Espionage techniques

Spyware (a portmanteau for spying software) is any malware that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user by violating their privacy, endangering their device's security, or other means. This behavior may be present in other malware and in legitimate software. Websites may engage in spyware behaviors like web tracking. Hardware devices may also be affected.

upright=1.4|thumb|The same image viewed by white, blue, green, and red lights reveals different hidden numbers.

thumb|Surveillance cameras in Gdynia, Poland thumb|Surveillance Camera to support the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia|Washington, DC Police

thumb|Civilian photo technicians (in back of jeep) working for Counter Intelligence Corps are accounted for at a Security checkpoint|checkpoint in [[Potsdam, Germany, on July 14, 1945]] Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) and its primary subfield, counterespionage (counter-espionage), are activities aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or other intelligence activities conducted by, for, or on behalf of foreign powers, organ

backdoor is a hidden way to bypass security and gain unauthorized access to a system

thumb|right|330px|On the right, real sheet of a theatre surimono by Kunisada; on the left, a faked signature of Hokkei, .

person who catches fugitives for a monetary reward

upright=1.35|thumb|Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinals eavesdropping in the Vatican. A painting by , 1895 Eavesdropping is the act of secretly or stealthily listening to the private conversation or communications of others without their consent in order to gather information.

person who commits or who acts to entice another person to commit an illegal or rash act

activities with the primary goal of preventing crime in the context of law enforcement and criminal justice

surrogate organization answering to someone else

2004 Seawolf-class submarine

investigative practice involving the use of romantic or sexual relationships for interpersonal, political, or monetary purpose

method of espionage tradecraft

ship type

miniature radio transmitter with a microphone

Belmont-class technical research ship

Hacking Team was a Milan-based information technology company that sold offensive intrusion and surveillance capabilities to governments, law enforcement agencies and corporations. Its "Remote Control Systems" enabled governments and corporations to monitor the communications of internet users, decipher their encrypted files and emails, record Skype and other Voice over IP communications, and remotely activate microphones and camera on target computers. The company was criticized for providing these capabilities to governments with poor human rights records, though HackingTeam stated that they

thumb|NSA photo of microdots taped inside the label of an envelope. The envelope was sent by Operation Bolívar|German spies in Mexico City to [[Lisbon during World War II, but was intercepted by Allied intelligence.]]

military unit

thumb|Suspected FinFisher government users that were active at some point in 2015.

Audio bug formerly hidden in Moscow US embassy

extraction of cryptographic secrets (e.g. the password to an encrypted file) from a person by coercion or torture

identifying the location of a mobile phone

act of performing surveillance of computer or network activity, in order to maintain internal and social control, recognize and monitor threats

anonymous communicating between two entities

method for exposing an information leak by giving different versions of a sensitive document to each of several suspects

British World War II counter-espionage operation

photography techniques using microscopic material

Cold War era safety precautions, used by spies

surveillance strategy

Sexpionage is the involvement of sexual activity (or the possibility of sexual activity), intimacy, romance, or seduction in espionage. Sex, or the possibility of sex, can function as a distraction, incentive, cover story, or unintended part of any intelligence operation.