Krakula is right,

there is very high, technically advanced cottage industry growing
around ways to evesdrop on computers from distance. And people have
found ways to decode the blinking LED lights on a router panel, ways
to evesdrop on the RF coming off a computer monitor such that it is
possible to completely recreate what is on a computer monitor in
another room.

I'm not a paranoia wonk, and this kind of stuff is no where near ready
for the average consumer. Nor is the technology used to spy on the
average person. You can head over to http://www.slashdot.org and
search their discussion archives for these topics, and you'll be
surprised at the techincal discussions that revolve around these
topics.

hth,
jeff


On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 16:18:18 -0800, Dr. Anton.T. Squeegee
wrote:

In article ,
says...

actually computers and associated equipment can be " easily "
eavesdropped upon ..and a HUGE worldwide industry is based
upon this process. the obvious ways of tapping LAN , WANs, and
telco equipment is one way ... BUT RF and IR ( from pannel mounted
LEDS are other less well know ways.

How, pray tell, is a panel-mounted LED, tied directly to the DC
power output of a power supply, going to emit anything useful?

Also, you didn't read my orginal post far enough. It IS very
possible to eavesdrop on LAN traffic across copper cables via their
emissions. It's just that the equipment it takes to reliably do so, from
any reasonable distance in situations where you do NOT have access to a
direct connection, is well out of the realm of tools that the
'consumer' can easily get (or know how to use).

the most common ways to eavesdrop on computers via RF or IR are to
listen to the immensely powerful raster scan from a computer CRT.

...A method which I'm in doubt even works. Even if there is
something to it, I'll bet it doesn't work with flat-panel displays,
which barely emit anything at all outside of their shielding.

these can be eavesdropped upon from several blocks away with
with a directional antenna. also , optical eavesdropping on pannel
mounted LEDS ( like on a router or other mainframe items ) is another
choice. ( see one through a window !! )

Then I suppose I should be grateful I have obscured glass in the
garage. ;-)

" war driving " has been a popular computer eavesdropping and hacking
hobby for some time ... and it isn't even illegal yet. but many

And it can be easily defeated by implementing basic security
measures on the wireless network. Try again?