A friend of mine works in an office environment. Whatever is discussed in his office is often the topic of conversation for the others in separate parts of the facility shortly thereafter. This happens too often to be a coincidence. My friend thinks his office is bugged.Would a "white noise" machine help in this situation?

As a plug-and-play solution? Only if it’s really loud and he has conversations at volumes quiet enough that they simply can’t be heard over the white noise. That’s what we do in courtrooms around here during bench conferences where we don’t want the discussion to be overheard by the jury. He could accomplish the same thing by turning up the radio.

Passive white noise systems require quite a bit of engineering (including the physical space itself) to be effective in the way you’re thinking.

He can get a simple RF detector (cheap “bug sweeper”) for under $100.

-Rob

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A friend of mine works in an office environment. Whatever is discussed in his office is often the topic of conversation for the others in separate parts of the facility shortly thereafter. This happens too often to be a coincidence. My friend thinks his office is bugged.Would a "white noise" machine help in this situation?

Tony Soprano always went to the basement and turned on the fan. Seemed to work for him until the Feds bugged a device in the basement.

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Originally posted by BurtonRW:
As a plug-and-play solution? Only if it’s really loud and he has conversations at volumes quiet enough that they simply can’t be heard over the white noise. That’s what we do in courtrooms around here during bench conferences where we don’t want the discussion to be overheard by the jury. He could accomplish the same thing by turning up the radio.

Passive white noise systems require quite a bit of engineering (including the physical space itself) to be effective in the way you’re thinking.

He can get a simple RF detector (cheap “bug sweeper”) for under $100.

-Rob

for reals ?

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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

A friend of mine works in an office environment. Whatever is discussed in his office is often the topic of conversation for the others in separate parts of the facility shortly thereafter. This happens too often to be a coincidence. My friend thinks his office is bugged.Would a "white noise" machine help in this situation?

Tony Soprano always went to the basement and turned on the fan. Seemed to work for him until the Feds bugged a device in the basement.

Sometimes he'd talk by the pool but feared parabolics.

Could it be that he’s just a loud talker, and the walls are paper thin? The kitchen area is next to my office. I can often hear conversations through the drywall without trying.

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Sometimes he'd talk by the pool but feared parabolics.

Yep. Had forgotten about that.

Reminds me of the old biddy walking in the park, eavesdropping on folks through her newly purchased “Miracle Ear”

At a former workplace management and IT could activate the mic on any desk speakerphone in the place from their phone and listen in on you without your knowledge.

We taped over the built in web cam and mic on our computers because it was rumored they could remotely activate those. They put a small mic and camera in the break room, in a sprinkler head. We were a 24 hour operation so they were seen installing it by employees. Outrage from the masses got those removed very quickly with upper management apologizing saying it was an unauthorized action by IT. Right.

If it were me I’d have fun making up stories and then see how they react. I’d get more and more outrageous and make up some stuff so they would regret ever listening in.

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Originally posted by wrightd:
for reals ?

Which part?

-Rob

Unless he has a fully enclosed office with a door and a solid ceiling (not a hanging ceiling of tiles) it is not unlikely that normal conversations there could be heard in adjacent offices. Even thin, if the walls are thin, it could happen.

Nothing said in a "cubicle" is private.

flashguy

I have learned after 50 years in one sort of government position or another, never to discuss anything of a personal or business sensitive nature with those you do not absolutely trust and even then, seldom, in an office environment unless you are absolutely sure of your surroundings.

Personal opinions of people or business decisions that you are not willing to share in a public forum should be withheld when your surroundings or conversation partner(s) are suspect.

If there is even a hint of what your friend believes is happening, a wholesale change on his part would be on order. Do not give them anything the entire office is not already privy to.

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Originally posted by cparktd:
At a former workplace management and IT could activate the mic on any desk speakerphone in the place from their phone and listen in on you without your knowledge.

This

.

A listening device (recorded or radio broadcast) will need power to operate.

Start with verifying what every power cord is attached to because that would be an easy item to check. If it's battery, are there any employees that seem to visit often and linger in the same place? Again, another easy thing to look for.

If it's designed to be covert, distance from the mic to the desk is important. Stay late and check the drop ceiling panels, the space between the desk walls and the cubicle walls, look under the chair, look under the desk, look everywhere you would hide something smaller than an USB memory stick.

Google Hidden Cameras or Babysitter Cams for ideas of everyday products that have built in recording devices.

If they are sophisticated enough to use your desk phone or computer, there won't be a way to know without having access to those operating systems.

Most likely, someone within ear-shot of his desk is blabbing to other employees and its being shared across the facility.

Keep in mind that April Fool's Day will be here soon, if you wanna mess with anyone in the office ~ I suggest you hide a few of these little buggers:



Annoy-A-Tron: www.ThinkGeek.com/product/kmnr/

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Annoy-A-Tron

Do they make a version of this that sounds like the low battery indicator on a smoke detector? That would be hours of fun.

Your friend should start complaining about all the gay porn he saw on the bosses computer screen.

I once worked with a woman who was a telephone tech when she was in the army. She show3d me how the bosses could listen to any phone in the building without anyone knowing....

Personally, I’d start talking about a bleeding wound I had or something gross and see if it gets aro7nd