Mandatory disclaimer: I DO NOT condone the use any device used to spy, record or infringe on the privacy of others. I DO NOT know of any such devices that are in actual use. I DO NOT encourage eavesdropping of any sort. This article is for entertainment and educational use only. Use of such device could constitute a felony.

Oh yea, one more disclaimer: do to the invasive nature of this configuration, I am not responsible for your screwing up in any why shape or form. If you get caught it is your own fault. If you fry something (including a sound card, Ethernet card or motherboard), it is your own fault. Now that the lawyers have been appeased…

In last month's article, I explained a basic model, this was a good warm up for the non-technical. This month is quite a bit more challenging. Still it is on a level that most should be able to do with little or no difficulties.

Let me start with a recap. The Long-Ear is a communications device used to monitor audio over a network. This is done using common office hardware. The connections are all external and easy to detect. A microphone is connected to an Ethernet connector. On the other end, a microphone jack is plugged into a sound recorder such as a sound card line in or a vox recorder.

This month's focus is on the stealth model. The “Long-Ear MK2” is totally undetectable externally at the target zone. This is achieved in a very interesting way. To make this work a few things must be in place. Start with a computer that has a sound and network card as well as a microphone. Before you try this you must realize that you will need total access to the computer you are targeting. If you want this to be a secret you will need some time alone with the computer. I suggest doing the modifications in three phases.

PHASE ONE: find out what you will need. Identify the type of sound and Ethernet cards, and procure identical cards. This can be a little hard to track down, but it is well worth the effort. The cards must have the same company, model, and rev numbers. Care must be taken to correctly identify the cards in order to insure that there will be no driver problems when you reboot. It is a bunch easier to do the work somewhere else and just swap parts when you are done. After obtaining replacement cards, you can modify them at your convenient.

PHASE TWO: the modifications. The modifications are by far the hardest part, and I think you should take your time and be careful with this part. Don’t expect to finish the modifications in a few minutes. The first thing that gets attention is the sound card. The sound card is the easiest part to work on. All you need to do to prepare the sound card is to solder a small pair of wires to the mic in jack leads. Make note of the polarity of the wires. This, in effect, splits the signal coming from the mike and sends it down the wires as well as sending signal to the sound card. The next step is more challenging and requires a steady hand. Depending on the type of Ethernet card you have, you may or may not need to unsolder a few connections. Whatever the case, the contacts for wires seven and eight need to be removed from the surface of the card and bent away from the card. After the pins are in position solder the small wires from the sound card to the adjusted pins of the NIC. Be sure to keep the polarity the same as the receiving end.

PHASE THREE: Reassemble the components into the target computer and test the quality of the transmissions. As far as the receiver is concerned, you can use the receiver discussed in the last months article. I suggest this as the primary form of reception. If you ever feel the need, just reverse the procedure and remove your mike. Your computer is set to receive.

Some people have expressed an interest in how to by-pass hubs and switches since these tend to block the Long-Ear's ability to transmit. I will cover that next month.