Bug Sweeps Archives - Page 6 of 8 - All in Investigations

The Objective Truth, is the Investigator’s Target

During her 30-year career as a private investigator, Caryn Gloyd has provided hundreds of court testimonies. She has logged thousands of hours of surveillance or digital forensics. She has spent countless hours tracking down and interviewing potential witnesses or suspects. In other words, Gloyd has seen it all and heard it all. But when she heard Georgetown Police Chief William Topping speak negatively about private investigators, Gloyd’s pride in her profession was challenged. “Private investigators are there to prove their clients’ cases,” Topping said during a 2009 interview. “There’s no impartiality or neutrality. They get their orders from their employers.” Gloyd went from feeling stunned to more than a little bit irritated by Topping’s statement. She felt that Topping was making a blanket statement that [...]

Successor Busted in TSCM Investigation

Here at we use a lot of high tech equipment and software. But along with that comes years of investigative experience. And we employ both good old fashioned detective work with the digital tools in just about every case we handle. One case involved a son and his father and the company the father had built from scratch. Both had offices in the same building, just a floor apart. In fact, the son’s office was directly below his father’s office. Dad, who we’ll call Sam was getting on in years and wanted to retire – at least part-time. But he wasn’t sure his son, we’ll call Jim, was ready to take over the helm. Jim believed he was able and the next in line. Sam [...]

Cell Phone Forensics Reveals Who is Watching You

One thing that we realize here at is that a couple doesn’t have to actually be married to be caught in an emotionally charged – and challenging – situation. For instance, one case we had was a couple who had been together for many years and had two children together. They never married and their relationship was “shaky” as she described it. She felt sure that he had listening devices installed in their home and perhaps even a mobile phone tap. What made her feel she was surrounded by spy equipment? He traveled a great deal for work and their conversations were limited to once daily in the evening. And yet, he and the children knew things that she hadn’t shared with them. Several things [...]

Suspicions Lead to Fruitful Bug Detection

We had a client who had taken on a special, highly confidential project at work. The reason he called was because he was concerned about inadvertently leaking information. He kept asking “Is my phone tapped?” He wasn’t paranoid, but suspicious. What made him suspicious? Electronic devices were acting “weird” and although he said he had an electric personality, these odd sounds and happenings had never happened before. He described some of them: His AM/FM car radio had developed interference on several stations that had been previously clear. This could be the case of an eavesdropper since antennas can be exploited by eavesdroppers. Sounds were coming from his office phone line when it was not in use. Sometimes his office phone would ring and no one [...]

TSCM Sweep Rounds Up the Bad Guys

Truth is the basis for fictional story lines, that’s for sure. was called in on a case by an attorney that had a female client who was being blackmailed. The blackmailer said he had video of her inside her apartment in a 28-floor building. He described the apartment and conversations held there in detail so she knew he had access. Immediately it was evident that technical surveillance countermeasures (TSCM) were called for. A TSCM sweep of the apartment was scheduled. Since both conversations and visual details were given, it was evident that covert surveillance and spy listening devices were present in some form or fashion. The target was eavesdropping devices and surveillance equipment. Using sophisticated counter surveillance equipment used for electronic bug detection, hidden wireless [...]

RV TSCM Sweep Not a Joke

Comedy really is no laughing matter. No, it’s big business and people’s livelihoods. When a call came into from an attorney who said his client was a jokester, we weren’t quite sure what to expect. At first, we thought he was being sarcastic about something a client was asking him to do, but no, the client was a comedian – really. And he needed a bug detector. The comic was on the circuit travelling from gig to gig, living in an RV. He was being considered for a television production and was working really hard to build his book of jokes and skills on stage. All of a sudden, there was a competitor who was making jokes very similar to the new material he and [...]

Cellular Forensics Even Applies to Drop Phones

Data Extraction. That’s what provides the evidence so many of our clients want when they request a mobile phone forensic analysis. Cell phone forensic tools allow a cellular forensics specialist to create an exact image of the cell phone hard drive and from that, complete a mobile phone analysis. The analysis will uncover any evidence on the phone and the data can be extracted as proof. has been doing cell phone forensics for a long while – before the proliferation of smart phones in the hands of just about everyone. For many, mobile phone forensics is new and they don’t understand the extent of the work we can do. We had a case where a woman’s husband had started carrying a drop phone in addition [...]

Bug Detection Out of the Office

During nice weather, business is conducted in a lot of places outside the office. Think the golf course or even on a boat. was called about Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM) services from a financial planner’s attorney. His client had suddenly lost several clients to a specific competitor and was suspicious about why – and how. The common denominator was that the financial planner had entertained every one of the lost clients on his boat. Of course they had talked some business and the financial planner believed there must have been a listening device or some sort of spy equipment on the craft. When a TSCM sweep is requested, it is most often for an office or meeting facility. But in reality, a bug sweep can [...]

Security Starts with TSCM

got a call from a CEO who was concerned about an upcoming board meeting. The board would be discussing some very confidential matters including the terms of the sale of the company. If news of the sale was leaked, it could damage not only the negotiations, but the financial health of the company and the employees. He wanted to be certain that the conference room was completely secure. He asked that we complete Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM), or as it is often called, a bug sweep. He felt relatively confident that there were no eavesdropping devices or other surveillance equipment in the room, but he had to be absolutely certain. Usually listening devices are not evident to the casual observer. That’s why counter surveillance equipment [...]

Sometimes It’s Not Spyware Found During a Computer Forensic Examination

A very frustrated woman brought the family computer to because she was convinced spyware had been installed on it. Our computer forensic investigator began the spyware detector process. In this instance, the analyst started with the open ports and he did indeed find something, but it wasn’t spyware. He found a Trojan, which is an application that can open a port like a remote desktop – and it does it without your permission. Malware like Trojans can crash the computer or send you advertisements. It’s not necessarily spying on you – but it does make your online life miserable. This Trojan was causing the problems she was having and once removed, she was good to go. On occasion we discover that people do things on [...]