Under the cap: the special services of the Russian Federation are still spreading spyware in Ukraine - investigators - investigators
It is said that Russian spy programs are still integrated into the Ukrainian sphere of services and the beauty industry and operating the software of the Russian company Ycliens. Prior to the commencement of a full-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine, the service for online recording of Yclients clients was quite popular with the field of service and beauty industry-massage studios, tattoos, dermatological and cosmetic clinics, sports clubs, beauty salons and more.
However, after February 24, 2022, Ukrainian firms began to abandon the services of this service massively, as it became known that it was a company with Russian roots. Everyone went to domestic or foreign counterparts. YcLients was forced to formally cease to exist, but the Ukrainian company altegio with European roots appeared on the market.
However, according to investigators, it was actually a marketing course of Russians who had, according to journalists, close relations with the government and special services of the Russian Federation. Having studied the API and Russian Yclients, and allegedly European Altegio, the investigation found in Altegio documentation with requests on YcLIENTS, that is, with a direct mention of Russian service. Already on March 30, 2022, an Altegio corporate site was created for Altegio Europe KFT.
The management of the new company reported that since June 1, 2022, YLCLIENTS users from other countries, except Russia and Belarus, will not be able to enter the system and continue to use it. Therefore, Altegio management was quite clear from Russian YcLients. However, it was in fact a fairly insidious step.
Thus, the Russians under the sign of an independent Ukrainian firm mimic the European companies and continue to work actively on Russian special services, draining personal data of clients using the Altegio service. Exploring the corporate site Altegio, journalists found documents that testify to the direct connection of Ukrainian company Altegio Ukraine, registered with Monica Kowalsk, and the Cyprus company Altegio Limited, where Yuri Petrov owns.
According to investigators, it is the same Petrov who was the founder of Russian YcLients and retained control over Altegio. In the License Agreement, Altegio Ukraine is listed as a Subblenzenzer and Cyprus Altegio Limited. Both companies also use a joint site with different language versions. The Altegio Service application in the App Store states that copyright belongs to the Cyprus company Altegio Limited.
In order to finally verify the Cypriot company Altegio Limited, owned by Russian entrepreneur Yuri Petrov, journalists more than a month ago appealed to Altegio Ukraine representatives to show a treaty with Altegio Limited to distribute software in Ukraine. The answers did not receive the answers, and the official owner of the Ukrainian company Monica Kowalskaya also did not answer the question whether the Altegio Ukraine pays the Russians Royalti for the use of software.
Investigators talked with several Ukrainian business owners using Altegio for online customer recording. Under anonymity, they said that Altegio Ukraine did not provide them with any contracts on the use of Altegio software and immediately after paying the tariff they received access to the online camp. According to the investigative journalists that in 2020 Yclients became a resident of Skolkovo, an innovative center founded in 2010 by the Russian government.
Companies with this status use tax benefits and are forced to cooperate with Russian special services. Some of the companies with Skolkovo, specializing in information technology, are already included in the US sanction lists. According to digital security expert Pavel Belousov, Russian intelligence services can easily access customer data that use Altegio or Yclients.
These are quite valuable data, because they allow you to understand where and when a certain person who is interested in the special services, get his phone number and more. "We know how the Russians work and they are not particularly interested in the laws, they will come up with how to get what they need. European registrations (Russian companies. - Ed.
) - this is, in fact, a loosening of eyes and the ability to accept money, because because The activity of a pile of Russian banks is blocked abroad, "he assures. Belousov emphasizes that the risks of using Russian software are not only in the ability to spy. "You provide such software with your own online services and it is possible that tomorrow the special service, or someone else, will simply break your service, replace the code and so on," the expert explains.