What is a TSCM Survey ?

A TSCM Survey is a term used to describe what is sometimes called a Bug Sweep, a TSCM inspection, a Counter-eavesdropping inspection or a Technical Surveillance Counter-Measures inspection. A TSCM Survey is the search of rooms, vehicles, aircraft or yachts for eavesdropping devices using both technical TSCM Survey equipment and processes and physical TSCM Survey search processes.

How can I identify a professional TSCM Survey service ?

If you would like to use TSCM Survey services you will find a wide range of providers from security companies, private detectives, private investigators and specialist TSCM survey providers. All of these providers will normally claim to provide the most advanced TSCM survey available with assurances of the ability to detect all kinds of eavesdropping. Unfortunately most of these TSCM survey providers will have little or no ability to detect eavesdropping because they will either not have the required equipment or the required expertise to conduct a professional TSCM survey. The TSCM kit needed to conduct a professional TSCM survey is very specialist with a price of between £ 130,000 and £ 200,000 for one set. It also takes years of TSCM training plus hands on TSCM operational knowledge to become an effective, professional TSCM engineer. This is because of the high number of different types of eavesdropping which can be used with each type working using a different communication technology to operate. The TSCM survey needs to be able to detect all of these different types of eavesdropping with each type of bug requiring a different TSCM survey process and TSCM survey equipment to find it, hence the high cost of a set of TSCM equipment and TSCM training.

A TSCM R & D capability comes with a significant cost in the form of TSCM man power, TSCM equipment and TSCM training and this has to be maintained ongoing. This fact reveals why hardly any TSCM survey providers can honestly state that they have a really high quality TSCM survey capability able to detect most types of eavesdropping. That said without the key function of a TSCM R & D capability it is not feasible for a TSCM survey provider to keep its TSCM inspection service function truly up to date and provide quality TSCM surveys with knowledge that they will detect all forms of eavesdropping.

The other problem with the majority of TSCM survey providers is that even when they do purchase a fairly good set of TSCM survey equipment to start with they will then have to run an ongoing TSCM research and development (R & D) programme to find possible new eavesdropping attack techniques as they are invented and then come up with new countermeasures in the form of TSCM equipment and TSCM training which can then be included in their TSCM survey to enable the TSCM team to detect, identify and locate these new bugs.

Top quality TSCM providers will therefore have:

  • A full TSCM R & D function
  • The best possible TSCM equipment
  • A full TSCM training programme for their TSCM engineers

How does QCC’s TSCM Survey service compare ?

We set up the QCC TSCM R & D programme in 1996, 3 years prior to forming our company in 1999. You might ask why we did this, its because we knew from the start in 1996 that the first rule of quality service delivery is to focus on understanding the prospective Clients current service, what service they really need and how we can deliver that.

Because QCC’s TSCM R & D capability is the largest and most advanced commercial TSCM capability in the world, we can quickly identify new eavesdropping attacks methods which no other TSCM survey provider has knowledge of. We then buy or develop the latest TSCM equipment to detect the new attacks along with the new procedures to use the equipment.

Each of QCC’s TSCM survey teams is provided with approximately £ 200,000 of very best TSCM equipment available, some of which QCC develops inhouse and which is only sold to government TSCM teams.

QCC TSCM teams receive TSCM training via QCC’s inhouse TSCM training programme, which also delivers TSCM training to QCC government Clients.

For more information on the different TSCM services which QCC provide, click here or to go to our contact page where important guidance on contacting us can be found.