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by willvarfar
2103 days ago
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"Spy Dust" https://io9.gizmodo.com/how-the-soviet-union-tracked-people-... In SpyCatcher, Peter Wright describes contemplating a similar system to catch spies removing sensitive documents from MI5. From the book: "I was asked if there was any technical way we could
prove Vassall was removing documents from the Admiralty. I had been experimenting for some time with Frank Morgan on a scheme to mark classified
documents using minute quantities of radioactive material. The idea was to
place a Geiger counter at the entrance of the building where the suspected
spy was operating so that we could detect if any marked documents were
being removed. We tried this with Vassall, but it was not a success. There
were too many exits in the Admiralty for us to be sure we were covering the
one which Vassall used, and the Geiger counter readings were often distorted
by luminous wristwatches and the like. Eventually the scheme was scrapped
when fears about the risks of exposing people to radiation were raised by the
management" Peter Wright also described a radioactive agent for discovering secret writing, which may be similar to how the secret writing that tipped them off was detected on the letters to the embassy to begin with: "The techniques of secret writing are the same the world over. First the
spy writes his cover letter. Then he writes the secret message on top, using a
special sheet of carbon paper treated with a colorless chemical. Tiny particles
of the chemical are transferred to the letter, which can then be developed
by the recipient. Most developing agents make the chemical traces grow, so
that the message becomes legible, and unless the correct agent is known, the
message remains undetectable. But Morgan created a universal developing
agent, using radioactivity, which transformed the possibilities of detection." |
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Makes you wonder if the person removing the documents was management.