TEMPEST laptops

Trei, Peter ptrei at securitydynamics.com
Mon Nov 2 07:37:09 PST 1998





> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Lucky Green [SMTP:shamrock at cypherpunks.to]
> Sent:	Sunday, November 01, 1998 8:33 PM
> To:	Bill Stewart
> Cc:	cypherpunks at cyberpass.net
> Subject:	Re: TEMPEST laptops
> 
> On Sun, 1 Nov 1998, Bill Stewart wrote:
> [...]
> > Just using a regular laptop isn't enough; I've seen laptops
> > transmit recognizable images to a television (though I was probably
> > using AC power rather than batteries, and may or may not have had
> > the display mode set to LCD-and-monitor.)
> 
> Thanks for touching on the popuar myth that laptops radiate less than
> CRT's. Many laptops in fact radiate more compromising emissions than
> CRT's. Ross Anderson does his van Eck demos to undergrads using a laptop,
> because it works so much better than CRT's.
> 
> -- Lucky Green <shamrock at cypherpunks.to> PGP v5 encrypted email preferred.
	  
	Nearly all laptops have a built-in video port, for connection
	to an external monitor. This is often poorly shielded (usually
	just a plastic plug). I'd be curious to know how much the
	radiation from this port could be attenuated by (1) a metal
	plug contacting the laptop's ground plane, and (2) removing
	all the video-port specific circuitry (major surgery for a
	laptop :-( ).


	Peter Trei






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