On Q Professional Investigations

You have a secret that can ruin your life.

It’s not a well-kept secret, either. Just a simple string of characters—maybe six of them if you’re careless, 16 if you’re cautious—that can reveal everything about you.

Your email. Your bank account. Your address and credit card number. Photos of your kids or, worse, of yourself, naked. The precise location where you’re sitting right now as you read these words. Since the dawn of the information age, we’ve bought into the idea that a password, so long as it’s elaborate enough, is an adequate means of protecting all this precious data. But in 2012 that’s a fallacy, a fantasy, an outdated sales pitch. And anyone who still mouths it is a sucker—or someone who takes you for one.

No matter how complex, no matter how unique, your passwords can no longer protect you.

Look around. Leaks and dumps—hackers breaking into computer systems and releasing lists of usernames and passwords on the open web—are now regular occurrences. The way we daisy-chain accounts, with our email address doubling as a universal username, creates a single point of failure that can be exploited with devastating results. Thanks to an explosion of personal information being stored in the cloud, tricking customer service agents into resetting passwords has never been easier. All a hacker has to do is use personal information that’s publicly available on one service to gain entry into another.

This summer, hackers destroyed my entire digital life in the span of an hour. My Apple, Twitter, and Gmail passwords were all robust—seven, 10, and 19 characters, respectively, all alphanumeric, some with symbols thrown in as well—but the three accounts were linked, so once the hackers had conned their way into one, they had them all. They really just wanted my Twitter handle: @mat. As a three-letter username, it’s considered prestigious. And to delay me from getting it back, they used my Apple account to wipe every one of my devices, my iPhone and iPad and MacBook, deleting all my messages and documents and every picture I’d ever taken of my 18-month-old daughter.

Since that awful day, I’ve devoted myself to researching the world of online security. And what I have found is utterly terrifying. Our digital lives are simply too easy to crack. Imagine that I want to get into your email. Let’s say you’re on AOL. All I need to do is go to the website and supply your name plus maybe the city you were born in, info that’s easy to find in the age of Google. With that, AOL gives me a password reset, and I can log in as you.

First thing I do? Search for the word “bank” to figure out where you do your online banking. I go there and click on the Forgot Password? link. I get the password reset and log in to your account, which I control. Now I own your checking account as well as your email.

This summer I learned how to get into, well, everything. With two minutes and $4 to spend at a sketchy foreign website, I could report back with your credit card, phone, and Social Security numbers and your home address. Allow me five minutes more and I could be inside your accounts for, say, Amazon, Best Buy, Hulu, Microsoft, and Netflix. With yet 10 more, I could take over your AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon. Give me 20—total—and I own your PayPal. Some of those security holes are plugged now. But not all, and new ones are discovered every day.

The common weakness in these hacks is the password. It’s an artifact from a time when our computers were not hyper-connected. Today, nothing you do, no precaution you take, no long or random string of characters can stop a truly dedicated and devious individual from cracking your account. The age of the password has come to an end; we just haven’t realized it yet.

Passwords are as old as civilization. And for as long as they’ve existed, people have been breaking them.

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Two police helicopters collided over a helipad Saturday, leaving five Pasadena officers and a civilian with minor injuries, officials said.

Police believed the collision occurred when the rotator blades of a chopper that was landing and one that was taking off touched, Lt. Phlunte Riddle said.

The collision caused the blade of one of the helicopters to fall off and its tail to break.

The injured were taken to hospitals for further evaluation after the 4 p.m. collision in Altadena. Riddle said they included five police officers and a civilian observer in one of the two Bell OH-58A helicopters.

One helicopter crew was on routine patrol and the other was assigned to monitor traffic from the UCLA-Southern California football game at the Rose Bowl, she said.

The weather was drizzly and cloudy at the time of the accident.

FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer said his agency and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.

The collision follows a much more serious crash in Atlanta this month where two officers in a police helicopter were killed when the aircraft hit wires atop a power pole.

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Florida housewives, a tawdry affair, and flirtatious emails. No, it’s not an update from your favorite reality show.

It’s the story that has lately dominated the headlines — the resignation of former four-star Gen. David Petraeus as head of the CIA. But the disclosure of the Petraeus affair, and all that followed, only hints at a much wider scandal in the U.S. armed forces.

Dr. Cregg Chandler, a retired Air Force chaplain who has done extensive research on military ethics, says infidelity came up as a major concern for 70 percent of the counselors he interviewed.

“Infidelity was high on the radar screen over the last years,” he said. “I saw it as a major problem, and I use the word epidemic.”

In 2012 alone, there have been several top commanders investigated or fired for sexual improprieties or bad judgment. Among them: Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair — a former deputy commander in Afghanistan — who is facing a military grand jury on charges of adultery and sexual misconduct.
But what about the spouses? How are they affected?

Two women who know about the challenges of family life in the military spoke to Rebecca Jarvis and Anthony Mason about the problem on “CBS This Morning: Saturday.”

Jacey Eckhart is an Air Force brat, Navy wife and Army mom. She’s also the Editor in Chief of SpouseBuzz.com and the author of “Homefront Club: The Hardheaded Woman’s Guide to Raising a Military Family.” Siobhan Fallon is an Army wife and author of “You Know When the Men Are Gone.”

“Military families are just like civilian families when it comes to infidelity,” said Eckhart. “We estimate about a third of all families are blighted by infidelity. And so, you’ve got to remember two-thirds of the families are not.”

Fallon said though she’s very upset by the Petraeus affair, she’s seen incredible marriages at every level in the military, and does not believe anyone is using rank as power within personal relationships

“I think everyone overwhelmingly supports Gen. Petraeus and his military career,” she said. “The chain of command and our leaders have been chosen as leaders because they are upstanding men and women… worthy of leading our soldiers into battle and making life and death decisions.”

Eckhart said she thinks it’s important to remember that fidelity is a set of behaviors that you learn over time, and the ones needed when you’re younger are different than the ones you need when you’re in your 40s.

“I think the military understands that… the people who are closest to you, you have to be faithful to,” she said. “And that starts with that number one person you have at home.”

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The enthusiasm, passion, and excitement were palpable among the more than 500 law enforcement and criminal justice professionals as well as allied supporters in attendance at the National Law Enforcement Museum Gala held last month in Washington, D.C.

It was an evening replete with education about the first national museum of its kind that is in the works to honor the law enforcement profession and serve as a natural extension to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.

The museum will be a place where people can learn about the public service provided by the nation’s law enforcement heroes.

Stories of Service and Sacrifice

By the end of 2012, construction drawings for the building and design drawings for exhibits will be drafted and completed. Construction on the museum’s structure is expected to begin in spring 2013, and the museum will be built from the underground infrastructure. Construction will take approximately two years to complete. The museum is scheduled to open spring 2015.

“Reel to Real” was the theme of the third-annual fundraiser held October 12 to raise additional money for the museum construction, exhibits, and operation. The fictional cop characters that played roles both on television and in the movies provided education to the public about the law enforcement profession.

Oftentimes, in real life, police officers do not have the support that the fictional characters have, and they don’t always know how their story will end. Consequently, it is important to tell the real stories of service and sacrifice. The museum will be the place where people can learn about the real life roles that law enforcement officers play throughout the course of their careers.

The gala program began with a series of movie clips that depicted various cop scenes.

“When it comes to pop culture, law enforcement has taken the center stage,” said Craig W. Floyd, Chairman and CEO of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

He noted that only one out of five Americans has any direct contact with law enforcement officers and, consequently, their views are based on what they see on television and in the movies. “Our goal with the “Reel to Real” exhibit is to educate while we entertain,” Floyd said.

Floyd recognized the Museum’s Leadership Council for its vision and strong guidance, and he acknowledged the numerous and varied sponsors who have generously donated substantial amounts of money to the ongoing development and construction of the museum.

He noted that Motorola Solutions approved a new cash gift of $10 million dollars to go to the building of the museum, and the organization committed another $5 million in products and services.

A Vibrant Place of Learning

Floyd indicated the museum will be a vibrant place of learning. It will be the largest and most comprehensive museum honoring the service and sacrifice of all law enforcement officers.

“Tonight is very special. It’s a great celebration. The support from Motorola is about being part of the greater good. I’m inspired by the phenomenal day-to-day work everywhere,” he said.

The museum will also be the showcase for the latest technology and will enhance the visitor experience. The staff will have the latest in law enforcement technology to include mobile scanning devices that will scan inventory.

“Now, it’s all about digital and expertise that turns noise into intelligence that turns into safety. Supporting public safety is at the heart and tradition of their company (Motorola Solutions). The museum will encourage young men and women to pursue a career in law enforcement,” Floyd said.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey was the keynote speaker for the event.

“Why do we need a museum?” he asked.

“It will pay honor. It will talk about those of us actually serving in law enforcement today. It will take us through the evolution. As a police officer myself, for over 40 years, it also gives us an opportunity to reflect and think about why you decided to choose law enforcement as a profession.

“When we talk about policing, we lose sight of the history of policing. We’re all caught up in our own time warp. It’s important we understand the legacy left behind by others,” Ramsey said.

Commissioner Ramsey pointed out that law enforcement officers make a difference in people’s lives, and they come home at the end of the day knowing they made a difference. “I don’t know how you capture that in a museum,” Ramsey said.

He added, “I still love doing what I do. You know you’re making a difference.”

He also noted that the museum will help others see that law enforcement is about service to others. It is about protecting the constitutional rights of all people.

“Police are a strong thread that helps to hold together the thread of democracy. People need us. People respect us. People need to learn about us. This museum will give them the opportunity to learn about us,” Ramsey said.

The museum will be interactive and one of high technology. Oftentimes, the popular culture view of law enforcement is sensationalized, but the museum will tell the real story of law enforcement.

There’s One Take on the Street

Floyd honored Hollywood and its use of talent to introduce people to law enforcement.

“The actors, the directors, and the producers put their heart and soul into making shows as realistic as possible about law enforcement. Hollywood has partnered with us over many years to honor the law enforcement profession,” he said.

He pointed out that officers are human and are asked to do extraordinary deeds. In Hollywood, actors may get 20 or more takes to get a scene right but, in reality, officers only get one.

For Dennis Hallion, the Executive Director of the National Troopers Coalition, the gala event brought to mind the meaning of resiliency.

“With all the troopers — state, local, and county — we will continue to have a lot of deaths, but these men and women will go and perform that same job in the same manner because that’s what they believe in. To me, that speaks volumes to the sacrifice and dedication of men and women in law enforcement,” Hallion said.

Undoubtedly, the gala was a celebratory occasion and meaningful event that provided further knowledge and awareness about the meaning of law enforcement and how it is directly tied into the future role of the National Law Enforcement Museum.

Craig Floyd captured the meaning of the evening in one sentence.

“Whether a reel or real cop, we owe all of them,” he said.

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You’ve seen all of the signs, and now you’re looking for confirmation. When you’ve reached this point, to obtain the peace of mind you require you’re left with the decision as to whether you’ll engage the use of a professional service or alternatively invest in some modern day technology. To help you in your decision process, we’ve outlined the most common resources available to you – and the legalities you will face should you choose it.

Private Investigators:

“Honeytrap” investigators: For those who have been cheated on before or have concerns their partner may stray, they may turn to the services of these types of investigators. Better known as a ‘honeytrap’, these types of investigators will start a conversation with your partner in a social setting (either in person or online) with the intention of seeing how far they can take it (ie exchanging of phone numbers, request for intimacy etc) . A full report is then provided to you, sometimes with the inclusion of footage/recordings.

Legality: Although LEGAL, most investigators frown upon this type of entrapment situation. As the ‘honeytrap’ investigator used for these are based on your partners “ideal” (ie looks, interests, clothing sense), the argument is this type of scenario is creating a fantasy situation which may never actually occur in reality and does not actually prove whether your partner is currently being unfaithful.

Surveillance Investigators: The tried and true method of catching a cheating spouse out. If you’re looking for peace of mind as to what your spouse is doing during those ‘unexplained’ hours away from you, or alternatively what they are ‘really’ getting up to when they say they are going out with their friends – conducting surveillance remains the number 1 option for piece of mind. Using a licensed private investigator removes the emotion out of watching your partner and reviewing the investigators footage of your partners night out allows you to see exactly the type of interactions and body language your partner is displaying towards other individuals.

Legality: Surveillance undertaken by licensed, professional private investigators is LEGAL. Through training and experience surveillance investigators know the law (ie your States relevant surveillance and devices Act) and produce their findings by way of a detailed report and footage which are both admissible in Court. If you engage an unlicensed investigator or take matters into your own hands you could very well run the risk of being caught out, or having footage presented to you which has been obtained both unethically and in breach of State laws.

Online Investigators: Do you truly know your partner if you have no idea what they are doing online? Where once being secretive with your mobile phone was an immediate cause for concern of cheating, in this day age it is all about your online activity. As more and more people learn how to log on and interact with other people online, so does the old lingering thoughts of “I wonder what my high school sweetheart is doing these days?”, or “I wonder if I Google my secret desires what will come up / who will share my thoughts?”. Engaging an online investigator can uncover significant behaviours that are otherwise suppressed by your spouse in their everyday life and may just teach you something new about who your partner really is.

Legality: Online investigations conducted by licensed private investigators are LEGAL. Using the skills, experience and resources these types of investigators are able to provide a detailed report on their findings based on information which has been legally obtained. Don’t be fooled by databases online which offer similar type of services for a fraction of the cost – like most things these days, you certainly get what you pay for.

Modern Technology:

Forensic Recovery: Does your partner never leave their phone out of their sight? Do they delete text messages as soon they receive them? Is their call history always blank? Certainly one of the biggest red flags for suspicious spouses is the sudden change in their partners phone habits. With the introduction of a wide range of mobile forensic software those deleted messages may still be able to be recovered. Certainly the hardest part of using this technology is getting access to the phone itself – particularly when they don’t leave the phone out of their sight!

Legality: Lets be clear on this – if you don’t have the permission of your spouse to undertake this, then it is ILLEGAL. Even if you do have permission from your spouse there is certainly no guarantee of recovering everything off the phone leaving you with the same unanswered questions and wondering why you didn’t leave it to the professionals in the first place.

Spyware: With applications such as Stealthgenie and Spectorsoft on the market, once downloaded on a phone or computer, every single keystroke, website, text message and phone call are recorded and sent to your own inbox for your viewing pleasure. Originally created with the intention of tracking your child’s or an employees online activity, suspicious spouses everywhere have seen the benefit of utilising these to discreetly check on their partners activity without their knowledge.

Legality: ILLEGAL. Even if you own the computer/phone your spouse may be using – it’s safe to say if you’re using spyware for confirming infidelity then you will not have the permission of your spouse to record their activity.

GPS applications: With GPS technology becoming smaller and more affordable this has resulted in many suspicious spouses utilising this type of equipment to confirm their partners movements. Certainly with the invention of smart phones having built in GPS systems, iphone applications such as “Findmyphone” have spouses desperate for the truth ‘accidentally’ leaving their phone in their partners’ cars in the hopes of tracking where they go.

Legality: While tracking an individual without their knowledge (or a Court Order!) is ILLEGAL, most individuals who have tried the cheaper applications will tell you the GPS location is typically unreliable and you may end up breaking up your relationship based on incorrect information. Furthermore these pieces of equipment may tell you where your spouse my be but they certainly won’t identify who they are there with, and more importantly what they are doing. Only a surveillance investigator can obtain this information for you. **Editors note: Please check the laws of your State as the legalities of GPS tracking may differ in your location.

Hidden cameras: Once reserved for the likes of James Bond, these days a quick search online for ‘purchase hidden camera’ returns over 26,600,000 results! The fast pace of technology has allowed video and recording devices to become smaller, more affordable and the quality even better. With battery life lasting even longer, these days you can hide a hidden camera in almost anything – clocks, watches, pens, power plugs, teddy bears, smoke detectors – the list is endless! For those who are concerned about who may be visiting their spouse when you’re not home, this type of equipment has allowed many to become their own DIY spy.

Legality: ILLEGAL (in the majority of circumstances) for this type of use. For example, it is illegal in most states to record an individual without their express consent and it goes without saying that everyone should expect a reasonable sense of privacy particular in rooms such as the bedroom. Setting up hidden cameras / recording devices at your partners house will most likely end up in you seeing the footage played back via a Courtroom setting.

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Lies are inevitable, but getting duped isn’t. When you’re in the presence of a liar, you can often uncover the truth by paying attention to very specific nonverbal cues. You just need to ask the right questions and observe their body language to catch them in the act.

What Nonverbal Cues Really Tell Us

You’ve probably heard things like “if someone smirks when they answer a question, they’re lying to you.” You’ve probably even seen shows like Lie to Me, in which characters are able to detect lies through simple body language. However, nonverbal cues are more complicated than popular culture makes them out to be.

When someone’s lying, they will probably give off a few nonverbal cues that suggest something is “off,” but they don’t prove that someone’s lying to you. Joe Navarro, former FBI agent and author of What Every BODY Is Saying, says it best (emphasis mine):

The truth is that there is not one single behavior indicative of deception. [Instead], there are behaviors that are indicative of when a person is having distress, or anxiety, or psychological discomfort.

Lying can cause this type of distress, but so could many other things. For example, Navarro interviewed one woman who showed all of the nonverbal cues one might associate with deception, but in reality she was nervous because her parking meter had run out and was merely afraid of getting a ticket.

Even lie detectors are susceptible to this weakness, so you need more evidence to truly detect a lie.

Use Nonverbal Cues to Investigate Possible Lies

While nonverbal cues won’t prove that someone’s lying, they can direct your investigation by highlighting the important clues. Pamela Meyer, author of the book Liespotting and CEO of deception training company Calibrate, says you should start off an interview by asking your suspect easy, stress-free questions. From there, you can get a “baseline” of their body language when they aren’t under any pressure. Then, when you start asking more pointed questions about the lie you’re investigating, you can pick out which words make them more anxious or distressed.

Navarro gives a great example in this blog post regarding a murder. The medical examiner in this murder determined that the victim was stabbed with an ice pick—a detail not yet known to the public. The investigator used this detail to see if his suspect was as innocent as he claimed:

Rather than ask the subject questions that had previously been covered, such as if he had committed the crime or his whereabouts at the time in question, the investigator asked the following series of questions with a time delay in between: “If you had killed him would you have used a gun?,” “If you had killed him would you have used a knife?,” “If you had killed him would you have used an ice pick?,” and “If you had killed him would you have used a machete?”.

To all of these questions, the subject answered, “No,” however, the nonverbal responses to each question were clearly not all the same. When the ice pick was mentioned, the subject lowered his eyelids and left them low for several seconds before rubbing them with his fingers and answering, “No.” This eye-blocking behavior was enough to convince the investigator that not only did he have the right individual; he also realized the topic to pursue. In the end, after continued questioning about the ice pick, the subject began to reveal what happened the night of the murder. He was betrayed by his own eyes because of his guilty knowledge.

You can still employ this technique even without a specific detail like the ice pick. To use a simple example, say your little brother stole your prized autographed baseball. You could ask him:

-If you had stolen it, would you have hidden it under your bed?
-Would you have hidden it in your sock drawer?
-Would you have hidden it in your closet?

If you get a nonverbal cue that stands out among the others—say he rubs his eyes as in the ice pick example—you have a detail you can investigate further. Again, you can’t accuse him of lying right then and there (after all, he could just have been rubbing an itch), but you do have something that can further your investigation.

Get Liars to Confess When You Have Enough Evidence

So if you can’t make accusations from simple nonverbal cues, how do you finally get to the truth of the matter? In the case of the missing baseball, say your little brother seemed nervous after you asked about his sock drawer. You could simply go and check his sock drawer to see if he had the baseball, giving you clear evidence that he had stolen it and was lying. Other times, Navarro notes, knowing your subject is lying is all that you need. He recalls a story of a friend who wanted to buy a building in Manhattan:

When the seller was asked general questions there were glowing responses about the building. However, when my friend asked about the “last time the duct work had been cleaned” the man ventilated his collar and coughed before he answered (pacifiers). Later he ran his hands through his hair multiple times to the question, “have there been any liens on this property?” My friend hired an investigator, not just a real estate agent, and found there were all sorts of issues with this property. His careful use of nonverbals detected issues which in the end made him wisely terminate further interest in the building. To this date, he still does not know the full truth about the building, he just knows that a lot was being concealed and the investigator confirmed there was enough there to avoid proceeding any further.

Of course, not all cases are so simple. If you really need the detailed truth, you may have to ask quite a few questions before you have enough evidence to figure it out. In other cases, if you ask the right questions, the person will realize you’re onto them and confess. Whatever you do, though, Meyer says putting pressure on them isn’t the answer:

First of all, don’t try to be like the guy on Law and Order pummeling your subject into submission…it doesn’t work. Find a relaxed, quiet, totally private place that’s free of distraction, develop rapport with your subject, let them tell you their story, and then raise the cognitive load on them by asking them to tell it to you backwards. Liars often rehearse their story in chronological order, and law enforcement interrogators in particular often use the technique of asking one to tell the story in reverse order, in order to observe indicators of deceit. We rehearse our words but we rarely rehearse our gestures.

In general, a truthful person will have less of a problem telling their story backwards (though it may still be a tad difficult). Navarro agrees that pressure is a bad strategy, noting that “if you use any kind of pressure on somebody, what you’re going to get is compliance. Compliance gets you a limited amount of information.” Cooperation, on the other hand—building up that rapport and that trust—will have them giving you much more.

In the end, Meyer says, honesty and compassion can go a really long way:

The best way to do this is to signal through your words and actions that your world is an honest one, that you act with integrity. Also why look down your nose at someone who just committed a moral act you never would? What’s the point? Try hard to be focused on facts and not on judgement of others. Often people will feel more freedom to be honest when they do not feel that their questioner is being morally dismissive or superior. As well, try to understand one’s motivation for doing whatever they are lying about, and provide a no-judgements attitude when discussing what motivated them, And never ask “why did you do it?” Asking “why” directly always puts someone on the defensive. Instead suggest several different reasons one might have for committing whatever act is under discussion and let your subject choose what to share with you.

In short: The less accusatory of a tone you take, the more likely you’ll get cooperation from your subject. Know what questions you need to ask, look for the right cues, and do some digging yourself. When you’ve uncovered enough evidence, you’ll either have a strong case for the truth or they’ll confess to you willingly.

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Ever needed to snap a picture in a quiet building without anyone noticing? Or maybe you need to document misbehavior without getting caught? Taking snapshots on the sly isn’t easy, but a few tricks can help you capture a moment without another soul noticing.

A true spy’s main goal with snapping photos is to document a situation without ever being noticed. For the average person, this comes in handy in all sorts of circumstances, including visits to the museum, snapping photos of a chalkboard in class, concerts, the guy in the robot costume on the train, or even just when you want to capture a true “in the moment” photo and not a staged shot. With that in mind, here are a few things we can learn from how spies take pictures.

Silence Your Shutter Sounds and Disable Flash

First things first. If you want to start taking pictures on the sly, you need to disable any sounds and flash your camera might make. For smartphones, this is usually done by flipping the volume mute button, and disabling the flash in the camera app itself.

For other cameras, you’ll need to dig into your settings menu to disable the shutter sound effect and the automatic flash. If you can’t find that menu, you might try snagging your camera’s manual from Manuals Online so you can find and disable the settings.

The goal here is simple: don’t draw attention to the fact you’re taking a picture. Keep it silent and don’t let the flash go off under any circumstance.

Hide Your Camera Inside Something Else

As any good purveyor of spy movies knows, hiding a camera inside of something else is a classic trick. You can stick a camera in a bow tie, contact lenses, and of course, watches. The point is, if nobody knows you even have a camera, they won’t think you’re taking pictures.

Throughout history, cameras have been stuck inside all sorts of things, from pockets, to books, and even hidden behind newspapers. Here are a few ideas to make your own:

USB Powered Spy Shirt: Instructables user Tetranitrate shows off how to use a laptop, laptop bag, and a USB camera to convert your button-up shirt into the perfect spy camera. The whole system threads through the shirt itself, and then attaches to the computer inside the bag. It’s bulky, but it’s cheap and easy to do.

Spy Glasses: Google’s Project Glass are still a little ways off for public consumption, but if you want to build your own it’s possible. In fact, Instructables user Kipkay’s build mounts a cheap camera right into any pair of sunglasses so you can record everything that happens everywhere you go.

Hide a camera in a book: The hidden camera in a book is an old trick, but this particular build takes it a step further—it’s an iPad hidden in a book with a small slot for the camera. It’s a little ridiculous, but considering you can always play it off as a “funky case” if you’re caught, it might come in handy.

On the flipside, if you’re worried about something spying on you in your house, all you need to find a pinhole camera is a flashlight. Theoretically, you can stuff a camera in any everyday object and call it a day, so use your imagination.

Conceal the Fact You’re Taking Pictures on Your Smartphone

Of course, most people use their smartphones for pictures the majority of the time, and thankfully, it’s pretty easy to disguise what you’re doing on a phone.

First and foremost, when you’re snapping hidden photos with your camera, make sure you’re holding it like you’re using it to do anything but take a picture. Position the camera like you’re texting, playing a game, or whatever else might natural in the situation you’re in. Personally, I prefer the texting position, even though it’s often difficult to get a good shot.

Second, if you want to conceal what you’re doing from anyone behind you, it’s important to hide your screen. On a jailbroken iPhone this is easy with SlyCam since it allows you to take pictures from the Notification Center without anyone behind you seeing the camera screen.

For non-jailbroken iPhone users, we like Real Spy Camera. Not only does the app icon call the app “Easy Calc,” you can also shoot video, and use either your front facing or rear facing camera. However, the best feature is the fact you can set up a fake background as well, which means you can actually make your screen look like you’re text messaging.

On Android, we like Mobile Hidden Camera. Its app icon is a notebook, so nobody will suspect a thing, but it’s also filled with features like video recording, burst-mode, customizable screens, and the incredibly handy feature to block incoming notifications so you don’t accidently draw attention to yourself. Photo by Cory Doctorow.

Know Your Rights of When You Can Pictures and Use This Information Wisely

Public photography is tricky business, and it’s good to know your rights. You can’t just walk around taking pictures of everything under the sun—people do have a right to privacy in some circumstances. So, learn up on the rules before you go snapping photos on the sly.

And this should go without saying, but be responsible. Unless you’re documenting an important event, don’t snap pictures of people who have a reasonable right to privacy, don’t be the obnoxious person at the museum snapping pictures of everything, and respect any safety rules you might come across.

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In an honest world where employees would never think of misdirecting employer’s funds into their own accounts or slipping a couple of twenties into their pocket at the end of their shift, new technology would be great.

Unfortunately, the development of three new gadgets meant to aid business owners and their workers to process credit and debit cards on the go has unknowingly created more tools for the dishonest employee and caused bigger headaches for business owners.

Teresa Moore, a manager at a family owned pub in Chicago only helped herself to the till every once in awhile when she was really short on a mortgage or car payment and a few times when she felt like splurging on herself at her bosses expense.

She easily withdrew cash from the daily deposits and covered her tracks but admitted that she was always nervous that a co-worker would catch on in such tight quarters around the pub.

But then one of her cousins, a waitress at another eatery, confided in her that she had found a credit card processing app for her smartphone online and tried it out at work a few times diverting customer payments into her own account. It was quick, silent and easy and the cousins quickly ordered a second device for Teresa’s phone.

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What is a dead drop? It is methods that spies use or have used to communicate with associates who have information for them. The dead drop allows them to exchange information without having actual physical contact with each other. The person leaving the information can leave it under a rock or a can or bush. A special type of empty spikes that can be dropped into holes has also been used drop information. The person leaving the information also leaves some kind of signal the drop was made. The signal could be a chalk marks on a tree or pavement. Someone views the signal and retrieves information.

Some more unusual dead drops have used dead animals like rabbits, rats and large birds to hide the information. These have been used by both the CIA and KGB. The one problem with this type of dead drop is that other scavengers tend to mess with dead animals. The CIA and KGB found an easy solution to that; they poured liberal doses of hot sauce on the dead animals and scavenges became disinterested in them. Another type of unusual dead drop location is using a portable toilet, or Porta Potty. The commodes could hold a lot of information; however, Porter Potties are regularly vacuumed out so one would need to be careful about leaving information there. On one time that a Porta Potty was used, the information bag got stuck in the vacuum hose.

More high tech drops have involved dropping a USB device in the woods, on a restaurant floor, underneath a table, or in a hole or crevice in a wall. A USB can contain gigabyte of data. One problem with dead drops is the face that the sending and receiving parties both have to be in the same geographic area.

Another dead drop technique that the FBI didn’t come up with but they found out about was using Wi-Fi peer-to-peer networking. You go to any cyber café, type on your laptop and instead of using the café Wi-Fi you use peer-to-peer networking. The person receiving the information only has to be in a car passing by the café.

The FBI spy Robert Hansen and the CIA spy Aldrich Ames readily used dead drops in the Washington DC area. From Wikipedia, “Aldrich Ames left chalk marks on a mail box located at 37th and R Streets NW in Washington, D.C. to signal his Russian handlers that he had made a dead drop. The number of marks on the box prompted some local residents to speculate, somewhat jokingly, that it was used by spies.”

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Like James Bond does in his new hit Skyfall, secret agents all over the world are now dealing with cyber-terrorists and digital threats as well as the usual bad guys petting cats on their laps as they hide out in their remote lairs.

Are these new digital threats giving those villains a digital license to kill? This infographic from F-Secure, a company that deals with malware threats, shows us some of the increasingly sophisticated viruses and malware that are insinuating themselves into digital devices across the world.

The scariest part is the fact that many of the good guys, including the U.S., are creating ultra-powerful digital weapons that could end up in the wrong hands. For example, Stuxnet, a sophisticated computer worm developed by the governments of the United States and Israel to target five Iranian organizations, has now been surpassed by even more sophisticated malware.

For instance, right when we were thinking last June that a new and especially nasty malware program called Flame was as bad as viruses could get, the Gauss virus appeared in August, which is said by security firm Kaspersky Lab to be infecting more computers than Flame.

Even though firms such as Kaspersky and F-Secure might sometimes exaggerate the threat of viruses and malware — simply because the more afraid we are those things the more antivirus software they sell — these digital weapons could still pose a threat, not only to individual users but to national security.

Take a look at this infographic outlining several of the current digital threats, and then let us know in the comments about your experiences with viruses and malware. Is the threat exaggerated, with the cure being worse than the disease? Or as U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has suggested, will viruses present us with a “digital Pearl Harbor” unless we sufficiently protect ourselves?

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