In the nearly five years since Harris Corporation launched its latest model of IMSI catcher, Hailstorm, the general consensus on the product remains “no consensus” -- a remarkable achievement in “keeping the lid on” a surveillance technology of any kind. To this day, descriptions of Hailstorm are so scattered and opaque that even the most astute ISS professional could be … [Read more...]
Group 2000: Merging Facial Recognition with Classic ISS
If you wish to fathom how the surveillance discipline of facial recognition crosses over into the areas of ELINT, COMINT, SIGINT and OSINT, ask Group 2000 of The Netherlands. Since late 2015 the company has offered a 3D facial recognition system both standalone and in combination with products designed for conventional intelligence work. Group 2000’s LIMA Biometric Identity … [Read more...]
Amdocs: Power Behind Bulk Metadata and VoLTE Interception
When the U.S. bulk metadata story broke 2013, we liked to joke that carrier billing would be far more accurate and reliable if service providers tuned the job over to the NSA. As it happens, billing for the same carriers was then and still remains in the hands of a vendor once alleged to have close ties to the intelligence community -- Amdocs -- though the alleged spies were … [Read more...]
Shoot-Out: Top Multi-Play Surveillance Vendors
The following data on Multi-Play Surveillance Vendors is excerpted from our forthcoming book, "Surveillance Industry Buyer's Guide." Which company offers the most versatile array of surveillance technologies -- France's AQSAQAM, Germany's ATIS Uher, India's ClearTrail, China's Sinovatio? What about Pen-Link, Savvius and Verint of the U.S? Is there an advantage in choosing … [Read more...]
Perfectly Legal: What China’s ZTE Really Sold to Iran
Rumors continue to crop up about ZTE's alleged sale of U.S. surveillance products to Iran, a deal involving some of the biggest names in American technology -- Microsoft, Cisco, Juniper Networks, Oracle, Symantec and Hewlett Packard. The controversial sale hails all the way back to 2011 but was only disclosed this year when Reuters leaked word of an investigation by the FBI and … [Read more...]