IT Baseline Protection Manual - The Information Warfare Site

Threats Catalogue Deliberate Acts Remarks
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T 5.13 Eavesdropping of rooms
In general two different types of unauthorised bugging of rooms have to be
distinguished. In the first type, the threat is directly represented by the
terminal. In this case particularly intelligent terminals with installed
microphones, such as answering machines, ISDN cards, or multimedia PCs
are affected. Terminals of this kind can, assuming the relevant functions are
installed, be activated via the public network to switch on the installed
microphones. A well-known example of this is the so-called "baby-watch
function" of answering machines (c.f. 8.3 Answering machine).
The second type is to make use of the PBX system itself in connection with
appropriately equipped terminals. This threat arises from the abuse of the
"voice calling" user facility in conjunction with the "handsfree conversing"
option. This function, of an intercom switching centre with simplex
transmission if applied in this way, can, under certain circumstances, also
beused for the bugging of a room.
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IT-Baseline Protection Manual: Oktober 2000