Per Mar Helps Nab Drug Bandit [more...]

Gorelick’s Chinese Wall [more...]

Ban on Publishing Jurors’ Names Upheld [more...]

Fraud Growing Problem for Small Businesses [more...]

Poppies for Prosperity [more...]

Password Un-Protected [more...]

Useless Technology [more...]

Who Knew? [more...]

Evidence Eliminator [more...]

Per Mar Security Services helped police nab a drug bandit in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Earlier this month, Per Mar’s Central Monitoring Station received a burglar alarm signal from a long time Per Mar customer, a drug store, just after midnight and immediately notified the police. Upon arrival, the Police Department found a broken perimeter door. The police entered the building to find a man in a black ski mask and black clothing standing in the store. The man denied that he was the one who broke into the drug store; he said he knew the owner of the store and had come in to clean up after the break-in. The burglar’s pockets were filled with prescription drugs. The police arrested the man.

On Tuesday, April 13, 2004, Attorney General John Ashcroft dropped a bombshell on the 9/11 Commission and barely caused a stir. The AG revealed that a pre-Patriot Act “wall” had been intentionally erected that prevented communication between intelligence agents and criminal investigators. Ashcroft noted that the wall was “built” by paranoid Democrats of the Vietnam era afraid of FBI domestic spying abuses. He said the wall created by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was raised even higher by none other than sitting 9/11 Commissioner, Ms. Jamie Gorelick, while she was Deputy Attorney General. As proof, Ashcroft produced a recently declassified memo written by Gorelick on March 4, 1995. The memo contained instructions for then-FBI Director Louis Freeh and United States Attorney Mary Jo White that for the sake of “appearances” they would be required to adhere to an interpretation of FISA creating a wall far stricter than the law required. According to Ashcroft, her instructions precluded intelligence agents from sharing any information with criminal investigators about known terrorists under criminal investigation. In part, the memo read “These procedures, which go beyond what is legally required, will prevent any risk of creating an unwarranted appearance that FISA is being used to avoid procedural safeguards which would apply in a criminal investigation.”

By any reasonable measure, the Gorelick memo has to be the biggest news to yet come out of the 9/11 hearings. Still, the story has largely gone unnoticed by mainstream media. More fascinating is that the once-highly-principled Ms. Gorelick now sits in judgment of the current administration. Partisan politics aside, few Americans will be able to find a clearer conflict of interest. Historians, meanwhile, will remember that in 1995 Director Freeh’s FBI was busy investigating illegal Clinton-Gore campaign contributions allegedly made through foreigners John Huang and Charlie Trie. In the final analysis one has to ask, what exactly was the purpose of Ms. Gorelick’s wall?

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The federal judge overseeing the obstruction of justice trial of former Wall Street investment banker Frank Quattrone recently reaffirmed his ruling barring the media from publishing the names of jurors. In the controversial decision by U.S. District Judge Richard Owens, the judge cited the recent mistrial of two former Tyco International Ltd. executives that was caused in part by the publication of one of the juror’s names. “A six-month trial was absolutely blown to smithereens because reporters put the names out,” Judge Owens said, according to a transcript of the hearing. While legal experts disagree on the legality of the ruling, privacy advocates have quietly endorsed it. Observers, however, point out that protecting jurors from threats and intimidation is nothing new, noting also that their names are almost always made public at the end of the trial.

Fraud isn’t just a concern for big businesses anymore. Some 40% of all fraud is committed against businesses with fewer than 100 workers. The losses are bigger for small businesses too, averaging $127,000 per incident vs. $97,000 for large companies. Best defense: screen applicants more thoroughly and establish better procedures. When problems are uncovered take decisive action. There is no excuse for retaining a dishonest employee. Consider this: if a small firm of ten employees has but one dishonest employee, 10% of the organization is dishonest!

This month Afghani farmers will harvest their first poppy crop of the year. The near-record harvest will produce tons of premium quality opium that will eventually find its way onto the streets of the industrialized world. Frustrated State Department officials blame our British allies. The Brits, it seems, were tasked with stopping the dope’s production. For reasons yet fully known, their efforts failed miserably and they have since been quietly rebuked. Officials say the spat is over and the Brits are now cracking down.

The poppy, Papaver somniferum, has been cultivated in the region for thousands of years. The milky fluid that seeps from incisions in the unripe seedpod of the plant is scraped by hand and air-dried to produce the addictive narcotic. The poppy is Afghanistan’s number one cash crop.

Travel Tip: : Barbados and other popular Caribbean destinations now require passports for all visitors. More nations will likely soon follow suit. Americans can still visit Canada and most of Mexico without a passport. But having one at the ready is always a good idea. To locate the nearest passport office go to http://iafdb.travel.state.gov. For free detailed travel advisories for destinations around the world go to http://travel.state.gov/travel_warnings.html.

Security professionals and investigators sometimes need to recover passwords hidden under the ******** so often displayed in the password box. Asterisk Key is a free utility that reveals the passwords hidden beneath the asterisk. A state-of-the-art password recovery engine allows the program to uncover hidden passwords from application password dialog boxes and Web pages. Asterisk Key also sells an enterprise version called Passware that allows the resetting of passwords for Windows XP/2000/NT systems from a bootable CD. The application also allows the recovery of encrypted files and password protected files of most popular applications.

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Fact: America’s first president, George Washington, was the epitome of humility and sincerity. He also had a powerful vocabulary. These words spoken from the heart were contained in his first inaugural address: vicissitudes, aver, supplication, immutable, predilection, rectitude, felicity, palliate and pecuniary. Which of them pertains to money?

Americans love music and some listeners cannot seem to get enough of it. A new technology developed by the British firm Shazam uses sound pattern recognition to allow cellphone users to identify any song they hear. AT&T Wireless provides the feature and lets subscribers dial a three-digit code on their cellphone anytime they hear a tune they can’t name. For a mere $1 fee, a text message is sent to the phone naming the song and artist. Users can even download the song as a ringtone or send the melody to a friend. Shazam says its database currently contains 1.6 million tracks and is adding more all the time. Just think of the opportunities!

Quote of the Month: “The true friend is the one that’s coming in the door while everyone else is going out.” Dr. Phil in Good Housekeeping, 2004.

A fortuneteller was recently asked by a visitor, “How’s business?” “Not good,” said the forlorn soothsayer. She then added, “If I’d only known things would be this slow I wouldn’t have bothered to open.”

Adapted from Reader’s Digest, All in a Day’s Work®, May 2004.

Sometimes deleting files is just not enough. Evidence Eliminator™ not only defeats monitoring software used by ISPs, but the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Customs, and most police departments. The powerful application is also designed to defeat forensic data recovery tools like EnCase and others. With one click, it destroys:

• Windows SWAP file
• Windows Application logs
• Windows Temporary Files
• Windows Recycle Bin
• Windows Registry Backups
• Windows Clipboard Data
• Start Menu Recent Documents history
• Start Menu Run history
• Start Menu Find Files History
• Start Menu Find Computer History
• Start Menu Order Data
• Start Menu Click History and more!

Working beneath the Windows operating system, Evidence Eliminator™ employs the exact same sector analysis technology as available in ultra-high-priced tools used by law-enforcement agencies. After identifying and analyzing the unwanted data, Evidence Eliminator™ permanently eliminates it. Street $149.

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