Granite Island Group

Background

Founded in 1987 and located near Boston, Massachusettss, Granite Island Group, is THE internationally recognized leader in the field of Technical Surveillance Counter Measures (TSCM), Bug Sweeps, Wiretap Detection, Surveillance Technology, Communications Security (COMSEC), Counter-Intelligence, Technical Security, and Spy Hunting.

Mission Statement

Granite Island Group provides expert technical, analytical and research capability for the detection, nullification, and isolation of eavesdropping devices, technical surveillance penetrations, technical surveillance hazards, and physical security weaknesses... Simply put, we hunt spies, stop espionage, and plug leaks.

Granite Island Group was initially formed to provide TSCM and SIGINT training services to the Army Intelligence School located at Fort Devens, MA. Engineering, design, and related services were also provided to various research facilities and defense contractors throughout New England. These services also included product design, fully instrumented TSCM surveys, bug sweeps, wiretap detection, SCIF compliance inspections, shielding evaluations, and other engineering services related to the technical security and protection of classified information.

Design projects included the development of several briefcase and man-pack systems used for signals exploitation and surveillance, along with suites of software products used to control test instruments for automated ECM, SIGINT, Signals Analysis, TEMPEST, TSCM and related measurements.

In 1989 the services offered were expanded to include the design, installation, and maintenance of high performance computer networks used in secure facilities. This included performing TSCM, wiretap detection, and bug sweep services on desktop computers, data networks, and PBX/ESS systems to identify weaknesses which could allow technical penetrations or the compromise of classified or sensitive information. At the time there was only one company in the entire country who could do this... and we were it.

Granite Island Group currently provides TSCM, bug sweeps, wiretap detection, and communications engineering services to a wide range of clients and has become one of the most respected names in the industry.

Granite Island Group has had an Internet presence since 1987, and James Atkinson has been active on the Internet since the mid 1970's. With the growth on the Internet in the early 1990's came an FTP/UUCP library, then an IRC reflector, and a dedicated E-Mail based list for discussion and to publish and exchange files related to TSCM and ongoing projects. With the advent of "Mosaic browsers" several years later the informational files and documents were converted to HTTP (or Hypertext Documents) and placed on a dedicated domain in 1994 (www.tscm.com)

The web site developed to over 1,950 publicly assessable documents related to TSCM, technical counter-intelligence and technical security which involves well over 78,200 printed pages. The site currently handles an average of over 4,500 visitors a day from all over the world. It is the first, the largest, and most complete site anywhere on the Internet dedicated to TSCM, Technical Counter-Intelligence, and Technical Security.

Warning Signs That You Have Been Bugged

What Is Bug Sweeps and Bug Detection All About?

Frequently Asked Questions - FAQ

What To Do If You Think You Have Been Bugged

How To Commission Someone To Check For Bugs

Types of Bugs and Wiretaps

Wiretapping 101 ("Outside Plant" Devices)

Phone Set Bugging and Modification Techniques

Surveillance Threat Levels

What Does a Bug Sweep Involve?

What Does a Bug Sweep Cost?

O divine art of subtlety and secrecy!
Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible;
and hence hold the enemy's fate in our hands.
-- Sun Tzu, The Art of War, c. 500bc

Granite Island Group - Who We Are, What We do

Granite Island Group Mission Statement

Granite Island Group Profile and Backgrounder

Background and Qualifications - James M. Atkinson

Questions To Ask TSCM Specialists ^{The GOLD LIST}

Bug Sweep Equipment Methods, and Reviews

Helpful Books to Read, and Training to Attend

TSCM-L Archives, over 10,000 messages

TSCM 101 - The Technical "Meat and Potatoes"
The following are a series of brief entry level tutorials regarding
specific areas and topics relative to TSCM and methods used to find
bugs and other eavesdropping devices.

Tutorial on Basic Bug Sweep Equipment ^{Start Here If You Need Equipment}

Noise and Sensitivity

Modeling Eavesdropping Devices

TSCM Antenna Methods and Protocols

Wireless Microphones Revisited

The Wavecom Eavesdropping Threat

Video Signal Eavesdropping Threat

Detection, Isolation, and Evaluation of Spread Spectrum Signals

Frequency Allocation Basics

TEMPEST Basics

Basic Bug Frequencies

DTV Signals Analysis

Tutorial on Basic Sweep Gear

TSCM 201 Series - Entry and intermediate level intense videos

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs - TSCM and the Modern Eavesdropping Threat - Part 1

How Most Phones are Bugged, and How to Bust Spies Using Bugs Cold.

Cordless Phone Eavesdropping and Privacy Talk

Micro Bugs That Listen All Day Long

Modern Eavesdropping and TSCM

Part 1 of 3 TSCM Sweep Documentation in Scientific Laboratory Notebooks (Video 1 of 3)

Secret Bugging and Eavesdropping of Motor Vehicles

Single Bugging Incident 9 - Short Overview

Single Bugging Incident 12 - Short Overview

TSCM and the Modern Eavesdropping Threat - Objectives of TSCM Services - Part 2

TSCM and the Modern Eavesdropping Threat - Orders of Battle - Part 7.2

TSCM and the Modern Eavesdropping Threat - Type of TSCM Services - Part 3

TSCM and the Modern Eavesdropping Threat - Type of TSCM Services - Part 5

Photographic Deconstruction - The Roaring Lion, Karsh/Churchill

Photography History Invention - Top Secret Hexagon Spy Sattellite

TSCM 500 Series - Advanced and Expert Levels
Writings about TSCM and TSCM related topics which you not find elsewhere.

Volume V001 - Principles and Scope of Technical Surveillance Countermeasures

Volume V080a - Resonance Forensics

Volume V112- Foundations of Acoustic Security

Volume V113 - Lightweight Secure Construction

Volume V114 - Massive Secure Construction

Volume V115 - Openings Junctions and Flanking Control

Volume V116 - Building Services and Occupied Conditions

Volume V117 - Doctrine Design Testing and Forensic Assurance

Volume V118 - Integrated Designs and Technical Apparatus

No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed
from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
-- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, 1521

Techniques Used To Find Bugs and Other Technical Security Threats

Spectral Analysis of RF Bugging Devices

Common RF Bugging Frequencies

Time Domain Reflectometry Analysis (Wiretap Locating)

Time Domain Reflectometry Tutorial

We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth...
For my part, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst;
and to provide for it. -- Patrick Henry

U.S. Laws Regarding Electronic Surveillance

Executive Order 12333 - United States Intelligence Activities

Title 50, Chapter 36 - Foreign Intelligence Surveillance

Title 18, Chapter 119 - Oral, Wire, and Electronic Communications Interception

Title 18, Chapter 121 - Stored Wire and Electronic Communications Records Access

Title 18, Chapter 205 - Searches and Seizures

Title 18, Chapter 90 - Economic Espionage Act of 1996

Deepwater Doo Doo - U.S. Government Conned Out Of Several Tens of Billion Dollars

TSCM and Bug Detection Equipment Reviews

Spectrum Analyzers

Antennas and Signal Acquisition

Vector Signal Analysers