Bug Sweeps
Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM)
We have decades of experience in TSCM. We use a suite of industry gold standard equipment with overlapping capabilities, manufactured by companies including REI USA, QCC Global, JJN Digital and FLIR, to sweep offices, homes, vehicles, boats and aircraft, for sophisticated illicit eavesdropping and tracking devices. For digital device security we partner with specialist colleagues on a case by case basis to mitigate the evolving threats posed by Pegasus and Chrysaor-type spyware. When needed, we can deploy an emergency sweep team within hours, but providing us with good notice will enable us to better understand the suspected threat and case dynamics, to serve you with the best team for the job.
Walls Have Ears
An Ultra-High Net Worth CEO suspected a former aide had secretly passed commercially and personally sensitive confidential information to a competitor. The aide had been given access to almost every sector of the client’s life, including the construction of their office in a European city centre. Informed Outcomes conducted a lengthy investigation into the individual and identified among the aide’s contacts a significant employee of the suspected competitor. Research into the employee led to the identification, in an adjacent street, of a serviced office they were renting.
A TSCM bug sweep of our client’s office identified a threat signal on a short range frequency whenever conversations took place in the CEO’s office. The signal was faint and no transmitting device could be found within the office. Multi-facet analysis of the telephone and broadband system revealed no unauthorised devices were connected and no unexpected data or audio carriage. However, a wired covert microphone was discovered hidden within one of the electrical power sockets. Tracing the microphone’s wire would have involved ripping walls apart. But an examination of the rear of the property identified a roof-level small electrical box, with a short wire antenna. Tests outside the building detected the same threat signal observed inside. But outside the signal was much stronger. Further near-field tests revealed the signal was coming from the box and was of sufficient strength to reliably reach a receiver inside the suspected threat actor’s rented office.
Overt countermeasures were deployed to neutralise the threat.
Relationship Baggage
An Ultra-High Net Worth businesswoman thought she had been placed under physical surveillance by a jealous ex-partner, who frequently seemed to know where she was when she was travelling on business or pleasure. The troublesome ex-partner would ask her why she had been to certain places and when she asked how he knew she had been there, he would reply that she had been “seen” by people he knew who knew her. He claimed sightings at hotels, airports, railway stations, taxi ranks, roads and car parks. Based on previous experience, we were suspicious about the accuracy of some of his sightings and why he had made no mention of other places our client had been.
A TSCM sweep of her car was clear. However, when we swept her home, hidden in the lining of a suitcase, we found a Chinese manufactured AirTag-type device, which could connect to her iPhone to send its location to the ex-partner without alerting our client that it was “following” her, which an Apple AirTag will do. The device could also not be forced to chime. Against our advice, our client did not report the matter to the police. However, she did allow us to take possession of the tracker.
We transferred the spy device to live out its battery life in a very secure environment where its location could be seen by the threat actor, who could then make an informed decision as to whether he wanted to present himself to reclaim it.
