Whether you are working in a highly competitive industry, have a significant change in personnel or are planning an innovative product line, it is of increasing importance that you protect your company from malicious or inadvertent data leaks. To keep their business truly private and secure, bug detection is one measure many companies are employing.

But what does this process involve? Also known as TSCM checks, where the acronym stands for technical surveillance counter measures, the purpose is to both physically and electronically inspect a business for electronic eavesdropping. Many companies and homes are aware of the potential threat, but the danger comes when they fail to recognise the full extent of what needs to be checked. It is not enough these days to limit a sweep to key areas of your business premises, like individual offices and boardrooms. What about public areas where staff routinely congregate and chat, such as toilets and recreation areas? And even IT systems, for example, extend far beyond the desktop computer and the main server. Your staff will now be using mobile devices to work on the go. They may work from home or feel they can speak freely about work matters from their household landline. Even cars or any satellite work stations, such as a laptop used at home for work purposes in the evenings or at weekends may be at risk. Today’s bugging devices, while not perhaps as sophisticated or fanciful as those seen in the James Bond films, are certainly becoming less easy to detect; more powerful and smaller than ever before. For these reasons and more, when planning surveillance detection, it’s essential that you hire and brief a professional TSCM service to advise on the full range of locations where a sweep should be carried out.

So when is a full bug detection sweep advised? There are a number of triggers. Firstly, checking for evidence of intrusion should be a standard element of your ongoing security measures. It’s the work of a moment, in many cases, to install some form of listening device. Even if you do not perceive any ongoing threat, checking once a year or more frequently for evidence or lack of it will give you reassurance.

You can sometimes make sure you budget for the experts to come in regularly and routinely as part of your risk management and security policies. Next, consider the projects your company currently has on the go. Are any of them particularly sensitive? Are you involved in plans for a hostile take-over? Has a key member of the team left in challenging circumstances? These kinds of scenarios should be a prompt for increasing your security including a professional bug sweeping check to ensure your organisation is not leaking valuable data. Lastly, of course, if you have become aware that there is a possibility or certainty of loss of key information. Naturally, this requires urgent action, with an electronic bug detection sweep comprising just part of an overall internal investigation.

There is a wealth of information on the internet these days about how to ‘DIY’ when it comes to counter surveillance and finding evidence of industrial espionage. However, with the increasingly sophisticated technology out there, the task is more complex than ever. For true peace of mind, remember that bug detection is always best left to the experts. Why not take a look at our homepage and see the services we have to offer?