Researchers have uncovered a massive leak of classified US documents about the war between Ukraine and Russia on a gamer-centric chat app called Discord. Belling Cat and the Associated Press report.
“I don’t know. I really don’t know,” said the National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator. John Kirby He told reporters Monday about whether the leaks indicated an ongoing threat.
Kirby said the Pentagon has referred the matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation. He added that President Biden was briefed on the leak late last week and had been in contact with national security officials over the weekend.
However, researchers at Bellingcat traced the origin of the leak even further back to another app called Discord, where the document was distributed on January 13th.
Discord is a chat app popular with gamers, but it’s used by a wide range of users Various other communities, birdwatchers, TV show fans, and even university professors giving classes. The platform offers chat, voice, and video channels.
Aric Toler, Director of Training and Research Belling Cat, traced a Discord server called “Minecraft Earth Map” posted on March 4 to 10 documents marked “top secret” about Ukraine. argument.
Belling Cat Founded in 2014, it is an “independent research collective of researchers, investigators, and citizen journalists united by a passion for open source research.”
Seven items from a trove of ten documents on the Minecraft Earth Map server later appeared on 4chan and Telegram.
Going back even further, Toler notes that on March 1st and March 2nd, over 30 documents were posted to another Discord server called WowMao. Although he had seen those posts, he was unable to independently confirm their authenticity.
Finally, going back in time, a post in the same style and format as a post on Discord’s WowMao server appears to have appeared on a server called Thug Shaker Central that was taken down on January 13th. .
A screenshot of the Thug Shaker Central documentation was reportedly provided by a member of the Thug Shaker Central community in the form of an intentionally blurred screenshot. Those who provided screenshots said the files leaked to WowMao were just the “tip of the iceberg” compared to the material shared on Thug Shaker Central, he told Toler.
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