Dumped data shows widespread surveillance of Russian citizens

Surveillance is 'actively transmitting data to Moscow'

Hacking collective CAXXII has released around 128GB of data from Russia, which appears to reveal a vast domestic surveillance routine of civilians and private enterprises throughout the country.

CAXXII's enormous data dump is linked to Convex, an internet service provider in Russia.

The hacking group alleges that Convex is engaged in the "Green Atom" project, which tracks Russian residents' and private firms' online behaviour.

"'Green Atom' (TS ORM fsb) refers to the installation and maintenance of wide-ranging surveillance equipment that is used to monitor the online activity of all traffic in and out of Convex," a member of CAXXII told Kyiv Post by email.

They added that this surveillance is "not just pre-emptive tapping." Convex, they say, is "actively transmitting data to Moscow."

This widespread eavesdropping is allegedly unlawful under Russian law, as a search warrant must be obtained before mass surveillance can be performed.

CAXXII says Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) is running the operation.

Convex allegedly mirrors "all of the traffic for every company," and enables Russian intelligence to record phone conversations and collect any data that travels through the company's servers. This includes ability to monitor and track emails, social media and credit card transactions.

CAXXII called the uncovering of the 'Green Atom' project the "most amazing discovery".

"Documents confirming the existence of this project, as well as the correspondence of Convex employees with the FSB, are now available not only to us, but also to you," it said.

Russia is well-known for using the System for Operative Investigative Activities (SORM) network to snoop on its residents. The project, started in 1995, gave the government access to calls, messages, and data of Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) users, the nation's largest phone company.

Since then, the government has changed the law to encompass ISPs and online platforms, forcing them to install SORM equipment. Failure or refusal to do so brings punishment by Roskomnadzor, the Russian internet regulator.

A technology expert told Kyiv Post that the Convex data now published online would render hundreds of organisations vulnerable to further attacks by outside hackers, who are not connected to the CAXXII group.

CAXXII has been releasing videos of its hacking of Russian IPTV stations around the country for months on Telegram. The group's strategy is to hack into an IPTV network before replacing pro-government television programmes with anti-Putin and pro-opposition videos.

The hacker collective also hinted that there was as-yet-undisclosed material that would throw light on the FSB's capacity for intelligence collection.