spy listening device Archives - Page 3 of 3

If You’re Asking, “Is My Office Bugged?” You Need to Talk to

If a bad guy has access to your environment, they can plant a bug. The most common way a bad guy gains access to a home or business is through the “service technician ruse.” It isn’t just in the movies, but in real life, too. He dresses as a service technician and says he is there to perform some service. While he is on the premises, he installs the bug. You might be surprised how easy it is for bad guys to do that. Security processes need to be established in every business, because every home and business is vulnerable without them. It’s important to only allow in workers that you have called to come provide a service, for you to see identification and to [...]

Listening Devices Might Not be the Only Threat to Confidential Business Matters

In one of my recent posts, I talked about how we did a Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM) sweep for spy listening devices in the offices of a business. We didn’t find any eavesdropping devices in their offices, but we did determine that one of the other businesses in the building was being bugged. When we conducted the sweep and found nothing, that was a good thing. The business owner knew someone had learned something that was being held confidentially and was concerned. So he took the first logical step in his mind to find out if there were listening devices installed in the areas of the office where sensitive discussions were taking place. Eliminating eavesdropping devices from the options, he could move forward. Automatically people [...]

Who’s Listening? Cell Phone Spying is Here

It might sound like a funny prank to pull on a buddy, but installing cell phone spyware is not a joke – nor is it legal - anywhere in the United States. In fact, the Federal Wiretap Act as part of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (Title All in Investigations) makes it a federal offense punishable by 5 years in a federal prison and the perpetrator could be subject to civil lawsuits as well. If you do an Internet search on cell phone tap, spy, bug, monitor or eavesdrop, you may find hundreds of sites that sell cell phone spyware – and many of them say the equipment is legal. It may be legal in some countries of the world, [...]

With Cellular Forensics, Timing Can Be Everything

Since we are one of only a handful of cell phone forensics labs in the nation, we are considered experts at cell phone forensics here at . Because of that, we get a lot of inquiries about the topic from attorneys, local and federal agencies and from regular citizens. People who suspect that their phone may be a cell phone spy often have an idea who would want to spy on them. So they wait and listen and watch. What they- and you- may not realize is that if a bad guy has put spyware on your phone and thinks you know, he can wipe the software from the phone before you can prove it was there! He can do it remotely and all of [...]

In Cellular Forensics There is a Difference Between Physical and Logical Data

If you suspect that you or one of your clients is the subject of illegal cell phone tracking, you call to complete a full cellular forensics analysis on the phone. Did you realize that we have to look at two different types of data on the phone? We look at the physical data and the logical data. Let me explain the difference. The physical data would things like apps and the actual software that is on the phone. It’s generally data and information that the user doesn’t have a direct connection to like the actual code, the operating system or files in the operating system. It’s all that “stuff” that a developer would create to make programs function. The user doesn’t normally have access to [...]

Cell Phone Forensics – No Judgment, Just Facts

We worked with a woman who called from Seattle. We know she contacted us because we are one of only a few investigative labs who can potentially identify the bad guy when we uncover a cell phone spy. What we didn’t know, was that she was concerned about being embarrassed because some of the details we would discover in the cell phone forensics process. She was afraid we might find something that would put her in what she felt might be a disparaging light. First, the case: The woman was an accounting assistant and she suspected one of the partners in the accounting firm she had formerly worked was stalking her. She suspected it while she was employed there and felt very uncomfortable. She ended [...]

Bug Detection has Evolved, Just Like Planting Bugs Has Changed

Technology has changed just about everything about life, hasn’t it? Well, that pertains to the investigative world, too. In the early 1970s, when did Technical Surveillance and Countermeasures (TSCM) sweeps, we were basically looking for radio room bugs and telephone line taps. Bad guys would generally need to have access to the location to plant eavesdropping devices. Bugs could be planted by a “fake” service technician who comes to handle a service call (that you didn’t make). He would access phone lines and install some sort of surveillance equipment. There were also those who would pick a lock and sneak in to bug a phone or climb a gutter to plant a bug. The equipment we needed to do a bug sweep could be contained [...]

Computer Forensics, Cellular Forensics and Garbology all Can Tell the Truth

Private investigators do more than just ferret out the truth. They tell the truth as objective, disinterested third parties. They are professional witnesses. Often, before litigation is started and a suit filed, we'll be asked to investigate the suspicions that are the basis for the suit. As an impartial third party, we don't have a vested interest in the outcome, which means we seek the truth rather than looking for more fuel to flame the fire of litigation. Here at , we report our findings and observations in that manner, which means we are sometimes subject to 'shoot the messenger' reactions. That happens because sometimes we don't provide what our clients want in order to fulfill their objectives. The results may not be what they [...]

Is Your Surge Protector Housing Eavesdropping Devices?

We worked with an attorney who was convinced that his office, phone, or both were bugged. He was in the middle of a case and the “other side” seemed to know every position, jab and parry he had planned and was prepared to counter him in the courtroom. It was just too much of a coincidence. He was convinced there was some sort of phone tapping or covert surveillance going on in his office. He tried to do some of his own bug detection—looking under his desk, around the windows, pictures and door frames for something, but he found nothing. So he called us. We did a bug sweep and lo, and behold, he was correct. Inside the surge protector power strip at his feet [...]