Herbert Mangstl, Sales Director, EMshield GmbH
Jordi Ferri, Shielding Division Manager, AST Modular S.L.
Protection of sensitive corporate data from unauthorized access is key for many organizations. Proper shielding will protect data from illegal eavesdropping.
The works council of Breuninger is intercepted during a meeting. The car maker Renault has been rocked by an explosive spy scandal: Again and again headlines of spectacular industrial espionage is made known to the public. The perpetrators are secret-services, competing companies and undercover insiders. The target is always the same: The intellectual propery of products and the future fundamental strategy of the companys.
According to the Bavarian State Office (LKA), industrial espionage cause s every year billions of dollars in damage. The results are loosing market share, loosing a head start in the field of technology and job losses for the whole company. In addition, indirect costs are much higher. This can’t be clearly defined, but companys report serious image loss as a result of economic crime, or even by a significant decline in its share price. But why is it apparently so easy to get hold of the business intellectual property? One reason, modern communication systems offer many “weak points” that can exploited by experienced and well prepared invaders.
Hackers have an easy opportunity to monitoring sensitive data
Eavesdropping of telephone conversations, e-mails or fax traffic for professionals is easy. Phones, voice over IP, wireless and video conferences faces many options for hackers to latch unnoticed into the flow of information. Often very sophisticated and creative methods are used by these professionals for ing. Even the Hollywood spy movies are often based on existing technology, confirmed a counterespionage expert. For this example, remote-controlled smart phones, infrared aerial photography and laser attacks on windowpanes of conference rooms are now common. The wide-spread view that simple bugs are obsolete devices and replaced completely by manipulation of computers and digital telephone system is only partly right. The unrestricted logging into the wireless network or installing in the background Trojan programs on the computer is getting more difficult to ensure a risk-free opportunity to spy with successful access to the target. For a rapid purposeful success of an attack, the conventional electronic eavesdropping devices are definitely a good and economical means for acquiring confidential information.
The weak points of the eavesdropping target
The (almost) freely available bug-devices are technically matured, and not comparable with the classic mini transmitter of the past. Modern devices may send discontinuously, data will logged during the session and sent later without being detected.
Thereby the frequency will change by these new devices. Consequently it is more and more difficult to detect “smart-bugs” with conventional methods.
But companies can protect themselves. The first step is to classify data into categories. What sensitive data needs a protection strategy? In addition the involvement of experienced security experts is needed. Also, it is important for a company to sensitize employees, to instruct them about internal Information and security strategy. Only one company-wide security strategy can provide effective protection. From the lowest level of employee to senior management, a company must determine when and who can access what type of information.
To prevent illegal eavesdropping attacks.
It is not only important that experienced security experts are consulted. They company’s employees should be aware of this issue and should be well trained. A company-wide secure-strategy needs to exist so an effective protection is provided.
If a professional eavesdropping company is acting as consultant, this company will check the status-quo and weak points, and will create a strategy against illegal eavesdropping. For example, a special spectrum analyzer can check existence of an illegal transmitter in a room.
Walls, ceilings and floors are checked with monitors or receivers designed to detect bugs. Illegal coupled lines are localized with line analyzers. In order to not disturb regular work, these operations are done usually in the evenings or weekends.
Good Protection with structural, mechanical and electronic security
There are three ways to guarantee unauthorized access to privileged areas of a company or access to sensitive information: Structural, mechanical and electronic security is the way to counteract the attack.
For several years, the installation of a bug proof room in companies may be an essential to protect them from illegal eavesdropping. In such a room, the acoustic and electromagnetic waves are absorbed so it’s not possible to get information outwards.
Architectural Shielding adapt to the existing room architecture.
A good designed architectural shielding system fits perfectly into most facilities.
The term Form Follows Function is a concept guideline with its origin in the field of design and architecture. The shape and composition should be a direct result of its function an application and should adapt to all possible room shapes and configurations. The shielding system allows for all traditional finishing’s of walls, ceilings and floors. The shielded room can be built with the look like an unshielded traditional room. Major component of the architectural shielding is the special material, which eliminates the need for an additional support structure. This room is breathable and allows for conventional floor and wall coverings. The installation is similar to that of normal wallpaper.
Additionally, there is the option to construct new rooms using modular techniques. It is possible to create a complete shielded room with modular panels that are joined like a puzzle. This way, a room of any size can be constructed as a standalone room or as room-in-room configuration. Modularity of this kind of structure allows flexible and fast deployment, adapting to different sizes avoiding the need to construct a traditional room. Additionally, reusability is an advantage in case of future relocation of the room.
Shielded room – Screening attenuation up to 80dB
For the user acceptance, it is extremely important that such a shielded room does not differ from conventional rooms. Installed by specialists, an attenuation of 80 dB, which corresponds to a factor of 10,000 is possible in frequencies range from 30 MHz up to 6.0 GHz.
One main areas of concern is eavesdropping-protected areas. In an office or conference room, the possibilities of illegal eavesdropping are manifold. The critical passive emission arises in all parts of used PC peripherals like video and graphics cards, printer ports, monitors, keyboards and hard drives. The possibility of eavesdropping is given over phone or mini transmitter and the data interface of the mobile phones can transmit data and pictures without logging.
Normal room atmosphere and safety
In these areas, the shielded room may cover the full range of its possibilities, based on the invisible shield of the ceiling, walls and floors with smart detail solutions for windows, doors and media.
This room offers the user a normal room atmosphere and the security of being able to perform confidential conversations in a bug-proof room to protect information. To protect the “spoken word”, an additional acoustic insulation to the electromagnetic shielding system may also be installed.
Labor rooms with electromagnetic shielding
From the research laboratory of an industrial company that develops new products to control rooms in the pharmaceutical industry for long-term studies to test the effectiveness of new medical drugs, there is the need to decouple and to protect these rooms with an electromagnetic shielding system.
For those applications, the interception and reading of sensitive data or information is important, therefore measurements must be done free from external electromagnetic noises to get no miss interpretations of test results.
Due to the unlimited variety of this kind of rooms, including windows, built-in wet rooms, cleanroom requests and media interfaces, a modular individual flexible shielded room is an ideal and suitable solution for these applications.
