Lower Merion spyware case: details emerge

(Swell tee-shirt available too!)Thanks to Bruce Schneier for drawing attention to this one on his blog: http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/02/remotely_spying.htmlA security researcher named Stryde Hax has blogged about his research into the public-facing web presence of Mike Perbix, a network technician at Lower Merion School District near Philadelphia. Perbix probably set up the system to turn on web cams in students’ laptop computers which is at the center of the federal lawsuit filed earlier this month. (See Sunbelt blog “FBI will investigate Pa. school district webcam spying”)Hax writes on his blog: “Network Tech at LMSD. Mr. Perbix has a large online web forum footprint as well as a personal blog, and a lot of his posts, attributed to his role at Lower Merion, provide insight into the tools, methods, and capabilities deployed against students at LMSD. Of the three network techs employed at LMSD, Mr. Perbix appears to have been the mastermind behind a massive, highly effective digital panopticon.”Apparently Perbix made a promotional video about LanRev remote monitoring software and in which he discusses using it to monitor students as well as setting it to a special remote administration mode that makes the monitoring invisible to those being monitored.(Side note: here’s an example of why you need to put a password on your wireless router) (continue reading...)