Bugging the buggers: how to stay one step ahead

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BBC News Online Magazine


Following revelations about bugging at the United Nations, is there any way of ensuring that your private conversations stay that way?
News that Kofi Annan and other senior UN figures may have been routinely bugged by US or British security services has caused a huge political row around the world. But it will also have caused alarm among other people in the public eye who deal with sensitive information - or anyone, indeed, who values their privacy. If the secretary general of the United Nations cannot prevent his private conversations from being listened to by all and sundry, who can? It seems if someone wants to listen to what you are saying badly enough, there is very little you can do to stop it. "Technological advances, particularly in the fields of power supply and miniaturisation, mean that its now possible to bug almost anywhere and anything," says Charles Shoebridge, a former counter-terrorism intelligence officer.

"Similar advances have enormously improved anti-bugging capabilities too, and an enormous effort has gone into making communications secure - particularly those of governments and even large commercial organisations. "However, if security is absolutely critical, it will always pay to assume that a conversation is at least capable of being monitored." According to security experts, the most common listening device remains the electronic bug. But government agencies such as the CIA and MI5 have far more advanced systems at their disposal. Powerful uni-directional microphones can pick up conversations through open windows. If the window is closed, radio waves or a laser beam can be bounced off the glass. The vibrations detected can be translated into speech. But potentially the most powerful tool for the modern spy is the mobile phone.

Mobiles that double as listening devices can be bought over the internet. But today's spies are also able to convert conventional phones into bugs without the owners' knowledge. Experts believe this is the most likely method used to gather information in the UN building. Mobiles communicate with their base station on a frequency separate from the one used for talking. If you have details of the frequencies and encryption codes being used you can listen in to what is being said in the immediate vicinity of any phone in the network.

According to some reports, intelligence services do not even need to obtain permission from the networks to get their hands on the codes. So provided it is switched on, a mobile sitting on the desk of a politician or businessman can act as a powerful, undetectable bug. The technology also exists to convert land line telephones into covert listening devices. According to one security expert, telephone systems are often fitted with "back doors" enabling them to be activated at a later date to pick up sounds even when the receiver is down.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3522137.stm