I was born in the USSR in an ordinary Soviet family. My father worked as a programmer on the state service (as I and my sister were told). He always loved mathematics and computers.

But after my dad’s suicide in September 2001, some nuances revealed. His state service was in KGB and his job was a cryptographer in the department of governmental connections. It was a secret job, and it was forbidden to him to talk about it with anybody. He couldn’t travel abroad as he had an access to the governmental information.

I worked with my father’s photo archive to find any traces of his hidden life. He left about 35 bw films and some color slides. I knew he had talent in mathematics since middle school. He was invited to enter the High School of KGB without exams. He was a student of the 4th technical faculty - the new faculty for cryptographers. Since that time he was a part of KGB till the end of his life.

The book consists of two parts. One part is a construct of the secret life from photos, documents and historical events (mainly wars and military invasions) of USSR. The second part is about our ordinary soviet life. I don’t remember many details as my memory hid it from me after my dad’s suicide.

*Students of the 4th Technical Faculty of the High School of the KGB jokingly called themselves “binoms”.