The Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby told CNN: “We’re not quite exactly sure what happened here. The incident is being closely watched by Nato aircraft over the Black Sea. Four Russian ships that had gone to the Moskva’s rescue were being hampered by stormy weather and by ammunition blowing up onboard, it said. The IT firm, on its website, claims to help more than 200 companies protect their businesses.Russia’s defence ministry said it was investigating what had happened, but denied reports that it had sunk and claimed the fires had been extinguished. NTC Vulkan did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 'The strategy of information confrontation has largely influenced RU cyber operations in Ukraine in my opinion.' 'The thing about these projects contracted by NTC Vulkan is that they all seem to support the broader strategic goals of information confrontation,' said Roncone. Gabby Roncone, a cyber security researcher with Mandiant, said the projects associated with NTC Vulkan covers cyber espionage, information operations, and operational technology (critical infrastructure) targeting. One of the tools cited in the Vulkan Files is called Scan-V, which as its name suggests appears to have been designed to scan the internet for vulnerabilities and store what it finds for later analysis and exploitation.Īnother, called Amezit, is described by Mandiant as 'a framework used to control the online information environment and manipulate public opinion, enhance psychological operations, and store and organize data for upstream communication of efforts.'Ī third, called Krystal-2B, is said to be a training platform for coordinating attacks on transportation and utility infrastructure using Amezit. Pro-Putin scammers trick politicians and celebrities into low-tech hoax video calls.

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The leaked files also reportedly link NTC Vulkan to a Russian hacking group called APT29 or CozyBear, based on information from Google security researchers.

The officers remain at large – presumably in Russia. In 2020, the US Justice Department indicted six Russian GRU officers for allegedly carrying out attacks on the Seoul Olympics, Ukraine, France's 2017 elections, and other incidents.

Vulkan russia official