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As the war in Ukraine unfolded last year, Russia’s best digital spies turned to new tools to fight an enemy on another front: those inside its own borders who opposed the war. To aid an internal crackdown, Russian authorities had amassed an arsenal of technologies to track the online lives of citizens. After it invaded Ukraine, its demand grew for more surveillance tools. That helped stoke a cottage industry of tech contractors, which built products that have become a powerful – and novel – means of digital surveillance.
The technologies have given police and Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, access to a buffet of snooping capabilities focused on the day-to-day use of phones and websites. The tools offer ways to track certain kinds of activity on encrypted apps, monitor the locations of phones, identify anonymous social media users and break into people’s accounts, according to documents from Russian surveillance providers obtained by NYT.
President Vladimir Putin is leaning more on technology to wield political power as Russia faces military setbacks in Ukraine, bruising economic sanctions and leadership challenges after an uprising by Wagner. In doing so, Russia – which once lagged authoritarian regimes such as China and Iran in using modern technology to exert control – is quickly catching up. The effort has fed the coffers of a constellation of relatively unknown Russian technology firms. Many are owned by Citadel Group, a business once partially controlled by Alisher Usmanov, who was a target of EU sanctions as one of Putin’s “favourite oligarchs”. Some of the companies are trying to expand overseas, raising the risk that the technologies do not remain inside Russia.
Simple-to-use software that plugs directly into the telecommunications infrastructure now provides a Swiss-army knife of spying possibilities, according to the documents. .One programme outlined in the materials can identify when people make voice calls or send files on encrypted chat apps such as Telegram, Signal and WhatsApp. The software cannot intercept specific messages but can determine whether someone is using multiple phones, map their relationship network by tracking communications with others and triangulate what phones have been where on a given day. Another product can collect passwords entered on unencrypted websites. The existence of a digital exchange between a suspicious person and someone else can trigger a probe or even arrest, people familiar with the process said.
The technologies have given police and Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, access to a buffet of snooping capabilities focused on the day-to-day use of phones and websites. The tools offer ways to track certain kinds of activity on encrypted apps, monitor the locations of phones, identify anonymous social media users and break into people’s accounts, according to documents from Russian surveillance providers obtained by NYT.
President Vladimir Putin is leaning more on technology to wield political power as Russia faces military setbacks in Ukraine, bruising economic sanctions and leadership challenges after an uprising by Wagner. In doing so, Russia – which once lagged authoritarian regimes such as China and Iran in using modern technology to exert control – is quickly catching up. The effort has fed the coffers of a constellation of relatively unknown Russian technology firms. Many are owned by Citadel Group, a business once partially controlled by Alisher Usmanov, who was a target of EU sanctions as one of Putin’s “favourite oligarchs”. Some of the companies are trying to expand overseas, raising the risk that the technologies do not remain inside Russia.
Simple-to-use software that plugs directly into the telecommunications infrastructure now provides a Swiss-army knife of spying possibilities, according to the documents. .One programme outlined in the materials can identify when people make voice calls or send files on encrypted chat apps such as Telegram, Signal and WhatsApp. The software cannot intercept specific messages but can determine whether someone is using multiple phones, map their relationship network by tracking communications with others and triangulate what phones have been where on a given day. Another product can collect passwords entered on unencrypted websites. The existence of a digital exchange between a suspicious person and someone else can trigger a probe or even arrest, people familiar with the process said.
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