There is a huge political scandal going on right now in Bulgaria. http://bit.ly/e0wZtj This guy may have been used to obtain the recordings of the PM ...
Malware researcher Dancho Danchev gone missing since August
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Re: Malware researcher Dancho Danchev gone missing since August
#12The ICC color profile in the PNG has a copyright string of Apple 2011. If he took them mid-last year, this doesn't make a ton of sense. Perhaps someone at ZDNet re-saved them. If that is the case, they should release the originals.
The article makes it sound to me like the original letter/photos were actual printer/paper, not digital.
Re: Malware researcher Dancho Danchev gone missing since August
#13The electronic transformer looks like it could be used for low-voltage lighting. The wires look like they're running into mini LED or halogen lights.
Both of the photos are confusing, but the photo depicting the wires more so.
If you count the wires it seems right until you notice that the hacked up blue and white wires are not going to the lighting device at all. Or where the power (phase/neutral) are coming from. They go out of the frame to the left, instead.
I'm not sure what I'm looking at, but it looks like something is in the wall that requires power.
A couple of things come to mind:
- The man might be paranoid and mistook sloppy electrical work for evidence of ... something funny? A threat? I tend to think this is unlikely, as he's a security researcher and probably pretty well versed in these things. If he found a bug, taking a picture of it wouldn't mean anything.
- He's being extremely careful and photographed something that would only mean something to someone specific.
- The two wires that are kludged together seem to go into the wall. The white side is taped to what looks like standard romex, which seems to be where the phase/neutral for the lighting fixture comes from, but those wires travel outside of the frame to who knows where.
- The blue wire that's exposed doesn't look like CAT-5, but the color of the shielding is the same color as some bulk CAT-5 used in construction, though joining the wires under that blue tape seems like a really bad way to connect two exposed ends. I'm leaning towards it not being data cable, but being simple copper wire. Which, yes, could carry data.
- It's unlikely that the images contain information that would be easily deciphered. It's an in-case-of-emergency-break-glass message and it's not explicit as to what these images mean. It's probably intentional.
Anyway, fascinating story and I really hope this guy stays safe. Espionage and cyber crime are huge industries full of all sorts of bad actors.
Re: Malware researcher Dancho Danchev gone missing since August
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suspect that means someone is supposed to find that transformer. Presumably there may be something of interest with/in/near it. Its easy to hide a microSD
Presumably? If these photos were taken for proof/evidence they just don't cut it, especially coming from a security specialist/professional. ... Or, they could just be a photos of a shoddy light fixture installation.
They ARE photos of a shoddy light fixture installation... that is, unless government spying devices are dimmable!
The full text of the image once rotated reads:
ELECTRONIC TRANSFORMER MODEL: TE-60
(20-60W) PRI: 220-240V, 50Hz, CosΦ=0,99 SEC: 11,6V, max. 4.9A Ta: max. 50°C, Tc: max. 85°C
GTV (R)
Dimmable EMC Approved Surge Protection Overload Protection Short Circuit Protection
Symbols: CE, double insulated, don't throw away, and some I don't know.
I can't find it on Google, though.
Re: Malware researcher Dancho Danchev gone missing since August
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Presumably? If these photos were taken for proof/evidence they just don't cut it, especially coming from a security specialist/professional. ... Or, they could just be a photos of a shoddy light fixture installation.
I think that's sort of madmaze's point - the presumption being that the photos do indeed come from Danchev and that he is not crazy.
Spy devices are small, right? That's kind of the point. He said that someone might have hidden something small nearby, but if the real thing is small and hidden... why draw attention to it in the first place with a transformer? It doesn't make sense that "it was supposed to be found", as it alerts him to the fact that something's going on.
He would be far from the first geek to be overly paranoid.
Re: Malware researcher Dancho Danchev gone missing since August
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suspect that means someone is supposed to find that transformer. Presumably there may be something of interest with/in/near it. Its easy to hide a microSD
Presumably? If these photos were taken for proof/evidence they just don't cut it, especially coming from a security specialist/professional. ... Or, they could just be a photos of a shoddy light fixture installation.
Could it have been a formerly-proper light fixture installation that had a power wire borrowed to power a recording device?
If I was going to bug someone for a long time, I would not run new wires. I would piggyback off of some other low power device.
He could have gone searching after they removed everything, and looked for something that was spliced.
On the other hand, I would not bug a bathroom. That seems like the worst place to bug.
Re: Malware researcher Dancho Danchev gone missing since August
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Presumably? If these photos were taken for proof/evidence they just don't cut it, especially coming from a security specialist/professional. ... Or, they could just be a photos of a shoddy light fixture installation.
They ARE photos of a shoddy light fixture installation... that is, unless government spying devices are dimmable! The full text of the image once rotated reads: ELECTRONIC TRANSFORMER MODEL: TE-60 (20-60W) PRI: 220-240V, 50Hz, CosΦ=0,99 SEC: 11,6V, max. 4.9A Ta: max. 50°C, Tc: max. 85°C GTV (R) Dimmable EMC Approved Surge Protection Overload Protection Short Circuit Protection Symbols: CE, double insulated, don't thr…
That is very obviously what the photos appear to be. The discussion here is about whether, as the article claims, there is something else evident/hidden in these photographs.
Re: Malware researcher Dancho Danchev gone missing since August
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Re: Malware researcher Dancho Danchev gone missing since August
#19The electronic transformer looks like it could be used for low-voltage lighting. The wires look like they're running into mini LED or halogen lights.
Both of the photos are confusing, but the photo depicting the wires more so. If you count the wires it seems right until you notice that the hacked up blue and white wires are not going to the lighting device at all. Or where the power (phase/neutral) are coming from. They go out of the frame to the left, instead. I'm not sure what I'm looking at, but it looks like something is in the wall that requires power. A coup…
One more note about the wiring, it seems to be outside of a bathroom or bathtub of some sort. Note the toilet paper and its reflection in the tile.
I don't know if that's helpful, but it's good to understand all of the details; thanks for your analysis, elbrodeur.
Re: Malware researcher Dancho Danchev gone missing since August
#20A simple explanation of the transformer/wires is that he could be documenting an attempt to electrocute him.