According to independent-minded online publication Meduza, the Russian Presidential Affairs Department’s Scientific Research Computing Center “develops systems to monitor and deanonymize social-media users, and it sells these systems to government and private clients alike.”
In a long journalistic investigation published last week, Meduza found that the services ‘PSKOV’ and ‘Sherlock,’ for example, can be used by insurance companies to “root out dishonest employees, and security-guard companies can recruit new staff.”
Another system, dubbed ‘Poseidon,’ allows the police to hunt down so-called extremists online. Meduza has learned that “these computing systems collect information on Russians not just from open sources, but also from leaked databases that are sold illegally on the black market.” Moreover, many of those using these systems are “the same law-enforcement officials who leaked the private data in the first place”, asserts Meduza.
Report: How Kremlin-managed research center sells services to deanonymize anyone in RussiaRead More
