Russian law enforcement agencies can track users' online activity without a VPN
Ivan Kirsanov, a former programmer at MFI-Soft who spent several years developing operational-investigative measures (SORM) systems for the FSB, spoke about their capabilities.
According to him, SORM allows authorities to obtain copies of internet traffic and analyze users’ metadata. Specifically, the system can record the time of connection to the network, websites visited, connection duration, and the volume of data transmitted.
At the same time, the system does not give law enforcement agencies full access to the content of modern internet traffic. Due to HTTPS encryption, SORM, for example, can determine that a user has visited Google or YouTube, but cannot see the search query or the specific content of the page.
Decoders for Telegram, WhatsApp, Zoom, Viber, WeChat, and Discord were also discovered in the system. They make it possible to determine whether these services are being used and to obtain information about connections, but they do not allow for reading modern encrypted messages or listening in on conversations.
According to experts, by analyzing timestamps and other metadata, SORM can help establish links between various user actions. Keyword searches are primarily possible in unencrypted traffic.
Kirsanov provided the publication with the system’s archive and source code. Three cybersecurity experts examined them.
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