GPS placed on vehicles during traffic stops.

"Jensen has testified that the battery-powered devices, which agents could turn on and off remotely, were used to follow vehicles into remote areas or if agents lost vehicles in traffic.

In one instance, agents placed a GPS tracker on one of Amaya's vehicles during a traffic stop in Kansas after obtaining information that he was making a trip to Texas. In another, agents used a GPS device to track a vehicle that was sent with suspected drug money on a car carrier from Iowa to California, changing its batteries after a stop in Nebraska where they seized $29,000.

Jensen has testified the tracking helped confirm a tip that Amaya went to a bank to transfer money to a California marijuana supplier. When on, the devices updated their location every 15 seconds, which was transmitted to a website where agents could track movements."

According to this source. 

Naturally, there will be no serious repercussions from this corrupt system. Who will watch the watchers? When they are all corrupt, there is no incentive to police them to even hold fast to their own stated rules and procedures. Corruption, while deplorable, at least points at the cracks in the foundations of this decaying imperial power. Corruption in the courts will lead to corruption of the security forces, and eventually they will be unable to take concerted action against a domestic insurgency and...if we are lucky, popular revolution against the bankers and the FEDGOV. 

Global Surveillance Truck spotted at Little Rock Airport

Who are they? What are they doing here? Who is the company?

EFF FBI CIPAV

What is CIPAV and How Does It Work?
The documents discuss technology that, when installed on a target's computer, allows the FBI to collect the following information:

• IP Address
• Media Access Control (MAC) address
• "Browser environment variables"
• Open communication ports
• List of the programs running
• Operating system type, version, and serial number
• Browser type and version
• Language encoding
• The URL that the target computer was previously connected to
• Registered computer name
• Registered company name
• Currently logged in user name
• Other information that would assist with "identifying computer users, computer software installed, [and] computer hardware installed"3

It's not clear from the documents how the FBI deploys the spyware, though Wired has reported that, in the Washington state case, the FBI may have sent a URL via MySpace's internal messaging, pointing to code that would install the spyware by exploiting a vulnerability in the user's browser. Although the documents discuss some problems with installing the tool in some cases, other documents note that the agency's Crypto Unit only needs 24-48 hours to prepare deployment.4 And once the tool is deployed, "it stay[s] persistent on the compromised computer and . . . every time the computer connects to the Internet, [FBI] will capture the information associated with the PRTT [Pen Register/Trap & Trace Order].5

Interestingly, a commentator on Schneier blog had this to say about possibly defeating said trojan:

@ Dirk Praet,

"The real question here however is to which extent governments and their TLA's have agreements with anti-virus and anti-malware vendors to not detect their spyware."

That is a significant consideration, but AVetc software from the major vendors is not going to be the Feebies only concern.

For instance I will assume that as others have noted the spy ware has occasionaly to do an ET and "phone home", the question is how?

The simplest and most visable is if it sends a packet or two of to an 'unknown to the user' IP address that is the Feebies gateway. If the user has IP based whitlist software (which is appearing on homebrew routers) then it's going to throw an exception at the Feebies gateway IP address. Likewise if the user sets the machine up in a "honeypot" style environment.

More covertly it modifies the users browser and hides in their facebook traffic. This would be harder to spot but not impossible. Hardest would be using the timing between packets etc which could be either logged at the ISP or if sufficiently low bandwidth by the end service provider.

Now this makes me think that the Feebies (who supposadly don't currently have ISP cooperation to the level required) would have to either be at some mid point or getting co-operation from the service provider such as facebook the user had this malware downloaded from.

So it's not just the AV vendors you need to be considering but the likes of facebook etc. as well...

Posted by: Clive Robinson at May 12, 2011 1:34 PM

FBI Social media software

I would think they have already got Zuckerberg to build this into the PHP code from the ground up. No? 




Also, why doesn't anyone ever play red team by build a completely fictional terror cadre with all the necessary connections on a social network site (not going to name any names for who is teh obvious candidate) and then watch the results. Depends on the type of attack, but it would be interesting to see how the agency attempts to track/arrest persons who aren't real. 


Of course how to build the Redteam enterprise while steering clear of being found out, leaving a digital path that can be traced back to you. No doubt the secfor would attempt to drop the hammer on you for "endangering natsec" and the like. I can hear their histrionics now...


but anyways, as always let me know what you think. Leave comments in the boxs below why don't ya? 




(H) FBI to build software to monitor social media 


The U.S. government is requesting proposals for the development of a software system that can mine social media.


Federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies are looking to use it to anticipate everything from terrorist attacks to foreign uprisings by sifting through billions of posts from Twitter and other social networks.


The proposals already have raised privacy concerns among advocates who worry that such monitoring efforts could have a chilling effect on users. The FBI says the proposed system would only monitor publicly available information. WTOL.com


HIGHLIGHTS


Hundreds of intelligence analysts already sift overseas Twitter and Facebook posts to track events such as the Arab Spring. But in a formal notice to potential contractors, the FBI recently outlined its desire for a digital tool to scan the entire universe of social media - more data than humans could ever crunch. Boston Globe


The Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence also have solicited the private sector for ways to automate the process of identifying emerging threats and upheavals using the billions of posts people around the world share every day. NY Times


Ginger McCall, director of the open government project at the Electronic Privacy Information Center In Washington, D.C., said the FBI has no business monitoring legitimate free speech without a narrow, targeted law enforcement purpose. AP

DHS TERROR DATABASE PRIVACY IMPACT ASSESSMENT

http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/privacy/privacy_pia_dhs_wls.pdf

"The Homeland Security Presidential Directive 6 (HSPD-6), issued in September 2003, called for the
establishment and use of a single consolidated terrorist watchlist to improve the identification, screening,
and tracking of  individuals known or  appropriately  suspected  to be or have been engaged in conduct
constituting, in preparation for, in aid of, or related to terrorism (known or suspected  terrorists).
Currently, the TSC distributes  the  watchlist information from the TSDB to other government agencies
including the DHS and DHS‟s internal components.

WLS will allow TSC and DHS to move away from a manual and cumbersome process of data
transmission and management to an automated and centralized process.  WLS will replace multiple data
feeds from the TSC to DHS components to more efficiently facilitate DHS mission-related functions, such as
counterterrorism, law enforcement, border security, and inspection activities.  DHS will not receive any
new data as part of the WLS; the system was created for efficiency purposes only.  At this time, WLS is a
system-to-system secure connection with no direct user interface. "