Inside Cyber Warfare - Jeffrey Carr [140]
The Special Communications and Information Service situation centers, shown in Figure 15-3, also provide the Russian leadership analytic support. General of the Army Aleksandr Starovoytov, former FAPSI director, stated in a 2010 interview that the analytic support included cutting-edge work on decision support systems, as well as information retrieval from large documentary databases, including “grey” literature on research and development projects.
Figure 15-3. Special Communications and Information Service Moscow headquarters (http://fso.gov.ru)
General Starovoytov now heads the Center for Information Technologies and Systems of Executive Agencies (FGNU TsITiS) under the Ministry of Education and Science and the International Center of Informatics and Electronics (InterEVM). According to Starovoytov, TsITiS transferred from FAPSI to the Ministry of Education and Science. It continues to work on decision support systems and new technologies, including voice-recognition software. The FSB, according to contract data, is also interested in voice-recognition software. Given General Starovoytov’s intelligence background and writings on IO, TsITiS and InterEVM[103] may be covers for intelligence activities.
The FSO Academy,[104] shown in Figure 15-4, is in Orel. According to its website, the FSO Academy commissions new officers through a university-level program and does continuing training and research (which probably include signals intelligence training, long done in Orel). The five-year commissioning program leads to degrees in network technology, communications, information systems, information security in telecommunications, and law. According to Russian press, the FSO Academy commissioned more than 400 officers in 2009. The FSO Academy also trains FSB officers.
Figure 15-4. FSO Academy academic training and student residence (Yandex Maps)
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[95] One Chechen site stated it traced attacks to the IP addresses registered to Vch 71330.
[96] The FSB, FSTEC, MOD, and the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) are authorized to undertake projects involving state-secret information—including those involving information security systems—using licensed entities. The FSB and FSTEC publish lists of approved entities (the lists include government and private enterprises), with the FSTEC list covering work for the MOD.
[97] DST Global owns approximately 10 percent of Facebook.
[98] Syrian security services used Facebook to identify and detain activists during Syria’s internal disturbances. Russian security service capability is vastly greater.
[99] The Cyrillic name is frequently translated as Federal Protection Service. They are the same organization.
[100] The KGB 9th Directorate was complicit in the August 1991 coup attempt against Gorbachev. President Yeltsin sought to minimize future threats by creating a protection service subordinate only to the president. The name was officially changed to FSO in 1996.
[101] The FSO provides presidential communications during foreign trips.
[102] In short, the FSB certifies the cryptographic technology used by the FSO but cannot read traffic on FSO networks. The FSO, however, can read the traffic. The division of responsibilities is another legacy of KGB involvement in past coups. The 1993 film The Grey Wolves about the 1964 coup against Khrushchev is illustrative. The film, co-written by Krushchev’s son, strives for historical accuracy.
[103] InterEVM’s website (www.inevm.ru) states it is an international organization working on the development of advanced information and communication systems. According to Russian press, InterEVM attended a Cuban trade fair in 2009.
[104] The FSO Academy was founded as the KGB Military Technical School, transitioning from the