Entries Tagged 'Bugs'

Bug detectors disguised as fountain pens and hidden cameras are no longer only the purview of James Bond. These days, business information security has proved to be a boon for the manufacturers and retailers of counter-surveillance technology.

Julia Adams, director of surveillance retailer Spymaster says:

“The majority of the customers are buying counter-surveillance equipment. The majority are concerned with what is being leaked. They want to make sure they aren’t being bugged and that the competition isn’t listening.”

This is only going to become a bigger problem for businesses. Disgruntled and defecting employees are a substantial part of the challenge, but so are competing businesses, strategic partners, and even foreign intelligence services looking to give the Motherland an economic boost.

As surveillance technology becomes even cheaper, more effective and better disguised, counter-surveillance technology will simply become a part of doing business. Commercial information is easily translated into money, and legal protections are often insufficient when the security breach is not detected.

How secure is your business intelligence?

While we might imagine the FBI, CIA or NSA listening in on our phone conversations, the reality is that tapping a phone line is relatively easy for a business competitor or jealous spouse as well. So whomever you suspect is listening, I suspect you’d like to put an end to it.

University of Pennsylvania computer science professor Matt Blaze ­dissected the wiretap equipment commonly used by law enforcement and found a few, um, bugs. Spies, it turns out, don’t like to record dead air, so they turn the system off by playing a special C-pitched tone when the target phone is hung up. As a result, anyone with an MP3 player and a recorded C can prevent eavesdroppers from snooping on their private chatter.

You can download Blaze’s C tone here and broadcast it at low volume during phone calls. Not foolproof, but it’s one more tool in your privacy toolbox.

Via Wired.