BrickHouse Security Blog

Someone snuck into a Fort Lauderdale towing company’s parking lot in the dead of night. Someone believed they could be reckless, and that they were above the law when they stole two tow trucks. Someone believed that they would never get caught. What these someone’s didn’t understand was that GPS tracking could and would put an end to their hair-brained schemes.

Fort Lauderdale police arrested two men on Saturday for the theft of the tow trucks. Both were equipped with GPS tracking devices, which had been used to track all movement of the tow trucks during the time they were stolen. A number of stolen items, including car rims, were found in the suspects collection of goods. Police did not immediately identify the men.

Jason Parrett, owner of the Fort Lauderdale repossession truck company First Response Towing and Recovery, said the GPS tracking units were crucial in finding the missing wreckers.

“Without it we wouldn’t have found the trucks,” said Parrett, who has all three trucks in his fleet hooked up with GPS technology.

Parrett said that he was alerted by an employee early Saturday that the trucks were missing and reacted to the situation by pulling up their locations on his wife’s BlackBerry, which is linked to their GPS units to give the company maximum oversight.

After GPS maps showed Ford F-450′s in Oakland Park and the Lauderdale Manors section of the city, Parrett’s drivers were able to find one F-450 abandoned in Oakland Park. When the other was located on Northwest 13th Avenue, the driver observed a man taking the wrecker. The truck was followed by the driver and eventually abandoned when the culprit realized he was being followed.

The GPS system’s activity report was so efficient that it basically did all the police’s work for them, showing where the trucks had been, places where they had been parked for extended periods and how fast they had been driven.This information was used to arrest the culprits on the 1700 block of Northwest 13th Avenue, a location listed in the report.

“The detailed activity reports in these are disgustingly accurate,” Parrett said of the system, which cost him $300 to install and $20 a month for airtime for each of his three trucks.

(Via Miami Herald)

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In the never-ending war against shadowy Internet criminals, gangs based in Eastern Europe that electronically break into business computers, steal banking passwords, and transfer the money are a particularly dangerous and mysterious group. With their methods, they are hard enough to defeat as is, but they are also being accidentally aided in their actions through an unlikely source.

A lawsuit was filed on Wednesday in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against this group of hackers by Unspam Technologies, an organization that gathers volunteers to discover information about spammers and other online rogues. In a refreshing bit of honesty, the lawyer for Unspam, Jon L. Praed, admits it is very unlikely the company will ever discover the name of these hackers. He claims instead that the purpose of the suit is to obtain the details of the thefts, the names of victims and other information from the compromised  computers in an attempt to increase security. The banks that have been affected by hackers are usually very reclusive in cases like these, therefore inadvertently aiding the hackers. By forcing the banks to give up information, Praed believes that security can be improved and the hackers can possibly be discovered.

Mr. Praed, who is head of the Internet Law Group in Arlington Virginia, has successfully used these “John Doe” suits (so called because the unnamed defendant is identified only as John Doe), to get information from third parties that can be passed to law enforcement and then used on civil suits to go after the main party. Back in 2007, Praed helped Unspam file a suit for the purpose of gathering info on illegal Internet pharmacies and their supporters, though its results are unknown.

“This lawsuit is intended to provide all those being victimized by this massive criminal enterprise the opportunity to come together to gather the data we need to fix the problem at a systems level,” Mr. Praed said.

While it seems that Praed believes he is fighting the good fight, banks may fight back against his subpoenas, even if they’re getting hurt by these hackers.

Banks do not want to get involved in these lawsuits and cases for a number of reasons. They argue that it’s a poor idea to publicize the techniques used by criminals in fraud cases or those meant to thwart them. Wit more information out in the open, it may only lead to more fraud attempts. Banks also want to keep these cases quiet to preserve the confidence and confidentiality of their customers.

“Banks are not the perpetrators of these crimes, and banks are spending tens or hundreds of millions of dollars of industry dollars trying to prevent those acts from taking place,” said Scott H. Frewing, a partner at the Baker & McKenzie law firm, which represents major banks. “The use of John Doe lawsuits to draw them into a civil litigation fight just raises the cost on the banks in a way that the courts may not sanction.”

Mr. Praed said that he hoped his John Doe lawsuit would encourage banks to improve their electronic defenses. “Unless we want to go back to putting our money in a mattress, more needs to be done.”

(Via New York Times)

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“We are working harder. The financial crisis is not making it easy for them over there,” said Banjo, 24, speaking about Americans, whose trust he has won and whose money he has stolen.

U.S. authorities say Americans lose hundreds of millions of dollars a year to cybercrime, with one of the biggest schemes known as the Nigerian 419 fraud. According to Nigerian scammers, Americans are the easiest prey for their schemes, and in the struggling economy, these victims are falling even more easily for their offers of riches. Americans are exercising less caution when they should be exercising more.

Statistics from the FBI-backed Internet Crime Complaint Center say that scam reports by Americans shot up 33 percent last year, and that after the United States and Britain, Nigeria housed the most perpetrators. The scammers are celebrated in Nigerian popular culture, and even have songs celebrating them. These men see their actions as a path to fortune and means to level the playing field and punish those seen as too greedy. They think of themselves as modern day Robin Hoods.

“I’m selling greed,” said Felix, 29, an e-mail swindler. “You didn’t apply for any lotto, and all of a sudden you just see an e- mail in your mailbox that you’re going to win money? That means you have to be greedy.”

The 419 e-mails are clinical and yet depressing in how they work and their effectiveness, with some promising wealth in the form of jewels and then requiring victims to wire “fees” to guarantee the deal, and others luring investors into venture opportunities that cost millions before they’re revealed as fake. These schemes take advantage of desperate people, and are very good at doing so.

Scammers use tools such as formats for letters and accounts that send e-mails in bulk. It is a lucrative field, and Felix claims he has made $30,000 in his best months and blows it on clothes and Don Perignon, though he complains about proceeds being down 40 percent with the economy. Apparently, he sees no connection between the greed he displays in his life as a scammer and the “greed” he is selling in his mail.

The problem of scamming began in the 1980′s when jobless young Nigerians were inspired by news reports about corrupt politicians funneling oil proceeds to foreign bank accounts. The Nigerian government insists that they crack down on 419 perpetrators and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission says these cases made up 45 percent of its prosecutions from 2003 to 2006. Scammers are frequently nailed in cybercafe raids.

Despite online victim support groups, the U.S. embassy, and bank and money-transfer-agency websites that display warnings about these scams, people continue to carelessly give out their financial information.

“There is another thing scammers always say in Nigeria,” Banjo said, “that every day, another maga (sucker) is born in America.”

(Via The Washington Post)

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Lets be honest: It seems like the interesting robbers are all gone. The Ocean’s 11 style thieves are a relic of the past. You never hear about people putting effort into robberies or heists, no grand getaways, and it’s a shame. At least two men brought back that memorable past with a London jewelry heist worth $65 million last week, but in doing so they confronted a powerful modern foe: video surveillance.

This dangerous daytime heist netted the robbers $65 million worth of jewelry from the powerful London diamond merchant Graff Diamonds, but also led to a suspect being arrested in connection with the heist and the entire heist being captured on camera. The surveillance footage seemed to capture a scene similar to every heist movie in history, with the two dapper robbers producing guns in the store and taking a staff member hostage while making off with their haul, before escaping into a group of getaway cars across the city. It was a fascinating scene that was filmed that day. Too bad for them, our Dapper Dons weren’t starring in Hollywood movie, but stuck in real life. [...]

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Turtles have a rough life. The last thing they need to worry about is some crazy idiot interrupting their well-earned peace and quiet and sticking them down their pants. For one poor turtle in Spring, Texas, being stuck down someone’s pants was more than just some crazy nightmare. Instead it became a strange, strange reality. Good thing there were surveillance cameras there to witness the scene.

On Wednesday, August 12, a thief targeting a pet store in Spring posed as a customer and searched the store before using a piece of metal to pry open one of the store cabinets, from where he then removed the fist-sized Indian Star Tortoise and shoved it into the left pocket of his jeans. He lucked out in not grabbing a snapping turtle. That would have been uncomfortable.

“We’ve been here twenty years and I’ve never had a customer shove a turtle in his pants,” said Sherry Stack, Pet City owner.

[...]

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In a tragic incident that underscores the need for companies and individuals to secure their vehicles, a livery cab driver was shot and killed in what was believed to be an attempted robbery Monday morning.

According to police, 46-year old Ndiaye Amadau was shot once in the chest just after 12:30 a.m. Monday by his passenger in Baychester. The police believe he was shot in an attempted robbery. After the attack, the cab slammed into a silver car waiting for a light. The gunman was able to flee, but the driver of the silver car got a got a good look at him and the NYPD are undergoing an extensive search for the killer.

Amadau’s vehicle was not properly secured at all, as it did not have either a partition (a secure barrier for protecting the driver from their passenger in a cab) or a security camera. Because he didn’t have a partition, Amadau was not protected from any dangerous or unruly passengers if an unfortunate situation were to occur. Additionally, by not having a security camera, Amadau did not have an extra pair of eyes with which to secure his vehicle and protect himself. Without these layers of security, his cab and himself were  completely vulnerable. [...]

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DNA evidence has always been considered the end-all-be-all of proof in criminal cases. It was thought that this evidence was infallible and impossible to be tampered with. Well according to Israeli scientists, that is just not true.

Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence. The scientists were able to do this by fabricating blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor. They also demonstrated they could create a sample of DNA to match a DNA profile without obtaining the tissue of the individual from the profile.

“You can just engineer a crime scene,” said Dan Frumkin, lead author of the paper, which has been published online by the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics. “Any biology undergraduate could perform this.”

The scientists fabricated DNA samples in two ways, with one needing the services of a small real DNA sample, which was from a strand of hair. This tiny sample was then made much larger using a technique called whole genome amplification. They then combined the DNA from this strand, which came from a man, with blood from a women that had been removed of its DNA. When this sample was analyzed, it only came back positive as a normal sample of a man’s blood. [...]

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As smartphones have become de facto computers for some people, they have offered an added advantage of almost being impossible to hack. With the closed off and tightly controlled mobile phone industry of the United States offering a mobile system that has both advanced software impenetrable to significant malware and that is isolated from the rest of the world, American mobile phone users are generally heavily protected from danger behind a wall of mobile security that is generally stronger than it is for smartphone users overseas. [...]

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What is legal and not legal when it comes to surveillance? This is a question that is ill-defined in modern society, and its elements change every day as our technology becomes more and more advanced and our social norms adjust along with it. There is still a difference between a persons private and public life. But where is the line drawn?

As surveillance cameras have become more common with both private citizens and for the use of communities, the Supreme Court has taken the position that what a person exposes to the public is not constitutionally protected and that in public, visual forms of surveillance have almost complete carte blanche in recording people. Surveillance cameras have taken over our lives to the point that they’ve made the distinctions of public and private life somewhat nonexistent.

To make this idea explicit, there is no federal law that governs video surveillance by private citizens or organizations such as community safety coalitions and almost no federal law that covers police video surveillance.

“The courts have claimed that using a video and audio recorder by a citizen is protected by the First Amendment,” says Len Brown, a West Point graduate and an attorney with the Lancaster, PA law firm of Clymer & Musser.

State laws do not regulate videotaping. According to Clifford Fishman, a professor at Catholic University and a former New York district attorney, “The Justice Department likes the law the way it is, because it allows visual surveillance of public conduct.”

The law says that private citizens using video cameras must follow the same guidelines governing surveillance programs operated by municipalities. According to Fisherman, however, there are still many questions about the legality of what individuals personally film. While it may not be illegal if an individual their own or others property or individuals going about their daily business, a line can easily be crossed between which another person can see this surveillance and filming as a form of illegal harassment.

Says Brown, “There’s really nothing anyone can do, until someone finds out [the camera operators] are abusing the cameras.”

According to Brown, with no clear regulation and oversight of video surveillance, the potential for voyeurism and invasion of privacy becomes much larger. Although municipalities with surveillance programs are able to regulate their recordings, breaches are always a possibility.

Fishman suggests putting cameras only in areas where crime is prevalent, instead of simply saturating a city, in hopes of catching criminal activity.

Surveillance programs are growing number across the country. Camera technology is improving, and people are more likely to use camera surveillance to protect their home. As a society, we need to make decisions about how we will survey each other in public. It will go on to some extent. We just have to decide how far we actually want to go.

“Once the debate gets captured by the extremes on both sides, people in the middle just tune out, says Fishman.”

(Via Lanaster Online)

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As businesses and individuals become increasingly dependent on digital technology, a series of cities in the Inland Valley and San Bernardino County in California have began to take steps that will provide for more efficient social security and personal privacy as computer technology constantly evolves.

“It requires constant vigilance and making sure that you are prepared,” said Elliott Ellsworth, information technology director for the city of Ontario.

Several government agencies have made steps to tackle threats such as viruses and denials of service attacks by installing services such as anti-virus software, firewalls, and application security. Orleans established a department similar to this over a decade ago and now operates with several network security specialists. Many cities including Ontario, Claremont, Pomona and Fontana have information technology or services departments, which often provide technical support and network security. [...]

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Beer-chucking Chicago Cubs fan Johnny Macchione is now guilty of two misdemeanors after dousing Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino with a cold Bud Light. However, Macchione is even more guilty of being a coward after making an acquaintance originally take the fall for him.

The Bartlett native turned himself into police on Thursday after he couldn’t run away from the large collections of videos plastered all over the Internet identifying him as the despicable culprit.

“It was a big mistake. I’d like to apologize to Shane Victorino,” said the 21-year-old, who described himself as a lifelong Cubs fan. “It really is nothing against him. It was a mistake like I said.” [...]

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In the big city, the cameras have gone dark. The watchful eyes have gone blind, and crime is allowed to roam with the tool of surveillance neutralized. The city of Philadelphia is supposed to have 250 surveillance cameras patrolling the streets and protecting their citizens, but the program has become neglected and gone awry.

In late 2007, Philadelphia government announced its plan to install 250 surveillance cameras by 2008. Unfortunately, it’s now 2009 and only 161 cameras have been installed. Out of these 161, only 98 of these cameras are usable and another 63 are sitting there waiting to be activated. The 63 cameras that are being unused have been covered in black plastic bags. [...]

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Salt Lake City police are crediting surveillance cameras for having a very positive effect in the reduction of drug deals at Pioneer Park. Since the cameras went up last February and the police department began advertising that the area was under constant surveillance, calls for assistance at the park have been cut in half. [...]

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As the global economy continues to struggle on the long road towards recovery, towns and cities need to be creative in order to spend money wisely. Using existing but untapped technology such as GPS tracking can be an essential way for cities to improve and streamline the services they provide, and one forward-thinking mayor is doing that to improve his city’s public works service.

North Providence, Rhode Island Mayor Charles A. Lombardi is choosing GPS  fleet tracking to monitor the town’s public works vehicles. In late spring, Lombardi began placing tracking units on 14 pickups and dump trucks. The units were installed with the goal of giving workers more motivation to be efficient at work throughout the town and to save fuel and manpower by improving the overall management of fieldwork. The units were installed at a desperate time for North Providence Public Works, during which attrition had forced them to lose employees.

“We knew we could get the job done with less people,” Lombardi said. “This was a way to support that. It’s proven it.”

In late May and early June, Public Works was in a tight spot with only 23 workers after severe layoffs. They were not able to complete all the daily tasks necessary, which typically consisted of picking up debris and repairing roads. Lombardi argued that by bringing in GPS and using a smaller workforce, Public Works could be more efficient in their daily tasks and avoid time-wasters such as crossing town to pick up debris when there was a nearby spot that needed attention.

With GPS technology, Public Works Director Glenn Corrente is able to track the location of every one of his crews over the course of the day. So far, Corrente is satisfied with the effectiveness of the new plan and how it’s changing some of the department’s method’s, including gas used and efficient use of time.

(Via The Providence Journal)

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