“‘Vulkan files’ leak reveals Putin’s global and domestic cyberwarfare tactics”
• Documents leaked by whistleblower angry over Ukraine war
• Private Moscow consultancy bolstering Russian cyberwarfare
• Tools support hacking operations and attacks on infrastructure
• Documents linked to notorious Russian hacking group Sandworm
• Russian program aims to control internet and spread disinformation
“The inconspicuous office is in Moscow’s north-eastern suburbs. A sign reads: “Business centre”. Nearby are modern residential blocks and a rambling old cemetery, home to ivy-covered war memorials. The area is where Peter the Great once trained his mighty army.
Inside the six-storey building, a new generation is helping Russian military operations. Its weapons are more advanced than those of Peter the Great’s era: not pikes and halberds, but hacking and disinformation tools.
The software engineers behind these systems are employees of NTC Vulkan. On the surface, it looks like a run-of-the-mill cybersecurity consultancy. However, a leak of secret files from the company has exposed its work bolstering Vladimir Putin’s cyberwarfare capabilities.
Thousands of pages of secret documents reveal how Vulkan’s engineers have worked for Russian military and intelligence agencies to support hacking operations, train operatives before attacks on national infrastructure, spread disinformation and control sections of the internet.“
“For Ukrainian Convicts, a Strange Odyssey Through Russian Prisons”
“When Russian troops left Kherson, they took with them 2,500 Ukrainian convicts from local prisons. For some, it was the start of a bewildering, five-country journey highlighting the war’s absurdity.“
“Oleksandr Fedorenko’s odyssey began with a triumph for his native Ukraine.
It was last October, and Ukrainian troops were pressing an offensive that would ultimately liberate the southern city of Kherson. As Russian occupation forces prepared to withdraw, they took with them 2,500 Ukrainian criminals from the city’s jails, including Mr. Fedorenko.
What followed over the next several months was a bizarre journey that took some of the convicts more than 4,000 miles through five prisons and five countries.
“We were received with shouts, beatings, humiliations,” said Mr. Fedorenko, 47, who had been serving time in Kherson for theft, describing his introduction to a Russian-controlled prison. “Face to the ground, don’t look, don’t speak, and blows, blows, blows.”
The Russians’ behavior befuddled the convicts from the start, with no one, including apparently their new jailers, having much of an idea what to do with them.
First, the prisoners were left largely to their own devices in their Ukrainian jails. Then they were unexpectedly, and with no explanation, shipped to Russian-controlled territory. But nothing underscored their haphazard treatment better than what happened when some of them reached the end of their original sentences.
The convicts were pleasantly surprised when Russian guards came to escort them out of jail when their sentences expired. But at the prison’s entrance, a bigger shock awaited: Some were immediately detained again by the Russian police and accused of violating immigration laws; they were fined and charged with illegally entering the country.“
So now we have more information on our resident trolls and their operations on social media where like here they have multiple fake accounts.
Put together with this oldie, the focus becomes clearer:
One Professional Russian Troll Tells All - your co-worker speaks out.
https://www.rferl.org/a/how-to-guide-russian-trolling-trolls/26919999.html