Declassified Tempest Material Comes Online

D-Fly writes "John Young, who runs the Cryptome repository of cypherpunk documents, has obtained a small batch of declassified documents from the NSA on TEMPEST monitoring-getting computer data through electromagnetic emissions. Young got the stuff declassified through the Freedom of Information Act, and has appealed their denial of the rest of his request. A lot of what he has received so far is appendixes and tables of contents, and addresses testing equipment to prevent TEMPEST emissions. For a comprehensive archive of what is know about Tempest monitoring, check out a clearing house of information.. "

You're confusing high level malice....

You're confusing broadspread high level malice with low level screwups. When you bunker up in some compound, and start shooting at people you can't expect to be perfectly safe. Even if you personally aren't pulling the trigger. Things get hairy. Everyone's life is on the line.

Civil trials are NOT proof of innocence or guilt. It is a proponderance of the evidence, not beyond a shadow of a dobut. Futhermore, its being reviewed by a layman jury who knows nothing of what it is like to be under fire. The question is, what where they looking at?

Any lawyer worth his weight is capable of painting the Feds as being evil, and can then take admissions of shooting to the bank. But just because a single sniper shot an "innocent" (person not happening to be carrying a gun), doesn't even mean he violated protocol. A jury simply isn't qualified to review such cases. Even if he did violate protocol, it doesn't mean he did so maliciously or even particularly recklessly. Nor does it indicicate higher level involvement. Why do you assume his superiors would want an "innocent" person killed? It is just hogwash...

Links as links.

Because I care:

GUID [news.com]

Win98 profiling [techweb.com]

Professor Spokesman [chronicle.com]

Astroturf [latimes.com]

Ads as news [thestandard.net]

Video [wired.com]

got an old 7100? try this

i can see the console on my pmac 7100/80 on channel 4. it only works if the rabbit ear antenna is at the correct angle, otherwise it just looks like high freq interference. just find an old 7100/80, hook up a monitor running at 60hz 640x480, boot up mklinux [mklinux.org], run bitchx or just hit 'a' at the booter to get the bootstrap console. now tune to channel 4 (it might help if you use an old tv) and move the antenna around. you probably won't be able to make out the characters, but you'll at least be able to tell it's the console. btw, i know it's not the monitor or the vga cable leaking the signal cuz i've turned the monitor off and unplugged the video cable and the signal was just as strong. i guess apple didn't ground/shield the case well enough.

Re:This is not that big a deal

Getting all my secrets department"? Uh-huh. More paranoid ravings from the YRO folks. The more YRO read, the less it sounds like a legitimate concern and the more it sounds like the delusions of people who been watching too many "X-Files" episodes. Here's a hint: TV isn't real.

Paranoid rantings? Ok, for the vast majority of the population, who doesn't care what happens to the world as long as they can have a house in the burbs, SUV, 2.5 kids, and no one messes with their bowling night, yes. The NSA has already said in documents released through FOIA, that if you fit into this profile, they're not going to mess with you.

However, the rest of us, who have actually been paying attention to the events of the world, have reason to be nervous. Those of us who have noticed that our rights have been slipping away one by one, those of us who have noticed that the government is wresting control from the people, and those of us who may have been very vocal about their dissatisfaction with having their Constitutional liberties and god-given rights being taken away have a real serious reason to worry. And those of us who have seen the Justice Department kill innocent victims and children at Waco and Ruby Ridge have real reason to be upset.

Granted, the NSA, FBI, CIA, or whatever else government agency is not going to spy on everyone. But if the NSA find reason enough to tap you, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that you will be tapped. What violates national security might interest you. For all I know they could go definately go after ESR next, with all that huge arsenal he has. (HHOS)

Yes there is reason to worry, there is reason to look at the government with a cautious eye. Its people who are completely ignorant who will be the first against the wall when the revolution starts.

Re:This is not that big a deal

However, the rest of us, who have actually been paying attention to the events of the world, have reason to be nervous.

Maybe you do, and maybe you don't. I am not trying to prove that one way or the other. Personally, some of the things the government does do worry me, and I am concerned about them.

But EMSEC isn't one of them. EMSEC is about as much a violation of your rights as strong crypto is. Note: Not restrictions on strong crypto, but the possestion of it. If EMSEC is a threat to my privacy, then so is strong crypto. See my point?

And those of us who have seen the Justice Department kill innocent victims and children at Waco and Ruby Ridge have real reason to be upset.

Right. The entire DOJ decided, "Hey, let's go kill some innocent people. And children! Make sure you go after the children first! They make the best targets!"

Have you ever been in a firefight? Things are not quite so cut-and-dry as you seem to think. When you start getting shot at, you shoot back at any available target. Otherwise, you'll have a bullet in the brain quicker then you can say "Constituional liberties".

The fact of the matter is, the people at Waco were holed up in a compound, in violation of multiple laws, and shooting at people. The police fired back. What do you expect?

I think it is a shame that some of the people in that compound who were just caught up in the whole thing got hurt, but shit happens. You seem to think the police went out of their way to hurt these people. Did it ever occur to you that it was an accident?

<FLAME SETTING=MILD>
To put it bluntly: Get a grip.
</FLAME>

Re:Multiple computers/moniters?

Purely depends on the quality of the monitoring equipment - picking up individual monitors in one room can be done: let me refer to a demonstration done by Frank Jones (CEO of TheCodex [thecodex.com])

"We had no problem viewing computer screens on adjacent floors in the building (we were sometimes hindered by noise) and were able to differentiate (to my surprise) between different computers in a large office. We aimed our device out the window across the street at an adjacent office building and were able to view CRT screens without too much difficulty."

The full article is here [thecodex.com] (scroll down to "WHAT WE WERE ABLE TO CAPTURE...")

Another point lost in the shuffle...

I would like to point out something I thought was more relevant about the link and story, which I'd seen a this morning.

These documents were acquired by people submitting paperwork for the Freedom Of Information Act and acting on their beliefs. We can all sit around and argue about Echelon, or worry about some other terrible conspiracy, but I think that until people really start to hold their government responsible for it's actions, things will continue as before and worse.

Ask 'em for the documents. Make em worry about what to classify. Cause the office that checks for classification issues to overload; after all, classification decisions are pretty high level, and the model doesn't scale well. As the office becomes more clogged with requests for information, either they will mess up and release material they wouldn't have otherwise, or they will get so clogged they can't process all of the information coming in and going out.

Take responsiblity for the destiny afforded you by your government. Alone you are nothing, but in groups you are its greatest enemy.

Microsoft Using Tempest to Check Serial Numbers

There was an interesting sidebar to an article in Scientific American about a year ago describing a technique to hide data on a screen so that the user could not detect it's presence, yet the data could be picked up by Van Eck freaking.

Microsoft was funding a project to use this to put product serial numbers on the screen so they could drive a truck through an office park and pick out software pirates. Honest.

This is not that big a deal

EMSEC (Emissions Security, the name for the security practices the TEMPEST program evolved into) is common practice in the world of Information Assurance today. It mainly consists of buying shielded everythings from certified vendors. IBM is one of them. With simple protections, EMSEC is no problem. Such practices are universal in the military world (even if compliance is not). In the civilian world, as usual, it almost always is not worth the effort.

"Getting all my secrets department"? Uh-huh. More paranoid ravings from the YRO folks. The more YRO I read, the less it sounds like a legitimate concern and the more it sounds like the delusions of people who have been watching too many "X-Files" episodes. Here's a hint: TV isn't real.

Made by humans

Suprisingly enough to me, it would appear as though this was made by humans. For example, the following definition:

3.1.4 (U) Bit Rate. -- A general term used to express the dara transfer rate of binary digital signals.

clearly indicates the spelling error "dara" instead of "data". Well, this proves that, as of 1992, the entire government has not been usurped by artificial or alien intelligence.

However, since 1992, I can make no assurances. Or that dara represents some coset of the coin data, with more specific meaning (or more general meaning), of some purpose I cannot yet surmise.

Re:Microsoft Using Tempest (here's the article)

Here's the article you were talking about:

From www.sciam.com/1998/1298issue/1298techbus4.html

Most computer users would be startled to realize that somebody parked outside their home with the right kind of (very expensive) receiving equipment can read the data that appear on their computer screens. The receiver uses the monitor's radio emanations to reconstruct the screen's contents.

And like a predictable villian from a tired James Bond movie:

The story began, Anderson says, when Microsoft made its $20-million investment in Cambridge's computer science lab and said the company was particularly interested in ways to control software piracy.

Of course Microsoft wouldn't abuse this technology, right? They may sneak the GUID serial number into user's documents, track users' PCs who install Windows 98, pay your college professors to push their products, organize an astroturf campaign to fake support for their DOJ lawsuit, disguise advertisements as news stories, and fake evidence during their DOJ trial, but they're honest, dammit!

Sorry if there are any typos in this, but it's hard to type when you have your head buried in the sand.

GUID: //www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,33413,00.html

Win98 profiling: //www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19990312S0008

Professor Spokesman: /chronicle.com/data/articles.dir/art-44.dir/issue- 33.dir/33a03001.htm

Astroturf: http://www.latimes.com/HOME/NEWS/BUSINESS/UPDATES/ lat_microsoft0410.htm

Ads as news: //www.thestandard.net/articles/display/0,1449,6087 ,00.html?home.bf

Video: //www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/17938.htm l