Struggle in Soviet Russia

"So, my proposal includes three tasks that need to be implemented as soon as possible," Victor said in a serious tone, meeting Comrade Molotov's gaze.

Comrade Molotov did not speak, but nodded cautiously, motioning him to continue.

"First, all communications that have been sent in the form of one-time passwords in the past eighteen months must be sorted and screened," Victor continued. , and make adjustments as soon as possible to avoid losses to the greatest extent possible.”

"I have already taken this into consideration," said Comrade Molotov, with approval, "I will propose to set up a special working group in the People's Committee for Foreign Affairs, and spend three to four months on this work. deal with it."

Comrade Molotov is undoubtedly an experienced diplomat. His work experience in the post of the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs is counted in ten years. Therefore, in dealing with emergencies, his ability and Experience is beyond the reach of ordinary people.

In the past 18 months, that is, one and a half years, the number of times that the People's Committee for Foreign Affairs has used one-time passwords as encryption methods to conduct domestic and foreign communications must be an astonishing number. Sorting out is a very heavy task in itself, let alone adjusting accordingly. Here, Comrade Molotov said to use three to four months, in fact, this time limit is already very tight.

But having said that, considering that Viktor still needs to report to Comrade Stalin later, and after learning about this, Comrade Stalin will definitely ask Comrade Molotov to go there, so the deadline is actually a later date. An explanation to Comrade Stalin.

"Second," Victor did not comment on the deadline given by Comrade Molotov. That was not something he should consider. Of course, he also knew that Comrade Molotov did not tell him the deadline. , he did not say anything, and continued directly, "Organize all the one-time pads that have been used in the past, and select all versions with the same content to confirm the time of leakage that may be involved."

After a pause, he added: "Of course, accountability is also necessary, otherwise, I am afraid it will be difficult to get the approval of Comrade Stalin."

This time, Comrade Molotov didn't speak, he just nodded vaguely. Of course, he knew that if such a big thing happened, if the People's Committee for Foreign Affairs did not hold accountable the cipher programmers involved, then the whole thing would not be explained.

What's more, in the opinion of Comrade Molotov, if such a serious malfeasance accident occurred in the department under his charge, the person responsible must also pay the price. Isn't that too wrong?

To be honest, this leak is really not a trivial matter. Those who are responsible for compiling the one-time password book, under the constraints of rules and regulations, know that laziness may lead to leaks, but they still neglect their duties. In order to reduce the They are cheating and cheating because of the workload, and completely ignore the rules of confidentiality and work discipline. In this case, once something goes wrong, they should pay the price for their stupidity.

Their behavior, in the small, is dereliction of duty, negligence of duty, in the big, it is collaborating with the enemy and treason, and it will be sentenced to death.

"The third and most important point," Victor didn't know what Comrade Molotov was thinking. To be honest, he was worthy of this guy by sending a letter to this Comrade People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs in advance. , he has no obligation and no responsibility to do more for the other party.

"We have to do all our work with enough stealth," Victor offered his most important piece of advice, "to make it invisible to British and American intelligence agencies so that they still believe in our OTPs. There are still loopholes in the writing, and it can provide them with opportunities. Only in this way, we have more time to recover the loss, and even, we can create enough trouble for our adversaries by passing some false information.”

Comrade Molotov nodded again and said: "Before, we did not know that there was a problem with the encrypted communication process, so for the British and American intelligence agencies, through this loophole, they had an advantage. Now , we actually detect the problem, then the advantage will shift to our side before they realize that the loophole has been closed.”

Victor smiled, no interface.

"When are you going to report this news to Comrade Stalin?" Comrade Molotov asked after being silent for a while.

"I must go there as soon as possible," Victor said, looking at his watch, "according to the schedule, Comrade Stalin and President Roosevelt will have breakfast at eight o'clock in the morning, and nine o'clock is the official start time of the meeting, so I must be in time for eight o'clock in the morning. Inform Comrade Stalin of this news before the hour."

Comrade Molotov also looked at his watch and immediately said, "Then, please report to Comrade Stalin in half an hour. I'll make some arrangements first."

Victor nodded and accepted the request.

Comrade Molotov stood upright at the table and smiled at Victor again, but because his heart was heavy, his smile also seemed extremely stiff. Perhaps because of his absent-mindedness, when he left the office, Even forgot to say goodbye to Victor.

According to the agreement with Comrade Molotov, Viktor sat in the office for another half an hour. It was not until nearly half past six when he left his room and went straight to the room of Comrade Poskrebyshev next door. .

In the corridor, Viktor had just knocked on Comrade Boskrebyshev's door when Comrade Grand Secret's voice came from the room.

Pushing the door open, Viktor saw Boskrebyshev washing his face in the washbasin by the door.

Victor stood in the doorway, his eyes quickly circled the room, and then he said with a smile, "Good morning."

Boskrebyshev straightened up, wiped his face with a towel, and said in a muffled voice, "Is there any bad news?"

At this time, Victor had already seen the lamp on the table by the window, and there was a teacup changed from a canned bottle with half a cup of tea in it.

He suspected that Poskrebyshev might have been up long ago, and he even knew that Comrade Molotov had been in the opposite room before.

"Yeah," Viktor said without concealing the intention of the other party, taking out a cigarette from his pocket, pulling one, and handing it to the other party, "a news that is bad enough to ruin Comrade Stalin's mood all day."

Boskrebyshev threw the towel in the washbasin, took the cigarette he handed over, and said, "Is it related to Comrade Molotov, or the People's Committee for Foreign Affairs?"

Victor also put a cigarette in his mouth, and then nodded in response while lighting the lighter.

Boskrebyshev did not continue to ask, he lowered his head slightly, lit the cigarette with the lighter in Viktor's hand, then pointed to the door and said, "I woke up last night when those people from Moscow came over. After that, I haven't been able to fall asleep again. Before, when Comrade Molotov came over, I also heard it, but I didn't come out."

After a pause, he asked tentatively, "Is it serious?"

Victor looked out the door, and the guards who were on duty in the corridor were already standing there.

He took a step into the door, closed the door, and said in a low voice: "There has been a leak of the People's Committee for Foreign Affairs. Over the past year, an intelligence agency jointly formed by the British and Americans has been intercepting Listen to the encrypted communications of the People's Committee for Foreign Affairs, and, because of a problem with the compilation of the one-time pad, their intelligence agency has deciphered the encrypted messages of the People's Committee of Foreign Affairs."

This news obviously gave Boskrebyshev enough shock. He widened his eyes and looked at Victor with an incredible expression. He stared at Victor for a while, then swallowed his saliva, subconsciously. Asked: "Where did you get this information?"

"It was provided by a deeply lurking intelligence officer in the Foreign Intelligence Agency," Victor certainly couldn't tell him the exact information, he could only say vaguely, "Of course, its credibility is very high."

"This is really bad news," said Boskrebyshev, pursing his lips. "Yes, I think you must report this news to Comrade Stalin immediately. At least, we should determine a countermeasure."

Victor didn't say anything, just spread his hands. The meaning is very clear. Comrade Stalin should be resting at this meeting. If he wants to report, he should be called up first.

Boskrebyshev understood what he meant in a second, the big secret comrade said nothing, took a coat and put it on, opened the door and walked out.

The two went upstairs one after the other and went straight to the door of Comrade Stalin's room.

Viktor waited outside the door first, and Boskrebyshev pushed the door in by himself. After about ten minutes, he reappeared at the door.

"Comrade Stalin is up," Boskrebyshev whispered while standing by the door. "You're washing now, go in and wait for a while."

Victor nodded and stepped into the room.

Compared with Victor's room on the first floor, Comrade Stalin's room was naturally much more spacious. To describe it in one sentence, Victor's room was a servant's room, and the room in front of him was the real master's room.

At this time, the living room of the room was empty, but there was a slight sound of water coming from the double-leafed door of the bedroom.