[8405] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: NSA abandons some cool stuff
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (David Honig)
Mon Jan 8 16:44:53 2001
Message-Id: <3.0.6.32.20010108132838.007d29c0@pop.sprynet.com>
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2001 13:28:38 -0800
To: "Arnold G. Reinhold" <reinhold@world.std.com>, cryptography@c2.net
From: David Honig <honig@sprynet.com>
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At 01:27 PM 1/7/01 -0500, Arnold G. Reinhold wrote:
>"Every inch of floor in more than four buildings was covered with
>two-by-two-foot squares of bleak brown carpet. When the astronomers
>tried to replace it, they discovered it was welded with tiny metal
>fibers to the floor. The result, they eventually realized, is that
>the rugs prevent the buildings from conducting static electricity.
>
>Even the regular lighting looks different, covered by sleek metal
>grids that prevent the light bulbs from giving off static
>interference. "
>
>Sounds more like TEMPEST shielding.
>
It resembles TEMPEST, but shielding works both ways. The spooks chose
the site because it was RF quiet, but had to run their computers in the
same area as sensitive dishes. It makes sense that the shielding
was to quiet their own emissions to help their receiving. After
all, fluorescent bulbs don't leak much intelligence :-) but they
sure cause electrical noise.
I'd bet the large amount of fiber that was reported was also used
for that reason.
