hbjhb

(Updated: January 7, 2017) Shortly before the recent US presidential election, a dedicated cybersecurity hotline with Moscow was used by president Obama to warn the Russian government not to interfere with the election process through hacking operations. Press reports compared the cybersecurity with the "Red Phone", which many people believe is used on the Hotline between Washington and Moscow. That's not true, and also Obama's message seems not to have been transmitted by phone, but through an e-mail channel which is maintained by the Nuclear Risk Reduction Center (NRRC). The Nuclear Risk Reduction Center (NRRC) at the US State Department, which also maintains the cybersecurity communications link between US and Russian Computer Emergency Readiness Teams (screenshot from a State Department video) Obama's message The fact that on October 31, US president Obama sent the Russians a direct message through the cyber channel was first reported on December 16. Three d...

(UPDATED: March 5, 2016) Today, it's exactly 50 years ago that the famous Washington-Moscow Hotline became operational. Allthough this link has always been for written communications only, many people think there are red telephones on the Hotline, as this is often depicted in popular culture. One wide-spread image is from the article about the Hotline on the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. It shows a non-dial red telephone which is on display in the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum in Atlanta, Georgia: (photo uploaded to Wikimedia by user Piotrus under CC-BY-SA) Much of the confusion about the real purpose of this phone was due to the fact that in this picture, the text on the plate below the phone wasn't readable. But now, upon request of this weblog, the curator of the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum kindly provided the text, which reads as follows: RED PHONE During Jimmy Carter’s presidency, the “red phone” was a hotline to the Kremlin in Moscow. A U.S. president could pick...

(Updated: September 16, 2013) This Friday, August 30, it's exactly 50 years ago that a direct communication link between the United States and Russia became operational. This Washington-Moscow Hotline is one of the most famous top level communications systems in modern history. Many people think the Washington-Moscow Hotline uses red phone sets, but that's a myth. The Hotline never was a telephone line as it started with teletype terminals, later replaced by facsimile equipment. Since 2008 the Hotline uses secure e-mail, as can be seen in this most recent picture of the Hotline terminal in the Pentagon: The Washington-Moscow Hotline terminal room at the Pentagon, 2013 Presidential communicator Navy Chief Petty Officer John E. Kelley (seated) and senior presidential translator Lt. Col. Charles Cox man the hotline terminal (photo: www.army.mil ) For the full history and more unique historical pictures of the Hotline, see our updated story from last year: The Washington-Moscow H...

(Updated: December 25, 2016) In a previous article we discussed the Washington-Moscow Hotline , being the most famous bilateral hotline. It was soon followed by direct communication links between a number of other countries with nuclear capabilities. In general these hotlines started as a teletype connection, being upgraded with facsimile units in the eighties and were eventually turned into dedicated secure computer networks. An exception is the hotline between Washington and London, which was a phone line already since 1943. Overview of the top level bilateral hotlines worldwide (Click to enlarge) The hotlines between the heads of governments, are meant to prevent (nuclear) war in times of severe crisis. For preventing misunderstandings and miscommunications in less critical situations, countries have also set up lower level telephone hotlines between their defense or foreign ministers. For example, the United States has so called Defense Telephone Links with at least 23 other states...

(Updated: October 8, 2016) In October 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis ended and the world was saved from falling into a nuclear war. In order to prevent this risk in the future, the United States and the Sovjet Union established a direct communication line between their two capitals in August 1963. This Washington-Moscow Hotline became one of the most famous top level communications systems in modern history. In popular culture, the Washington-Moscow Hotline is often called the Red Phone , and therefore many people think it's a telephone line, with a red phone set on the president's desk. However, this is false: the Hotline was never a phone line, but instead set up as a teletype connection, which in 1988 was replaced by facsimile units. Since 2008 the Hotline is a highly secure computer link over which messages are exchanged by e-mail . Contents - Origins - Installation - The Hotline terminals - 1963: Teletype equipment - 1978: Satellite link - 1988: Facsimile equipment - ...