Ukraine war
Spies in their own country: CIA shows Russians how to securely share information on the dark web
Anyone who wants to talk should do so: The American secret service CIA tells Russians how best to reach the agents.
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With videos on YouTube and Facebook, the US secret service CIA offers Russian-language instructions on how to safely pass on information about the war of aggression. The dark web plays a major role in this.
The YouTube video of the US secret service CIA has already had around 15,300 views – and has thus exaggeratedly recruited around 15,300 possible informants. Because the video is a novelty: For the first time, the CIA has published instructions in Russian that are intended to help people on Putin’s censored Internet to securely share information with the agents.
The secret service explained the procedure to the New York Times as follows: “We provide instructions in Russian on how to contact the CIA safely – via our website on the dark web or a reputable VPN. This is for those who feel compelled to reach out to us about the Russian government’s unjust war,” said Susan Miller, a spokeswoman for the CIA.
Youtube not yet blocked in Russia
The CIA not only published the instructions on YouTube, but also on Facebook, for example. So far, however, the video portal has been the best way to actually reach Russians. Their government blocked Facebook and Instagram some time ago, but has so far spared YouTube. “Time” magazine suspects that YouTube is too popular in Russia to simply block the website.
The instructions should be easy to follow, the secret service claims. Either you should contact the CIA via the anonymous TOR browser and the Darknet, or you should use a VPN that allows you to access websites that are actually blocked anyway through a kind of redirection.
Darknet as a protective measure
The New York Times reports that the CIA has had trouble facilitating covert communications in the past. In this way, both the Chinese and the Iranians penetrated the agency’s secret system and jeopardized the informants’ anonymity, and in some cases even exposed them. With the new interface in the dark web, the CIA is apparently hoping for better protection against attacks, since intrusion there is “immensely resource-intensive”.
The secret service invites any Russian to make contact. However, Russian government officials who have access to secret information are of particular interest. After the first contact, the CIA could be told how best to carry out further communication.
Sources:youtube, Facebook, New York Times, time