In Russia there are also leaks of sensitive data that could be related to the conflict in Ukraine. Coinciding with the leaking of secret documents from the Pentagon and other US agencies on networks, in Moscow a group of corrupt policemen sold personal data from Russian security forces to all kinds of customers, including Ukrainians. At least that’s what the FSB (heir to the Soviet KGB) believes, which has been behind them for two weeks searching several police stations and police offices in the Russian capital.
These inspections have affected almost all police departments in the central district of Moscow, the business newspaper RBK published on Tuesday. According to another medium, the Baza Telegram channel, several agents are already in custody.
After two weeks of inspections, several agents have already been arrested
The searches are being carried out by both the FSB and the General Directorate of Security of the Ministry of the Interior itself, a source from said ministry assured local media.
“Operations are being carried out in almost all police departments in the central (Moscow) district. The reviewers inspected documentation and information from computers,” he told RBK.
According to the investigation, unknown persons managed to buy passwords to access the information systems of the Russian security forces. Then they downloaded the data they needed. The citizenship of the supposed buyers has not been revealed, but “it is assumed that among the clients there were citizens of Ukraine,” adds that source.
To confirm the suspicions, the FSB responded to advertisements published on the ‘Darknet’
According to Baza, the leak of “sensitive information” was noticed in the middle of spring, the beginning of which in Russia is considered to be March 1.
Immediately, suspicion fell on several workers of the Interior Directorate (Police) of the central district of Moscow. These were not dedicated to selling data specifically to Ukrainian citizens, but to customers in general through the internet. But that was also taken advantage of by citizens of Ukraine, the investigation suspects.
To verify the suspicions that the leak was within the Police, investigators from the FSB and the Security of the Ministry of the Interior decided to carry out an operational experiment. They found ads on the dark web and responded to them by commissioning information on various employees of the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office. They received what they asked for and thus “confirmed the suspicions that data was being leaked” from that department.
