[4531] in WWW Security List Archive
Re: ERM Surveillance Information
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Stephen Cobb)
Thu Feb 20 12:17:14 1997
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 1997 09:44:51 -0500
To: matt@arcticmail.com
From: Stephen Cobb <stephen@iu.net>
Cc: www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu
Errors-To: owner-www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu
At 06:38 PM 2/18/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Does anyone have any information on a device that can be used to monitor
>the electro-magnetic radiation that a computer monitor emits. I believe
>that this is called a Van Ert device.
Van Eck
This may be off-topic but it is very real. Van Eck demonstrated it to
British television and Winn Schwartau demonstrated it on TV in the US
several years ago.
TEMPEST is the classified and never-published spec for defense against such
attacks. When I was researching my book on PC security back in 1989 I
called GCHQ in the UK and asked to speak to someone about TEMPEST. The
delightfully British response was "TEMPEST does not exist. And where are
you calling from, Sir?" At the same time the US Government Computer News
regularly had ads for "TEMPEST compliant HP LaserJet printers."
Anyway, read Winn's brilliant book "Information Warfare" (new and expanded
second is now available in paperback (you can order from NCSA at
http://www.ncsa.com). Also check out his very interesting web site at:
http://www.infowar.com
Stephen Cobb
Certified Information Systems Security Professional
Disclaimer: Winn is a friend of mine and I work for NCSA...but all of the
above is true anyway.
