Santa Barbara’s MOS Equipment Donates Faraday Tent to Sheriff’s Office

Department Has Collected 320 Cell Phones as Evidence This Year Alone

Ryan Judy, CEO of MOS Equipment, in a Mission Darkness CyberCylent Faraday Tent that blocks radio frequency signals. The company donated one to the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office. | Credit: Courtesy

Everyone carries a cell phone these days, including criminal suspects. As evidence, however, a phone requires a search warrant before it can be opened, during which time it could run down or even be wiped remotely. To keep either from happening, Santa Barbara’s MOS Equipment makes a number of Faraday cages that block transmissions and are outfitted with phone chargers and cooling fans.

Faraday backpack comes with pouches within that protect against hacking. | Credit: Courtesy

“Sometimes law enforcement has a cell phone for months or years,” said Ryan Judy, who founded the company in 2015 and markets products under the name Mission Darkness. He described how a phone can be induced to crack its own password, but it takes time, which is where Mission Darkness’s Faraday devices come in. One of its largest is a Faraday tent, which the company donated to the County Sheriff’s Office at an event on Wednesday. They also gave the Santa Maria Police and the San Luis Obispo District Attorney’s Office a BlackBox locker and lab; and a tent to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, all worth about $65,000.

“Most of our customers are law enforcement and the military,” Judy explained, though his clients include international agencies and individuals interested in keeping their phone or their passport chip from being hacked. Some countries hack into cell phones and data chips routinely in places like airports, Judy said.

Michael Faraday was a self-taught scientist who studied magnetism and chemistry, discovering not only an early electric generator but also the shielding effects of what’s known as a “Faraday cage” in 1836. Judy and his team have used Faraday’s principles to develop bags, backpacks, boxes, and tents that range in price from $15 to $40,000, all of which shield electronic equipment from RF and other signals.

Ryan Judy talks about the range of Faraday charging and holding boxes MOS Equipment makes. | Credit: Courtesy

The tent is portable but often used within police laboratories, which is what the Sheriff’s Office intends to do. Lieutenant Juan Camarena, on hand to accept the donation, said they had collected 320 cell phones as evidence this year alone.

Their newest client may be schools, Judy said, after Governor Gavin Newsom’s direction to limit cell phones in the classroom. He demonstrated a small bag slightly larger than a cell phone lined with a nickel-and-copper-impregnated fabric that would block wireless signals from reaching the phone inside. “And they’re reusable!” he said.