- Oct 17, 2011
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The [5,000] documents detail a suite of computer programs and databases that would allow Russia’s intelligence agencies and hacking groups to better find vulnerabilities, coordinate attacks and control online activity. The documents suggest the firm was supporting operations including both social media disinformation and training to remotely disrupt real-world targets, such as sea, air and rail control systems.
An anonymous person provided the documents from the contractor, NTC Vulkan, to a German reporter after expressing outrage about Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
The trove offers a rare window into the secret corporate dealings of Russia’s military and spy agencies, including work for the notorious government hacking group Sandworm [see also]. U.S. officials have accused Sandworm of twice causing power blackouts in Ukraine, disrupting the Opening Ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics and launching NotPetya, the most economically destructive malware in history.
The cache of more than 5,000 pages of documents, dated between 2016 and 2021, includes manuals, technical specification sheets and other details for software that Vulkan designed for the Russian military and intelligence establishment. It also includes internal company emails, financial records and contracts that show both the ambition of Russia’s cyber operations and the breadth of the work Moscow has been outsourcing.
This includes programs to create fake social media pages and software that can identify and stockpile lists of vulnerabilities in computer systems across the globe for possible future targeting.
Among the thousands of pages of leaked Vulkan documents are projects designed to automate and enable operations across Russian hacking units.
Amezit, for example, details tactics for automating the creation of massive numbers of fake social media accounts for disinformation campaigns. One document in the leaked cache describes how to use banks of mobile phone SIM cards to defeat verification checks for new accounts on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.
The reporters also found evidence of the software being used to create fake social media accounts, inside and outside of Russia, to push narratives in line with official state propaganda, including denials that Russian attacks in Syria killed civilians.
An anonymous person provided the documents from the contractor, NTC Vulkan, to a German reporter after expressing outrage about Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
The trove offers a rare window into the secret corporate dealings of Russia’s military and spy agencies, including work for the notorious government hacking group Sandworm [see also]. U.S. officials have accused Sandworm of twice causing power blackouts in Ukraine, disrupting the Opening Ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics and launching NotPetya, the most economically destructive malware in history.
The cache of more than 5,000 pages of documents, dated between 2016 and 2021, includes manuals, technical specification sheets and other details for software that Vulkan designed for the Russian military and intelligence establishment. It also includes internal company emails, financial records and contracts that show both the ambition of Russia’s cyber operations and the breadth of the work Moscow has been outsourcing.
This includes programs to create fake social media pages and software that can identify and stockpile lists of vulnerabilities in computer systems across the globe for possible future targeting.
Among the thousands of pages of leaked Vulkan documents are projects designed to automate and enable operations across Russian hacking units.
Amezit, for example, details tactics for automating the creation of massive numbers of fake social media accounts for disinformation campaigns. One document in the leaked cache describes how to use banks of mobile phone SIM cards to defeat verification checks for new accounts on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.
The reporters also found evidence of the software being used to create fake social media accounts, inside and outside of Russia, to push narratives in line with official state propaganda, including denials that Russian attacks in Syria killed civilians.
