Fake mob - Newspaper Kommersant No. 176 (7377) dated 09/23/2022

Fake mob - Newspaper Kommersant No. 176 (7377) dated 09/23/2022



Against the background of the announcement of partial mobilization, fake databases with personal data of people who were allegedly called up for service began to spread on the network. Basically, they are compiled from old information leaks that took place, including after the outbreak of hostilities, and contain many errors. Over the past two weeks, information about base leaks began to appear on the network 70% more often than in summer, and, according to experts, the number of such incidents will only grow.

“Kommersant” discovered on shadow forums and Telegram channels a widely replicated database with data on citizens who allegedly will be included in the first wave of partial mobilization. The file contains information about more than 300 thousand people: full names, dates of birth, addresses, series and numbers of passports.

According to the cybersecurity experts interviewed, the database is a compilation of data from various past leaks and contains many errors, and there are female names in the lists.

Roskomnadzor told Kommersant that "such "leaks" are part of the information pressure on Russian citizens in connection with a special military operation and are timed to coincide with the beginning of partial mobilization." After the news about the leak, the Russian Ministry of Defense denied the information about the reliability of the data in its official Telegram channel.

The main goal of the initiators of the dissemination of this information is to increase panic among citizens, says Ashot Hovhannisyan, founder of the DLBI data leak intelligence and darknet monitoring service.

“The second task is to create a base for scammers who have changed the script of the call since yesterday: they introduce themselves not as the security service of Sberbank, but as a military enlistment office and offer to transfer money for a deferment from conscription,” he says.

At least three men who received summons yesterday found themselves in a "fake database". But Ashot Hovhannisyan believes that there is no reason for concern - "the bases distributed for free in Telegram channels do not contain accurate information, otherwise they would be sold, and most often they are just propaganda material."

Fake databases are needed to escalate the situation, agrees Alexey Lukatsky, Positive Technologies information security business consultant. According to him, the coincidences with real people who received the summons can be explained by the fact that their data was already in the databases published on the network.

The interest of malefactors in personal data, both citizens of Russia and Ukraine, grew immediately after the outbreak of hostilities (see "Kommersant" dated March 4). At the same time, many large companies leaked personal data of employees and customers, including Yandex.Food, Delivery Club, CDEK, Ozon, Russian Post. By August, Roskomnadzor had recorded more than 40 major leaks, resulting in over 300 million records being compromised (see "Kommersant" dated August 11).

According to Kommersant's interlocutors in the information security market, leaks will intensify in the near future.

Over the past two weeks, messages about them began to appear about 70% more often than in summer, they say in Informzaschita, “but in most cases these are either old leaks or fake ones.”

Fraudsters speculating on topical issues have also become more active, they have begun to actively create fake sites with offers to help in exclusion from the mobilization lists or organize a move abroad. One of the sources of "Kommersant" explained (see "Kommersant" dated September 22) that against the background of stress and anxiety, the chance of becoming a victim of intruders increases dramatically. “The situation is non-standard, and many will not be ready for it, especially at the first stage, when there is a lot of conflicting information, even official,” he says.

At the same time, Kommersant’s interlocutor in a large IT company is sure that, despite the increase in the number of news about leaks and the increased attention of regulators, databases with personal data will not stop being sold in the shadow segment of the Internet, “they can be used for blackmail, extortion, fake fees funds and so on.

Tatiana Isakova, Yuri Litvinenko



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