<
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/mar/30/cyberwarfare-leaks-show-russian-army-is-adopting-mindset-of-secret-police>
"A consortium of media outlets have published a bombshell investigation about
Russia’s cyber-capabilities, based on a rare leak of documents. The files come
from NTC Vulkan, a cybersecurity firm in Moscow that doubles as a contractor to
Russian military and intelligence agencies.
They reveal how, for years, a group of top Russian IT engineers have been hired
to work with Russian military intelligence and a research facility of the FSB,
Vladimir Putin’s domestic spy agency. This might seem an unusual mix, and would
have been unimaginable before the end of the cold war.
But the documents, which I have reviewed, depict a new world of collaboration
between the Russian military and its secret police. And they show how much more
aggressive Putin’s siloviki, or security forces, have become since the collapse
of the Soviet Union.
Historically, there was never much love between the Russian army and secret
police – and for a good reason. The army had never forgotten Joseph Stalin’s
murderous purges, and after the revolutionary dictator’s death the KGB (the
FSB’s predecessor) retained powers to keep an eye on the military. Nobody likes
having someone breathing down their neck.
Russia’s army and its secret police did not just hate each other; they viewed
the world through different lenses. Putin’s era brought about new rules and a
new mentality, as the Vulkan files make clear."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
