raphae.li
Writer. Contact me here: https://raphae.li
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That’s what may account for @keirgiles.bsky.social’s overrepresentation in spy stories — and why it may not be too long before we hear from him again …
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I’ve had people deny to me that they were ever targets — even in the face of forensic evidence to the contrary. Or pretend that they don’t remember taking meetings with spies — even when I had video of the encounter. Transparency around this kind of thing is the exception not the rule.
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Publicly outing yourself as having handed over your password, accepted a weird LinkedIn request, or met in person with a spy is not something many have the courage to do. When I investigate these cases, many victims don’t want to be named, or even deny that they were ever tricked.
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It’s true that Giles is unusually outspoken about Russia’s designs abroad, but that’s not necessarily why he seems to be such a threat magnet. Another theory is that he’s more alive to espionage threats and much more willing to blow the whistle on them publicly than other targets.
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And now, Giles is again in the news in relation to a potentially second group of Russia-linked hackers, this one nicknamed « Ice Cap »
cloud.google.com/blog/topics/...
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Just last year Giles was among the targets of another Russia-linked campaign, this one blamed on a group Google calls « Cold River »
therecord.media/russian-camp...
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Second was later the same year, when Giles was approached online by a woman purporting to work for CSIS. With the help of experts I determined that her social media profile pic was AI-generated. Giles had apparently busted his second spy op in three months.
apnews.com/article/ap-t...
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But this is at least the third time I’ve written about Giles being the target of espionage, both online and IRL.
First was back in 2019, when he was one of several critics of the Russian antivirus firm Kaspersky who were lured to meetings with an undercover operative: apnews.com/article/a314...
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John Scott-Railton has a detailed thread on the trick, how it worked, and why just about anyone might’ve fallen for it:
bsky.app/profile/jsra...
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Kudos to @liamvaughan.bsky.social for telling Olga's story.
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Same article outside the paywall www.msn.com/en-us/news/u...
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Incredible.
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lol this is quite the thread