Securi-Tec Limited based in County Kildare has successfully developed an electro-magnetic wave shield to protect computers from data theft.
Small and big businesses alike depend on the security of their computer systems and it is increasingly easy for individuals to eavesdrop on confidential information. All that a potential snooper needs to spy on a Visual Display Unit (VDU) 100 yards away is a portable television and £50 worth of readily available equipment.
Managing director of Securi-Tec Limited Patrick Prendergast explains the data shield works on the same principle as a Faraday box, an enclosure used to block electric fields. The data shield stops all radiation coming off the computer and therefore wave emissions are not available to interlopers.
The data shield came about as a bi-product from research into protecting computers from outside interference such as cab-cars and ambulances. The shield is,
An actual physical retrofit skin that goes onto the computer terminal.
Securi-Tec has already sold world licences for the shield but is holding onto the licensing for Ireland and the UK. The US royalties are expected to be in excess of £3 million sterling over three years. The next stage is to demonstrate the phenomenon and the data shield in America, Canada and Europe
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 26 September 1986. The reporter is Mícheál Ó hUanacháin.
