If the revelations by Edward Snowden proved anything, it is that the U.S., its allies and its enemies possess tremendous capabilities to know as much about individuals, groups, companies, and virtually any other entity, as they want. While Snowden’s revelations give specific insight to U.S. capabilities, many of the same technologies our intelligence apparatus use are either commercially available or within the ability of nations or non-state actors to acquire on their own.
There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t get a call about or an email from a technology company that has the next greatest technology that with revolutionize the security industry. Typically the software or widget has been developed by former intelligence community types from the U.S., Israel, India, or you name the country with advanced technical intelligence capabilities. The technologies range from advanced image analysis software that can identify insider threat behaviors to cellphone tracking software that can remotely switch on the camera of your smartphone without you even knowing it, to capture images of where you are and what you are looking at – in real time.