news from spyking list...

[Ray Arachelian <sunder@beast.brainlink.com>]

Subject: GPS Jamming

*New Scientist* (8 Jan 1998, http://www.newscientist.com) included an
article saying that a Russian company called Aviaconversia was offering a
4-watt GPS/Glonass jammer for less than $4000 at the September Moscow Air
Show. It says that it could stop civilian aircraft locking onto GPS
signals
over a 200 Km radius; military aircraft would be harder to jam, but a more
powerful unit could be built.

The risks (terrorism etc.) are fairly obvious, and it's mentioned that it
would probably be easy to build one even if this company's product is
somehow removed from the market.

**************************************************************************
21)From: SpyKing@thecodex.com
Subject: Spying around the world

Corporate Spying On The Rise In India

Corporate espionage is big business in India, and because of this,
Indian corporations are busy installing internal information security
programs that include paper shredders, computer database
password-protection, and careful security checks of new employees. 

Indian analysts predict that corporate counter-espionage will become
mandatory at many big companies as competition among the major players
heats up, even between regional businesses. 

NSA Monitoring Sales Of Encryption Software

In July, 1995, the National Security Agency (NSA) wrote "A Study of the
International Market for Encryption" which NSA official Jon A.  Goldsmith
declared in sworn testimony should remain secret because "in developing
its portion of the study, NSA sought and received information from the
Department of State, the CIA and from foreign sources."

NSA acquired data for their portion of the report from its global  spying
programs. But in some cases, the information was obtained by the CIA  and
passed onto the NSA. Goldsmith noted one section of the report involved
the "Proposed Netherlands Telecommunications Service Act in 1993."
Goldsmith testified "The first sentence of this paragraph was supplied
by the CIA and is protected." 

The Netherlands is a major encryption hardware and software exporter
(particularly Philips). Apparently the CIA spent some monitoring the
Dutch legislature to find out what kind of laws it intended to pass
regarding encryption technologies. Those details found their way into
the NSA's secret report. 

Another section of this report details the close cooperation between  the
NSA and foreign intelligence services. Goldsmith testified the report
"References discussions between Italian officials and members of the
National Security Authority regarding Law Number 222 of February 27,
1992 and is protected in its entirety..."

The NSA for some time has routinely monitored foreign-produced
encryption technologies and has performed daily reports on these
products, in addition to how fast and how economically it can crack
these products, which so far the NSA has been able to do. But, NSA
officials have testified before Congress, foreign encryption software  is
getting increasingly more sophisticated and thus harder and more costly
to break in a timely manner. 

Domestically, the NSA appears to be secretly keeping tabs on U.S. sales
of encryption software. In the secret 1995 report there's a section
titled, "Software Outlets/Computer Stores" which "Refers to a internal
NSA document control number and project name..."

Observers believe this project involves domestic surveillance of US
retail sales of encryption software. What, how, and who is being
monitored, though, is a secret. 

FBI Finds Files On Chinese Influence, Counterintelligence Sources
Worried 

The FBI recently discovered new and heretofore unknown
counterintelligence files in its investigation of a possible Chinese
plot to influence U.S. elections. The material was found following a
search FBI Director Louis Freeh ordered in September "when it became
apparent the FBI was in possession of certain counterintelligence
information" an FBI statement said. 

Sources at other agencies say they are appalled that the FBI could
misplace or overlook such vital information in a major
counterintelligence probe. Particularly when the probe is of a
government like that of China, which is well known for spying on  America
and is notorious for stealing details on advanced American technologies. 

"Either the Bureau is inept, or something else happened here," said one
counterintelligence source, who was alluding to the files possibly  being
been alleged in relation to White House campaign fund-raising
activities). 

China Grooming More Spies?

About 100 elite Hong Kong schools, headed by the territory's Catholic
institutions, are allowed to teach all classes in English, despite the
territory's return to Chinese rule. Starting with the new school term,  a
total of 307 of the territory's 400 schools must teach all subjects in
Chinese. However, believing that their children will have better job
opportunities, most parents still want English instruction for them. By
the year 2000, all students will study Mandarin Chinese, the basis for
nation-wide university entrance exams. 

Western intelligence experts believe the elite school language leniency
stems from the mainland government's desire to continue the English
language program to groom economic and political spies. The US State
Department has identified China as the country which sends the largest
number of spies to the United States and has uncovered a Chinese spy
within its own ranks during 1997. 

Iraq's Intelligence Service Spies On UN WMD Observers

Utilizing sophisticated electronic eavesdropping and other SIGINT
resources, Iraqi intelligence agents have been spying on UN weapons
inspectors (whose ranks reportedly include individuals collecting
particular intelligence for the U.S.) and have been able to learn in
advance of the UN inspection team's targets. 

Consequently, Iraq has been able to quickly secrete both their weapons
of mass destruction and their records of manufacturing, U.S. military
and intelligence officials have said. These officials suspect that some
of the SIGINT capabilities of Iraq have been provided through black
market channels from the Former Soviet Republics (FSR). 

U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen has publicly acknowledged that the
U.S. believes the Iraqis have the ability to eavesdrop electronically  on
the UN inspectors. In addition, Iraqi agents are suspected of  conducting
physical and electronic surveillance of individual UN inspection team
members, including monitoring their homes. 

Ewen Buchanan, the spokesman for the inspection commission at UN
headquarters in New York, is quoted saying "we are obviously aware that
the Iraqis try their damnedest to monitor us, our planning, our
thoughts, even in New York, and to develop an early warning system --
what we want, where we're going, what we are trying to inspect. They
must use every means at their disposal."

Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said intelligence authorities do not
believe that Saddam Hussein has managed to penetrate the UN Special
Commission of weapons inspectors, known as UNSCOM, but rather they believe
that "Iraq has found ways to learn 
ahead of time some of UNSCOM's plans," using SIGINT and other technical
means. 

Counterintelligence Searches For North Korean Spies

The Agency for National Security Planning (NSP) believes North Korea  has
targeted 1,500 South Koreans to establish new spy networks within South
Korea. Evidence of this effort has been obtained through the
investigations and arrests of alleged spies. 

That North Korea is bankrolling a massive spy operation against the
South bolsters intelligence findings by U.S. counterintelligence
sources, who say North Korea is aggressively recruiting spies in South
Korea, targeting infrastructure, commerce, and technology in particular. 

Details on the North Korean spying activities began to emerge following
the recent arrest of 69-year-old Ko Young-bok, a noted sociology
professor who once worked for Seoul National University. Ko stands
accused of spying for North Korea for 36 years. He was arrested after
having been linked to a North Korean 
spy couple. 

During its investigation, the NSP intercepted a telephone communication
Ko had received from an unidentified source immediately before his
Ko had received from an unidentified source immediately before his
arrest urging him to fly to Beijing and take shelter at the North  Korean
embassy there. 

The caller is believed by the NSP to be in charge of North Korean spy
rings in South Korea. According to intelligence sources, few people,
except for ranking North Korean spy officials, know who all the spies
are in South Korea. Intelligence officials said all North Korean spies
form small separate rings and contact between the different rings is
limited. 

Earlier, Shim Jong-ung, 55, was arrested on charges of spying for North
Korea. A Seoul subway official, Shim is accused of providing North  Korea
with information which could be used to destroy subway systems.  

Bok is an eminent scholar known as the father of sociology studies in
South Korea, who served as director of a government research center and
who made two official trips to North Korea in 1973 as a South Korean
adviser. South Korean authorities assert that on those occasions he
actually briefed North Korea on the South's bargaining position. 

The alleged spy ring was broken up when a leftist reported to South
Korean authorities that he had been approached by two North Koreans and
asked to spy for the North. That led counterintelligence officials to
detain the two North Koreans, Choi Chung Nam, 35, and his wife, Kang  Yun
Jung, 28. 

Kang committed suicide a day later. The police had searched the two
carefully for any suicide capsules, X-raying them and examining their
mouths, but when Kang went to the bathroom with an escort she removed a
cyanide capsule she had hidden in her vagina and killed herself with it. 

Choi, however, confessed and apparently led the counterintelligence
agents to the North Korean spies with whom he had been in contact. He
also showed them drop-off places around Seoul used to hide guns, radio
transmitters and ball-point pens that shoot lethal poison

Choi allegedly confessed that their mission was to recruit agents,
future infiltrations, and obtain information about a new, highly
productive strain of corn developed in the South. 

Have Pakistan Intelligence Agents Penetrated U.S. Agencies?

According to fundamental Pakistani sources monitored by U.S.
intelligence analysts, "trusted" "brothers" have managed to rise to
crucial positions in U.S. military intelligence, and have access to
details about CIA operations in the 
Middle East. 

English NSA Facility Comes Under Fire

An NSA facility in Menwith Hill, England, the biggest spy station in  the
world capable of monitoring the communications spectrum throughout
Europe, has come under British scrutiny. The European Commission has
issued a report, "Assessing the Technologies of Political Control,"  that
says the spying system, known as "Echelon," is a threat to European
privacy rights and laws. 

European Commission spokesman, Simon Davies, said the report warns that
the system can "eavesdrop on every telephone, email, and telex
communication around the world."

According to the report, "the Echelon system forms part of the UKUSA
system but unlike many of the electronic spy systems developed during
the Cold War, Echelon is designed primarily for non- military targets:
governments, organizations and businesses in virtually every country. 

"The Echelon system works by indiscriminately intercepting very large
quantities of communications and then siphoning out what is valuable
using artificial intelligence aids like MEMEX to find key words."
Echelon uses a number of national dictionaries containing key words of
interest to each country. 

The Commission report was requested last year by the Civil Liberties
Committee of the European Parliament. It contains details of a network
of American-controlled spy stations on British soil and around the  world
that "routinely and indiscriminately" monitor "countless phone, fax and
email messages."

It states "within Europe all email telephone and fax communications are
routinely intercepted by the United States National Security Agency
transferring all target information from the European mainland via the
strategic hub of London then by satellite to Fort Meade in Maryland via
the crucial hub at Menwith Hill" in Yorkshire. 

The report recommends a variety of measures for dealing with the NSA
facility at Menwith Hill and other centers including that "the European
Parliament should reject proposals from the United States for making
private messages via the global communications network Internet)
accessible to US intelligence agencies. 

The report also urges a fundamental review of the involvement of the
American NSA in Europe, suggesting that the activities be scaled down,
or become more open and accountable. 

The report was the subject of discussion on Dec. 21 by the committee of
the office of Science and Technology Assessment in Luxembourg. They
confirmed that the citizens of Britain and other European states are
subject to an intensity of surveillance far in excess of that imagined
by most parliaments. 

The report was developed due to pressure by Glyn Ford. Labour MEP for
Greater Manchester East, England. He says "there are times in history
when technology helps democratize, and times when it helps centralize.
This is a time of centralization. The justice and home affairs pillar  of
Europe has become more powerful without corresponding strengthening of
civil liberties."

The reaction of the members was one of shock and "deep concern" for the
rights of European citizens even though the UK facility has been in
place for over 15 years and the technology there has been an "open
secret" for most of that period. Thus, the question becomes have the
European governments dismissed information from their own intelligence
personnel as impossible, or does this signal a new coldness in
European/US relations. 

According to the London Telegraph, the real concern is not so much  civil
liberties as industrial espionage. In a Dec. 16 report it stated that
"the principal motivation for this rush of development is the US
interest in commercial espionage." The report pointed out that several
of the facilities have been in place since the Nineteen-Fifties. The
role of these NSA sites was to provide military, diplomatic and  economic
intelligence by intercepting communications from throughout the  Northern
Hemisphere. 

When the British Parliament has questioned new eavesdropping
developments over the past 40 years, secrecy issues have generally been
invoked. With treaties and agreements with other European countries,
these concerns are not likely to block future investigations by the
European Parliament and other E. U. groups. France and Germany are
particularly expected to pursue the issues raised based on concerns
about industrials spying. Last year, several American agents were
expelled from France on charges of economic espionage. 

Whether the impetus for the European report was concern for civil  rights
or over trade secrets, the results may be that we in the US will be
better informed of what the NSA is doing at home and how our own rights
have been treated by an organization which has the motto: "We don't
talk, we listen."