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This reminds me of the Xerox machine in the Soviet Embassy. Xerox embedded a small camera that recorded every photocopied document on microfilm and recovered th

This reminds me of the Xerox machine in the Soviet Embassy. Xerox embedded a small camera that recorded every photocopied document on microfilm and recovered the microfilm for the CIA whenever they serviced the machine.

ChuckNorris89 6y ago
So the soviets didn't bother to check the american made Xerox machine for bugs and just let it rip at their confidential documents? I find that hard to belive. Got a source?
- philwelch 6y ago
  This is when Xerox machines were first invented; otherwise they would probably have used a Soviet-produced photocopier instead of using a magical American machine in the first place. There are lots of sources but this is one: https://electricalstrategies.com/about/in-the-news/spies-in-the-xerox-machine/ https://electricalstrategies.com/about/in-the-news/spies-in-...
  - golergka 6y ago
    > Soviet-produced photocopier I don't think that such a thing ever existed.
    - failuser 6y ago
      It did exist, but KGB realized it was thread early on and prevented mass adoption. The access to ability to photocopy has highly restricted, but it did not prevent people from copying forbidden literature. https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Vladimir_Fridkin https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Vladimir_Fridkin
      - golergka 6y ago
        > KGB realized it was thread early on and prevented mass adoption I don't think they had to actually "prevent" it — just as jeans, baby diapers, disposable paper towels and stockings, USSR was just very bad at consumer items. It didn't even had real mass adoption of toilet paper.
        philwelch 6y ago
        While true, samizdat was already a threat to the regime and I’m sure the wide availability of photocopiers would have made that a much bigger headache for the Soviet government. They already resorted to registering typewriters because that’s how samizdat was typically produced and copied.
  - spideymans 6y ago
    If true, that is stunningly naive by the Soviets. Almost too naive. Are we certain they weren't intentionally feeding the machine bad intelligence?
    - philwelch 6y ago
      People in the real world often have terrible opsec. Maybe we take our instincts about information security for granted these days. Maybe the Soviets just photocopied their own butts to prank the CIA. I honestly don’t know.
- failuser 6y ago
  If I were a Soviet agent, I would have fed the machine disinformation. But who knows.
- joezydeco 6y ago
  No less believable than the bugged IBM typewriters that were used at the US Embassy for nearly a decade before the hack was found: https://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/selectric/ https://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/selectric/
- Spooky23 6y ago
  It wasn’t like they just strapped a camera in there, there was a ton of tradecraft and ingenuity involved. Example: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device)

ChuckNorris89 6y ago

So the soviets didn't bother to check the american made Xerox machine for bugs and just let it rip at their confidential documents? I find that hard to belive. Got a source?

philwelch 6y ago
This is when Xerox machines were first invented; otherwise they would probably have used a Soviet-produced photocopier instead of using a magical American machine in the first place. There are lots of sources but this is one: https://electricalstrategies.com/about/in-the-news/spies-in-the-xerox-machine/ https://electricalstrategies.com/about/in-the-news/spies-in-...
- golergka 6y ago
  > Soviet-produced photocopier I don't think that such a thing ever existed.
  - failuser 6y ago
    It did exist, but KGB realized it was thread early on and prevented mass adoption. The access to ability to photocopy has highly restricted, but it did not prevent people from copying forbidden literature. https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Vladimir_Fridkin https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Vladimir_Fridkin
    - golergka 6y ago
      > KGB realized it was thread early on and prevented mass adoption I don't think they had to actually "prevent" it — just as jeans, baby diapers, disposable paper towels and stockings, USSR was just very bad at consumer items. It didn't even had real mass adoption of toilet paper.
      - philwelch 6y ago
        While true, samizdat was already a threat to the regime and I’m sure the wide availability of photocopiers would have made that a much bigger headache for the Soviet government. They already resorted to registering typewriters because that’s how samizdat was typically produced and copied.
- spideymans 6y ago
  If true, that is stunningly naive by the Soviets. Almost too naive. Are we certain they weren't intentionally feeding the machine bad intelligence?
  - philwelch 6y ago
    People in the real world often have terrible opsec. Maybe we take our instincts about information security for granted these days. Maybe the Soviets just photocopied their own butts to prank the CIA. I honestly don’t know.
failuser 6y ago
If I were a Soviet agent, I would have fed the machine disinformation. But who knows.
joezydeco 6y ago
No less believable than the bugged IBM typewriters that were used at the US Embassy for nearly a decade before the hack was found: https://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/selectric/ https://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/selectric/
Spooky23 6y ago
It wasn’t like they just strapped a camera in there, there was a ton of tradecraft and ingenuity involved. Example: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device)