Bugging or electronic eavesdropping is best described as the use of electronic means and devices to gain intelligence about the past, present and intended actions of individuals and organisations without their permission or knowledge.
Whilst it is a very real threat, nevertheless it is not quite as bad as television and film makers would have their viewers believe.

However, the damage that can be caused by just one electronic listening device is incalculable. In a brief moment the company’s closest guarded secret can be transmitted to an unscrupulous competitor or his employee, possibly sitting in a car some five hundred yards away from the targeted area.

  • The Finance Director’s Office
  • The Sales Director’s Office
  • The Executive Restaurant
  • The Legal Department
  • The Chief Executive’s Office
Each of these areas could be crucial when a company is producing annual reports, launching new products or involved in acquisition and take-over situations. Furthermore each industry has its own specialised arenas of operation which it seeks to protect from competitors.

Regarding our earlier comment about television and film makers...

...transmitters are not the size of a pinhead, nor do they transmit for miles and they certainly cannot ‘magically’ listen or see through walls. But they are still dangerous and in general the threat can be split into two very separate areas, amateur and professional.


It is a simple matter for an antagonistic employee to buy an effective transmitter or ‘bugging’ device. In the United Kingdom, as in other countries, such devices are often advertised in magazines and sold in many shops and radio stores. Apart from the conventional ‘tiny black box’ they are available in a variety of disguises ranging from pens, calculators, credit cards, etc. As a guideline a complete amateur ‘bugging’ outfit can be bought for as little as £300/$500.

Many of these will be low technology, but when placed in your boardroom, or home, this type of equipment can transmit your company’s confidential meetings up to five hundred yards. Placed in seconds, the long term effects can be devastating.


For the more sophisticated attack there are various advanced transmitters including remote controlled, infrared, digital and digitally encrypted transmitters. These professional devices can cost many thousands of pounds. The remotely controlled versions can be turned on and off to avoid sweep teams or save battery power. Alternatively the signal from a digital spread-spectrum transmitter is so sophisticated it will be missed by all but the most experienced and diligent sweep teams .

There are more exotic types of transmitter but in reality they rarely appear in commercial hands and tend to be used for highly specific operations by government and law enforcement agencies.

In this brief description of bugging devices we have concentrated on transmitting devices but there are many other forms of electronic interception including hardwired microphones, hidden tape recorders, induction telephone taps, optical devices etc.,

In general the professional ‘buggist’ will try to enter your building and place a device that a sweep team will not find. Hence the job of an electronic countermeasures engineer can be likened to looking for a needle in a haystack with the added complication that the needle has been disguised as a piece of straw. To find such devices the search engineers must be specialist who are both highly trained in the use of state-of-the-art electronic test equipment.


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