Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!unmvax!ariel!hydra.unm.edu!ee5391aa From: ee5391aa@hydra.unm.edu (Duke McMullan n5gax) Newsgroups: sci.electronics Subject: Re: Electronic sweeping and debugging equiptments Message-ID: <436@ariel.unm.edu> Date: 28 Aug 89 00:36:57 GMT References: Sender: news@ariel.unm.edu Reply-To: ee5391aa@hydra.unm.edu.UUCP (Duke McMullan n5gax) Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM Lines: 119 >In article yj1@CUNIXA.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU (y) writes: >Do you know any equiptment that can check whether the phone lines are >monitored or the rooms are bugged? Do you know any anti-spy techniques >in general? With limitations, yes. Let's examine a few of these. Phone line taps: If THE ENEMY is using a cheap system to tap your line, you MIGHT be able to detect the thing using something like The Neutralizer from Ted Gunderson & Associates. However, at $1,989 (1982 price) it's probably bad eco- nomy. A _good_, _properly_installed_ phone tap can't be reasonably detected, as its high impedance in parallel with the ~600 ohms of the phone line can't be detected by "black box" measuring techniques; neither can "voltage spike" me- thods be used to destroy it. A _good_ (read: expensive) scrambler telephone (and you'll need at least two) will thwart a line tap to a great extent. Still, THE ENEMY will know when you're calling and, on outgoing calls, what number you're calling. If the room is miked too, scrambler phones are a waste of time. Physical search may turn up a microphone, if you're lucky, but is it the ONLY microphone? A pro might plant dummies to lead you into the proverbial false sense of security. If THE ENEMY is using a cheap FM wireless microphone to bug you (Radio Schlock, ~$25 if memory serves), you can put on some music, and tune an FM radio across the band. If you hear your music on the radio, you're bugged. If THE ENEMY has slightly greater financial and/or technical resources, (s)he won't use such a common band, and you'd have to use a scanner or better yet: Go look up all the copies of Popular Electronics and Radio/Electronics for the past 6 months. One of them has a very nice how-to article on detection of bugs which employ radio transmitters on site. The author shows how to use a spectrum analyzer and a Doppler Systems direction finder to detect and locate the trans- mitter(s). Suppose THE ENEMY doesn't use a radio transmitter. Infrared works very well, too. Even a large magnetic induction loop wouldn't show up on any conventional detection systems (and it's pretty unlikely -- too hard to install and hide). There have been some recent articles (including a how-to-build-it thing by Forrest Mims) on laser bugs. Do it with an infrared laser (yes, complete units are available, so I'm told, from some of the grey-market companies that spec- ialize in this sort of equipment -- bo-coo bucks, to be sure) and you won't be able to locate it reliably without infrared or starlight viewing gear. In a quiet environment, an amazing amount of information can be plucked from the air with just a parabolic or shotgun microphone. With appropriate signal processing techniques applied to the (recorded) signal, quite a bit of noise can be peeled off the signal. Are your window curtains open? Does THE ENEMY have access to a decent tele- scope or binoculars? Has (s)he any skill at reading lips? Think about it...re- member HAL. Lip reading is much "noiser" than actual listening, but it's no myth. Yeah, most of this stuff can be detected if you're willing to go to the trouble to acquire/purchase the technology and expertise and then invest the time. Even then, it's SOP to take precautions that would seem right at home on the old GET SMART television spy-comedy show. Even then, it's only UNLIKELY that you're not bugged -- you can't demonstrate negatives with real surety. You always have to ask how much it's worth to you to protect a given bit of information, and from whom? If it's miscellaneous privacy you're after, it's not worth your time. Make some assumptions: The phone, house and car are always compromised in some way. All "uninterested" parties are ENEMIES. If you don't have to tell somebody about it, don't. Don't show off. Maintain a mimimal pro- file. Don't cheat on your income taxes. Avoid gay bars. Plant agressive (sharp spines and/or poison) plants around your house. Install outdoor lighting. Get a good alarm system. Install an auxilary power system. Install an auxilary gas supply. Stay out of straight bars. Don't be seen firing your gun. Buy all fire- arms out of town, out of state if practical. Never leave your house. Grow all your own food. Etc. Ect. Cet. Tce. Cte. Tec. Etc. Sound paranoid? You got it, Charlie. And even then, you're never SURE.... If you just have a little bit of legally possessable stuff to physically protect, a lockbox at your bank is a fine investment. If you really want to protect yourself, there's only one practical way: you have to become your own expert. This interests enough people that there's a substantial market in "literature" in this area. Try some of these places: Delta Press PO Box 1625 El Dorado, AZ 71730 (catalog $2) Butokukai PO Box 430 Cornville, AZ 86325 (catalog $1) Paladin Press PO Box 1307 Boulder, CO 80306 (catalog $1) CEP, Incorporated PO Box 865 Boulder, CO 80306 (?? catalog charge ??) Loompanics Unlimited PO Box 1197 Port Townsend, WA 98368 (catalog $2[?]) I've said this on the net before, and I'll repeat it again: If your personal politics lean heavily to the left, these catalogs will most assuredly offend you, and may scare the bloody crap out of you. You'll find that it's perfectly legal to write instruction manuals on almost any illegal/unlawful/incomprehen- sible/contemptable/stupid/etc. activity. Personally, I like it that way. Hope it helps, d "Son, I got my good judgement from experience -- and I got my experience from my poor judgement." - Anon. Duke McMullan n5gax nss13429r phon505-255-4642 ee5391aa@hydra.unm.edu