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Understanding industrial espionage

The term espionage is used worldwide to describe spies and spying activities. The connotation is that of illegal activities. However, there are different types of espionage that occur for different reasons.

It is no secret, and it has received widespread publicity in newspapers, that the government intelligence agencies of some countries have been instructed to assist companies in gathering information about their opposition in foreign countries.

Greed for money is a prime motivation for staff members to sell company secrets. Any staff members who consider themselves underpaid, are unhappy with their boss, have a gripe, or are just opportunists may be available to the opposition for a price. If they have access to sensitive information, their value increases.

The leaking of information is sometimes hard to detect. Staff may meet after hours and verbally pass on information about their work and their company. This can be innocent or deliberate and is always detrimental to the company.

It is not illegal to follow an opposition company's delivery vehicle and note all their deliveries. It is also not illegal to sit outside an opposition company's office or store and make a list of their visitors. With this information in hand, the opposition's sales staff can select the larger customers and make their own appointments to call on them. The observations can also be captured on high-quality video camcorders, which are now easily obtainable.

Going through companies' trash searching for discarded printed e-mails and other information is easy.

Installing electronic listening devices

All electrical cables in a company are available for the professional spy to use. Most industrial espionage activities involve the use of electronic devices. The popular targets are telephones in offices. The more serious and adventurous spy will resort to using other methods.

There are a number of different ways that information can be collected. Because most information is collected by a hired person, they are required to capture the information on audio or video tape. All this information is put together and supplied to their client. Some type of recording device is therefore required. The majority of information collected in industrial espionage would be by way of audio recordings of conversations.

Telephone monitoring

Telephone monitoring is a common source of information. Connecting recording devices to a telephone is simple. A less common device is the capacitance coupled unit which clamps over the telephone cable without having to break any wires. This unit is more expensive and cannot work over a long distance. The device relies on voice or audio to activate the system.

If the spy has lots of time and really knows what he is doing and has access to the PABX room, he may be able to re-route a telephone cable at the control box in the PABX room.

All the above can be left on indefinitely. The telephone transmitter does not require batteries as it uses the power from the telephone line. Most other devices require batteries and all recorders must have their tapes changed regularly, meaning that the equipment needs to be accessed by the spy or their accomplice.

To monitor the conversations in an office or boardroom requires access to these areas or to have someone within the company install the listening device. Any electrical cable passing through the building can be used for surveillance. This includes telephone lines, AC mains supply, PA systems and CCTV cabling.

The most common items used are radio transmitters operating by means of radio waves. FM transmitters are tuned to the normal FM radio band and can be listened to on any portable receiver or car radio tuned to the frequency.

If the buggist has a good electronic knowledge and lots of time, he will prefer to use existing wiring or to install new wiring. Depending on how it is done, this becomes more difficult to detect and find. A concealed microphone connected to a cable and run a long distance will provide better and safer audio to the buggist as this does not radiate radio frequencies and may be less subject to interference noises.

The microphones can be connected to existing phone wires, spare telephone cables, PA system cables, or any type of metal conductor that will carry electrical signals. This also applies to video signals and pictures.

Video cameras

New technology today has developed micro size video cameras. These cameras can be concealed or disguised in many ways. The video picture can now be sent via cable or by radio transmission to a listening post. Long distance video surveillance is now also available via telephone lines or cellphones.

Exterior observation with a video camera and recorder has taken over from still photography in many cases. Even a cheap camcorder will have a powerful lens, good low-light capability, can record for a long period, generate a time and date readout, will have auto focus and is generally simple to use.

Fax and computer equipment

Contrary to common belief, fax and computer modem interception is no more difficult than an ordinary parallel telephone tap done with a recorder. The principal difference is the price of the equipment and the method used. These electronic messages can be captured by a laptop computer and decoded. The second difference is that the laptop will have a limited battery life and so a monitoring point with mains power is usually required.

Staff education

As every staff member is a vitally important link, so is the information in their possession. Never underestimate any employee as to what level of information they have in their possession. Staff should be made aware of industrial espionage and its consequences and that any person could be a suspect of such an activity.

Telephones

The PABX room and areas where telephone connections come together must be secured. No one should even be allowed access to these areas without the security personnel being present. If users have an access control system, a reader should be installed at the door to the PABX room.

Once a device is fitted to a telephone line, it is very difficult to detect by electronic means, unless cheap telephone taps are used.

Only a physical inspection of the telephone set and the line, all the way back to the PABX may ensure the line is safe. The telephone set must be dismantled and checked by someone who has a working knowledge of the insides of a telephone.

It should become part of the security officer's duties to make everyone aware of the danger of talking too much over the phone.

The GSM cellular telephone system used in South Africa is very secure. Cordless telephones, however, are a security risk. All cellular and cordless phones use radio frequencies. Anyone with a scanner receiver can tune in to the conversation. The GSM system is different in that the speech is converted to digital signals, all the way to the system controller. The digital format of GSM acts as a type of scrambler.

Sweeping and debugging

Anyone doing a debugging sweep and who claims that the premises are now 100% clean, is wrong. There is no such thing as 100% safe in the world of espionage.

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