Comparison
We understand how difficult it can be to compare countermeasures firms. For this reason we have developed this guide to assist you in determining what company is best equipped, trained, and experienced to perform a thorough electronic countermeasures inspection. By performing a small amount of research and asking the few questions you will have the information you need to select a countermeasures inspection team that will give you more than a false sense of security.
- Obtain the name of the person who will be performing the inspection. If the inspection will take place in Arizona or the company performing the inspection is from Arizona, Call DPS at 602-223-2361, and verify the person is a currently licensed Private Investigator and their company is also currently licensed and in good standing. Although being a private investigator does not qualify someone to perform tscm (eavesdropping Detection) work, having a PI license will verify the person does not have a criminal background. You can also ask DPS if there is a history of complaints against the person or company you are retaining to perform the inspection.
- Have the person who will be performing the inspection fax you their training certificates from classes they have completed. Make sure they have recent training from a TSCM specific school. We have a list of legitimate schools below. If you want to protect yourself even more, you can call the school to verify the individual did indeed attend their school.
- Beware of those that claim they are "certified". If they are using this language in their advertising, find out who they are certified by and have them provide you with the phone number and name of the organization that certified them. Call the organization and find out how one obtains the certification. There are no legitimate organizations the certify you as a TSCM expert that we are currently aware of. There are however training organizations that will certify you on a certain piece of equipment or certify that you completed a training class or program.
- Beware of those that will claim their training was obtained in the military, police, FBI, etc if they are unable to provide you with their training certificates or proof of their training. If they are able to provide you with the certificates, make sure it mentions TSCM specifically and the training was fairly recent (last 1-4yrs). If the government training was not recent, make sure it was backed up by recent civilian tscm training.
- When the person or team arrives for the inspection, ask to see the Private Investigator ID card from the person who provided you their credentials in order to verify the name matches the person who completed the training. All Arizona licensed PI's are issued ID cards from DPS and they will have no problem showing it to you upon request.
Many companies offer countermeasures inspections, but very few of them are adequately trained, experienced and equipped to perform anything above an extremely basic inspection. In Arizona, there is no licensing requirements to perform TSCM work. This has resulted in many companies advertising eavesdropping inspections who have very little training or the proper equipment needed to perform the inspections.
To illustrate this point, we posed as a potential client and called three companies that advertised countermeasures sweeps in the greater Phoenix area and asked them a simple question of what frequencies they cover during the inspection. Two of them did not know and the third stated that they cover all of the frequencies (a lie). This question is a very basic one, and companies that cannot answer it have no business advertising countermeasures inspections. Knowing what range of frequencies your equipment can analyze will determine if your equipment can detect transmitters in that range. The more limited the range, the more limited your equipment is in detecting active transmitters. A professional TSCM team will cover to at least to 6Ghz for a medium or high threat level sweep. We have included this information on our page not to put down the companies, but to illustrate the importance of knowing the experience and capabilities of the company that you may choose to protect your communications. Although all three companies were very knowledgeable about what they charge for the sweeps, their inability to answer the frequency coverage question illustrates the fact that there are many companies offering this type of service that have little to no training.
We feel confident that after you perform some research and ask the proper questions, our agency will be at the top of the list when you take into consideration the equipment, training, experience, and cost.
Equipment
Although most countermeasures teams will bring cases of tools and equipment with them, the following three pieces of equipment are utilized by most professional TSCM teams.
1. Spectrum Analyzer
A spectrum analyzer is used to analyze the electro-magnetic spectrum to determine if there are any transmitters that are currently transmitting from the premises under inspection. At a minimum for a low-threat inspection, the spectrum analyzer should be capable of analyzing frequencies from 1Mhz up to 2.5Ghz (2500Mhz). The spectrum analyzers we use are capable of searching from below 1Mhz up to 21Ghz and above upon request. You may find that many firms have equipment that can only reach around 3GHZ. Although this may be adequate for some low level sweeps, there are now video and audio transmitters on the public market that transmit at 5.8Ghz.
2. Non Linear Junction Detector (NLJD)
A NLJD can be used to locate transmitters, tape recorders, phone taps and video cameras. The NLJD can detect these devices whether they are operating or not. The NLJD works by detecting the electronic components that are within the bugging device. The use of a NLJD is important because some bugging devices can be activated by remote control or by a timing device and may not be operating at the time of the sweep. Due to the cost of a NLJD, and the time it takes to use one correctly, many firms do not use them. The most popular models are the ORION, the Boomerang, and the Super-broom, we use the ORION.
3. Time Domain Reflectometer (TDR)
The TDR is used to analyze phone lines for tapping devices. The TDR is able to send a pulse of energy down a phone line and can determine if there are any devices such as taps attached to the phone line. The TDR that we us is able to test phone cables up to 80 miles.
Training
A sweep team may have all of the right equipment, but without proper training & experience, all that they will provide you with is a false sense of security. A professional Countermeasures team should have current training from at least one of the following civilian schools:
- Technical Security Agency
- Research-Electronics International
- Jarvis International
- Information Security Associates (Has not offered classes for the past 4 years)
- TSCM Services (South Africa)
- Audiotel International
- Shearwater ECM
The training should also be recent, most qualified TSCM technicians will go through TSCM courses at least every 2-3 years to remain current on new techniques and threats. All true professionals in the TSCM field will have continued verifiable education in TSCM industry.
The team should be bonded and insured for your protection. Most recognized countermeasures firms will also belong to a professional security or countermeasures organization. These associations may include :
American Society for Industrial Security
Business Espionage Controls & Countermeasures Association
Espionage Research Institute
Cost
The price to perform a countermeasures inspection should be looked at very closely. Most companies will charge by the square footage, number of phone lines, number of offices (if a commercial location), and number of phone sets to be inspected. One should also ask if there are any hidden charges or extra inspection fees. This is very important because some companies will quote an initial low price, but then add on charges for inspecting phone outlets or power outlets.
A quote about pricing :
"It is unwise to pay too much, but it is worse to pay too little! When you pay too much, you lose a little money...that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.
The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot...it just can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run. And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better! "
John Ruskin (1819-1900)
| Questions | Others | US |
| 1. Will a Spectrum Analyzer be used during the sweep? | ? | Yes |
| 2. What Frequencies will be covered during the sweep? | ? | .1Mhz (Megahertz) to 21+Ghz(Gigahertz) |
| 3. Will a NLJD (Non-Linear Junction Detector) be used? | ? | Yes |
| 4. Will they use a Thermal Imager System? | ? | Yes |
| 5. Do they use an X-Ray system that will save images for use in comparisons during future inspections? | ? | Yes |
| 6. Do they use a TDR (Time Domain Reflectometer) ? | ? | Yes |
| 7. Do they have current training from recognized TSCM school(s)? What School(s)? When? Have the company fax or email you certificates of completion from the schools they attended. | ? | Yes Last Training Completed in 2008 Certificates available upon request. |
| 8. Will they provide a written report upon completion of the inspection | ? | Yes |
| 9. Are they licensed, bonded, and insured? | ? | Yes |
You may also want to ask them what brands of equipment they are using for questions 1, 3 and 4 & 5. If they cannot tell you, I would not recommend using the company. If the company has their own tscm specialist that they bring in, ask them to have the specialist call you so you can speak to the person directly who will be conducting the inspection.