According to Ukrainska Pravda, the country’s Centre for Defence Strategies has obtained the personal information of 120,000 Russian servicemen fighting in Ukraine. This information is now freely available on the publication’s website.
The Register and others have been unable to fully verify the accuracy of the leak’s data. Names, addresses, passport numbers, unit names, and phone numbers appear to be included in the records. Some open-source intelligence researchers on Twitter, as well as sources who spoke confidentially to El Reg, said they found positive matches; others said they couldn’t verify dip-sampled data.
On the internet, rumours circulated that the disclosure was the work of activists. According to the Ukrainian news agency, the personnel records were obtained from “trustworthy sources.”
Statement: Personal data of 120,000 Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine was leaked –
https://ddosecrets[.]com/wiki/Russian_soldier_leak
All soldiers participating in the invasion of Ukraine should be subjected to a war crime tribunal.— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) April 3, 2022
Whether or not the contents of the database are true, the impact on Russian military morale – knowing that your country’s enemies have your personal information and can contact your family if you’re captured, killed, or even still alive – will be significant.
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, or does not, cyber-attacks orchestrated by or for the benefit of the Kremlin against Ukraine and the West appear limited, while more than 2,000 civilians have been killed on the ground, according to Ukrainian officials.
Former UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) chief Ciaran Martin noted in a blog post that even those sceptical of Russia’s claims of cyber-Armageddon during the invasion will be surprised by the lack of activity. The recent cyberattacks on Ukraine are part of Russia’s “long-standing campaign of cyber harassment of the country… rather than a serious escalation,” he wrote.
Martin went on to say that starting a cyberwar is far more difficult and fraught with complications than most people outside the infosec and IT worlds realise.
Cybercriminal groups have warned of retaliatory attacks against Western organisations in response to Russian sanctions or possible cyber operations targeting Russia as demonstration of support for Ukraine. UK technology sources have whispered of a noticeable uptick in malicious traffic probing their firewalls over the past few days.
