Ukrainian intelligence has learned to use the transparency of the Russian information space to identify and eliminate military personnel on Russian territory.
Ukrainian intelligence has learned to use the transparency of the Russian information space to identify and eliminate military personnel on Russian territory.
As The Guardian reports , Russian authorities are trying to take control of their giant shadow market for personal data trading, known as “breach,” but these efforts have led to the relocation of data abroad, where the Kremlin has no control over it.
For decades, this system functioned as a parallel information economy, based on corrupt officials, police officers, and bank clerks. For symbolic sums (sometimes as little as $10), anyone could purchase passport data, travel history, or phone bills.
This tool was so convenient that it was used not only by criminals and investigative journalists (for example, to expose Navalny's poisoners), but also by Russian security forces themselves, for whom it was easier to buy data on the black market than to go through the bureaucratic procedures of official requests.
The situation changed radically with the beginning of the protracted war in Ukraine. The Kremlin began to view the “breakthrough” not as a tolerated inconvenience, but as a direct threat to national security. Telephone scams reached such proportions that even a close friend of Vladimir Putin became their victim, and the GUR uses this data to identify and eliminate military personnel on the territory of the aggressor.
In response, the authorities tightened legislation, introducing up to 10 years in prison for data leaks, and began a hunt for brokers, arresting administrators of popular services such as Usersbox.
However, the repressive measures have only worsened the situation. According to investigative journalist Andrei Zakharov, key market operators have moved their business abroad, where they are no longer afraid of arrests and are not bound by informal agreements with the FSB. Critical data sets, such as the Border Service database "Border-2023", are being leaked online. Even well-known services such as Himera, which previously collaborated with security forces, now declare that they have severed ties with Russian law enforcement agencies.
Ukrainian hackers, acting out of ideological motives, have also joined the chaos. Groups like KibOrg are publicly disclosing the data of millions of clients of Russian institutions, including Alfa-Bank.
