The world's first "keylogger" was one that the former Soviet Union incorporated into the typewriter of the American Embassy

ByEtan J. Tal

It is an open fact that intelligence activities to acquire information hidden by other countries are spreading in countries all over the world and received specialized trainingspy(Intelligence agent) is said to be collecting information using all means. OnceCold warFierce spying activity was spreading even in the era, but in the meantime the former Soviet Union detects typewriter input and extracts information "KeyloggerI know that I was using the.

How Soviets used IBM Selectric keyloggers to spy on US diplomats | Ars Technica
http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/10/how-soviets-used-ibm-selectric-keyloggers-to-spy-on-us-diplomats/

Soviet Spying on US Selectric Typewriters - Schneier on Security
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2015/10/soviet_spying_o.html

It is believed that "the world's first keylogger" was developed in the 1970s, it is thought that the electric typewriter manufactured by IBM, which was used at the US Embassy in the USSR in Moscow "IBM selector typewriter". Although it is a typewriter with an appearance that seems to come out even in war movies, the Soviet Spy installs an extremely sophisticated device that detects the movement of the key in this typewriter in some way, and the content of the document that was classified as confidential I knew I was grasping.

ByEtan J. Tal

This typewriter is characterized by having a type called "ball" instead of the conventional "hammer". Thanks to this mechanism, it is now possible to change the typeface (font) freely during document creation, which leads to modern timesDTPIt is said to be the forerunners of.


The place where the ball hits characters is like this. Between the movable ball and the paper is a "ribbon" which is impregnated with ink and the letter is transferred to the paper by hitting the ribbon with the ball.

ByDominika Komender

It looks like the actual centric type typewriter is running. The angle and movement of the ball are controlled by two electrically driven rods (bars).

IBM Selectric Typewriter Mechanism in Action - YouTube


Created by NSA (National Security Agency)DocumentAccording to the PDF file, the Soviet Spy was perfectly perceiving the movement controlling the ball by hiding the very small electronic circuit in this rod. This electronic circuit could not be found at all from the exterior, and it was the level where it could be confirmed for the first time using X - ray inspection machine.

What is worrisome here is how to convey the detected movement to the outside in some way, but also here that skillful means was taken in. An electronic circuit is equipped with a buffer (memory) for 8 characters, and the input character is first accumulated in the buffer. When the eight characters are full, this time, the system that transmits the accumulated information by using the built-in transmitter to the "listening post" (receiving antenna) installed close, has become a physical contact It seems that it was possible to extract information without doing anything.

In addition, it seems that a mechanism for finding the detection on the US side was also included. The power supply of the electronic circuit could be remotely turned on and off, and when the possibility of investigation increased, it was supposed to be silent by turning off the power supply. In addition, it has been found that it seems that it was crowded with the use of radio waves in the frequency band used for general-purpose television broadcasting so that radio waves transmitting information are hard to be detected.

There were two types of power supply for the circuit: battery type with built-in battery and "AC type" supplied from power supply of typewriter. The following picture is a switch for a spy device which was put in the power switch of the typewriter, but I know that it was sophisticated enough to confirm with the magnifying glass.


This device was developed in the 1970s, and it is definitely called "the world's first keylogger" and it is definitely a thing. While security experts can glimpse the intensiveness of the former intelligence battle, security experts said that "In the past, such devices were necessary, but in today's world where every terminal is connected by the net, "We talked about the necessity of having a high security awareness in the Internet society.