"Oil into the Fire:"
An Inside Look at SVR Cyberespionage
For nearly nine years, mystery has surrounded the role of Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) cyber intrusions in the broad influence operations the Kremlin mounted during the 2016 US presidential election. The prevailing assumption has been that the SVR leveraged cyberespionage for intelligence purposes. However, recently declassified documents suggest an altogether different reality: that the SVR likely fabricated at least a portion of its reporting. Our talk will propose and assess two parallel hypotheses: (1) SVR officers sought to boost their own image within the cutthroat Russian intelligence community; and/or (2) the SVR conducted an offensive counterintelligence operation using forgeries to shape American leaders’ actions.