Pluggable Tempest Filters

TEMPEST Shielding helps businesses to create spaces that are not affected by the emissions of electromagnetic signals. This helps to ensure that voice and data communications are secure.

The Tempest Pluggable Power Filters are designed to reduce noise and protect critical 
infrastructure installations so they comply with the International Performance Standards.

IT environments can benefit from the Tempest pluggable filters as they provide a versatile solution that can help to protect critical devices such as Servers, Computers and Printers. They can be fitted retrospectively in those instances where the high performance Tempest filters cannot be introduced to the current infrastructure.

Where new IT suites and similar infrastructure is installed, a Tempest filter should be installed upstream as this will help to provide a high level of protection for the whole electrical system.

The reason for this is that TEMPEST pluggable filters are commonly installed after the installation has occurred but there is a risk that the units are disconnected. There is a possibility that an alternative might be added to the system that does not meet the existing TEMPEST standards that are designed to help avoid the risk of intrusion.

For the Tempest pluggable filter to perform correctly, it should be installed on a circuit that has a low impedance earthed socket. 

The aim of Tempest Pluggable Filters is to avoid the issue of listening to sensitive information and that is the prominent criterion of the filters. The requirements are different from those that include the likes of Power line filters and HEMP.

To achieve this, a shield is used to help prevent direct radiation of signals that might be detected. Implementing a Tempest filter can help to protect electrical cables from conducted intelligible signals that exit the shielded area and could therefore be overlaid on the existing cables before being probed by unauthorised individuals.

The level of protection that our Tempest filters offer comply with A of the USA NSTISSAM (National Security Telecommunications and Information Systems Security Advisory Memorandum) and Level 1 of NATO SDIP-27 (previously AMSG 720B). 

Our Tempest pluggable range does not typically recommend that filters are installed upstream from the installation but in this instance, this is the recommendation. Where required, it might also require surge protection that complies with EC 61000-4-24, severity levels 1 and 2 for commercial applications or MIL-STD 188-125-1 for military projects.

The effectiveness of our standard Tempest Pluggable filters will ensure that there is an insertion loss of 60dB from 100kHz to 1GHz. This is considered to be suitable for this kind of application and will continue to offer this level of Tempest performance by performing at 60dB between 1GHz and 5GHz.