
C.I.A. Lacing (2014) - scrps
https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/cialacing.htm
======
ferros
How covert is staring at someone’s shoes trying to identify slight variations?

~~~
function_seven
Well, don't _stare_ at them. You know in advance that your contact will be
walking down Merriweather Lane at 11:30am. If his shoes sport a single "X"
near the bottom, that means the dead drop has the microfilm ready for pickup.
If it doesn't have that "X", then try again next Tuesday.

If you see two X's in his lacing, the package is at the alternate drop site.

If he has 3 X patterns, you're burned! Make your way to the safehouse after
losing any potential tails.

Glance quickly, agent, and keep moving.

~~~
stordoff
This setup reminds me of operation PIMLICO:

> Every Tuesday, shortly after 7:00, a British MI6 officer would take a
> morning stroll at the Kutuzovsky Prospekt in Moscow. He would pass outside a
> designated bakery at exactly 7:24 a.m. local time. If he saw Gordievsky
> standing outside the bakery holding a grocery bag, it meant that the double
> agent was requesting to be exfiltrated as a matter of urgency. Gordievsky
> would then have to wait outside the bakery until a second MI6 officer
> appeared, carrying a bag from the Harrods luxury department store in London.
> The man would also be carrying a Mars bar (a popular British candy bar) and
> would bite into it while passing right in front of Gordievsky. That would be
> a message to him that his request to be exfiltrated had been received.

[https://intelnews.org/tag/operation-
pimlico/](https://intelnews.org/tag/operation-pimlico/)

~~~
markdown
That was poorly conceived. They'd have to keep those things stored somewhere
for as long as the spy was active. What if a rat ate the last Mars bar at
6:00am?

~~~
iooi
Obviously HN always knows better, this reminds me of the Dropbox post.

There's a great book that covers every single aspect of this escape, "The Spy
and the Traitor" by Ben Macintyre. Rest assured that the British embassy had
plenty of Mars bars and Harrods bags for this signal!

~~~
changoplatanero
I've read that the embassy folk have nothing to do most of the time so they
spend months planning and preparing for this type of thing

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mhh__
The system MI6 used to communicate with Oleg Gordievsky was that, had he
decided to escape, he would stand near a bread shop in Moscow carrying a
Safeway's bag and an MI6 handler (who had never seen him before keep in mind)
would walk past eating either a mars bar or a kit kat.

------
rolph
these types of signals can be assigned different meanings, from day to day
depending on briefings.

it is also possible to depict roman numerals with lace patterns, and using
under/over eyelet lacing to further increase to combinations or provide a bit
of stego in the mix. you can send a shill signal with X's and a real signal
with laces through eyelets.

these sorts of things are used popularily and certain affiliations creedos or
type of date your looking for in a fetish bar are often communicated by
display of accessories.

so its not a big secret anymore its just a matter of getting the context of
the signal. so how you lace your shoes has different meaning in a night club
than in front of the embassy

~~~
Igelau
> type of date your looking for in a fetish bar

Yeah this reminded me of the "hanky code". Either the asset is requesting
immediate extraction, or signalling he's into watersports!

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pyuser583
The CIA needs to be stricter about enforcing their trademark.

The Pentagon is good at that - just try marketing something with “US Navy
Seals” or “US Marine Corps.” You’ll be hearing from their lawyers fast.

CIA in the other hand ... all sorts of weird internet ads use the CIA name.

~~~
jazzyjackson
It gives the CIA deniability and obscurity

Every third thing you hear about the CIA is made up on the spot, makes it hard
to know what's true, that's just the way the CIA likes it.

~~~
pyuser583
Because of all the covert operations that involve secret agents wearing CIA
branded gear?

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peter_d_sherman
What sort of lacing should someone wear if someone is _not voting for Joe
Biden_? <g>

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cheerlessbog
Barely related, but if you haven’t learned how to tie shoelaces instantly, you
should:

[https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm](https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm)

I’ve been doing this for nearly 20 years.

~~~
the_pwner224
I had to use the secure knot:
[https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm](https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm)

Not sure why, but single knots always come undone for me pretty quickly -
including the Ian Knot you linked. I used to do a double knot and now the
secure Ian Knot.

~~~
garblegarble
>Not sure why, but single knots always come undone for me pretty quickly

Since you've read about knots I'm sure you know this, but it's worth
mentioning for others in the same situation - if you find your laces come
undone very easily with a simple traditional knot it may be that you're not
balancing the starting knot and the finishing bow, leading to a "granny knot"
\-
[https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/grannyknot.htm](https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/grannyknot.htm)

------
supernova87a
I believe today you just say "hey, the drop is ready" over Signal.

~~~
willcipriano
Do you also send "the drop isn't ready" on other days? If not the fact that
you sent a message tells the attacker everything without knowing the content.

Also can anything be inferred by the length of the signal message? Do they pad
they out or will all of the sudden sending a 2kb vs 3kb message give you away
that something is different?

Personally if my life is on the line, I'd stick with the shoelaces.

~~~
airstrike
Instead of using Signal you can just upload a specific meme to
/r/wallstreetbets

~~~
progre
Didn't the 9/11 hijackers communicate by uploading images of basketball
players to sports discussion boards?

~~~
arminiusreturns
Source if you have it please.

~~~
stordoff
Suggestions of coded messages/steganography were made, but I'm struggling to
find anything concrete:

> Suspected ringleader Mohamed Atta was seen repeatedly by witnesses using his
> Hotmail account at public libraries in Florida to surf the Internet,
> downloading what appeared to be pictures of children and scenes of the
> Middle East.[1]

> Many of the hijackers were frequent visitors to libraries and internet cafes
> in Florida, where they are believed to have received their final orders in
> coded message.[2]

Pre-9/11:

> Through weeks of interviews with U.S. law-enforcement officials and experts,
> USA TODAY has learned new details of how extremists hide maps and
> photographs of terrorist targets — and post instructions for terrorist
> activities — on sports chat rooms, pornographic bulletin boards and other
> popular Web sites.[3]

[1]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20011005232014/https://abcnews.g...](https://web.archive.org/web/20011005232014/https://abcnews.go.com/sections/primetime/dailynews/primetime_011004_steganography.html)

[2]
[https://www.theregister.com/2001/10/11/iomart_cashes_in_on_w...](https://www.theregister.com/2001/10/11/iomart_cashes_in_on_wtc/)
([1] and [2] found via [https://www.giac.org/paper/gsec/3494/steganography-
age-terro...](https://www.giac.org/paper/gsec/3494/steganography-age-
terrorism/102620))

[3]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20030606200613/http://www.usatod...](https://web.archive.org/web/20030606200613/http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2001-02-05-binladen-
side.htm) (found via
[https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/11308369.pdf](https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/11308369.pdf))

~~~
arminiusreturns
I wouldn't doubt they used stenography too, was just curious if you had a
source. Thanks for the effort.

~~~
coldpie
Nitpick intended to be helpful, "steganography" is hiding data within other
data, "stenography" basically just means writing something down. Confusingly
similar terms.

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josefrichter
This is a joke, right? Shoes laced like this are immediately noticeable and
suspicious.

~~~
themodelplumber
Are they really that noticeable? Assume black laces--the yellow in the
illustrations is a callout effect rather than actual lace color.

And if someone does notice, it seems a stretch that they would be suspicious.
You could say you were feeling a creative streak. This is for message passing,
not for wearing to GRU interviews...

~~~
josefrichter
Yes, they are _that_ noticeable because literally nobody is using irregular
patterns on their shoelaces. And it’s a well known fact that especially women
often check men’s shoes at first sight.

~~~
grumple
This is the first time I’ve heard this...

