Yuri Vasilyevich told the story without stopping, by heart. It was clear that it was not the first time. Rutra did not dare to interrupt, but there were many questions, and he raised his hand as if signaling that he wanted to ask a question. The chief was silent.

– I don't understand. You said it was opposed by the Echelon system," Ruthra said without a questioning tone, simply indicating his area of interest.

The lecturer thought for a moment, then answered:

– In the system of functioning of special services there is the first level, it is common knowledge, and the second level is us. The first level as it worked, so it still works, in the same spirit, for the development and control of the data received. For competition, so to speak, it is very important. The second level is unknown to the first. Unknown in the sense that they must not know that there is a secret cooperation agreement. Therefore, the second tier consists of employees of the first tier, but hides their association into a separate group. By habit they are called "Echelon 1" and "Echelon 2". Do you know how the NSA works to conceal its activities inside the country?

– You mean the NSA is not officially authorized to engage in eavesdropping on US communications systems and does so through cooperation with foreign allies conducting radio intercepts on US soil?

– Yes, that's right.

– I'm directly familiar with it.

– Here, draw conclusions. That's what we're supposed to agree on. And remember, Echelon 2 never fails. In case of detection, you're just a traitor, a spy. Echelon 1 will deal with you, as they should. It's a solid defense, with consequences. If you betray your own, disclose data about its existence, you will be identified, captured, arrested by Echelon 1 under the command of Echelon 2. Understood?

– I'm starting to realize

– All righty then. Take a look at the paperwork. If there's anything you don't understand, just ask. First of all, study this data, which you will work with directly.

He handed over a folder with a red line crossed out.

– That's all for starters. I'll be in my office, the rest of the local details will be provided by the staff directly reporting to you.

Saying the last, the chief raised his index finger upward while making a meaningful expression and left for his room.

Rutra looked around his new workplace, the operations and workroom, met his staff, returned to his office, and went over the contents of the folder. The folder contained one main document and many comments on it. Rutra began to study it. The document contained the following information: "List of computer surveillance and electronic intelligence programs by country. The list contains a list of computer surveillance and electronic intelligence programs implemented or currently being implemented by governments around the world, as well as international projects in this area.

Ruthra knew everything well, but still looked over the important ones:

International

"Echelon" is a global electronic intelligence system operating under the radio and intelligence security agreement of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, also known as UKUSA.

SOUD is a classified information interception system created by the USSR and Warsaw Pact countries to conduct global electronic reconnaissance. It is still in operation today.

National

UK

IMP is an initiative to enhance the UK government's ability to legally intercept communications and store the resulting data in a single database.

Tempora is a covert computer surveillance program launched in the fall of 2011, used by the UK Government Communications Centre in conjunction with the US National Security Agency.

The Impact Nominal Index is a computer system designed for police and other security agencies in the UK that allows them to make quick inquiries about persons of interest.

Russian Federation

SORM – a system of technical means to ensure the functions of operational-search activities. A set of technical means and measures designed to carry out operational-search activities in telephone, mobile and wireless communication and radio networks.

A distinction should be made:

SORM-1 is a system of wiretapping organized in 1996;

SORM-2 is a system for logging Internet accesses developed by a working group of representatives of the Russian State Communications Committee, the Russian Federal Security Service, the Central Research Institute of Communications and Glavvyaznadzor;

SORM-3 is a system for collecting information from all types of communications and its long-term storage.

U.S.

The U.S. Intelligence Community is a system of 16 intelligence agencies whose activities include computerized surveillance and electronic intelligence.

STRATCOM – A special cybersecurity task force in U.S. Strategic Command; integrates nuclear, space, and missile defense.

MAINWAY is an NSA database containing metadata on hundreds of billions of phone calls made through the four largest phone companies in the United States: AT&T, SBC, BellSouth, and Verizon.

Stellar Wind is an electronic communications tracking program, including monitoring email messages, phone calls, financial transactions and internet activity.

Tailored Access Operations (TAO) is a division of the NSA created in 1997 that engages in active and passive surveillance of computers, including hacking and backdoor installation. It is capable of collecting approximately 2 petabytes of network transmitted data per hour.

Boundless Informant is an NSA system for analyzing global electronic communications. It has a huge database, including 14 billion reports on Iran, 6.3 billion on India, and 2.8 billion on the United States.

PRISM is an in-depth Internet traffic surveillance program formally classified as top secret; adopted by the NSA in 2007 as a replacement for the Terrorist Surveillance Program.

DCSNet is an FBI surveillance system that can wiretap any telecommunications device located in the United States.

Main Core is a database that stores personal and financial information on millions of U.S. citizens who may pose a threat to national security. The data is sourced from the NSA, FBI, CIA, and other government sources.

Magic Lantern is a keylogger program sent by the FBI as an email attachment. When activated, it acts as a Trojan horse and allows the FBI to track the activities of an Internet user.

Narus Insight is a cluster-class supercomputer espionage system designed to sniff and analyze network traffic data on the Internet. It uses the Carnivore system as auxiliary data delivery nodes. The operator of the system in the United States is the FBI; users are all U.S. federal agencies.

Carnivore is an automated espionage system for listening to information from websites, analyzing databases on websites, and opening and analyzing emails; an analogue of the Russian SORM-2. An element of the Narus Insight total surveillance supercomputer cluster.

Terrorist Finance Tracking Program – a joint program of the CIA and the U.S. Treasury Department to gain access to the SWIFT transaction database. According to the U.S. government, efforts to counter terrorist activities were compromised after information about the existence of the program was leaked to the media.

X-Keyscore, a secret computer tracking program, is run jointly by the U.S. National Security Agency, the Australian Radio Defense Agency, and the New Zealand Government Communications Security Service. The FBI has created and is actively populating the world's largest database of biometric information on U.S. citizens, including retina, fingerprints, facial structure, scars, voice, language, facial expressions and gestures.