14 DAY TRIAL // Ever since the world learned that almost nothing is unahackable, more and more organizations turn to old-school methods to protect themselves against cyber espionage. Now, the Indian High Commission in London has started using typewriters to write sensitive documents.
Earlier this week, we learned that the NSA bugged the Permanent Mission of India at the United Nations and the embassy in Washington, DC. The US intelligence agency is also said to have spied on India’s space and nuclear programs, and politics.
Now, Indian High Commissioner to London Jamini Bhagwati has told the Times of India that they always step outside the embassy building when discussing classified matters.
Bhagwati says they’re uncertain if the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has bugged their offices.
“The British might have got bored with what they hear us talking inside the embassy. They must be saying ‘this is what the Indians talk’,” he said.
In any case, employees have been instructed to be careful when discussing classified matters inside the embassy.
As far as the use of typewriters is concerned, Bhagwati believes they’re much more secure than any type of electronic communications.
“Top secret cables are never conveyed through the internet or machines with cable connections. External hard drives with tremendous amount of data storage capacity are easy to access. Therefore, top secret cables are written on the typewriter which can't be tracked,” he noted.
Shortly after the world learned of the NSA’s surveillance programs, Russia’s Federal Protective Service also bought 20 typewriters to compose official documents. As more and more details about NSA’s controversial programs come to light, government organizations start taking measures.
On the other hand, it appears that the NSA is not the only intelligence agency that’s busy spying on other countries. Over the past months, Britain’s GCHQ has also been blamed numerous times for engaging in similar practices.
Recent Edward Snowden leaks show that the GCHQ is responsible for hacking Belgacom, Belgium’s largest telecoms company.