Spooked by NSA, Russia reverts to paper documents

One reason for using typewriters is that each creates its own unique

"signature" that can be traced.

In the wake of recent NSA spy scandals, Russia's Federal Guard Service

has decided to revert to using more typewriters and paper documents,

Izvestia reports.



Toward that end, the FSO, which protects Russia's top officials and

Kremlin communications, recently ordered 20 Triumph Adler typewriters,

the newspaper reports.



"After the scandal with the spread of secret documents by WikiLeaks,

the revelations of Edward Snowden, reports of listening to Dmitry

Medvedev during his visit to the G20 summit in London, the practice of

creating paper documents will increase," an unidentified FSO source

tells Izvestia.



One key reason for using typewriters is that each creates its own

unique "signature" that can be traced, the newspaper says.



The source notes that many critical groups, including the defense

ministry, emergency situations ministry and the security services,

have never switched over to electronic documents.



"From the point of view of ensuring security, any form of electronic

communication is vulnerable," Nikolai Kovalev, an MP and former head

of the Federal Security Service, the successor to the KGB, tells

Izvestia.



"Any information can be taken from computers," he says. "Of course

there are means of protection, but there is no 100% guarantee they

will work. So from the point of view of keeping secrets, the most

primitive method is preferred: a human hand with a pen or a

typewriter."