I. Read the advertisement. Translate it.

Pikes Peak Investigative Services

"What You Say in Private is Your Business; Keeping it That Way is Ours" ©

Founded in 1984, Pikes Peak Investigative Services (PPIS) is a full-service agency in Colorado with offices in Colorado Springs, Denver, and Aspen. The practice focuses on surveillance of all types, electronic eavesdropping countermeasures, and business financial investigations. Those Who Depend on Collected Information, Rely on PPIS; Colorado's Source for Instant Information. E-mail us.

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II. Imagine you are an Investigate Services agent. Write down an advertisement for BECCA paying a special attention on the motto. Speak on trying to convince the firm officials to cooperate with you but not with your competitors. The text “The Bug that Got Away” helps you.

Text IV

The Bug that Got Away

Do you know what Null-Search method is? How about Non-Linear Junction Detection or Time-Domain Relfectometry? What's carrier current, sub-carrier modulation, suppressed single side band, masking tone, a capacitively coupled tap? How do you adapt a Spectrum Analyzer to do sweeps? What is a an OSCOR or an EAGLE. Why is it necessary to ALWAYS use an oscilloscope when doing a sweep? If you do not know the answer to EVERY one of these questions, read on to find out what happened to someone who did not.

Mr. Private arranged for a sweep of Mr. Toolate's office for listening devices and wiretaps. Mr. Private knows nothing about the qualifications of Mr. Magic excepting that he was the cheapest and offered a healthy referral fee. Neither Toolate's nor Private's background includes Electronics and their knowledge of the threat consists of the half-myths they have heard.

It seems as though Magic is competent but, when he arrives to do the sweep, Toolate is still uneasy. Soon however, Magic opens an equipment case and takes out a device that looks expensive. After a few seemingly expert adjustments, the box comes to life with a series of loud satisfying squawks, beeps and blinking lights; like in the movies. The Black Box has a probe and somehow resembles the expectations Toolate had. Toolate watches expectantly as the probe is waved around as though it were a magic wand. Magic begins his choreographed illusion and, since Toolate wouldn't know a Rain Dance from a professional sweep, he breathes a sigh of relief as he is now comfortable with the predictable outcome; no bugs found. After all, how hard can it be to find an eavesdropping device, the equipment does all the work, like the stuff sold in the Spy Shops. Anyone can do a sweep!

Sadly, Toolate and Private have probably been taken for a ride. Troubling is the fact that the above scenario is played out hundreds of times a day all over the country. In most cases the tap or transmitter has already been removed by the eavesdropper because of Indiscriminate discussion about the client's suspicions beforehand. In cases where the eavesdropper is still listening, the device is not detected as the snooper has a good laugh and the client is now lighter in the wallet. The real outcome? The Electronic Surveillance continues. Why? Because the technique described above is known as Near-Field and it is NOT a reliable way to search;

though the method in use by all but a small number of expert trade-crafters. In fact, Near Field detection, as the primary mode of discreet detection, cannot and does not consistently work outside the laboratory.

Was the sweeper a fraud, incompetent, ill-equipped or all three? Truth is, the sweeper was probably only slightly more knowledgeable than the client and relied on the claims made by a PI catalog from whom he purchased the junk. Lacking formal training in the field, he too probably believed that anyone could do a sweep. This area of technical specialization is not so far out that no one can determine the qualifications of a sweeper nor is it a service that can be performed by anyone who has merely been instructed on an instrument.

Most competent techs will have considerable formal and responsible experience in doing sweeps against real threats and formal specific training restricted to the field. Many responsible sweepers continue their education for their entire careers. Ask for a CV or a list of certifications and by whom issued. One source of referrals is The Business Espionage Controls and Countermeasures Association, Ft. Washington, MD; the only professional association whose members are legitimately involved in Counter Espionage.

Did you also know that an expert sweeper can expect to upgrade a portion of his TSCM (Technical Surveillance Counter Measures) arsenal every three to four years? Some single systems are as much as $20,000. Adding to the problem is that today's threats require an expert technician who possesses not merely one high-tech instrument, but several of them! Like any arms race, the eavesdropping threat continues to escalate and therefore so do the requirements placed on sweepers. The inverse relationship, of the threat to the countermeasure, mandates that it can often take $50,000 to as much as $100,000 in TSCM gear to find a $300 listening device. This is an important fact to remember when you dismiss the threat because you think your potential foe lacks sophistication or finances or when you are looking for the cheapest Rain Dance.

Glen Wilson is the Director of Pike's Peak Investigative Services and a formally trained TSCM investigator/operator. He has received Graduate Certificates of training and proficiency from the prestigious Technical Services Agency - Institute for Countermeasures Studies and Glenn Whidden (ClA-ret); the current President of BECCA and considered by many to be the foremost authority in the world on TSCM. Mr. Wilson is a former veteran law enforcement officer, a former member of the US intelligence community, and a member of NACI, ASIS, AFCEA, and the Business Espionage Controls and Countermeasures Association (BECCA).

by Glen Wilson

Text V

COMPUTER SECURITY IN BUSINESS