Everything You Need to Know about Electronic Eavesdropping Detection for Business

“Should we be checking check for bugs and wiretaps, or am I just being paranoid?”

This thought would not have occurred to you if everything were fine. Trust your instincts. Something is wrong. Eavesdropping is a common practice; so are regular inspections to detect it.

You never hear about successful eavesdropping or espionage attacks. You’re not supposed to. It’s a covert act. Eavesdropping and espionage is invisible. Discovery relies heavily on the victim’s intuition and preparedness to handle the problem. Prevention—via regular inspections—is the logical and cost-effective solution.

Spying Is a Common Activity
Due to the covert nature of spying, the exact... (Full Article)

How Did Feds Listen In on Blagojevich?

Court records from the investigation into Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich are filled with recorded conversations of the governor allegedly offering to sell an appointment to President-elect Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat. How did the government find out what he was saying?

Federal investigators tapped Blagojevich's home phone and bugged his personal office and a conference room in the Friends of Blagojevich campaign headquarters. Officials began listening to conversations in late October, the court documents say.

Former law enforcement officials and security experts, who were not familiar with the details of the investigation, said it may be easier than one would think to listen in on private conversations, even those of a governor...

"It's amazing to me how easy it is to get into most places," said Kevin Murray, a security consultant. "Locks and alarms are not really good enough to deter espionage." [speaking about covert entry into commercial buildings]

Listening devices can be very small and easily concealed, with some so tiny they can "fit underneath your fingernail," said Murray. Bugs have been placed inside walls, in light fixtures, lamps, phones and coasters. (more)

"How Can I Stop My Ex From Bugging My Phone & PC?"

My ex is a Private Investigator, and I believe he is bugging my phone–and possibly my PC. What can I do to stop this and/or prosecute? I have Vonage and my phone goes through a cable connection, as does my pc.
Thank you,
Patricia
(answers)

TALAN Telephone and Line Analyzer Wins 2008 Canadian Technical Security Conference Award

It is always heartwarming to see our eavesdropping and wiretap detection instrumentation winning international awards...

"The TALAN Telephone and Line Analyzer (manufactured by REI) has been awarded the 2008 Canadian Technical Security Conference (CTSC) Award for significant industry contribution, research and engineering design.

Telephone technology has advanced over the past several years, and so have the methods and possibilities for surveillance devices on telephone lines, making traditional eavesdropping tap detection methods outdated and ineffective. Additionally, multiple pieces of test equipment were required to conducted time consuming tests that provided limited results. The TALAN is a breakthrough in telephone and line testing, combining multiple tests into a single piece of equipment as well as introducing NEW technology providing effective tap detection tests for both digital and analog telephone lines.

The Canadian Technical Security Conference (CTSC) is an annual conference composed of Technical Security Specialists and members of the Canadian Technical Security Professional Association (CTSPA). Delegates and speakers of the conference include technical security professionals representing private companies, law enforcement, military and government organizations from Canada and around the world..." (more)

Other award winning instrumentation
Murray Associates brings to their client's defense...

Almost everything you wanted to know about WIRETAPPING

"DIY Wiretapping:
The Ultimate Guide
(And How to Fight Back)"
via ITsecurity.com

Even if you aren't involved in a criminal case or illegal operation, it's incredibly easy to set up a wiretap or surveillance system on any type of phone. Don't be surprised to learn that virtually anyone could be spying on you for any reason.

How to Wiretap
Did you think wiretapping was just for the FBI and mobsters? It's actually so easy that we can show you how to install and manage different wiretapping systems yourself...
(11 "tips" revealed)

Fighting Back
Defend yourself against wiretappers and spies by following these tips. You'll be able to determine if someone is eavesdropping on your home phone, cell phone or VoIP calls.
(13 "tips" revealed... including this one.)

• Check for any suspicious wires running from your phone: Spybusters LLC, a company that performs eavesdropping-detection audits, explains on its Web site the different types of wires your phone should have and which ones indicate wiretapping.
(more)

Extra Credit...
Listen Up: 17 Signs That You Are Being Wiretapped
Is someone listening to your private calls? Know the warning signs.

Corporate Eavesdropping & Espionage - Get Smart

Three 'Get Smart' news reports in one day!
Just coincidence?
No...
"Get Smart" the TV-show movie remake hits next week +
Corporations are getting hit with more eavesdropping
= Corporations are Getting Smart...


Targets of Spying Get Smart
by M.P. McQueen

Tiny electronic-surveillance gadgets that James Bond could only dream of are increasingly turning up in boardrooms, bedrooms and bathrooms.

Crooks are parking vans outside people's homes to steal bank-account passwords and credit-card numbers, using programs that tap into Wi-Fi connections. Paparazzi hide cameras and microphones in private jets, hoping to record embarrassing celebrity video. Corporate spies plant keystroke-recording software in executives' laptops and listen in on phone conversations as they travel.

Now, people are deploying counter-spy technology to fight back. Some celebrities and corporate executives get regular sweeps of their offices, limos and private jets in search of hidden devices. Others hire security experts to safeguard their phones and home computers...

Kevin D. Murray, an Oldwick, N.J., counter-surveillance expert, said he received several calls from worried executives asking for sweeps of their offices and homes as soon as the Porsche incident surfaced. (more)


We've gotten smart:
Movie's spy gadgets do exist

The shoe phone on TV's "Get Smart" wasn't just a sneaky spy gadget, it was a technological marvel: a wireless, portable telephone that could be used anywhere — though it did require a dime to make a call.

Today, almost everyone has a pocket-sized version that also takes photos, shoots video, sends e-mail and surfs the Internet. About the only thing it doesn't do is protect your feet.

"Get Smart" comes to the big screen next week, along with a spate of new spy gadgets to help Maxwell Smart, Agent 99 and the other spies at CONTROL. The gadgets are just as goofy as they were in the original TV series, but because technology has caught up with the writers' imaginations, there's a big difference: many of the movie's doo-dads actually exist. (more)


Bugging of offices
‘grows sharply’

Wales - Boardrooms and similar high-level working environments are increasingly being bugged as rival businesses and even staff look to gain an advantage through industrial espionage... (more)

Spy Buster Locates Sophisticated Wireless Eavesdropping Devices

According to the Freedonia Group, a market research group in Cleveland, Ohio, companies spend over $95 billion annually on corporate security.


One of the fastest growing areas for this spending is corporate espionage prevention.

Factors in this growth include everything from globalization to decreased employee loyalty and the fact that the most valuable asset of a corporation these days is information, which can be easier to steal than a piece of machinery.

So what’s a worried executive or security professional to do?
Increasingly, companies and government agencies are turning to firms that specialize in detecting and removing eavesdropping and other surveillance devices... (more)

Spybusters Selects Tektronix to Aid in Fight Against Corporate Espionage

Tektronix Inc., a provider of test, measurement and monitoring instrumentation, announced that Murray Associates, registered as Spybusters LLC, has selected a Tektronix Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer (RTSA) with DPX™ live RF display technology to help the security consultancy identify wireless eavesdropping devices that may be located in clients’ facilities including boardrooms and security trading floors. The RTSA instrument enables the firm to quickly and efficiently spot sophisticated listening devices, even in challenging environments where there are many competing signals.

Corporate espionage is on the rise due to such factors as globalization, decreased employee loyalty and the increasing value of information. In some parts of the world espionage is a common business practice in competitive industries. At the same time, new technologies are making it easier and more affordable than ever to steal information by tapping into private conversations. Given the potential reward, spies are employing increasingly sophisticated technology that can be difficult to detect.

To fight back against this espionage, companies as well as government agencies are turning to firms that specialize in detecting and removing eavesdropping and other surveillance devices. One of the leaders in the segment is Murray Associates. Based in Oldwick, New Jersey, the 30-year-old company, which is registered as Spybusters LLC, is seeing heightened demand for its services. The majority of the firm’s clients schedule regular inspections or sweeps for any form of electronic surveillance technology in sensitive areas such as executive suites, boardrooms, trading floors, vehicles and aircraft as well as executive homes and off-site meeting locations.

Mainstreet.com asked, "Why do people wiretap?"

“People tap phones lines for one of three reasons—money, power, sex,” says Kevin Murray, of Murray Associates, which secures corporations against eavesdropping. Dr. Gordon Mitchell, president of the counterintelligence consultancy company, Future Focus agrees. “Oddly enough, in the private sector it isn’t usually a situation where the big powerful competitor is trying to get information, but some sort of soap opera is going on inside,” he says. “And usually you can preface the person you suspect with an ex. Ex-boyfriend, ex-husband ex-partner.” If you suspect that there is wiretap on one of your phone lines, you first want to establish a connection between the information loss and whoever you suspect is leaking it. If you can’t show a cause and effect relationship between the criminal and the crime, you can’t prosecute a case against an eavesdropper...

...big corporations are still conscious about securing the workplace against foreign ears. “Whenever you’re in competition it means someone isn’t going to play the game fairly,” says Murray. “Businesses are very proactive about detecting these types of devices.” Most corporations do inspections on a quarterly basis, “and it’s something you rarely hear about,” says Murray. After hours, a counterintelligence security team will come in and investigate the most sensitive areas of the company. According to Murray, it costs between $5,000 and $10,000 to inspect eight to ten executive offices and a boardroom. (more)

The Cautious Coachs of N.F.L. Football

The New York Times - The windows near the elevators on the 21st floor of the Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel are fit for football espionage. The Giants’ practice field sits about a mile in the distance, past the maze of highway lanes and off-ramps, past the massive parking lots.

If a coach stands on that field and looks back at the hotel, all sorts of paranoid possibilities come to mind. Visions of men in disguises renting rooms, setting up telescopes and video cameras, and gleaning valuable information from the opposition. Over the years, Giants coaches were said to have sent security personnel to the hotel to conduct sweeps.* They were never reported to have found anything or anyone...

Murray Associates, a New Jersey company that provides eavesdropping protection, has been hired by several professional sports teams to ensure secure contract negotiations, said the company’s president, Kevin Murray. Three of the teams that hired Murray were N.F.L. teams — all within the past five years.

Murray said he believed espionage in sports was more prolific now, with so much money and fame at stake. And bugging an office “is easier now than at any time in history.” For example, Murray said, someone could stick a prepaid cellphone on the ceiling of an office, turn the ringer off and set the phone to auto-answer. Then that someone could listen from anywhere in the world.

“Some people sound on the paranoid side, but they’re really just normal people, following their instincts,” Murray said. “And usually, they’re correct. Coaches would be silly not to be checking.”

So coaches will continue to look for spies behind trees, in bushes, behind the wheel of the team bus. If you are not paranoid, they say, you are not paying attention.

The view from the Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel demonstrates how spying is possible, if not far-fetched. And for N.F.L. coaches, that is enough. (more)
* These sweeps were not conducted by Murray Associates.

TSCM - Your missing security cog, explained.

TSCM, electronic eavesdropping detection, or just plain 'bug sweeps'. Call it what you will, but if it is not a key element in your corporate security plan, you're toast.

Remember Achilles?
Remember the Death Star?
Their big security smiles had one tooth missing.

Make inspections for bugs, wiretaps and other espionage tricks part of your corporate security.

Need to convince your bosses?
Have them watch this easy-to-understand cartoon about the Death Star's gapping hole. (video)

Belichick Fined; Patriots Will Lose Pick

Patriots coach Bill Belichick has been fined the league maximum of $500,000, and the team has been ordered to pay $250,000 for illegally taping the New York Jets' sidelines during last Sunday's 38-14 win at the Meadowlands. (Belichick was warned last season when his spy cameraman, Matt Estrella, was caught on the sidelines in Green Bay.) ...

The Jets coach looked beyond paranoid when he put a paper shredder in the locker room to destroy practice plans. Somehow, that almost seems like a smart precaution now. If the Patriots are brazen enough to do this on the road, imagine what they're doing at home. The next team that travels to Foxboro should leave their special teams at home and bring CSI on the trip to sweep for bugs.

Think we're kidding? It's already happening. Kevin Murray, who runs a counter-espionage firm in Oldwick, has been hired by several NFL teams to secure team offices during sensitive contract negotiations. "I don't think they're paranoid," Murray said. "Just cautious." (more)

The Yin & Yang of Wireless Baby Monitors

Historically, wireless baby monitor transmissions have been notoriously easy to intercept. Plug one in and the whole neighborhood can hear your tyke strike, your wing-nut mutt, not to mention your marital argumentals.

In short, millions have bugged their own homes and then wondered why the neighbors are giving them strange looks.

Burglars have found wireless baby monitors to be as handy as an unlocked door or open window. Hearing that a house is empty is considered risk-management in their line of work. "Tanks fur da help, lady!"

All of this has not been lost on The Great American Entrepreneur... Hey, if we could scare them into buying the first one, we can scare them into buying an eavesdropping-resistant second one!
from the seller's web site...
"Imagine what would happen if someone could listen to conversations going on in your house. What kind of sensitive information could you be talking about? How might a potential thief, kidnapper, or rapist benefit from knowing your daily routine?" ... The WireFree system uses a 900 MHz digitally secure radio link between units to keep your conversations private. Even other WireFree units not programmed for your network can't hear your conversations. (more)

Only $119.97 for a set of two!

But wait!
There's more!
Consider the dark side of this offer...
Hummmm.
Let's see... That's about $60. per voice activated Digital Bug. ...and for a total of $359.91 you get four bugs, a listening post receiver, and a back-up spare bug to keep on the shelf!

China Edging US in Espionage

Washington, DC - Chinese espionage directed against the United States has met with "total success for China" and "total failure" for America's own intelligence operations, said an author and reporter on national security issues.

Counter-intelligence operations have allowed the Chinese to block and manipulate U.S. electronic eavesdropping operations while the theft of U.S. technology has helped accelerate Beijing's military ambitions, Bill Gertz said Friday at a gathering of the Defense Forum Foundation on Capitol Hill. ...

For legal reasons, espionage cases are very difficult to prosecute unless someone is caught "red-handed," Gertz observed. Consequently, U.S. government officials must often settle for circumstantial evidence that translates into lesser charges. ...

One of the most sensational cases detailed in Gertz's new book involves Katrina Leung, a Los Angeles businesswoman, who secretly remained loyal to China while working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Leung is one of the many spies who got away, thanks in part to a "botched" FBI investigation, Gertz said.

U.S. officials believe Leung is responsible for compromising an electronic eavesdropping program that involved the planting of bugs on a Boeing airliner China was purchasing in 2000 for Jiang Zemin, who was the communist leader at that time.

The prosecution of Leung proved difficult because she had "intimate relations" with two FBI agents who were responsible for intelligence operations involving China, Gertz said. Consequently the espionage charges against Leung "went away." (more)

Washington's CIA Leak Case Comes to a Close

CNN - The verdict by an 11 member jury comes after a nearly two year ordeal. Libby resigned from Cheney's staff in 2005, after he was charged with lying to investigators about the leak about the identity of Valerie Plame....a CIA operative. Lawyers for Libby originally stated Libby learned about Plame from Cheney, then forgot, then learned about her again from NBC's Tim Russert. The defense said Libby had a bad memory -- blaming it on his busy schedule as a top White House aide. (more)

During the first week of this story, George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh tried their creative hands at predicting what had happened, on "K-Street."

"HBO's latest groundbreaking series is an experimental fusion of reality and fiction--an entertaining, fly-on-the-wall look at government, filmed in and around the corridors of power in Washington. Starring Beltway insiders James Carville, Mary Matalin, Michael Deaver--and a host of political celebrities." We were there.

See a brief video clip of our sweep for the Valerie Plame bugs here. The full episode occasionally airs on HBO OnDemand. Full series available on DVD.

Chinese Spies Difficult to Contain

A Cautionary Tale for US Business

Former CIA operative and later US Ambassador to China, James Lilley said the Chinese regime used very different techniques and were accordingly difficult to monitor.

Speaking on US news program, Frontline, Mr Lilley said that only a small percentage of Chinese spies did "clandestine work". The rest, he said, gathered enormous amounts of bite sized information which were then assembled into a bigger picture. ...

"Ultimately we weren't successful in identifying a lot of their activities and a lot of their targets," he said, adding that Chinese espionage was so subtle it was often difficult to "explain and justify budget for continuing operations."

Dan Stober, American author of a book on Chinese espionage, explained that Chinese agents target specific industries then work on building relationships with senior executives or experts in the field... (more)

q.v. A real-life example.

Secure your business's future

Electronic debugging, once the exclusive realm of James Bond, is now done regularly.

"Industrial espionage is a particularly hot topic right now," said Kevin D. Murray, an IAPSC member and spokesman for the group. "About half the time when there has been an intrusion, it is a competitor. For the rest, it's done by people within the company, snooping for advantage or involved with internal politics."

Debugging is not an idle practice.

"If a company has business or trade secrets and there is litigation, a court will look to the firm's extended security measures as part of the proof that it is indeed a business secret," Murray said. "Security sweeps done on a regular basis will catch problems before they become problems." (more)