[4517] in WWW Security List Archive
Re: ERM Surveillance Information
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Bill Joynt)
Wed Feb 19 23:53:26 1997
From: billj@i2020.net (Bill Joynt)
To: <jwp@checfs1.ucsd.edu>, <www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu>
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 1997 21:28:40 -0500
Errors-To: owner-www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu
I've heard some about this. Apparently first developed by the military,
then copied by a company. Apparently the moniter emmisions carry up to a
block (one report said picked up by cables/wires). The company claimed to
have a working model, and were able to eavesdrop on computers from
financial institutions to government.
Shielded moniters are available, I believe, although expensive. Doesn't
sound like a practical threat yet, but I have talked to a few people who
are fairly good authorities that say it definitely exists.
Just my two cents.
Bill Joynt
----------
> From: jwp@checfs1.ucsd.edu
> To: www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu
> Subject: Re: ERM Surveillance Information
> Date: Tuesday, February 18, 1997 11:22 PM
>
> > From: Matthew Petteys <matt@arcticmail.com>
> >
> > Does anyone have any information on a device that can be used to
monitor
> > the electro-magnetic radiation that a computer monitor emits.
>
> Poke around in computer security on Yahoo for a while and you'll find
> a company based in NYC (I think) that claims to be able to do this.
> Personally, I doubt that it's possible in any significant sense.
>
> I asked a friend who's been with Merdan Group for 20+ years about this
> once. He was as vague as he usually is about things that might be work
> related, or might have been at sometime in the past, or might be at
> sometime in the future, but the general gist seemed to be that it wasn't
> worth worrying about with modern computers and monitors.
>
> It'd be fairly easy to check, really. The first thing of interest is,
> under ideal conditions, how far away can you detect that the thing's
> turned on and drawing on the screen? [If detectable emissions exist at
> all, they'll come from the monitor.] Then you ask the same question
> when looking through walls, with a number of monitors in the room, and
> the fluorescent lights on, etc, etc. Good luck.
