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Paper is difficult to hack. Typewriters, however, are a different story, and the Soviets managed to bug IBM Selectrics during the Cold War: <https://spectrum.
by dredmorbius 3y ago
Paper is difficult to hack.
Typewriters, however, are a different story, and the Soviets managed to bug IBM Selectrics during the Cold War:
<https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-crazy-story-of-how-soviet-russia-bugged-an-american-embassys-typewriters https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-crazy-story-of-how-soviet-russ...>
Several related HN discussions: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16246432 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16246432> <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31965969 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31965969> <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21998774 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21998774>
- ddejohn 3y agoAbsolutely fascinating. I found a link in one of the linked discussions which is quite a bit more in depth than the ieee article, for those interested: https://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/selectric/ https://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/selectric/
- CatWChainsaw 3y agoThe book mentions that at one point when they were investigating the chimney, the US operatives discovered a tunnel that extended past the embassy grounds. A team was doing a harrowing journey down the tunnel, uncertain of when they'd hit Soviet territory, and they got their sights on some Soviet operatives at the other end of the tunnel. Shortly after that the tunnel was mysteriously rendered inoperable by some sort of cave-in.