Testing continues on All Blacks' bug

The Intercontinental hotel at Double Bay, where a bug was found in the All Blacks team meeting room, prior to the Bledisloe Cup test match between the All Blacks and the Wallabies. Brett Phibbs

Forensics tests are still being carried out on the listening device hidden in the room used by the All Blacks to plan their Rugby Championship destruction of the Wallabies in Sydney.

The bug was discovered in the meeting room at the Intercontinental hotel in Double Bay four weeks ago.

The spying nasty was discovered during a routine security check of the room in the lead up to the All Blacks' August 20 48-2 win over the Wallabies.

In a statement provided to the Herald on Sunday, New South Wales police said: "The device continues to be forensically examined. Police are not in a position to comment on the make-up of the device.

"Detectives from Rose Bay Local Area Command are continuing to follow a number of lines of inquiry."

Police are also reviewing a "large amount of CCT footage" that has been obtained from the Intercontinental in a bid to identify who placed the bug.

Investigation bosses wouldn't be drawn on the results of the forensics testing to date, including the range of the bug and if the person who had planted it would have to have also been located in the hotel to pick up the audio.

They did not elaborate on their lines of inquiry, including if they were looking at any potential links to underground betting syndicates.

Police would not comment on the likely time-frame for the investigation.

As the forensic testing continues, a top Kiwi private eye said he believes police will have a good idea of who bugged the meeting room.

Daniel Toresen, from Auckland investigations firm Thompson and Toresen, said given the fact the area the All Blacks were in would have been well protected and locked down, it shouldn't be hard to identify the culprit.

"The footage from any number of CCTV cameras in and around the hotel will have been studied and electronic key entry to rooms mean it should not be difficult to trace who came and went from that area in the days before the incident," he said.

"I feel very confident authorities know who the offenders are already and will be biding their time before acting."

Toresen said it was a possibility the device found concealed in the chair was a simple voice-activated tape recorder.

"Listening devices that wirelessly transmit audio to a remote computer are easy to come by and are not expensive.

"But this is now beginning to sound like it could have been a small tape recorder with a battery that lasts for at least three days that was recovered. Good models cost about $700 and they are very effective."

Meanwhile, Toresen said he had experienced an upturn in inquiries from Kiwi corporates looking to have their premises and boardrooms swept for electronic listening devices in the wake of the All Blacks bugging scandal.

"It has served as a good reminder that security around sensitive information is extremely important to businesses as well as elite sports teams," he said.

"When something like this does occur on a commercial level, the consequences can potentially be very damaging to a business

"It is rare for people or organisations to be bugged but if it happens the consequences can be devastating."