Tim,
I get a kick out of the quotation of Lord Salisbury about experts at
the end of your postings. Just remember that Noah and his family were
only amateurs when they built the ark, but those people who built the
Titanic were all experts. Think about that.
Bob
I responded:
Bob,
I try to never think about really deep subjects.
I just don't like getting in over my head.
Tim
I recently had an opportunity to look at some while in use and to page through the operators manual. The unit was designed to be used primarily in an office environment.
They operate in the 5.8 GHz range and radiate a signal capable of being received for a distance of up to 250 feet. At the same time, they are listed as being effective in most office environments for only 125 feet (due to office "clutter") and that is primariuly line of sight. Data transfer was 3.2kbps (if memory serves me). Point to point, there was no encryption.
What's the threat?
Most spectrum analyzers cover the upper frequencies to 12 GHz or higher. The horn type antenna (wave guide) will pick up the signal from a greater distance than will the omni directional antenna and what happens if we put in a stage or two of RF amplification.
Does that get up out several hundred meters?
Any thoughts on how far the signal can be picked up using specialized equipment.
If not already aware, there are now portable telephones operating in the 2.4 GHz range.
Poor Mildred was a 93 year-old woman who was particularly despondent over the recent death of her husband Earl. She decided she would just kill herself and join him in death. Thinking that it would be best to get it over with quickly, she took out Earl's old Army pistol and made the decision to shoot herself in the heart since it was so badly broken in the first place. Not wanting to miss the vital organ and become a vegetable and burden to someone, she called her doctor's office to inquire as to just exactly where the heart would be.
"On a woman," the doctor said, "your heart would be just below your left breast."Later that night, Mildred was admitted to the hospital with a gunshot wound to her left knee.
The Pope had just finished a tour of the East Coast and was taking a limousine to the airport. Having never driven a limo, he asked the chauffeur if he could drive for awhile. Well, the chauffeur didn't have much of a choice, so the chauffeur climbed in the back of the limo and the Pope took the wheel.
The Pope proceeded to hop on 95 and started accelerating to see what the limo could do. Well he got to about 90 mph and, WHAM!, there were the blue lights of our friendly State Patrol in his mirror.
He pulled over and the trooper came to his window. Well the trooper, seeing who it was, said "Just a moment please I need to call in." The trooper radioed in and asked for the chief. He told the chief "I've got a REALLY important person pulled over and I need to know what to do."
The chief replied, "Who is it, not Ted again?" The trooper said, "No, even more important." The chief replied, "It's the Governor, is it?" The trooper replied, "No, even more important." "It isn't the President is it?" "No, more important," replied the trooper. "Well WHO the HECK is it!" screamed the chief.
"I don't know," said the trooper. "but he's got the Pope as a chauffeur."
Tim,
I remember once you mentioned that there was a company out of AZ who basically
spied on other companies. Essentially, you mentioned that they gained access
to comptitive intelligence and/or propriatary information. This information
was then sold to their clients.
BACKGROUND:
I have just receintly been hired by a company out of Atlanta Ga and will soon be leaving the USAF. This company has hired me as their Director of Information Security. Basically, this company insures our clients Automated Information Systems (AIS) structure, e.g., data, electronic research, etc.
QUESTIONS:
1) What information can you give me on this company? (Main focus, some of their clients, what type of information they collect, do they have a www site, etc.)
2) How do they aggress the targets? Electronic? Social Engineering? Public Domain?
3) What type of people are hired w/in the company? (Old FBI agents or Pinkerton wannabee's? or CI/AT/IT professional killers?)
Thanks for all your help?
"Bob"
Some questions about phone taps~
What is the means of checking a phone line itself for interception devices? Can a multi-meter be used for a "raw" line test?
To fry...or not to fry~ Does this make any sense~ Assuming there is a tap somewhere ON the property and not on the pole/lines up top.
If there is a threat of a phone line being tapped, would it make sence to disconnect everything on that line, kill the phone's power at the point of entry and shoot 120AC through the line? If there is nothing on it, no harm done. If there is a tap....it would fry out.
Agreed?
Ps~ Were talking about "laymans taps" here. The kind that are sold in thousands each day at our local Radio Shack. Wireless mic conversions. Line tap/to recorder. Line piracy. Not professional taps~
A
Multimeters and audio amplifiers are still the basic tools used, although a Time Domaine Reflectometer is very useful.
Not to fry is my approach. You never know when you might have a legitimate piece of equipment somewhere on the system. It shouldn't bother the carbon blocks on the input, but you never can tell. If it is within a facility (such as home) you should be able to check all the physical locations where something would be installed.
Input from anyone else, please?
Tim
2.4GHz video transmitters.
I haven't had an opportunity to do anything wioth them yet (combination of travel and not having one to plat with), but I have been playing around with signals (harmonics) in the 2 GHz range and have had some good results in getting clearer displays than are initially displayed in the video mode while using the OSCOR. I'm no salesman for REI, but I still have to wonder what the flap is all about in regards to the 2.4 GHz problem.
If you are in the vicinity of the transmitter (same room, as you should be) you should be able to pick up a signal of some sort. If logic and common sense doesn't tell you that you have something which requires looking into, you don't need to be in this line of work in the first place. (If the truth be known, I often have doubts about my abilities and capabilities and wonder if I'm the right one to be doing the work. Everytime I go out, in fact. But, the options are the rain dancers and magicians with their wands, and I realize the few professionals that are out there are needed, even when we aren't as good as we think we are
Tim Johnson