The Kremlin is going back in time and will start using typewriters again to leak-proof sensitive classified documents, according to a new report.
Russia’s Federal Guard Service, which is tasked with protecting secret documents will spend about $15,000 on new electric typewriters, according to the Britain’s Telegraph newspaper.
“After scandals with the distribution of secret documents by WikiLeaks, the exposures by Edward Snowden, reports about Dmitry Medvedev being listened in on during his visit to the G20 summit in London, it has been decided to expand the practice of creating paper documents,” an FSO source told Russia’s Izvestiya newspaper.
Every document can be linked to the typewriter through it’s individual printing pattern, making them easier to track, the paper said.
Sensitive documents for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the defense minister are already issued exclusively on paper but the new measure shows Russia’s attempt to resist new technology and its inherent security risks.
Documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden showed the agency intercepted top-secret communications of then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at a G20 summit in 2009, prompting a fierce rebuke from Moscow.
