Does The FBI Really Use Surveillance Vans With WiFi SSIDs Saying 'FBI_SURVEILLANCE_VAN'?
from the not-sure-i-believe-it... dept
Danny was the first of a few of you to send in variations on the story of Tampa police arresting a teenager, Jared Cano, for allegedly plotting to blow up a local high school. The police were apparently tipped off by someone. However, what resulted in the submission is the note in the article about a posting on Cano's Facebook page from a few days ago, in which he claims that he saw an SSID for "FBI_SURVEILLANCE VAN":
This is leading lots of people to ask just how stupid the FBI is for having such an SSID. The thing is... I doubt this is really true. There's no confirmation of it other than this kid saying it, and it doesn't sound like it was the FBI who investigated and arrested him in the first place. And while we've certainly seen the FBI do some crazy and clueless things at times over the years, I have a hard time believing that anyone there would ever be so clueless as to set up an open WiFi with that SSID.






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I LOLed at this. I wonder if that would make it to Failbook.
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Response to: Gabriel Tane on Aug 18th, 2011 @ 12:37pm
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Only a terrorist would question why that wireless access point was there.
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And has English language teaching in the US really deteriorated to the point where teenagers are no longer capable of spelling the word "fuck" correctly?
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ABSOLUTELY!
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"WATCHING_YOU_MASTURBATE"
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but has no one tried sniffing your traffic?
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Old Joke
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Re: Old Joke
So if you want to have open wifi, but dissuade people from using if for things which will bring a swat team to your door, naming it FBI_SURVEILLANCE_VAN makes alot of sense.
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Response to: DandonTRJ on Aug 18th, 2011 @ 12:51pm
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New ideas for SSID?
- ALIEN_SPACESHIP
- INTELLIGENCE_MONITORING_STATION
- APOLLO_11
or something along those lines...
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Re: New ideas for SSID?
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Re: Re: New ideas for SSID?
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Re: Re: Re: New ideas for SSID?
Or how bout MY_HOMIE_NIC_PEEZY
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Re: New ideas for SSID?
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Re: Re: New ideas for SSID?
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Not necessarily open
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my favorite tongue in cheek ssid...
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Re: my favorite tongue in cheek ssid...
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Re: Re: my favorite tongue in cheek ssid...
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Seen this repeatedly...
I'm in Canada. The FBI has neither jurisdiction nor presence here.
It's just people name their access points random things. When I lived in an apartment the crack dealer on the second floor (I think, anyway--the SSID went away when he moved) had his named "Secret Service", and another person had one named "Playboy Mansion". I'm also pretty sure that there was no Playboy Mansion in that neighbourhood.
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Re: Seen this repeatedly...
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Re: Seen this repeatedly...
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They wouldn't make that mistake
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You mean the Christians shouting KILL THE ATHEIST was FAKED?!?
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omg
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Or "The Digital Bermuda Triangle"
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It wasn't meant to stay there....
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Perhaps not confirmation, but...
FBI VAN2 and FBI_VAN2-guest are frequently seen at my favorite resturant. http://www.flickr.com/photos/rojer/6057178538/in/photostream
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Re: Perhaps not confirmation, but...
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Re: Re: Perhaps not confirmation, but...
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Re: Perhaps not confirmation, but...
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MIKE_MASNICK_REACHES_AGAIN
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Yeah TAM, I can see you doing that. Man, I only say this as a friend, you got to get a life. This Mike stalking can't be good for your health. We care about you; get some help.
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Theirs is "4CHAN_PARTY_VAN"
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Forgot to sign in again.
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Response to: Anonymous Coward on Aug 18th, 2011 @ 2:23pm
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My favourites:
XCKD341
And 4 that popped up in my neighbourhood in this sequence:
HALLSWIRELESS
NOTHALLSWIRELESS
NOTNOTHALLSWIRELESS
DOESTHATMAKEITHALLSWIRELESS
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Yes, they do show up as that.
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-NO_SIGNAL
-HOST_NOT_FOUND
Or my personal favorite:
-I_CAN_READ_YOUR_EMAILS
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Re:
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SSID
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Jks!
I live in Australia, and I have a few around me called "AFP Surveillance Van" and "Virus Downloading" etc etc
Wouldn't read much into this.
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Probably not, but..
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"..Surveillance Vans With WiFi SSIDs Saying 'FBI_SURVEILLANCE_VAN.."
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"..Surveillance Vans With WiFi SSIDs Saying 'FBI_SURVEILLANCE_VAN.."
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Re: "..Surveillance Vans With WiFi SSIDs Saying 'FBI_SURVEILLANCE_VAN.."
However, I completely agree that the corrupt, unconstitutional gov't that now rules goes out of its way to be a tyrannical police state!!!
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Scary WiFi Names
Please read my article HERE
http://www.ufofreebandclub.com/blog/?p=1193
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Surveillance van
Incidentally, I never did get the connection to work properly, apparently I was out of range of the router. I ended up going back to Ethernet.
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FBI survelliance w/ WIFI
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f.b.i ssid
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hmm?
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hmm?
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Found an Fbi Surveillance van on my Wireless list
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Confirmation? Another sighting.
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HAPPEND 2 ME
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hey
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my network name
i could have named it the porn shack or something really crude like Jewish soap factory
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Hmmm
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Re: Hmmm
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i call bull shit..
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FBI Survaillance Vans
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totally smart moves
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Its real.
Police_Surveillance_Van3 popped up on my connections (leading me to Google this)
The only reason I care is because I may or may not have torrented photoshop (For finishing classwork in my computers class) and the next morning that popped up. Needless to say I DELETED the file, and everything.
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Reply: also
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i got it
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FBI surveillance
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Dunno, might be true
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ssid name listed as FBI on my wireless
FBIsurveillance ...it has popped up on and off different hours of the day. Also noticed a lot more traffic around my neighborhood , unfamiliar vehicles just cruising by...
Should I be worried ?
I took a picture of the ssid name and the people I've shown are baffled
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okay its happening to me.. fbi surveillance on my network
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FBI SURVEILLANCE VAN SSID
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Re: FBI SURVEILLANCE VAN SSID
I'm going to be keeping an eye out for this SSID, and if I see it again, it'll be time to sniff them out, or maybe call in a different team of feds, saying "there are these middle eastern guys hanging out in a van across from my building... I think I heard them say something about an explosion!". It'll be 2 minutes before the area is crawling with LEAs.
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It's not what you think
Maybe a few people name their wifi to try scare people or for a laugh.
But let me ask you does it appear and diss appear periodically, are there other "funny" or "strange" wifi names around? Do they do the same? Like maybe if you analyzed it, and looked at the graph they go from 0 to peak very briefly and then back down to 0 again, periodically? And always weak, no matter how much you move or try locate them?
Almost like its just one signal cycling throug fake macs and fake names. Like when one drops to 0 another suddenly peaks. Or maybe like none of it exists external to your device at all. Like maybe there's some other network activity or "APs" that is far more something you should be wary of - because you are already under total scrutiny, have not had any privacy for some time, are being monitored and having your online prescence manipulated by someone else. And worse. Maybe it's just for their own entertainment, maybe they don't like you, maybe there's a goal it doesn't matter. But - there is one person or a number of persons living close by who are involved, and you can remove the power they have in every tech aspect that way. Even a team of security or penetration experts is not expert at everything. And a godlike tech master generally is less good at being physically manipulated, if you have to. And extremely vulnerable to analog or mechanical forms of surveillance. But you must play well or you won't get to do any of that. Feed them, but don't underestimate them ever - you need to be convincing to yourself. So act like you are onto something, and then make like you are just confusing the actual things with other things. Act like you know now its the cops. Act like you are going to get secure and fix your security on everything, which will not make any difference FYI, but you don't understand that. Google heaps of stuff that is related, and make out like you think that's what's happening. Act like you don't know that anything at all you do on your mobile/PC/console/tablet/router etc is going to somewhere else first and that's where you are getting your results and "Internet" from. Use analog surveillance on them. Non digital cams and audio. And go find out what government agency exists that might want to monitor entities like this. They might jump at the chance to actually build a case over months of it being done to you, if you can handle it. And you will get a good result as it'll be too late by the time they are aware to keep their jobs, or avoid conviction. Failing involving government, just corner one somewhere people don't get any mobile reception, and have a chat.
Whatever you do, just be aware of the fact often the best way to see your paranoia is justified is to do experiments that don't care if you are paranoid or not, scientific method brought a subjective animal into the age of reason. Use it always. And this post will be crazed paranoia to 99.99999% of people reading, of course it should really. But if even one person gets something else out of it then its done some good. Hello friend, you are like me. Well met.
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FBI_SURVEILLANCE_VAN
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