TSCM Training On The Rise

The REI Training Center will finish 2018 having trained the largest number of students ever. Over 50 classes were conducted at the Training Center in Cookeville, Tennessee. Scheduled classes ranged from one to five days in length. In addition to the scheduled training classes at REI, our 6 full-time instructors were kept busy throughout the year with onsite and offsite custom training courses.

Reasons for greater interest
The interest correlates directly to a greater need for quality professional training on ways to protect against information theft and illicit technical surveillance.

Corporate espionage is permeating every business sector – banking, legal, pharmaceutical, technology, even real estate. The growth of smart homes is raising privacy and legal concerns as homes placed on the market can gather intelligence from potential buyers who tour the homes, using built in cameras and microphones. Eavesdropping surveillance devices can be hidden in almost any facility. Installing listening devices can be really simple, cheap, and easy to disguise in just about any property, providing a way for sellers to see and hear conversations among buyers and agents. The high value of commercial property makes tactics like this even more lucrative.

Here’s a story from March, 2018 on MarketWatch website titled “Home sellers now use spycams to gather intelligence on prospective buyers.” www.marketwatch.com/.

The example of real estate surveillance may not be billion dollar corporate level espionage, but if a private home seller can exploit new cheap technology for economic gain, imagine the opportunity a bugged board room could generate.

Just as the article above illustrates, the more these kinds of incidents occur, the more likely they are to be published. Electronic, print, and social media have done a lot to increase awareness and spread information. Security tradeshows and conferences provide opportunities to see and experience the latest products and trends. Events like REI’s Business Intelligence Protection Seminars (BIPS) expose the general pervasiveness of technical surveillance threats and the need to consider it an important part of an overall security strategy. And of course, thorough in-depth TSCM training teaches how to recognize threats and the necessary steps to mitigate them.

If you need technical security training, take a look at the REI Training Center. The Countermeasures Core Concepts course in January is already full, so begin planning for February or March.

This is an excerpt from REI’s TSCM Journal. Click here to download the full edition.