vajrakana
Neurotransmetteur
- Inscrit
- 5/5/08
- Messages
- 52
There doesn't seem to be a topic about this, so I thought I would try to open up one about "How To Secure Your Communications And Activities" Plus, any tips people have about LEO clandestine operations. This is of concern to growers/chemists/distributors/etc.
All of this may sound paranoid, but it is based on significant knowledge and research.
Problem: Internet communications is ALL monitored, but not actively except in the case of "subversive" sites, like this one. So:
- Remember Echelon is up and running. This is a total data collection service kept secret by various governments. It runs word pattern matches on content and looks for words and phrases to follow up on with human examination. Yes it is real. Yes it is easy for them to do.
- Your IP address can be tracked back to you easily if you are in a western nation. Internet providers routinely cooperate with LEO and secretly provide customer data about any IP. This cannot be used in a court (since its illegal in most countries), however it does tell them where to look.
Solution: Not simple, but get a service that provides end to end encryption services, and that is trustworthy. This is a legal and personal judgment you'll have to make yourself. Look around for VPN services and so on. This way, your traffic inside the internet provider cannot be sniffed for content (to provide those incriminating words, like MDMA or anhydrous ammonia) and also it is a lot more difficult to track you. It is also possible that any evidence obtained by compromising your encryption service provider, or hacking your computer, would be inadmissible. etc. It does not stop a determined agency from seeing your traffic, but it does raise the bar pretty high.
Solution: In addition, Do NOTHING online, that gives any information about who you are, where you live, or specifics other than knowledge. Don't type anything that can be used to track your real location, like use street names or small business names near you, or even say what is "available" to you where you are.
Security: SAY NOTHING about your activities in any email or IM. EVER. Don't even be obtuse about it or use code words. Just ask people out for dinner, or to go to a movie. Don't use PGP for things that are too sensitive, as the NSA is able to crack PGP given a few days (less, if you believe the rumors). If you must use email for sensitive things, use GPG, and educate yourself on safe usage.
Security: CELL PHONES are passively monitored by various government agencies, sometimes even while turned off. Get an RF shield to completely disconnect your phone whenever you talk out loud about anything you wouldn't want LEO to hear, and make sure anyone else's phone is in the same shield. Make SURE IT WORKS.. let it sit in the shield for 5 minutes then try to call it. Also, you can remove your battery, which should also deal with this, although I have heard that some phones have little batteries inside them good for a number of minutes at reduced power (unverified) so.. use a shield AND remove the battery. (point: there was a flurry of concern from american senators in the intelligence committee involving "something" that they saw as a gross invasion of american privacy and rights. It is rumored to have been cell phone intercepts, including the "off mode" ones, being conducted without warrants, and as part of a massive data gathering exercise called TIA.. Total Information Awareness, run by First Data Corp)
Security: Keeping the cell phone problem in mind, don't talk about anything detailing your activities to anyone you wouldn't trust with your life. If you're a grower, don't tell many people that.. just say you are reselling. Same with chemists.
Security: PrePaid cell phones. Don't use them. If you are calling someone up that you call up with your regular line, it will be an instant flag to watch REAL close (its easy.. the numbers assigned to pre paid cell providers are all known). Only use them if you are calling numbers you have NEVER called before on your regular phone, and are not owned by anyone you have ever called before. Then they are acceptable (do I need to mention to pay in cash?), however remember also that your location might be exposed by using it, as cell providers know pretty much where you are, if not your actual GPS location, just by providing you service. And limiting the time of use will not help.. they have to know where you are in order to activate your phone. Forget the Hollywood crap... it doesn't work. So, only use a prepaid phone in a place which is far away from your residence or regular hangouts. And don't use it often.. destroy it as soon as you can, and don't handle it with your bare hands.. keep it inside a poly sandwich bag.
Security: Don't EVER buy anything from anyone online, or any online resource, unless you are ok with LEO knowing about it. Assume your credit records are public knowledge. Don't try shipping suspect chemicals or supplies to a friend or your parents. Buy things cash on the table, over the counter, and have a darn good reason ready to chat up the sales rep if they ask. Make sure that reason is supported by at least a little activity in your house/life. Also, use a friend as a buyer from time to time, assuming that friend will never snitch on you... however keep in mind your phone records will show that person is well known to you, and then they will look at his records as well.
Security: if you keep notes on a computer, make sure you purge the computer regularly of those notes, while burning them to a CD/DVD. Use a commercial "wipe" product to not only erase files but also completely clean up free space on your hard drive. Alternatively, get a small laptop you only use for this activity and make sure you have a great hiding place for it, still burning backups to CD/DVD from time to time. FYI cheap laptops suitable for this are really cheap.. look online. If you are worried you might be being setup, destroy the hard drive by removing the platters, smashing them up, and going to a scrap metal yard to "buy some parts", while scattering the bits here and there inside various things.
Security: If you use wireless internet access, make ABSOLUTELY sure you have a good VPN service, or you have a geek friend secure it for you. WiFi encryption (WEP and etc) is laughable at best, and can be cracked in a matter of minutes.
Security: Keep a small, spiral bound notepad for writing notes in open venues about things you don't want overheard. Isolate the paper by itself so impressions can't be taken from the pad if it is confiscated. Make sure it is a very common, cheap type.
Security: Handle NONE of your for sale product with your bare hands, nor any container they go into. EVER. If you really want to be crazy, make sure you are not leaving any hairs, skin bits and so on, on the container.
Cash: If it is legal in your country, convert some of your cash to precious metals or other valuable commodities which are easily carried and can be gotten OTC. Do it in small amounts over time, and use many dealers. Dogs are trained to sniff for cash, not for gold/silver/platinum coins or bullion. Let alone diamonds, if you can even get them wholesale (don't do that unless you REALLY know what you are doing) Plus it is easier to hide them... you could hide $100,000 US in 80 oz or so of platinum, essentially 80 silver dollars, which is a very small package and could be easily put away in a single statuary, or seat cushions, etc. You do lose an automatic percentage just from transaction fees, converting it back to cash is a pain, and the price could drop, but its safer from a security perspective.
There are a few to start with! I'd like to see what everyone else can come up with, or criticisms on these pointers. Perhaps we can make a "Security" FAQ.
Also, if people are interested, we can develop a "spy vs spy" sort of text that goes into real espionage techniques that are being used by various agencies, such as listening devices (distance listening such as parabolic microphones, laser resonance, etc), physical bugs and taps, true secure communications, nano listeners (tiny, rice grain sized caucusing listening devices that are sprinkled by the multitude, comm with each other and report back to a sattelite via burst transmission.. yes they are real) and so on.
All of this may sound paranoid, but it is based on significant knowledge and research.
Problem: Internet communications is ALL monitored, but not actively except in the case of "subversive" sites, like this one. So:
- Remember Echelon is up and running. This is a total data collection service kept secret by various governments. It runs word pattern matches on content and looks for words and phrases to follow up on with human examination. Yes it is real. Yes it is easy for them to do.
- Your IP address can be tracked back to you easily if you are in a western nation. Internet providers routinely cooperate with LEO and secretly provide customer data about any IP. This cannot be used in a court (since its illegal in most countries), however it does tell them where to look.
Solution: Not simple, but get a service that provides end to end encryption services, and that is trustworthy. This is a legal and personal judgment you'll have to make yourself. Look around for VPN services and so on. This way, your traffic inside the internet provider cannot be sniffed for content (to provide those incriminating words, like MDMA or anhydrous ammonia) and also it is a lot more difficult to track you. It is also possible that any evidence obtained by compromising your encryption service provider, or hacking your computer, would be inadmissible. etc. It does not stop a determined agency from seeing your traffic, but it does raise the bar pretty high.
Solution: In addition, Do NOTHING online, that gives any information about who you are, where you live, or specifics other than knowledge. Don't type anything that can be used to track your real location, like use street names or small business names near you, or even say what is "available" to you where you are.
Security: SAY NOTHING about your activities in any email or IM. EVER. Don't even be obtuse about it or use code words. Just ask people out for dinner, or to go to a movie. Don't use PGP for things that are too sensitive, as the NSA is able to crack PGP given a few days (less, if you believe the rumors). If you must use email for sensitive things, use GPG, and educate yourself on safe usage.
Security: CELL PHONES are passively monitored by various government agencies, sometimes even while turned off. Get an RF shield to completely disconnect your phone whenever you talk out loud about anything you wouldn't want LEO to hear, and make sure anyone else's phone is in the same shield. Make SURE IT WORKS.. let it sit in the shield for 5 minutes then try to call it. Also, you can remove your battery, which should also deal with this, although I have heard that some phones have little batteries inside them good for a number of minutes at reduced power (unverified) so.. use a shield AND remove the battery. (point: there was a flurry of concern from american senators in the intelligence committee involving "something" that they saw as a gross invasion of american privacy and rights. It is rumored to have been cell phone intercepts, including the "off mode" ones, being conducted without warrants, and as part of a massive data gathering exercise called TIA.. Total Information Awareness, run by First Data Corp)
Security: Keeping the cell phone problem in mind, don't talk about anything detailing your activities to anyone you wouldn't trust with your life. If you're a grower, don't tell many people that.. just say you are reselling. Same with chemists.
Security: PrePaid cell phones. Don't use them. If you are calling someone up that you call up with your regular line, it will be an instant flag to watch REAL close (its easy.. the numbers assigned to pre paid cell providers are all known). Only use them if you are calling numbers you have NEVER called before on your regular phone, and are not owned by anyone you have ever called before. Then they are acceptable (do I need to mention to pay in cash?), however remember also that your location might be exposed by using it, as cell providers know pretty much where you are, if not your actual GPS location, just by providing you service. And limiting the time of use will not help.. they have to know where you are in order to activate your phone. Forget the Hollywood crap... it doesn't work. So, only use a prepaid phone in a place which is far away from your residence or regular hangouts. And don't use it often.. destroy it as soon as you can, and don't handle it with your bare hands.. keep it inside a poly sandwich bag.
Security: Don't EVER buy anything from anyone online, or any online resource, unless you are ok with LEO knowing about it. Assume your credit records are public knowledge. Don't try shipping suspect chemicals or supplies to a friend or your parents. Buy things cash on the table, over the counter, and have a darn good reason ready to chat up the sales rep if they ask. Make sure that reason is supported by at least a little activity in your house/life. Also, use a friend as a buyer from time to time, assuming that friend will never snitch on you... however keep in mind your phone records will show that person is well known to you, and then they will look at his records as well.
Security: if you keep notes on a computer, make sure you purge the computer regularly of those notes, while burning them to a CD/DVD. Use a commercial "wipe" product to not only erase files but also completely clean up free space on your hard drive. Alternatively, get a small laptop you only use for this activity and make sure you have a great hiding place for it, still burning backups to CD/DVD from time to time. FYI cheap laptops suitable for this are really cheap.. look online. If you are worried you might be being setup, destroy the hard drive by removing the platters, smashing them up, and going to a scrap metal yard to "buy some parts", while scattering the bits here and there inside various things.
Security: If you use wireless internet access, make ABSOLUTELY sure you have a good VPN service, or you have a geek friend secure it for you. WiFi encryption (WEP and etc) is laughable at best, and can be cracked in a matter of minutes.
Security: Keep a small, spiral bound notepad for writing notes in open venues about things you don't want overheard. Isolate the paper by itself so impressions can't be taken from the pad if it is confiscated. Make sure it is a very common, cheap type.
Security: Handle NONE of your for sale product with your bare hands, nor any container they go into. EVER. If you really want to be crazy, make sure you are not leaving any hairs, skin bits and so on, on the container.
Cash: If it is legal in your country, convert some of your cash to precious metals or other valuable commodities which are easily carried and can be gotten OTC. Do it in small amounts over time, and use many dealers. Dogs are trained to sniff for cash, not for gold/silver/platinum coins or bullion. Let alone diamonds, if you can even get them wholesale (don't do that unless you REALLY know what you are doing) Plus it is easier to hide them... you could hide $100,000 US in 80 oz or so of platinum, essentially 80 silver dollars, which is a very small package and could be easily put away in a single statuary, or seat cushions, etc. You do lose an automatic percentage just from transaction fees, converting it back to cash is a pain, and the price could drop, but its safer from a security perspective.
There are a few to start with! I'd like to see what everyone else can come up with, or criticisms on these pointers. Perhaps we can make a "Security" FAQ.
Also, if people are interested, we can develop a "spy vs spy" sort of text that goes into real espionage techniques that are being used by various agencies, such as listening devices (distance listening such as parabolic microphones, laser resonance, etc), physical bugs and taps, true secure communications, nano listeners (tiny, rice grain sized caucusing listening devices that are sprinkled by the multitude, comm with each other and report back to a sattelite via burst transmission.. yes they are real) and so on.
