"Distributed Denial of Secrets"

Hi, it’s Ryan in Scotland. Transparency activists are helping hackers spread material stolen from Russia. But first…Today’s must-reads: Twit [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hi, it’s Ryan in Scotland. Transparency activists are helping hackers spread material stolen from Russia. But first… Today’s must-reads: - Twitter is working on an [edit button]( - The U.S., U.K. and Australia are developing [hypersonic weapons]( - An Amazon executive responsible for implementing the company’s pledge to become the [world’s best employer]( is leaving What hacktivists’ do with Russian data Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, hackers worldwide [united]( to wage cyberattacks against Russian targets, forcing websites offline and stealing data in an effort to support Kyiv. But the hackers have faced a major dilemma: What to do with troves of documents and emails that they have pilfered from their Russian victims’ computers? Some have found an answer in the form of a pro-transparency organization named Distributed Denial of Secrets, which has become an unofficial clearinghouse for the hackers’ loot. Distributed Denial of Secrets, or DDoSecrets, is run by a small group of mostly U.S.-based journalists and activists who say they aim to help the “free transmission of data in the public interest.” Since 2018, the group has used its website to distribute hacked and leaked data from more than 200 organizations, including U.S. law enforcement agencies, offshore banking firms and government ministries from as far afield as Azerbaijan and Cambodia. It also has published data stolen in ransomware incidents. In recent weeks, the group has turned its attention to Russia. DDoSecrets has released least 10 troves of data that hackers allegedly obtained from Russian organizations, including the government internet censorship agency Roskomnadzor, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, and the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. Hundreds of thousands of emails and internal documents are among the data published by the group. “Frankly, we’ve never seen this much data out of Russia before,” said Emma Best, the co-founder of DDoSecrets. Prior to the conflict, Best said, the group had received and published a handful of leaked or hacked data dumps from Russia. But the number that the group has obtained following the invasion of Ukraine, “easily” outweighs all the pre-invasion Russian leaks, added Best, who uses the pronoun they. DDoSecrets says it doesn’t engage in hacking; instead, it functions as a publisher, receiving submissions from sources. The group vets the material it obtains prior to publication, but cautions that it was obtained amid a war and may have been altered or circulated by someone with ulterior motives. People affiliated with Anonymous, a loosely defined hacktivist movement, appear to be providing much of the Russian material, according to Best. DDoSecrets bears some similarities to WikiLeaks, the organization that rose to prominence after publishing a classified video showing U.S. military personnel firing on civilians in Iraq. But with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a British jail awaiting possible extradition to the U.S. to face espionage and computer intrusion charges, WikiLeaks has slowed its operations, leaving DDoSecrets as the preeminent clearinghouse for hacked and leaked material. Network Battalion 65, a group of hackers that says it formed to target Russia amid the invasion of Ukraine, claimed responsibility for hacking All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company and Mosekspertiza, a state-owned firm that provides consultancy services to Russian companies. It allegedly obtained thousands of emails and documents from those organizations, which were then published by DDoSecrets. Bloomberg was not able to independently verify the accuracy of the hackers’claims. “We are focused on exploiting Russian government assets or critical services, bearing in mind the effect on civilians as our intention isn't to punish the Russian people,” said a spokesperson for Network Battalion 65, otherwise known as NB65. The spokesperson said that WikiLeaks’ secure contact page was broken at the time and the group’s encryption key had expired, making it harder to reach the organization. Hence, it had turned to DDoSecrets. “WikiLeaks is dead,” the NB65 spokesperson said, adding that more troves of Russian data are likely to keep surfacing on DDoSecrets in the coming weeks. “Until Russia ceases all military action in Ukraine,” the spokesperson said, “we will continue to hack everything we can there.” —[Ryan Gallagher](mailto:rgallagher76@bloomberg.net) The big story As the cryptocurrency world has grown more complex, more transactions have come to rely on so-called [crypto bridges]( that enable transactions involving a wide range of tokens. But just because something is fast and cheap doesn't mean it's safe, as a recent $600 million hack shows. What else you need to know Google published a paper citing the work of former AI leaders who were [later dismissed]( Cybercriminals are split over Russia's [invasion of Ukraine](, according to Bitdefender CEO Florin Talpes. 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