TEMPEST

Firstly, the word TEMPEST is not an acronym, it is a codeword associated to the phenomenon of being able to remotely and or covertly gather either spatially radiated or line conducted electronic signals and reconstitute them into meaningful intelligence.

Until the late 80’s the ability to recover data in such a way and even the word TEMPEST, was highly classified, however, with the advent of the internet and the Freedom of Information Act, first in the USA, this led to certain details being published and therefore the classification downgraded.

The official definition of TEMPEST is:

“All electrical and electronic equipment produces unintentional radiation, which could be intercepted by a receiving device some distance away from the equipment. TEMPEST is defined as the study of the emission of unintentional protectively marked data (usually Confidential and above) from an equipment or system. If these emissions were intercepted and analysed they could reveal compromising emanations and thus the protectively marked data” [Source CESG 2007]

TEMPEST equipment is still classified and its sale restricted to bona-fide Ministry of Defence and Government organisations and Agencies only – it is not available to the general public.