Editorial from local paper…
NC – Even before anyone knew for sure what was on the digital flash drive that mysteriously appeared in Hope Mills Mayor Eddie Dees’ mailbox, town residents had plenty of reason for concern about their leaders.
The “thumb drive” contained recordings of conversations between Town Manager Randy Beeman and Police Chief Robert Hassell. They were all or part of five calls recorded between Feb. 25 and May 17…
It appears that the wiretap originated in the town’s Police Department. The mayor says the drive contains calls made into and out of the department. If that’s true, it also raises serious questions about the department and its internal security. It fairly screams for a full-blown criminal investigation.
But instead, the commissioners have chosen to wait for the town attorney to investigate, which he’s been doing for months now. (
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via Cult of Mac…
“There’s no other way of saying this:
Camera Camouflage is sneaky. It’s a camera app that goes out of its way to avoid looking like a camera. It disguises itself as an incoming phone call. You can even instruct it to activate your phone’s ringtone, so you can pretend to take the call and hold the phone to your ear. At which point, things get even sneakier. Camera Camouflage is activated by your voice. When you start speaking, it takes a photo. To onlookers, you’re just answering a phone call.
You can keep talking, and keep snapping, for as long as you want.” (more)
…So, the problem of cell phone interception is real, growing and unlikely to be eliminated in the foreseeable future.
For an organization, knowing that phone calls have been intercepted at all is difficult. There is rarely a test that can be done, other than looking at the consequences of a lost deal or secret information in the public domain. In fact, in 2010, the Ponemon Institute found that 80 percent of CIOs admitted they would not find out directly if they had been intercepted.
The problem shows a wide geographical variation, both in the number of instances and in the public perception of risk.
In the United States and mainland Europe, the perception of risk is relatively low. However, travel to Latin America or some parts of Asia, and the perception of an issue has reached the consumer with advertisements on mainstream television for protection equipment.
Yet few executives traveling around the world have taken special measures to secure their cell phone conversations.
Research from ABI shows that 79 percent of companies’ cell phones were routinely used to discuss information that, if intercepted, would lead to material loss to the business.
Yet less than one in five had in place adequate measures to address this risk. (
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New book coming soon…
Stay tuned for details.
PA –
A suburban Pennsylvania school district accused of spying on students using school-issued laptops has agreed to pay $610,000 to settle litigation stemming from its controversial practice.
Under the proposed settlement, the Lower Merion School District will pay $185,000 to two high school students who had sued the district earlier this year for allegedly snooping on them.
The remaining $425,000 will go to attorneys fees. (
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