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| (Vladislav Surkov / pc-Google Images) |
Hacking group ‘CyberHunta’ has published around 2300 emails between September 2013 to November 2014, when Russian military invaded Ukraine and annexed the territory of Crimea.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didn’t oppose the leaked documents but challenged their authenticity, saying that Surkov, a longtime adviser to President Vladimir Putin, "doesn't use electronic mail."
"I can tell you: This is not him," he said, referring to Surkov.
According to analyst Aric Toler from the Digital Forensic Research Lab, the hacked inbox was prm_surkova@gov.ru and was likely managed by Surkov's assistants as a work account. The hackers reportedly accessed the account by infiltrating the popular Yandex web portal.
Toler found that most of the emails were of little-or-no interest. However, he wrote that it "helps lend credibility to the email's authenticity." Some emails did include political briefings on the situation in Ukraine and a "calendar of announced events."
Ukraine's National Security Service (SBU) has claimed the contents of the leaks are real, although its experts warned the files may have been altered or tampered in some way. However, a large number of the communications suggest they were handled by Surkov's underlings and include requests to pass the e-mails on to Surkov.
Surkov previously served as a key adviser to Putin on domestic political matters and currently advises the Russian president on the West-leaning former Soviet countries of Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia.
