Be Aware of Electromagnetic Radiation
In 1985, the concerns of the paranoid among the security community were confirmed. Wim van Eck released a paper confirming that a well-resourced attacker can read the output of a cathode-ray tube (CRT) computer monitor by measuring the electromagnetic radiation (EMR) produced by the device. This isn't particularly easy to do, but it is by no means impossible. Wim's paper can be found here:
http://www.shmoo.com/tempest/emr.pdf
This form of attack is now commonly called van Eck phreaking. Additionally, in 2002, Markus Kuhn at the University of Cambridge published a similar method of reading data off of a CRT, this time by measuring the changes in the amount of light in a room. His paper can be found here:
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ieee02-optical.pdf
And an easy-to-read FAQ on the topic can be found here:
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/emsec/optical-faq.html
A simple way to mitigate van Eck phreaking might just be to change the type of font you are using. Ross Anderson and Markus Kuhn did some excellent research on the topic:
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ih98-tempest.pdf
I am certainly not recommending that all systems must address these sorts of security considerations, but it is good to know that such attacks are possible.
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