From: jim bell <jimbell@pacifier.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 20:51:25 +0800
To: Rabid Wombat <harka@nycmetro.com
Subject: Re: Bare fibers
Message-ID: <199607231622.JAA04074@mail.pacifier.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 03:20 AM 7/23/96 -0400, Rabid Wombat wrote:
>
>> 
>> Doesn't that make it vulnerable (detectable) to Tempest attacks?

>No.
>Transmitting light via fiber doesn't emit EM.
>Anyway, the original post, as I recall, was about keeping sensitive data 
>on a second hard drive, connected via (very thin, therefore harder to 
>notice) fiber. Tempest monitoring was not a factor.


It occurs to me that a bare fiber could actually be (randomly) hung across 
treetops, roofs, power lines, and various other structures, over a 
many-block distance in suburban areas.    Such a fiber wouldn't be protected 
very well, but it would probably last a few months.  It would also be 
exceedingly hard to find its terminations, and tracing it would be a real 
pain.  (It probably wouldn't be visible against a bright sky more than a 
meter or two away.)

Jim Bell
jimbell@pacifier.com