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An OTP
generally consists of a set of pages with random letters or numbers
on them. They are used for coding end decoding secret messages that are
truely unbreakable. As each OTP page can be used only once, and must be
destroyed immediately after use, the agent needs to have sufficient supply
of fresh OTP code material.
For a number of years, the KGB
printed tiny little OTP books on
very thin paper and used common objects like this walnut to hide them in.
An agent could hide the walnut in his living room between real walnuts
without arousing any suspicion.
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For this concealment, a real walnut was used that was nicely split at the
centre and emptied. The OTP books generally consisted of pages with black
and red text on them. The black printed pages were used for decoding a
message, whilst the red printed ones were used for sending messages.
Very thin paper was used so that it occupied less space and
could be folded easily.
The pages consisted of 5-digit groups, 10 rows x 6 columns per page,
folded together as an harmonica.
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The pages where then rolled-up and bound together by means of a piece of
thread, and hidden inside the
hollowed-out walnut.
The two halves of the walnut were then
rejoined and held by
means of glue or a piece of gum. After that you could not tell them
apart from a real walnut and the best place to 'hide' them was
in plain sight, e.g.
in a bowl between real waltnuts.
Each time the agent received or sent a message, he used at least one page
of the OTP booklet, which he cut-off and
burned after use, so that he could not be compromised by it later.
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A walnut concealment like the one shown here was discovered during the
1980s in the home of a KGB agent in (then) West Germany [2].
After his arrest,
the German Intelligence Agency (BND) 1
and the Criminal Police Office (BKA) 2
search his appartment. Initially nothing was found but then one
of the officers decided to check the walnuts
that were inconspicuously placed in a bowl on the table.
Most of them appeared to be normal, but a couple of them
weighted noticably less...
Inside one of the walnuts they found two small OTP booklets, one for
receiving messages (black) and one for sending them (red). Each booklet
had multiple pages with 60 5-digit groups each.
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The X-ray image below shows the bowl with the walnuts, with the organic
parts in orange and green, and the non-organic booklet crearly sticking
out in blue. Apart from using x-rays to find the concealment, it was
also possible to identify it by its weight, as it is considerably lighter.
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- Anonymous, Walnut concealment device with two OTP booklets - THANKS !
Crypto Museum, August 2015.
- H. Keith Melton, Ultimate Spy
1996. ISBN 0-7513-4791-4.
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© Crypto Museum. Created: Monday 07 September 2015. Last changed: Tuesday, 13 June 2017 - 10:55 CET.
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