[iwar] [fc:Israeli.Device.Detects.Cell.Phones.Acting.as.Bugs]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2002-06-11 06:07:48
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2002 06:07:48 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [iwar] [fc:Israeli.Device.Detects.Cell.Phones.Acting.as.Bugs]
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Israeli Device Detects Cell Phones Acting as Bugs 
Mon Jun 10,10:15 PM ET 
By Albert Robinson 
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Imagine your company is holding secret talks to buy
another firm when your main competitor suddenly snaps it up from under your
nose, apparently aware of all the details of the negotiations. 
While you instigate a widespread investigation, the culprit could be nothing
more sinister than a cell phone "accidentally" left in the corner of the
room, placed in a plant pot or taped under the boardroom table. 
With a slight modification, cell phones become high-quality bugs. An owner
can call the phone from anywhere in the world without it emitting a ringing
tone while its screen remains blank, apparently turned off. 
"The beauty of the cell phone as a bug is that it's an innocent looking and
ubiquitous object," said Ben Te'eni, co-founder of Netline Communications
Technologies, which has developed a device for detecting cell phone
communications, especially from cell phones in apparently dormant mode. 
"People trust cell phones, but modified and left in idle mode the cell phone
can be used as a transmitter for up to a week. If it's connected to a power
supply it can provide endless intelligence. Professional bugsweepers will
ignore the cell phone frequency since the phones are so common and not
suspicious." 
The drawback for cell phones and what enables Netline to catch them out,
however, is that they periodically transmit a signal to their base station.
With Netline's small Cellular Activity Analyzer (CAA) device left in a
boardroom before or during crucial meetings, cell phone activity is detected
and recorded with a visual and audio warning emitted. 
"I can leave the CAA in the office before important meetings and it will
tell me if there's a cell phone in the room," Te'eni said. "I can also leave
it in the room overnight or for a number of days (after a meeting) to see if
a bug has been left behind." 
INTELLIGENCE BACKGROUND 
Like many Israeli high-tech company heads in the telecoms sector,
33-year-old Te'eni and his co-founder Gil Israeli, 34, are graduates of an
army intelligence unit. Te'eni was unwilling to elaborate on his army
service or Netline's client list. 
Having worked for state-owned Israel Aircraft Industries after leaving the
army, the pair decided to branch out on their own and set up Netline in
1998. 
Their first product was a jamming device which prevents cell phone calls in
chosen areas of a building or in the open air, which Te'eni said has been
sold to defense agencies of "blue chip governments" around the world. 
"The jammer can be used by bomb squads or VIP security services to prevent
the detonation of bombs by cell phones," Te'eni said. 
"We have also sold to prisons because top criminals are known to continue
their operations or coordinate testimony using smuggled-in cell phones. In
Brazil, riots were synchronised in five prisons using cell phones and in
Paris a prisoner escape was coordinated using cell phones." 
Te'eni compared the innocent-looking and simple cell phone with the
cardboard cutters used by hijackers of the planes used in the September 11
attacks in the United States. 
Both have non-lethal and everyday uses that are positive, but can also make
life easier for criminals. 
"A phone can remotely activate a bomb or be used for tactical communications
such as a terrorist act, bank robbery, hostage situation or kidnapping,"
Te'eni said. "There are so many negative ways for using cell phones which is
why the ability to jam them is crucial." 
PASSIVE MARKETING 
Describing Netline's marketing as "passive" -- "customers come to us rather
than us going to them" -- Te'eni said much of the firm's sales were from
word-of-mouth recommendations. 
"There are many security consultants and they know how to find us," he said
cryptically, adding that Netline had sales last year of $1 million-$2
million. 
As for the future, Te'eni said Netline, like many technology firms in the
current global slump, was not "dreaming big dreams" but looking for steady
growth as security officers become more open to questioning long-standing
operational methods following the September 11 attacks on the United States.

"We want to find foreign strategic partners for selling our solutions
worldwide to defense and espionage agencies. Security people are
second-guessing themselves all the time now so the future looks good,"
Te'eni added. 

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