Protecting A Small Business From Spy Threats

Maybe you've worked hard on a business idea during the pandemic and now you're ready to share it with the world. Doing that will involve a handful of in person meetings and some conference calls with investors. Then, just before you're set to start meeting with investors your best assistant, your right-hand person, quits in a huff and opens the door to corporate espionage out of revenge. How do you make sure they're not about to spy on you during your venture capitalist conversations?

Well, lets look at the two most easiest ways to spy on an office setting:

An audio bug or listening device hidden in the office:

Listening devices are tiny microphones that spy by picking up sounds and either recording them or transmitting them (or both) to a remote receiver. An audio bug can be obscured almost anywhere – under a desk, inside a lamp, keyboard or printer, even tucked into the folds of a curtain. The smaller the spy bug, the more likely it is to be transmitting the recording as the physical space needed to house a memory card make the bug larger and therefore, harder to hide.

A hidden camera or spy camera disguised inside office equipment:

These days hidden cameras can be as small as the head of wood screw. Just like audio bugs, spy cameras can be hidden in an office setting fairly easily, they can even be built into working office electronics like a clock or a fan. And just like listening devices, the smaller they are the more likely they are to be transmitting the recording to an outside receiver.

Now if your ex-employee really wants to put your investment capital at risk they could use either an audio bug or a hidden camera to spy on those meetings and then leak any shielded information to the media. Here's how to stop them:

The fool proof camera finder:

If you're worried about hidden cameras in the office, even one that might have been brought in before your employee quit, then a lens finder like the Spy Finder Pro or LawMate RD-30 is a must have. A lens finder uses infrared light that reflects off the glass of a camera lens, finding it whether or not it's transmitting–whether or not its even powered on.

A multi-band RF detector:

Radio frequency (RF) signals are the invisible layers of electricity any transmitting devices uses to send a signal. Your TV remote produces RF signals as does your cell phone and your car key that alerts your car door to your proximity. Spy cameras and hidden audio bugs emit RF signals as they transmit their subject to a receiver. Usually these kind of devices are going to use a different 'frequency band', or section of the invisible digital landscape, to transmit than your remote or car keys. A multi-band detector like the iProtect DD1206 or 1216 can check for activity on unusual frequencies.

The visual inspection by hand:

No spy detector, camera finder, or bug finder works without the final step of a physical inspection. For example, say the angry ex-employee managed to get a hidden camera into your conference room clock and a listening device stashed in a plant. By using the tools mentioned above you can hone in on highly suspicious locations in your office. Then it's a matter of taking the clock apart and looking for a tiny bug that may be behind a dark part of the clock face, or going leaf by leaf on the plant looking for something that is not made of bark and foliage.

Long term solutions:

Fortunately, by being vigilant and using these detection tools, you managed to avoid some corporate espionage this time. But for long term, as your business grows and you have more front market products, it will be time to invest in real TSCM protection. Some companies employ loss management specialists that sweep conference rooms and offices regularly for potential spy threats. However investing in a real-time spectrum-analyzer like the Delta X G2/6 is a good solution for businesses that are not ready to expand their workforce into TSCM professionals. There is no formal training needed to understand the frequency spectrum. The Delta X can be easily carried from space to space, it will build a 'frequency library' for your space and then alert you to any new frequency transmitting outside its cataloged signals.

Protecting your business and investors against spy threats in part of a successful entrepreneur's job. With a multi-prong approach to surveillance detection you can keep your profits – and your privacy –high for years to come.