Today, we see a growing vulnerability of our communications and how they impact our short term, and long-term lives. With hacking on the rise, electronic protection systems growing more and more complex, Social media nannies, and increased reliance on foreign components (that may have embedded spyware) …Americans are starting to wake up to the thought “maybe what I am saying isn’t private anymore”. You would be correct, and this would hint that a total loss of freedoms of speech and of security of your person has occurred or isn’t far away.
Our liberties are eroding around us in America, and whether we can change the trajectory that our governance is taking us…we can still have some fun playing games. Hey – the military has war games, we can have some too. Today I would like to challenge you all to a game of hide-and-seek. Let me explain.
If you want to hide information that only you and another pre-approved party are privy to, then you need to have ways to conceal that information or encrypt it. Since encryption is not my strongest talent, I will elaborate on the means and methods that allow someone to physically hide and transfer information in a secret manner to minimize the risk of interception. This article will give you means and methods that let you keep your communications obscure and separated from the typical channels. Let’s dive in.
Disclaimer: This article IN NO WAY advocates or encourages criminal activity!
THE DELIVERY
Here are a couple ways that you can be your own James Bond for communications transfers:
Option 1: The Dead Drop
Channel your inner spy with the old classic dead drop. A dead drop is a note, jump drive, CD, signal, etc. that is left in a location that another pre-informed person is supposed to find covertly. The point of a dead drop is that you can transfer a bunch of information where the actual transfer between parties is not witnessed and where both parties are not at the drop point at the same time. This is classic spy tradecraft that you probably read in novels or seen in movies.
Technology has really become tiny in this day and age, where 128+GB SIM-sized SD cards can be used cost-effectively and store a ton of information. You don’t need to use an electronic form; a written code can also be rolled up and deposited just as easily. Some very unique ways of performing dead drops (but not limited to) are as follows:
Inside a piece of chewed gum.
Wrap a Micro SD card or message in plastic wrap, sealed quickly with candle wax, then insert into the gum before you reach the drop area. All you have to do is pull the gum back out of your mouth and stick it under the park bench when you tie your shoe. Nobody is the wiser, and you look like the typical litterbug who got tired of the taste. Use a unique color gum (maybe use zebra stripe to pick a color) to stand out to the person picking up the gum.
TIP: Receiving person brings a tissue to pretend blowing nose, rests hand by bench edge and “lifts” the gum. Walks away with tissue and the drop.
Inside a piece of tissue:
Let’s face it, in the COVID era, who in their right mind would pick up a used tissue in a public place. Use at your own discretion…if you pick up the wrong one…jokes on you. However, this could play to your advantage…you could look like a hero volunteer picking up the gross mess! Just have a separate bag for when you have identified your target tissue (don’t want to sort that out back home!). NOTE – use a SMALL rock/weight obscurely rubber-banded inside the tissue to keep the wind from blowing it away (if it looks like a rubber-banded baggie of drugs, then it WILL be picked up prematurely).
Under a (matching color) tack:
This can be stuck to a fence top just next to the post (or anything wood). Most common folk don’t look up anymore let alone up and behind things, because they’re phone-obsessed. On top of door frames is another one, but be cautious who sees you place it, this is an unusual place to reach for to most people and will set off curiosity.
On the back of signs:
Best used with a magnet to hold it in place, but use adhesive or other means of quick deployment when using SD cards (a magnet may erase contents).
Tip: Superglue some felt on the attractive side of magnets. It gives the message something to cling to, and also helps reduce the “PING” noise as the magnet attracts to a holding surface.
Street signs and other metal poles make great items to “lean on when you stretch” (and deposit a drop) while jogging.
On the target’s vehicle:
Using a small pushpin-sized neodymium magnet, place the drop on the targets vehicle in a spot that they would see getting back into the car. Harder to use in winter, but still doable if the target knows to look for it. Protected areas are on the pillar right next to the driver side rear-view mirror (all the better if the targets car has a mirror that tilts inward, if they didn’t set it that way, they will certainly investigate when they notice it is moved), as well as the radiator grill (or fog light) openings (if metal) if they were looking for it.
On the back of an advertisement:
When the target will be by very shortly, or possibly within sight of the drop, an advertisement hung up on a storefront or common wall can be effective.
Take a “Help Wanted” sign and stick it to a wall where other similar public advertisements are placed. One with the little tear-away slips with a phone number are preferred, as people will take a tab versus the whole sheet most of the time.
Make the advertisement for something mundane that people may have interest in (but not a lot of interest), like a dog groomer or bathroom cleaning attendant.
Place the SD card or drop on the back of one of the middle tabs, offset from dead center, as people usually start pulling the strips from the end or dead in the middle.
The recipient will pick the tab with the drop later not long after the deposit (but don’t run over as soon as it is put up). It would be useful to mention that if this method is used, the recipient of the drop should rip the adjacent tab(s) halfway (making it useless to anyone that actually wants to pull a tab) to indicate that it was them that picked up the drop…and informing the depositor that the info has been received.
CAUTION: Do not use any of the following items for dead drops in public spaces, they will be picked up quickly by non-target people quickly in many cases:
- Soda/pop cans
- Random bricks or rocks that were not in the area prior
- Lids of garbage cans or dumpsters (unless you are certain of the cleaning schedule)
- Large trash or debris
- Money of any kind
- Food of any kind
DO USE: Your imagination! Look around at things that sit around for long periods of time that people do not think twice about. Then look for things that you can “contribute” to easily, and if anyone picked up would be ubiquitous.
Option 2: The drop message:
Similar to the dead drop, a message can be deposited by using cardboard, chalk, or spray paint. Often, this is just a visual indicator to the intended recipient that a nearby drop container is “loaded” with a fresh message. That way they won’t have to approach the drop container itself unless there is actually media available there for them to retrieve.
Here are a few examples:
A piece of paper duct-taped to the side of a building with one letter or number large enough to read from the car.
A chalk message on a wall or sidewalk.
A glass paint message on a storefront that you know is closed (after target reads, leave it cleaner than you found it).
A code, scribble, pattern, or image left at a determined location to give a clue to the recipient.
TIP 2: Servicing a dead drop should be nearly instantaneous. If someone notices you purposefully do it, then it will arouse suspicion. Practice like you would sleight of hand or anything else perception-based.
Option 3: The supervised quick delivery:
You can physically be present, a T-shirt with a message or sign can be displayed quickly and covertly when the appropriate person passes by. A one horn blast prior and two blasts post-reading by the recipient can let the sender know it was received. Sometimes it helps to pretend to wave to someone on the opposite side of the road to deflect suspicion (unless you and that person are the only two people there, then it works the opposite).
A big coat with letters on it can give abbreviated updates.
The goal is to submit a focused message to your recipient in a general manner, but only to display it briefly and confirm the receipt in person.
Let’s use a goofy example:
You and your co-worker bought 3,000 shares of a stock for a big tech startup, and your shares double since your purchase.
You get wind that the company has a lawsuit against it and will go bankrupt, but you can’t say anything because people will blame you for “insider trading”.
You assign the code for your shares as “mashed potatoes” and tell your co-worker it.
As your co-worker leaves work the next day and drives by the Starbucks near work, he sees you holding a big sign that says, “Eat your mashed potatoes!” This message is covert for “dump the stocks before they are worthless!” It might seem only slightly odd to someone driving by, but unless they knew that you mean stocks and not mashed potatoes, they wouldn’t have a clue.
(To be continued tomorrow, in Part 2.)