Don:
What you describe wasn't a problem, it was an inherent part of the mystique.
It's tough to create a classified program based on common sense, good
engineering principles, techniques originated in EMC and 9 cubic yards of
paranoia.
TEMPEST is all about the control of compromising emanations. But that
"control" isn't totally electromagnetic, there's levels of control that extend
into human factors and physical deception. While it may be true that you could
turn the air blue with noise to try to hide your data, the mere fact that you
are going to such effort can be seen as an indication that you are processing
classified data at that specific location. (And of course, hiding your signal
in noise is a bad gambit, because smart guys with big computers are always
figuring out how to better extract coherency from noise.)
The creation of a closed group of cloistered cognoscenti aids security, but it
also makes correction of false assumptions an interesting problem. Could these
false assumptions have been deliberately promulgated as cover? Who or what
could you harm by simply speaking the truth? And for that matter, just
sounding like you know something about TEMPEST compromises things, as you have
now identified yourself as one of the insiders and made yourself a more
interesting target.
With apologies to Clint, you gotta ask yourself, is all the above signal or
noise? Well, do ya feel lucky?
Ed Price
[email protected] <blocked::mailto:[email protected]> WB6WSN
NARTE Certified EMC Engineer
Electromagnetic Compatibility Lab
Cubic Defense Applications
San Diego, CA USA
858-505-2780
Military & Avionics EMC Is Our Specialty
________________________________
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Don Gies
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 3:58 AM
To: 'Bill Owsley'; [email protected]
Subject: RE: FW: WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND
The problem with us ex-TEMPEST engineers is that we were sworn to
secrecy,
and the Department of Defense made sure we would not talk by going around,
scaring the daylights out of our neighbors by knocking on their doors,
flashing a badge, and asking them personal questions about us when we were
getting our clearances.
Beyond saying that TEMPEST was the control of compromising emanations,
pretty
much everything else in NACSIM 5100 was classified.
Best Regards,
Don Gies, N.C.E
Senior Product Compliance Engineer
Alcatel-Lucent
Murray Hill, NJ 07974-0636 USA
________________________________
From: Bill Owsley [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, July 13, 2009 11:48 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: FW: WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND
Well... TEMPEST as I heard of it, means only intelligible information (none to
be found). The device can interfere such that nothing else works, but as long
as nothing intelligible can be found in that noise, then it's TEMPEST. The
TEMPEST guys can set me straight on this.
As for ITE products, I have had a few that were great at self-detecting. The
EMI noise was such that the audio circuits picked it up and sent it to the
speakers for our listening enjoyment. We got to where the we could recognise
by the audio signiture just which part was the problem.
- Bill
Indecision may or may not be the problem.
-
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