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Shortly after the attacks of 9/11, an ironic storm was brewing in a court in New Jersey. A mobster named Nicodemo Scarfo had recently been brought up on charges of loan sharking and gambling. Scarfo’s lawyers claimed that his fourth amendment rights had been violated - by the FBI no less. You see, the FBI had installed a keylogger on Scarfo’s computer. The FBI agents “were authorized by court order to surreptitiously enter Scarfo’s office, by breaking and entering if necessary, and to install their program without his knowledge. The order further authorized the government to break and enter as many times as needed during a 30-day period to maintain the software. Lastly, the court order allowed authorities to postpone notifying Scarfo of the order, because premature notification would ’seriously compromise’ the ongoing investigation.” (Source: 2002 Duke L. & Tech. Rev. 0002) Well, ain’t that a pickle?
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I don’t put my head in the sand. I understand that our government is walking an incredibly hard tight rope. The ante has been upped. They are under extreme pressue to stem future violence. But we’re talking about a mobster here. That’s interesting. But I digress. I’ll let other, more informed, folks argue on those issues. Let me share some espionage technology that is currently being employed.
The FBI had formerly acknowledged a piece of software called “Magic Lantern.” That software was purported to be a virus. Then it was purported that anti virus vendors were asked to ignore it. Now, that has been flatly denied on all accounts. Probably what we are looking at here is a simple keylogger. And they probably installed it in a similar fashion as the story above.
A more comprehensive solution comes in the form of “carnivore,” “packeteer,” and “cool miner.” The FBI calls this triad the “DragonWare Suite.” This suite is used between an ISP and the end user. The suite can effectively reconstruct web sites on the fly, grab email, ftp data, etc. It’s a very resilient tool.
And wouldn’t it be good if we could just lift signals off devices? Well, TEMPEST is an acronym for “Telecommunications Electronics Material Protected From Emanating Spurious Transmissions.” This has been replaced by EMSEC or “Emissions Security.” In 1985 a Dutch Engineer named Wim Van Eck published a paper about how displays can leak emissions which can be eavesdropped on. This was true of displays of the time. They lacked the shielding of modern day displays. Modern displays also utilize a different rendering technology that makes it more difficult. Notice that I didn’t say impossible. But the equipment required for such eavesdropping is highly regulated. Only folks with very high security clearances can get training and equipment for such things. Or, at least, that’s what I am reading.
And now we come to stuff of legend, conspiracy theorists, privacy soapboxers, etc. To be honest, I’m not sure what to believe. Echelon seems to be a code name for a global surveillance network. This seems to employ numerous surveillance vectors to accomplish multifold tasks. This is because communication is done in many ways. This includes, radio, fiber, microwave, cellular, fax, satellite, etc. Most folks point to the NSA as the owner and operator of the network. Many folks are wondering whether Echelon is being used domestically. And that would be a big problem - since it is unlawful. Echelon is usually heard in close association with a piece of software called Oasis. Oasis is purported to be able to transcribe cell phone conversation, tv shows, or radio shows. It is also purported to be able to data mine those conversations based upon prescribed keywords or phrases that may present a security risk. This is what a lot of hoopla has been about in recent years.
This is the rubber meets the road of technology and privacy. But I think most of us are missing a more obvious point here. Our privacy, in many regards, has already vaporized. Just research how much of your personal information is readily available. It’s available to employers, banks, businesses, etc. This issue isn’t going away - it’s going to get worse.
Sources: 2002 Duke L. & Tech. Rev. 0002, Security Focus “Carnivore Details Emerge,” TSCM Tempest
[tags]government spying, Oasis, Echelon, Carnivore, Magic Lanter, Omnivore, Cool Miner, TEMPEST, EMSEC, spying versus privacy, eavesdropping versus privacy[/tags]
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