
An Implementation of Tempest in GNU Radio - adulau
https://github.com/git-artes/gr-tempest
======
portmanteaufu
> TEMPEST [1] (or Van Eck Phreaking) is a technique to eavesdrop video
> monitors by receiving the electromagnetic signal emitted by the VGA/HDMI
> cable and connectors

> GNU Radio [2] is a Free & Open-Source Toolkit for Software Radio

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_(codename)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_\(codename\))
[2] [https://gnuradio.org](https://gnuradio.org)

~~~
ardy42
>> TEMPEST [1] (or Van Eck Phreaking) is a technique to eavesdrop video
monitors by receiving the electromagnetic signal emitted by the VGA/HDMI cable
and connectors

IIRC, I think it originally used the analog signals generated by controlling
the electron gun in a CRT.

~~~
JackRabbitSlim
Yes, but no.

[https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/pet2004-fpd.pdf](https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/pet2004-fpd.pdf)

tl;dr The signal from a DVI cable can be detected but at much more reduced
ranges. See also; RAGEMASTER (Snowden leak) a range extending implant for
video cables.

------
madengr
I always thought it was Transient ElectroMagnetic ProteEction STandard.

Wikipedia says: TEMPEST (Telecommunications Electronics Materials Protected
from Emanating Spurious Transmissions)

This says it is "Telecommunications and Electrical Machinery Protected from
Emanations Security"

[https://www.patton.com/solution/Tempest-EMI-RFI-Data-
Securit...](https://www.patton.com/solution/Tempest-EMI-RFI-Data-Security/)

~~~
jcrawfordor
It is an intelligence community convention to write codewords in ALL CAPS to
differentiate them from the normal use of the same word. This doesn't indicate
that they are acronyms. The appearance, though, combined with the fact that
they are often in mixed use with acronyms, leads to a tendency for people to
make up expansions of codewords which aren't intended to have one. Codewords
were intentionally selected to have little if any relationship to what they
describe.

To further muddy the waters, the military is just as fond of writing things in
all caps as the intelligence community is, but they usually actually are
acronyms or abbreviations. In contrast to TEMPEST consider PAVE PAWS, which is
an acronym, and USSPACOM, which is abbreviation.

------
AlexTrask
I'm reading Cryptonomicon of Neal Stephenson and I discovered this attack some
days ago. It's mind blowing

------
carapace
Fun fact: TEMPEST is the reason that asterisks are substituted for passwords
onscreen.

~~~
wahern
Not simply because people can look over your shoulder?

~~~
crankylinuxuser
Light is a TEMPEST emission :) It too is EM.

But yeah, you're right. Shoulder surfers are very much why * are used.

------
vorpalhex
What's a common antenna setup for something like this? UHF Yagi?

~~~
drmpeg
Wide band antennas like this PCB Vivaldi slot are popular with the SDR crowd.

[http://www.w6rz.net/IMG_0069.JPG](http://www.w6rz.net/IMG_0069.JPG)

[https://www.amazon.com/RFSPACE-Wideband-
Antenna-600-6000-Viv...](https://www.amazon.com/RFSPACE-Wideband-
Antenna-600-6000-Vivaldi/dp/B0141KA6LM/)

------
subsubsub
Obligatory recommendation:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptonomicon](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptonomicon)

~~~
louwrentius
Agreed! Would recommend this book.

~~~
gruturo
I would recommend it too. It's also one of few Neal Stephenson books in which
the ending isn't completely missing or feels too phoned in (beware it IS
somewhat unsatisfactory if you wanted more closure). The author unfortunately
has a longstanding position where he "doesn't owe the reader a specific type
of ending" and the real world doesn't provide textbooks ending either, if I
remember correctly.

Such a shame because his books are on average excellent until the last 10-20%.

------
person_of_color
Does this work with HDCP?

