Under a Gibbous Moon

This in from  Schneier on Security. Apparently a company called ATSC is selling thousands of bogus divining rod type detectors to the Iraqi government. Despite no working parts or even batteries it well apparently detect just about anything that the operator wishes to find: guns, drugs, explosives or even dead bodies all by changing a piece of plastic coated cardboard on the unit. According to the manufacturer it works thusly:

Ignores All Known Concealment Methods. By programming the detection cards to specifically target a particular substance, (through the proprietary process of electro-static matching of the ionic charge and structure of the substance), the ADE651® will “by-pass” all known attempts to conceal the target substance. It has been shown to penetrate Lead, other metals, concrete, and other matter (including hiding in the body) used in attempts to block the attraction.

No Consumables nor Maintenance Contracts Required. Unlike Trace Detectors that require the supply of sample traps, the ADE651® does not utilize any consumables (exceptions include: cotton-gloves and cleanser) thereby reducing the operational costs of the equipment. The equipment is Operator maintained and requires no ongoing maintenance service contracts. It comes with a hardware three year warranty. Since the equipment is powered electro statically, there are no batteries or conventional power supplies to change or maintain.

At a cost of $16,500 to $60,000 depending on model, snake oil is expensive these day.

No related posts.