Living in the Information Age requires us to protect that most valuable asset of all – information – but that’s easier said than done. Information isn’t something you can always hold in your hands and thus it can’t always be protected or stolen by concrete means either. Bug devices are one of the greatest threats to information security; if planted covertly, it can be privy to and record all sorts of data. Thankfully, you can effectively counter them with an equally innovative invention called the bug detector.
Do You Know How a Bug Works?
Know thy enemy. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer. These are but few of the quotations that advise one to use knowledge to defeat his opponent. In this case, it’s important to understand how bugs work before tackling the technology that enables these safety gadgets to operate.
Bugs – whether they’re designed to capture audio or video data or both – use a lower range of RF or radio frequency (approx. 1 to 3 MHz) to transmit data. Such frequency is similar to what’s utilized for operating garage door openers. Bugs are physically tiny devices, small enough to be hidden just about anywhere. Thus, a physical and manual sweep can’t always uncover their secret locations. To record a phone conversation, for instance, a bug doesn’t have to be literally planted inside a phone. It only has to be near enough to pick up and transmit data.
Simple bugs can be discovered by simple bug detectors. These detectors use the RF that the bugs emit to determine their presence. A bug detector can start beeping or flashing its LED lights when it detects the presence of a bug. To use it, you only have to explore the room with the bug. Make sure to check every nook and cranny. To avoid erroneous results, be sure to turn off any device that may emit the same signal.
Detecting a High-Tech Bug
When technology used by bugs is advanced then your bug detector must be similarly designed. Some bugs simply operate at a frequency above the 3 MHz range. To detect the presence of these bugs, you must use bug detectors that are configured to locate signals beyond the 3 MHz range as well. In some cases, a bug doesn’t even operate at a particular range. It operates at a specific frequency and your bug detector must be configured at the exact same frequency before it can locate any bugs planted in your property.