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Tolmes News Service 08
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# <Tolmes News Service> #
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# > Written by Dr. Hugo P. Tolmes < #
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Issue Number: 08
Release Date: November 19, 1987
This issue of Tolmes News Service will include articles on the following
subjects:
- Iverson Technology
- Bugging
- A Urine Hotline
- CLASS
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TITLE: Keeping Top Secrets Inside the Computer
FROM: Business Week
DATE: May 25, 1987
The disclosure of security problems at the U.S. embassy in Moscow
may be an embarrassment to Washington, but Donald D. Iverson says it's been a
bonanza for him. As president of Iverson Technology Corp., his
speciality is computer security for the federal government and its contractors.
Iverson's company installs a variety of shields, such as lead linings, on
personal computers, cables, and other devices. The purpose: to prevent the
equipment from emitting electromagnetic signals that could be picked up and
decoded by high-tech spies.
Iverson, a large, lumbering man who drives a red pickup truck, seems
out of place in a James Bonds world. A self-described farm boy, Iverson, 54,
did a stint as an International Business Machines Corp. salesman before
running a string of computer-related businesses. In 1981 he recognized the
opportunity in his current field.
Iverson deals in a shadowy world where most bids aren't publicized, where
his company doesn't always known exactly where the equipment is going, and
where people who don't want to identify themselves call in from all parts of
the world. Appropriately, the company is just down the street from the
Central Intelligence Agency in Mclean, Va., and numbers several former CIA
officials in its ranks. There is also a laboratory facility in Clearwater, Fla.
Iverson, a gruff but talkative, clams up when the subject gets sensitive.
Asked if he has modified computers in the White House, he answers: "Just say
the government."
GROWING FORTUNE
Iverson's market is limited but plush. The company's 500 or so customers
are governments and certified contractors working for the governments of the
U.S., NATO countries, Australia, and New Zealand. but when computers are
converted to customers' specifications, their value is approximately doubled.
And Iverson't profits have also doubled annually, on average over the past
three years, hitting $2.2 million on sales of $23 million last year.
There's plenty of opportunity left in computer shielding, a market that
analyst Alan Ackerman of Gruntal & Co. estimates will grow by 30% a year. But
Iverson is diversifying into other areas. His latest: a hard disk drive
that can be removed and l what we're all
about," he says. "We're going from becoming a small company to a
medium-size company."
For Iverson, that could mean going from a small fortune to a medium-size
one. He and his children own 57.6% of the company. that share is worth $32
million, thanks to the stock's threefold rise since the company went
public in 1985. Iverson syas his newfound wealth hasn't changed him, though.
He keeps a stretch Cadillac in his parking space, but that's only for
driving his soccer team to games, he says. As intriguing as Iverson's
cloak-and-dagger business may be to outsiders, he says his greatest
satisfaction still comes from coaching kids.
By Maria E. Recio in McLean
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NOTA:
Iverson Technology is one of the major contractors for Operation TEMPEST.
They get a lot of business from government security agencies. As
expressed in the article, their major business comes from protecting computers
from radio-emission espionage.
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TITLE: Bugging
FROM: Popular Science
DATE: August 1987
Nobody wants to talk about bugs. The Central Intelligence Agency and the
National Security Agency refused to be interviewed. Private companies were
also wary; several prospective sources hung up when they learned why we were
calling. Most manufacturers of bugs make it clear that they will not talk
for publication.
For example, Intelligence Devices Corp. of Fairfield, N.J. advertises 100
different pieces of security equipment. The ad begins: "We supply the most
sophisticated electronic intelligence devices availiable to law enforcement,
but law prohibits us from discussing our products in detail without the
proper written requests... Complete and detailed product information is
availiable only to authorized agencies upon written request on departmental
letterhead."
Despite such problems, we were able to dig out some surprising facts.
Among them:
* Bugs can be made almost any size. The smallest we actually saw was
the one pictured on the cover. It is a tiny electret microphone just 3/16 inch
across at its largest dimension. The security expert who gave it to us
wouldn't say where he got it.
* Bugs are widely availiable. Tiny ones undoubtedly used in industrial
espionage can be bought openly in some European and Asian cities, though
they're illegal there as here. Easily availiable even here, however, are
wireless microphones smaller than a cigarette pack. The have legitimate
uses, but also can be used for bugging.
* Sensitive information in computers is easy to steal;a $500
device can tune in on any unprotected computer at ranges of perhaps a mile
and reproduce anything appearing on the computer's screen. A British expert
recently gave a demonstration that left computer users in a state of shock. --
The variety is endless.
Picking up the handset supplies telephone line voltage to the bug which
then transmits anything said in a nearby receiver.
"We once got a call from a guy who everytime he picked up the telephone
his television went blurry," said Muessel. "We never found what that
meant because he didn't hire us. But there was probably a transmitter
planted inside his phone."
Similar bugs can be designed to send out signals all the time- even when th
e telephone is thought to be inoperative.
"Wires are often put in telephones for nonexistent intercoms or speaker pho
nes," says Manson. "So there is a spare pair of wires."
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NOTA:
This article actually went on for several pages. I only printed certain
parts that were telecom related. The $500 device described is exactly what
Operation TEMPEST is meant to destroy. That $500 device can easily allow any
person in the vicinity to steal information from a computer. Naturally,
the device could threaten national security... thus comes Operation TEMPEST
and all of the radio-emission shielding.
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TITLE: Urine Hot-Line
FROM: Omni
DATE: August 1987
You say that you've recently indulged in a little controlled
substance, and you're worried about that upcoming urinalysis at your job?
Well, for two bucks plus toll charges, San Diego's Question Authority has
some help for you: a hot line that gives cogent clues as to how to beat
the urine test. A brief, tape-recorded message tells you how long various
drugs stay in the system and how to disguise the telltale traces in your
urine- even while the doctor is watching. Question Authority's W. Evan
Sloane calls it "the first political use of hot-line technology." Since its
inauguration late last year, he says, the line has had callers from all over
the country- "typically," he reports, "young couples in their mid-thirties
who don't want to lose their jobs just because they smoke a little
marijuana."- Bill Lawren
Access: Dial (619)976-TEST
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NOTA:
It seems that just about anyone can get a hotline. This hotline has been
getting a great amount of calls. The easiest way to ruin a urinalysis is to
pour some vinegar in it.
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TITLE: Innovation? Just Hold the Phone!
FROM: The Chicago Tribune
DATE:
Charles Clifford probably would have been worried anyway when his phone
rang recently at 3 a.m. only to have someone hang up before he could answer.
But a recent rash of burglaries in his neighborhood made the Nantez, Miss.
pharmacist even more nervous.
"It made me wonder whether someone was casing me, trying to see if we were
home," Clifford says. So Clifford put his fears to rest. He pressed "99".
Because of an experimental service that South Central Bell and others
offer, he called back the last party that called him, even though he didn't
know who it was.
"When the guy picked up, I just said 'Donmy house
again at 3 a.m. and hang up.'" Clifford recalls. "I could tell by his voice
that I really startled him. He just said 'Believe me, I will never do that
again.'"
Clifford's revenge illustrates a quiet revolution in the telecommunications
business. Phones are getting smarter. They can remember your best friend's
number while automatically screening calls from your mother in law, let you
know who is calling before you pick up the receiver, keep trying to get
through a busy signal while you attend to something else or call a number on
your mere say-so without your even touching the dial. If Alexander Graham
Bell's Watson was startled to hear he was wanted in the other room, phones
today would flabbegast him. "Two important events have influenced phone
technology," says Christopher Jackson, a telecommunications analyst with the
Yankee Group, a Boston research organization. "Before the breakup of
the Bell System, there really wasn't much difference in the phones. They
[Bell] decided to spend money on the network and treat the phones as a
conduit to the consumers. Once the phone business was spun off, a lot more
imagination and money was invested in turning the telephone into a profit
center itself."
That means two forces are working to improve telephone technology.
Because they sell the phones themselves, some local service companies
are introducing features they hope will provide new profit sources. Meanwhile,
companies that manufacture the phones are designing features they hope will
entice consumers to choose their products from the dizzying number of
competitors.
"The second thing is the way telephones are built," Jackson says.
"The Bell telephone was basically a piece of machineray with moving parts
inside. Today they're built electronically with integrated circuits
and chips. That has made it much easier to make telephones intelligent." For
example, the chip that enables you to call back the last number you dialed by
pressing only one button costs about 25 cents which explains why that more
popular feature appears on even the most inexpensive phones. Several
companies, including Indiana Bell and Pennsylvainia Bell are experimenting
with far more sophisticated services than one touch redial services that
enable you to call back the last party that called you, alter the ring in
certain ways to tip you off about who is calling before you pick up the
receiver and screen certain calls while letting others through.
Two of South Central Bell's most popular experimental features are "call
return" and "repeat dialing". They essentially work the same way. First
you press the asterisk and then a special two number code. Call return
can reopen the last telephone line into your phone. By pressing the proper code
for repeat dialing the phone will continue dialing the last number called
until it gets a ring. Then your phone also rings, alerting you that the call
is going through. A related service is call tracing. Customers can initiate a
trace on annoying calls. You won't be able to learn the identity the phone compa
ny representatives will confront the
party, or in the case of abusive calls, they will alert the police. Another
experimental service, distinctive alert, enables you to know who is
calling without picking up the phone. You program up to 10 telephone numbers
into your phone. Any incoming call from one of theses numbers will cause the
phone to ring in a different fashion. You could let the office call ring
indefinitely while never missing that hot tip from your bookie. For the more
daring, there's selective call rejection. This allows you to program
as many as six numbers-people you really don't want to hear from-into the
phone. Instead of ringing in your home, incoming calls from these numbers will
automatically trigger a recording that says, "sorry, the party will not accept
your call." Several phone companies have offered call forwarding, in which
calls to your home are directed to another number.
Some companies are experimenting with selective call forwarding that
enables you to program as many as six numbers to be forwarded to a third
party, while all other calls come through. Just how profitable these
services are is something the phone companies want to find out before
committing themselves systemwide. Some companies are considering charging
customers each time they use one of the features. Other companies are
considering charging a flat fee of $2 to $5 a month per service, as they do
for basic phone service.
But how widespread these services will become is unclear. Only a handful
if companies are testing them in a limited way. Michigan Bell is
considering trying four of the enhanced features: repeat dialing, auto recall
that dials the last incoming call, distinctive ringing and selective call
forwarding. The company intends to file for permission with the Michigan Public
Service Commission next year to launch those services. But it could be several
years before Michigan Bell gets apporval.
Even the companies that are experimenting with the new services are
doing so in only limited ways. South Central Bell, for example, covers
Alabama, Missisipi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Kentucky, but is only
testing its enhanced services in Natchez, a town of only 20,000 people.
"We're interested in expanding the service as the technology is
availiable." says company representative Cathye MacDonald.
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NOTA:
This article goes on for about 5 more paragraphs. The rest of the things that
are discussed: special phones that hold numbers, speech-synthesis dialers,
voice dialers.. and from one paragraph about ESS: "The next big jump in smart
phones may come when the phone companies completely go digital." The
rest of the article talks about personal computers sending data at
higher speeds, electronic banking, Pacific Bell offering bulletin boards,
and using the phone to monitor utility use. The main part of the article
describes CLASS or LASS. Experimental systems such as the one described have
been expanded to more are$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
