on utilities, among other targets. Scary things that go bump in the night are actually happening to computer systems that matter and it’s only going to get worse. Here’s what we think will happen in 2012.
Malicious Android apps will increase
As a target for malicious software, Android is the Microsoft of the mobile platform. Android has more than 50 percent of the smartphone market, eclipsing all others, so it’s the most attractive platform for scammers to target. While iPhone apps get vetted by Apple, Google’s open apps store model, which lacks code signing and a review process, makes it easy to distribute malware in apps.
The numbers bear this out. In the last six months, the number of malicious Android apps has doubled to 1,000, a report from mobile security firm Lookout says. Granted the vast majority of the malware–often disguised as legitimate apps–is found on third-party sites. But some malicious apps have made it to the Android Market. Google yanked about two dozen apps containing malware in May and nearly 60 malicious apps in March. (That’s not counting the nearly 30 apps pulled in December that appeared to be designed for fraud.)
Google moves quickly when problems are reported, but removing apps after-the-fact means there may be users who have downloaded them already. To be fair, the likelihood that the average Android user will encounter malware is very, very slim because most people avoid third-party sites where they are required to allow apps from unknown sources to be downloaded, and are thus assuming the risk. The hot apps market, in general, is problematic because mobile developers typically don’t have experience creating secure software. So keep your eye on this space.
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The holiday season is here, and it’s almost time to say goodbye to 2011. For information security folks in all industries, this is a great opportunity to reflect on the events of the year and finalize our plans for next year.
In the healthcare arena, 2011 has been a bad year for data breaches. A quick glance at the Department of Health and Human Services’ “wall of shame” that lists major breaches makes it clear that there’s been a disturbing rise in the exposure of protected health information. Further analysis of the data shows many of the incidents have involved the loss or theft of unencrypted portable devices, especially laptops, as well as portable storage media, such as backup tapes.
New portable computing devices appear on the market every month, and with them come new ways to access information and transport data. Those of you in IT – in healthcare as well as other business sectors – will report to work shortly after the holidays to find a stack of requests from staff members at your organization to integrate the new devices they received as gifts.
In the spirit of the season, reflecting on the past and looking forward to the future, let’s review these devices and the opportunities they present. Reviewing a few reminders may help make the holiday season easier to enjoy by reducing the risk of using mobile devices.
Start With an Inventory
The first step is to identify the mobile devices in your organization and how they are being used. While not an easy process, it is a critical starting point. If you cannot determine what devices are being used and how they are being used, you cannot hope to manage them.
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Remember that software installed on 140 million smartphones that tracks every keystroke you make?
Smartphone users were told that Carrier IQ was only being used for diagnostic information but what exactly does this mean? And if it’s only being used for diagnostic information, why is the FBI denying a FOIA request for records of how that agency has used data from the software for law enforcement purposes?
Most importantly, if data from our smartphones is being used by the FBI without our knowledge, is this just the next frontier in domestic spying programs?
Jon Brodkin has the scoop:
“An enterprising advocate for openness in government has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the FBI for all information the agency uses related to Carrier IQ, the company under fire for monitoring user activity on smartphones—and his request was flatly denied. The FBI claims data gathered by Carrier IQ software is exempt from disclosure laws because it is located in an investigative file that was “compiled for law enforcement purposes” and “could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.”
Michael Morisy, a journalist who founded an organization called MuckRock to ease the process of filing FOIA requests, wrote the FBI on Dec. 1 asking for “any manuals, documents or other written guidance used to access or analyze data gathered by programs developed or deployed by Carrier IQ…. In addition, I ask for expedited processing as this is a matter of immediate news interest: The existence of Carrier IQ’s software was recently disclosed and has immediate ramifications on constitutionally protected privacy rights.”
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Malware disguised as innocent smartphone apps that secretly send expensive messages are on the increase, warn online security experts.
Fraudsters are planting rogue apps that lurk in the ‘back-end’ of phones and send messages and make calls to their own premium-rate services that do not show up in the ‘sent messages’ folder or ‘call history’.
The messages can cost as much as £6 a go and some malware sends unauthorised texts at a rate of one a minute, warns GetSafeOnline.org, a national internet security initiative.
The first a user is aware of it is when the huge bill lands on their doormat.
Rik Ferguson, director of the cyber security website and of security research at Trend Micro, said: ‘This type of malware is capable of sending a steady stream of text messages to premium rate numbers.
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Walking by the Boston Common one afternoon in October 2007, Simon Glik saw three police officers forcing a young man face down on a park bench and heard a bystander say, “You’re hurting him.”
Concerned that officers were using unreasonable force to arrest the man, Glik, a young lawyer, used his cell phone to film the incident from 10 feet away.
After placing the suspect in handcuffs, an officer told him he’d taken enough pictures. Glik responded, “I am recording this. I saw you punch him.”
An officer asked Glik if his cell phone recorded audio. Glik said yes. The officer cuffed Glik, and arrested him on a charge of violating Massachusetts’s wiretap law, aiding in the escape of a prisoner, and disorderly conduct.
They also erased some of the recording, according to news accounts.
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