Covert surveillance devices are electronic devices hidden by an adversary to collect data: audio, video, and location data.
An adversary can hide covert surveillance devices in buildings, in or on vehicles, or outdoors. Notable locations include:
- Microphones and cameras hidden inside the home of a target.
- Location trackers hidden in or on the vehicle of a target.
- Cameras hidden at the windows of a building close to the home of a target, such that the cameras can film the entrance to the home.
An adversary can hide covert surveillance devices for long-term surveillance (e.g. weeks, months or years), or short-term surveillance of specific events. A covert surveillance device can disappear:
- Most often, when it is retrieved by its installers.
- In some cases, when it is inadvertently discovered and removed by a third party.
- In rare cases, when it is deliberately discovered (through a bug search) and removed by a third party.
Covert surveillance devices require a power supply, which can be either a battery or the electrical system of the building or vehicle in which the device is hidden, or both. In rare cases, they may be powered by Power over Ethernet (PoE). To save battery power and make it harder to detect them, devices may not be powered on all the time.
Covert surveillance devices often transmit the data they collect:
- Most often for low-cost modern devices, over the mobile phone network using a SIM card included in the device.
- In some cases over WiFi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, or arbitrary radio frequencies.
Some devices never transmit the data they collect: to retrieve the data, the adversary needs to physically access them.
Used in tactics: Incrimination
Sub-techniques
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Covert surveillance devices | ||
| Audio | Covert audio surveillance devices are electronic devices, typically microphones, hidden by an adversary to collect audio data. | |
| Location | Covert location surveillance devices are electronic devices hidden by an adversary to collect location data. | |
| Video | Covert video surveillance devices are electronic devices, typically cameras, hidden by an adversary to collect video data. | |