Meduza

Meduza is an independent-minded online media that brings news and feature stories from hundreds of sources in Russia and across the former Soviet Union in both Russian and English languages. This publication has been designated a "foreign agent" by the Russian authorities under a controversial law.

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On Facebook and Instagram, fake ad campaigns twist the name of Russian celebrities

February 26, 2020

Scams on Facebook and Instagram designed to look like they’re from prominent people in Russia aren’t rare. Last fall, Russian users reported multiple announcements featuring photographs of Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who is now working to launch his own blockchain platform.  Scammers started a massive ad campaign in Durov’s name, using the slogan “I won’t let Russians …

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In Moscow, more than 100,000 security cameras are connected to a powerful facial recognition system

November 12, 2020

Dmitry Golovin, who leads the Moscow IT Department’s video surveillance division, has revealed during a forum called Security Technologies that 105,000 of the city’s security cameras are connected to a facial recognition system. Over the course of Russia’s New Year holidays, Golovin added, that system helped state officials arrest 34 individuals who had been wanted …

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How a highly connected military figure became Russia’s point man for disconnecting the Internet

December 24, 2019

In November 2019, Russia’s so-called “Internet sovereignty law” took effect, requiring all local telecom operators to install special equipment designed to “withstand foreign threats” and block anything added by Roskomnadzor (the federal censor) to the government’s registry of banned online content. The new regulations are still unenforceable in practice, but officials are already testing the …

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How top international hacking collective takes advantage of family ties in Russian intelligence community

December 13, 2019

On December 5, the U.S. government formally indicted members of the Russian hacker group “Evil Corp.” Washington says these men are behind “the world’s most egregious cyberattacks,” causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to banks. The Justice Department believes Evil Corp’s leader is Maxim Yakubets, who remains at large and was still actively involved in hacking activities …

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Amazon Prime acquires distribution rights for Russian TV series

December 11, 2019

Amazon Prime has purchased the European distribution rights for Konstantin Bogomolov’s television series ‘Soderzhanki’ (translated as “Gold Diggers”). The show will be available with German subtitles later this month and French subtitles in January 2020. Amazon Prime has bought the rights to other Russian TV shows before, but this will be the first Russian production presented as part of Amazon Originals and Exclusives, …

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Media report: Access to Moscow’s facial recognition system is available on the black market

November 12, 2020

Andrey Kaganskikh, a journalist for MBK Media, has found that access to Moscow’s surveillance cameras and their new facial recognition technology is being sold on the black market. As of the beginning of 2019, there were more than 170,000 surveillance cameras installed in Moscow. They are posted in courtyards, lobbies, parks, schools, clinics, malls, construction sites, and, of course, government …

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“Anti-Apple” draft bill: Russia could mandate pre-installed Russian-made apps on all devices

November 7, 2019

On November 5, Russia’s State Duma approved the first reading of a new bill that would obligate non-Russian producers of smartphones, computers, and smart TVs to pre-install Russian-made apps on their devices. If it ultimately becomes law, the bill will likely take effect on July 1, 2020. Under such legislation, the executive branch of the …

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“I’m making this bitch’s life hell:” A murder in the darknet

October 31, 2019

The BBC Russian Service has released an investigative report detailing the activities of Yaroslav Sumbayev, a hacker who allegedly ordered the widely publicized murder of Special Investigator Yevgenia Shishkina. The Georgian government extradited Sumbayev to Russia on October 24. He had previously fled the country to avoid prosecution in a case that Shishkina was investigating. Russian journalists …

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Putin orders criminalization of online ‘drug propaganda’ in Russia

October 29, 2019

Last week Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s federal executive branch to develop new legislation that would criminalize “encouraging the use of or propagandizing narcotic substances, psychotropic substances, or their analogues using the information and telecommunication network known as the Internet.” Encouraging illegal drug use in Russia is currently an administrative violation punishable by …

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New massive data breach hits Sberbank

October 24, 2019

On October 24, the newspaper Kommersant reported that Sberbank clients’ personal data were for sale on the black market in a database that apparently contains roughly a million lines of customers’ passport numbers, registration information, home addresses, telephone numbers, account numbers and balances, and records of any recent communication with the bank’s call center. Spokespeople for Sberbank, …

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Internet isolation exercises to take place in Russia at least once every year

October 22, 2019

Following the passage of a 2019 law allowing Russian Internet traffic to be isolated from the World Wide Web in case of an emergency, the country’s government has arranged to hold exercises to prepare for such a scenario at least once a year. A new posting appeared October 21 on Russia’s official government website to …

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Activist sues Moscow city for implementing facial recognition technology in public cameras

October 8, 2019

Moscow activist Alyona Popova has submitted a lawsuit asking for the city’s implementation of facial recognition technology to be declared illegal. Sarkis Darbinyan, an attorney for the free speech group Roskomsvoboda who is representing Popova in court, notified Vedomosti, a major Russian daily, of the lawsuit. Popova is arguing that processing biometric data without receiving written permission from the …

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