Special protection system for government and commercial facilities.

Special protection system for government and commercial facilities..

Special protection system for government and commercial facilities

Source— pps.ru

Introduction

One of the types of threats to the activities of state and commercial enterprises: organizations: firms is the unauthorized removal of official: commercial and personal information. There is also a simpler name — eavesdropping, but recently, intruders or competitors are not limited to using various types of equipment for eavesdropping on confidential conversations.
In order to penetrate other people's secrets, the most modern achievements of science and technology are used, which are actively used not only by state intelligence agencies, but also by entrepreneurs, private detectives, etc.
The sophistication of the secret theft is demonstrated by the sensational case of Matthias Speer, a 20-year-old employee of a small German computer company who managed, without leaving his desk in his office in Hanover, to “search” the computer networks of the US military departments, the CIA, major research laboratories and US air force bases.
«Battles on the fronts» of industrial espionage have reached such proportions that they force large Western firms to spend more money on equipping their technical protection services than government agencies, including the army.
It should be borne in mind that strengthening the protection of information from unauthorized removal causes a response by increasing the efforts of competitors and intruders interested in other people's secrets. Beginning in 1960, leading Western industrial associations began to create their own intelligence and counterintelligence services.
A large number of small private bureaus have emerged that specialize in providing services in the field of industrial espionage, both in the intelligence gathering of other people's secrets and in protection against them. For example, in Germany a private organization for the provision of consulting services, the «Berlin Institute for Economic Security Problems,» was created. Its initiator was the former head of the counterintelligence service of the FRG, who invited one of the former GDR intelligence officers to be his partner. According to experts, «the union of a well-known specialist in combating industrial espionage with a former intelligence officer with extensive experience in penetrating the technological secrets of the West allows for the creation of an ideal community for providing Western companies with useful consultations in the fight against industrial espionage.»
Foreign publications indicate that the greatest activity «on the fronts» of industrial espionage is demonstrated by industrial circles in the United States, Germany, England, France and Japan, engaged in the following areas:

• technology and production of chemical products, pure metals, alloys of rare earth elements;
• oil technology;
• pharmaceutical industry;
• medical industry.

The following methods are currently most actively used to penetrate other people's secrets:

• eavesdropping on conversations indoors or in a car using pre-installed «radio bugs» or tape recorders;
• monitoring telephones, telex and fax lines, radio telephones and radio stations;
• remote retrieval of information from various technical means, primarily from computer monitors and printers, etc.

Of course, there are other methods of eavesdropping, such as laser irradiation of window panes in a room where «interesting» conversations are taking place. They use directed radio radiation, which can make a part of a television, radio receiver or other equipment «respond and speak.»
But such methods require specific conditions, are labor-intensive today, are quite expensive and therefore are used, as a rule, by special government services.
The abundance of directions and methods of eavesdropping has given rise to a large number of organizational and technical methods of protection, which use a wide variety of means and equipment. The main directions of special protection are…

Search for eavesdropping equipment.

This direction is the most common method of protection. Search operations can be carried out both in a separate room and in the entire building; be a one-time undertaking or repeated with a certain frequency.
In Western European countries, it has long been a practice for commercial firms to enter into contracts with specialists in detecting eavesdropping devices to check especially important executive offices, meeting rooms and conference rooms. As a rule, such contracts imply conducting a search once a quarter and before important meetings and negotiations. The frequency of the search depends on the mode of use of the premises, the environment around you and your object, the degree of importance of the issues discussed in this room.
The search for wiretapping equipment can last from several hours to several days. It can be carried out by one person or a group of specialists. This will depend on the relevance of the information leak at your facility and will entail certain financial expenses.
Specialists in the search for wiretapping equipment usually begin their work with a survey of the company's personnel and a study of the mode of use and visits to the premises being inspected.
Eavesdropping equipment cannot appear on its own: someone must bring it to an “interesting office” and install it there correctly. Your competitors may be interested in a telephone repairman, an electrician, a cleaner or a furniture maker who periodically appear in your offices and work there for some time, long enough to leave a “radio bug” in a secluded place.
On your desk, you can replace an object with exactly the same one, but with electronic filling, and then return everything to its place. Unfortunately, this can also be done by your secretary or an employee of your company, who have the opportunity to enter your office in your absence.
Do not exclude cases when «bugs» can be hidden in gifts or souvenirs that you would use to decorate your office or meeting room. A major or cosmetic renovation of an office is especially attractive for installing various eavesdropping equipment.
The ideal object for wiretapping is a modern telephone with complex electronic programming of its operation. Not only is it quite difficult to detect a «bug» in a telephone, but the electronic elements of a modern telephone can be listening devices even without their preliminary modification. Therefore, we recommend installing in offices where important meetings and negotiations are held only those telephones that the relevant specialist recommends to you and, in addition, checks them beforehand.
The diversity of eavesdropping technology also generates a diversity of equipment and methods of its detection. A specialist in this field sets up his search equipment to register any signs of eavesdropping equipment. For example, a microphone has a magnetic field, a «radio bug» emits electromagnetic oscillations of a certain frequency, electronic units of eavesdropping equipment can have their own special radio response, and the «bug» itself can be seen in a gift or souvenir using an X-ray machine.
Most of the time, a specialist in detecting eavesdropping devices spends on a seemingly simple inspection of objects, furniture, and office walls, during which one can notice traces of an “intruder”—fresh scratches on the screws of a table lamp or inkwell, traces of glue and new nails in furniture, unevenness and stains on the plaster of the walls and wallpaper.
You must be prepared for the fact that after conducting a search for eavesdropping equipment, you may have to do some minor cosmetic repairs to your office.
An important point is the secrecy of the search for «radio bugs». If an intruder with a «radio bug» in his pocket appears among the staff of your facility or technicians of the service group, he will certainly closely monitor the appearance of specialists who can catch him red-handed. It is necessary to always remember that the security issues of your facility, the specifics of the use of technical means of protection should also be classified as a commercial secret. And conducting a search is the most delicate and confidential activity in the field of protecting your facility.

Technical means of protecting premises from eavesdropping

A significant obstacle to an intruder with eavesdropping equipment is the creation of special rooms at the facilities, protected from eavesdropping, for holding board meetings, trade negotiations and confidential conversations. Such rooms are assigned the status of special: they are equipped taking into account the following requirements:

• the building where such special rooms are located must have round-the-clock security and an alarm system;
• the room is located, if possible, in the center of the building, next to the offices of the facility's management;
• if the room must have windows, it is desirable that they do not have balconies and do not overlook buildings adjacent to your property, but look out onto the courtyard or be closed with blind shutters;
• there should be a minimum amount of furniture inside the room: the furniture design should be maximally adapted for the work of a specialist in searching for eavesdropping equipment;
• there should be no radio electronic devices, computers, televisions, tape recorders in the room;
• telephone communication, as the most «convenient» for eavesdropping, should be carried out in a special way, which a security specialist will recommend to you. If possible, it is better to refuse any type of communication, calling, for example, a secretary using the simplest call button.

In publications on issues of protecting premises from eavesdropping, there are recommendations for noise-proofing walls using special sensors and generators, which, of course, increases the effectiveness of protection from eavesdropping. However, equipping such premises with noise-proofing is associated with fairly large costs. A specialist in premises protection will help you with this issue, assess the feasibility of the costs, and if you need it, carry out the appropriate work on installing the noise-proofing system.
Another known method of protection is to conduct negotiations in a transparent booth equipped with organic glass and plastics. This is done in order to immediately notice any foreign (opaque) object, including eavesdropping equipment «left» by someone. In such a booth, all objects, including furniture, are also made of transparent plastics. A special ventilation system supplies air into the booth.
When choosing a method for protecting premises, you should remember that its effectiveness will be high only with strict adherence to the visiting and working regime in such a special office. It is also necessary to periodically check it with a specialist in searching for eavesdropping equipment. Practice shows that strict adherence to the entire range of security measures in combination with the personal interest of employees in the prosperity of their company can create an insurmountable psychological barrier for competitors and intruders, whose fear of rapid exposure of their criminal actions at your facility will be stronger than the desire to receive any personal benefits, rewards.

Protection of technical means of information processing.

As mentioned earlier, your competitors will be interested not only in your business conversations. The object of their interest will be the technical means by which your business, official and commercial information is processed and stored. Typewriters, copying equipment, computers and other equipment emit various types of signals (electromagnetic, acoustic, vibration), which can be received in a building adjacent to your facility and then read the information processed on this equipment.
Protection of technical means of information processing can be carried out in the following areas:

• detection, elimination and significant weakening of radiating signals by modifying the technical means themselves;
• shielding of information processing means and the premises in which they are used;
• use of special radio interference generators to mask (cover) spurious emissions.

It should be remembered that currently there is special equipment on sale, for example, special computers with a minimum level of side radiation for working with confidential and secret information. The cost of this kind of equipment is very high, more than twice as high as that of conventional equipment.
Work in these areas of protection is only possible for specialists and will require significant labor and financial costs. Currently, there are a large number of companies and organizations that will help you solve such problems. If you have seriously decided to deal with the problems of the security of your commercial information, then you will need such a type of special protection as…

Communications protection.

Information that constitutes your commercial secret may be present not only in conversations that take place in offices or in documents that are processed by office equipment and computers. An important attribute of the activities of any type of commercial facilities is communication—telephone, telex, special computer, radio communication, etc.
Your competitors or enemies may try to control the communication channels of your facility. They will be interested not only in external channels, but also in internal communications, through which, as a rule, service information of the most diverse content circulates.
Protection of communication channels leaving the facility, let's call them external communications, will include:

• use of your own electronic encryption equipment for telefax, computer and telephone communications when exchanging confidential or important information with your partners and clients;
• use of paid state secure communication channels;
• use of pre-agreed conditional phrases and code expressions when conducting telephone conversations on city communication channels about the time and place of important business meetings and conferences, especially when it comes to financial matters or the delivery of valuables;
• reduction or elimination of discussions on city telephones of important commercial issues, especially when using wireless (radio) telephones.

The last two points are also important for security personnel using radio stations when on duty inside the facility and when escorting people and valuable cargo.
Protection of internal communications includes:

• shielding of communications;
• use of electronic jamming of communications and power supply networks that ensure the operation of important information processing equipment;
• installation of alarm sensors at the locations of possible extraneous connections to the communications of the data bank (distribution cabinets, blocks and connectors);
• use of internal telephone communications not connected to city telephone channels;
• periodic monitoring of internal communications by a specialist of the technical security service. In order to protect communications inside the facility, we do not recommend that you use radio-equipped telephones, despite their apparent convenience, if you want to discuss your business or financial plans, arrange meetings and conversations with partners. Negotiations over a radio channel may become the property of third parties or even intruders who have the appropriate radio receiving equipment.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the use of all the above-mentioned means and methods of protection requires professional training of security service personnel and experience in this area.