TSCM Listening Post - Choosing Your Debugging Agent
An article by Peter J Lynch - Lynch Investigations & Countermeasures
A covert listening device, more commonly known as a bug, is usually a combination of a miniature radio transmitter with a microphone or a hard wired/wireless microphone transmitting to an audio recorder. The use of bugs, called bugging, is a common technique in espionage and increasingly used in police investigations.
When considering employing a surveillance expert, choose carefully. There are a lot of experts in the industry and a few that are not. By asking a few questions you can determine who the experts are and who are not.
It is a good idea to ask the surveillance expert if they have a bug detector that will sweep for a wide range of frequencies, from low frequency to medium and microwave frequency levels.
Ask them if they use a spectrum analyzer and if they know what a non linear junction detector is. Ask them about telephone taps and how they would search for them. A surveillance expert who performs debugging (TSCM) services will not be offended by these questions.
There are established debugging (TSCM) companies with experts in the field that can be found by a search from the popular search engines Google, MSN, and Yahoo. Just type the text TSCM debugging into the search engine to see numerous suppliers of debugging (TSCM) services.
A licensed security consultant that offers these services should be able to provide you with a certificate of TSCM training and some previous contactable clients from the supply of recent debugging (TSCM) services provided to them. I would start with them as opposed to someone who has little knowledge or experience in the field of debugging or more professionally known as Technical Surveillance Counter Measures (TSCM).
You may be confronted with the opportunity for someone to bug you, for you could be in business preparing a tender for a contract. Your competition could bid a lower price for the procurement of the contract with knowledge from your prepared tender process, obtained through espionage practices. A jealous spouse with a fifty dollar listening device could plant the device on or around you and make you the target. Neighbours bug neighbors for unworthy reasons. Management bug employees to find out what is occurring in the work place. Business partners bug their business partners if they think that they are being deceived in some way. Students bug teachers to get exam information. The federal government has been known to bend the rules a little also when they want to spy on someone. How many of these categories do you fit into?
Personnel surveillance is quite common than one may think. Bugs are extremely easy to acquire and use. The average person is totally defenseless against them. People that bug you are reasonably close to you and can access areas they need to without breaking into the premises. These people include family, friends and neighbors.
The listening device can be retrieved when it has served its purpose so it is never noticed and there is no record of it.
There are many people who are concerned about bugging as there are many companies that sell listening devices. Visit a few of the web sites listed here to see the types of devices that are available for over the counter purchase www.talkingelectronics.com.au, www.ozspy.com.au, www.spyquipworld.com.au - these are just a few from Australia not to mention the world wide supply.
There are a number of businesses that can be found in the Yellow Pages Online under the heading "Security Consultant" that supply debugging (TSCM) services. In large cities there are a number of them listed and these businesses are surviving and even thriving.
The cost of sweeping an office for bugs is considerable and the equipment is expensive. People are paying money for debugging (TSCM) services because there is a need for it.
You can look in the back of some electronic magazines where you will see advertisements for wireless microphones and phone bugs. This advertising has been occurring for thirty years that I know of. If the devices were not selling then the advertisements wouldn't continue to be placed in the magazines. It shows that people are buying these devices for their own purposes.
This article is not intended to give the reader legal advice. I direct you to the Listening Devices Act pertaining to you legal jurisdiction in relation to the legal requirements for the sale, possession, manufacture and the use of listening devices.
It is a requirement to become familiar with your jurisdictional legalities to enable you to make sound judgment of the actions of persons who you may come into contact with in the fields of espionage, debugging and law enforcement practices in relation to listening devices.
Peter J Lynch.
Thank you Peter Lynch for your contribution and your ongoing expert advice you provide to our website. ed.