Day of Service for the Protection of State Secrets of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation

Data secrecy and encryption are used to maintain the confidentiality of information that is considered a state secret For the first time, special measures to protect information from the sphere of military, economic, intelligence and foreign policy activities of the state officially began to be carried out under Peter I During his reign in 1720 and 1724 decrees were issued “On keeping cases secret in boards and offices” and “On cases subject to secrecy” The dissemination of secret information today, as hundreds of years ago, can cause significant material damage and reputational damage to the country November 13 is the Day of the Service for the Protection of State Secrets of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation The holiday is timed to coincide with the release in 1918 of Order No 217/33 of the Revolutionary Military Council on the creation of a unit at the General Staff for working with secret documents Previously, various departments were involved in the creation of codes and keys that were used by all branches of the army, military districts and divisions Since 1921, the Central Cipher Department of the Red Army Headquarters became responsible for this In 1930, the process changed from manual to automatic: special equipment began to be used for encryption - the K-37 copying machine and the B-4 device Before the start of the Great Patriotic War, the special unit of the General Staff of the Red Army accumulated extensive experience in creating hidden communications in the army and converting information using secret keys Codebreakers worked in difficult conditions during the battles of Lake Khasan and the Khalkhil-Gol River (1938-1939), the battles of the Soviet-Finnish War, and while assisting the Spanish communists during the Civil War of 1936-1939 Thanks to 12,000 specialists, the command of the Red Army was provided with reliable and stable covert communications during the Second World War Their work in compiling coded radio and telephone messages was distinguished by high accuracy, and their behavior was selfless If a military unit was surrounded by the enemy, or the ship was sinking, Soviet cryptographers, first of all, thought about saving secret documents, and then their own lives Since 1931, the Eighth Directorate (called a department until 1941) of the General Staff of the Armed Forces has been responsible for encoding and maintaining the secrecy of information The division is ready for modern challenges associated with the development of digital technologies Therefore, it suppresses any attempts of unauthorized access by foreign countries to secret data of the Russian Federation The Eighth Directorate ensures the protection of information that is classified as a state secret: it is engaged in supervision and control of space radio links and other systems, encryption of information and engineering cryptographic analysis of security measures, maintenance of facilities with computer equipment, etc The security of the state, its development in the economic, political, social and cultural spheres depend on the activities of employees Specialists work in close cooperation with the Ministry of Defense, foreign intelligence, FSB and other authorities Colleagues and relatives congratulate all professionals who work in the Eighth Directorate on November 13 on the Day of the Service for the Protection of State Secrets of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation