
Operation Gunman – how the Soviets bugged IBM typewriters (2015) - dictum
http://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/selectric/index.htm
======
themodelplumber
> The bug was fairly large and consisted of state-of-the-art integrated
> circuits and single-bit core memory. It was completely hidden inside a
> hollow support bracket at the bottom of the keyboard mechanism, and was
> invisible to the naked eye, but also to the detection equipment of the era.
> Only an X-ray scan could reveal the presence of the device, which is shown
> in the image below. It contains special components to hide its presence even
> from non-linear junction detectors (NLJD).

Holy cow. I wouldn't have thought this was possible in the mid-1970s.

Also the article says that the NSA didn't trust the CIA or State Department to
handle the investigation properly, which was very interesting to read. Had the
NSA already been established as a "we do tech better" agency?

~~~
Theodores
You need to check out the electronics that the Soviets had on board the
spacecraft after Sputnik. The kit they had to get to the moon, Venus and Mars
was quite special in those analogue days, if you only know digital electronics
then it is even more impressive.

Hence bugging a few American typewriters the Soviet way results in such a cool
solution. The task was probably relatively easy compared to space.

The space race story we tell ourselves is not entirely true, the Russians
didn't have 'better Germans than what the Americans had', actually their
rocket science was far ahead of the amateur German efforts and they didn't
need help from the Nazis. Meanwhile, in America they pushed their guys to one
side and insisted that the Nazi work be what was the basis of the ICBM/space
program. It was the American rockets that were relatively crude, not the
Soviet ones. So cut them some slack, bespoke electronics with clever radio
wave stuff was something that the Soviets were extremely good at, mass
production a different story.

~~~
dagenleg
> actually their rocket science was far ahead of the amateur German efforts

That's not really what happened. At the end of the war, Germany had the
absolute lead in the rocket development, except maybe the rocket artillery.
Ever heard of V-2 rocket? It was the most advanced thing at the time. It's
true though that USSR didn't use the German talent as much as Americans did,
immediately after the war, but I think it's mostly due to the security
concerns and ideological reasons. Why have Germans building rockets when you
can use brilliant Korolev instead.

------
justherefortart
Fantastic technology for the 1970s. Well done Soviets!

One of the best programmers I've ever worked with is a guy that got his
Master's under the USSR before the collapse. Great guy (H1b).

~~~
xenadu02
I would assume the NSA/CIA had even more sophisticated tech; maybe the soviets
did too. We only find out about the ones that got discovered or leaked.

------
leoc
See also the
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_microphone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_microphone)
, invented by Léon "Theremin" Theremin for Soviet espionage.

------
chuckdries
> At the embassy, all equipment had to be carried up to the attic by hand, as
> the Russians had shut down the elevator after the first day of the arrival
> of the equipment, for 'preventive maintenance'.

I'm really curious about the elevator part. Did the US lease the space from
the soviets or something? I would have assumed we owned the building.

~~~
homero
I assume they had a building inspector paid off to do it

------
dang
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10773214](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10773214)

------
warwickchapman
One must wonder what Russia might have become if it had combined its
engineering prowess with an economic system that encouraged and supported
innovation.

~~~
utellme
Actually they really supported innovations, maybe not the way like it supposed
to be when you pursuing to receive economican benefit from R&D, but it's
because political interests occupied first, second and third places, economy
questions was on fourth place in good days.

There were no arms conversion, so economy didn't take any benefit from
beautiful minds behind the scenes.

------
gumby
What lovely engineering! A shame it was wasted on this spy-vs-spy stuff.

