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TEMPEST

Presented by,
REJIN R
S7-IT
Roll no:36
MOTIVATION
á We are now at a drastic world of terrorism activities. And recently
our nation has also been a victim of it.

á National security Agency(NSA) Of USA developed a secret project


to spy upon the terrorist activities across the globe. Leaving the
technology ahead of the any traditional method of interception .

á We, Engineers should be aware of what there is today. So that we can


contribute better than today.
INTRODUCTION
Ä The 9/11 attack had made USA aware of the need of improvements
in Electronic surveillance system all over the world.
Ä Lead them to think ahead of traditional interception methods.
Ä New contribution to the electronic surveillance techniques-
ë ë
Ä Interception of EMP(Electro Magnetic Pulses).
Ä Reconstruction of data ,by observing EMP emitted from data
processing equipments.
Ä We are at the world of information warfare.
Ä Today¶s deficiencies are tomorrow¶s technology.
ELECTRONIC
SURVEILLANCE
á Defn:³Observing or listening to persons, places, or activities²
usually in a secretive or unobtrusive manner²with the aid of

 

such as 
 
 

 
 

  ëëë
á Most popular forms of Electronic surveillance
1. Wire tapping(Eaves dropping)
2. Closed circuit televisions(CCTV)
3. Mobile communications interception
4. Satellite communication interception
5. Packet sniffing on networks
6. Electromagnetic wave capturing (Tempest)
á ë Transient Electromagnetic Pulse Emanation
Standard

á Investigations and studies of   




Ä    Unintentiorial


intelligence-bearing signals which, if intercepted and
analyzed, disclose the national security information
transmitted, received, handled or otherwise processed by
any information-processing equipment.´
Tempest Purpose
á Introduce standards that would reduce the
chances of ³leakage´ on devices used to:
± ë 
,   , or  
Sensitive Information
‡ Designing TEMPEST reduced level computers and
peripherals (printers, scanners, tape drives, mice, etc.)

‡ Shielding the device (or sometimes a room or entire building)


with copper or other conductive materials.

‡ Active measures for ³Jamming´ electromagnetic signals.


Need For Electromagnetic
Interception
á Terrorist activities now a days not concentrated with
telephone communications.So wire tapping is also not an
efficient countermeasure.

á Satellite communication interception is also much


tedious.

á Sniffing through networks can only reveal datas when


connected to public networks.
PROJECT TEMPEST
á The secret project Developed by p! (p  
"  #!
 #$
%!and allies(UKUSA)

á Technology for intercepting the electromagnetic waves over the air

á Can capture the signals through the walls of computer screens and
keystrokes of key board even the computer is not connected to a
network.

á Enable us to reproduce anything from a monitor of computer to the


Hard Disks including the Memory (RAM)
PROJECT TEMPEST (Cont««.)

á Main theory :any electronic or electrical devices emit


Electromagnetic Radiations with specific keys when operated.
á Powerful equipments and the powerful filtering methods to correct
the errors while transmission from the equipment.
á 2
$ë  &
1. VDU(Visual Display Units.)
2. RS-232 cables and Telephone lines
3. Keyboard controllers
4. Snooping on CPUs that execute known algorithms
5. ATM snooping
6. Power and ground connections(Line Conduction)
á Types of Information hidden in leaking emissions and treatment of
Information leakage
Electromagnetic Radiations from
VDU:An Eavesdroping Risk?
á ´Acceleration of electric charges results in the generation
of Electromagnetic field´- (Maxwell¶s theorem)
á Electronic equipments generates 

 

$


to Radio and Television reception.

á PRINCIPLES OF VIDEO DISPLAY

m Moving picture = 24 frames(European standard)being displayed /sec.


m Controlling the voltage applied b/w cathode and anode.
m Each picture consists of a number of horizontal lines.
m Synchronization signals.
VDU functional diagram

CRT block diagram


Simplified block diagram of a TV receiver
Electromagnetic Eavesdropping
á Knowledge of Synchronization signals=>effective reconstruction of
VDU display.

Ä Methods
1. External oscillator solution.
2. Recovery from the received signal

á Simple measuring setup


Normal TV receiver should be only used as measuring instrument.
Measurement set-up
Eavesdropping set-up using a variable oscillator and a frequency
divider to restore synchronization. The picture on the TV is
picked up from the radiation of the VDU in the background.
Counter Measures for VDU
Eavesdropping

1. Decrease Radiation Level

2. Increase Noise Level

3. Cryptographic Display
Applications of TEMPEST
á Efficient Domestic surveillance technique for
Capturing terrorist communication.

á Smart card PIN retry limit defeated.

á ATM sniffing
TEMPEST disadvantages
á Requires:
± High level of expertise and equipment to
decode captured waves
± Proximity to the target
± Long collection time
á Processing device: around $250,000
á Privacy become a forbidden dream.
Protection from TEMPEST
attacks
á TEMPEST testing and selection of appropriate devices
á TEMPEST Fonts(Soft TEMPEST)
á TEMPEST Proof walls
á TEMPEST Jamming

m TEMPEST Proof walls are the most effective one


TEMPEST Font
(Soft TEMPEST)

The text on the left is displayed with a conventional font, while the text on the right has been
filtered to remove the top 30% of the horizontal frequency spectrum. The graphics in the
upper row show the pixel luminosities, while below there are magnified screen photographs
of a 21´5 mm text area. While the user can see practically no difference between the fonts,
the filtered text disappears from the eavesdropping monitor while the normal text can be
received clearly.
CONCLUSION

á EM Emanations are a security risk.

á Tempest is the technology for spying from electronic


equipments with out any physical contact.

á Privacy of people is forbidden dream.

á Our nation should also initiate such electronic


surveillance methods for spying on terrorism.

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