Kevan,

Just to drop my two cents into the bucket here:

Definately heed what Chris, Don and Cutaway have said, they really know their stuff. Honestly I would give it a couple years (maybe less depending on your previous experience) before you start making some serious headway in the subject of computer security. But just to give you a light at the end of the tunnel:

When I began learning about computers it was for the specific purpose of learning about computer security. At first I looked for those quick fixes, but soon realized that the "d00d, t3ln3t int0 p0rt 80 and h4x0r them!!!" tutorials just weren't going to cut it. So, I started learning the basics (as Chris suggested above) and got my A+ cert. During that time I also printed out what must have been about 1000 pages worth of tutorials and information about programming, TCP/IP, and Linux/Windows. I was in a unique position at the time where during my free hours I had little distractions and also got a lot of free computer books; I learned quite a bit and must say that I have yet to find a subject related to computing that wasn't fascinating. I've done the tech support gig, LAMP administration, Web design/development and just now am starting to get some security-specific jobs. If you don't focus on just learning security-specific subjects, you can achieve almost instant gratification and will be building yourself up for success later down the road. So you learned to write the simplest 'hello world' program today? Awesome! That's more than most people will learn about computers in a lifetime. Just enjoy what you're learning and let it lead you to bigger and better things.

The best way to learn things is to just do it. Learning about computers is great, because unlike learning some other professions like open heart surgery, you can fool around with things on your own and create your own experiences. Go register a domain name from yahoo for $4 and set up a Linux server (runs great on old hardware for small sites and such) to host a Web site. Maybe even offer to host some simple sites for some friends. This alone will force you to learn about things like DNS, HTTP, and Apache configuration.

And to answer the $60 question (kind of): no, you don't NEED to learn how to program in order to learn about computer security. But when ./scan && ./exploit fails, it's an invaluable skill to have.

P.S. - FYI, I don't think this tunnel ever gets any shorter...

Well in general unless you are doing some type of driver or kernel programming, you aren't going to mess up your computer. If you code a program incorrectly, it will crash but won't affect the system as a whole (OK, there are some ways you could hose up your system, but you'd have to really be trying).

I'm assuming you're running Windows, so about the only built in development tool is going to be debug. What software you need depends on what programming language you want to learn - personally I would suggest learning C at first, but there are plenty of other languages out there. Interpreted languages are easier to learn, such as Perl and Python.

For writing programs in C on Windows I prefer to use Dev-C++ from bloodshed.net; very straight forward for writing simple programs, but has more powerful features when I want them. You can also get Windows interpreters for Perl and Python from activestate.com.

I thought it was a good example that intelligent data can be gathered from electrical RF emissions. I've had an on-and-off interest in TEMPEST ever since I read Cryptonomicon, so real-life presentations are always interesting to me. Although, I have yet to see a video of someone doing real-time screen captures (if anyone knows of one post it up!).

Michal Zalewski's book Silence on the Wire touches briefly on TEMPEST and other ways of gathering information from unintentional emissions such as NIC activity lights. The whole subject is really interesting.

Thanks Don and Chris, glad to finally be getting off my butt and putting some content up here.  I should have some ASM/C programming stuff up in not too long!

Found a discussion at SecurityFocus that might be related...the app discussed here had the same 220 string:

http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/100/408804/30/240/threaded

I found that the Tempest for Eliza program worked best on my laptop screen...worked well on my desktop LCDs too.

Great article Chris! I did a little research into TEMPEST/Van Eck my self a while back...the Temptest for Elisa program is pretty cool, or at least I thought so.

Wondering if anyone here has played around with Eckbox? I wanted to try it, but found a lot of people who said it didn't work for them. Since I'm not very good with hardware, I didn't want to bother building an ADC for it if it wouldn't work anyway.

And while we're on the subject, let's not forget about Tinfoil Hat Linux! A cool name like that AND it fits on a floppy? You know it's gotta be good.

Well I think before making any suggestions on where you should start, I'd ask what your computer background is. How much do you know about networking, software, hardware, or anything else computer-related?

I think that flashget will do what you're looking for (flashget.com). There's also the flashgot extension for FF (addons.mozilla.org/firefox/220).