Email tapping by ISPs, forwarder addresses, and crypto proxies

[Thomas Shaddack]

On Thu, 22 Jul 2004, Major Variola (ret) wrote:

> My point is only that they will be killed should they leak their
> actual capabilities.

Well... I am reading a book about intelligence now. Specifically, "Ernst 
Volkman: Spies - the secret agents who changed the course of history". 
Amusing book; describes many ways of intelligence fieldwork, most of them 
pretty lowtech. Eg, using business representatives as business/technology 
spies (as eg. a skilled steelworker can assess the capacity and capability 
and current processing of a factory quite at a glance, and he's often let 
in during contract negotiations), using pretty women to lure officers into 
honeytraps... or, recruiting young pretty men to seduce the not exactly 
pretty old maids who so often work as secretaries in important places.

You don't need a *LOT* of money to pull smaller-scale tricks of this kind. 
Also, using "amateurs", private enterpreneurs in the arts of burglaries, 
safecracking and other relevant areas, instead of "governmental" 
employees, poses a counterintelligence advantage that these recruits are 
unknown to the adversary (and to most of your side too, so there's less 
chance somebody will be caught or changes sides and squeaks on them).

There are many ways to get access to even pretty sensitive info. Patience 
and persistence and plethora of approaches are important here.



> >Undersea taps are hard.  No matter how you figure it.
> 
> You think subs are just toys?

"Hard" doesn't imply "impossible". It however hints on the likely success 
rate.


> >The actual intel/counterintel guys make shit for money.

Depends on whom. Often the money are the main motivation. Of course, your 
own country won't pay you as well as the other one, and will try to appeal 
to your "patriotism" like a bunch of cheapskates - it's better to be a 
contractor.

> What I meant was, Ames and that FBI dude Hansen (sp?), at least the KGB 
> got Ames' wife as part of the package, whereas the FBI CI dude let his 
> wife off as part of the deal he cut.  Nice xian that he was, he was into 
> strippers.
> 
> All under $2e6, all capable of reading their own records.  Go figure,
> eh?

And many of them disclosed their colleagues when politely asked.

But a big truth remains here - SIGINT and COMINT aren't everything, often 
a drop of HUMINT is the missing secret sauce.


Q: What's the difference between a secret service director and a gardener?
A: None. Both have their turf full of moles.