The recent leak of more than a hundred classified US documents may just be the “tip of the iceberg,” a new report says, as cybersecurity insiders say it may have started in the gaming platform’s chat.

The release of top-secret materials, already the most serious breach of national security by Washington in recent years, includes information about the shortage of ammunition in Ukraine, the methods of collecting US intelligence used against Russia, and evidence of US spying on close allies such as Ukraine, South Korea and Israel. . Analysts believe that the damage to the US could be much greater.

This could be the biggest leak of classified information since at least 2013, when hundreds of thousands of documents, videos and internal material appeared on the WikiLeaks website. “The focus of the investigation is the fact that this is a US leak, as many of the documents were only in the hands of the US,” said Michael Mulroy, a former senior Defense Department official.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Joe Biden became aware of the hack late last week and has been briefed on developments.

How many people had access to documents?

According to the latest figures released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in 2019 there were 1.25 million people in the US government with permission and access to read highly classified material. The numbers have not been released since then, but there is no reason to believe that the number has dropped significantly. The Pentagon said it is reviewing its policy on this issue.

“That number makes it almost statistical certainty that at some point damaging top-secret material will fall into the hands of someone who wants to reveal it, perhaps for ideological reasons, like Edward Snowden,” reports the Guardian. In this case, the evidence suggests that the perpetrator is likely to be a player with motives no more complex than a desire to impress other members of their online chat group.

Discord platform

How these documents ended up on Discord, 4Chan, and Telegram has already been explained by Arik Toler of the Bellingcat research group. Toler says the source of the leaks could not be identified, but he noted their presence on the popular messaging platform among gamers in early March.

According to information from government circles, the investigation is still at an early stage. It is possible that pro-Russian elements are behind the leak. Since the leak became known, more than 50 “secret” and “top secret” documents published on Internet sites have been investigated. Among other things, it is striking that the numbers of alleged Russian casualties in Ukraine turned out to be unexpectedly low.

On March 4, following a dispute over the war in Ukraine, on a Discord server frequented by people who enjoy the video game Minecraft, one user wrote “yeah, some leaked documents” before posting 10 documents.

This is a highly unusual form of leakage. In 2019, ahead of the UK general election, documents on Washington-London trade relations appeared on Reddit, 4Chan and other sites.

At the time, Reddit reported that the documents in question came from Russia.

In a similar incident in 2022, players of the online game War Thunder repeatedly released confidential military documents, apparently in an attempt to support their arguments in disputes they had with each other.

Espionage in Israel too?

Another March 1 document said the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad had instigated protests against the government’s judicial reform. This would show that the US was spying on one of its most important allies in the Middle East.

Another document details internal discussions between senior South Korean officials about US pressure on South Korea to supply weapons to Ukraine.

Two US government officials said the US military and intelligence agencies are currently reviewing their procedures for sharing inside information. They are also looking into what motives a US official or group of officials might have for sharing such information. Investigators will come up with four or five theories, ranging from a disgruntled employee to a position that US national security interests are being actively undermined.

“Massage” to the allies

With this data, the US is trying to repair relations with key allies, including South Korea and Israel.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his South Korean counterpart on Tuesday as officials in Seoul denied that the president’s office was the source of South Korea’s US arms sales leaks.

Unconfirmed documents, including some that appear to be based on internal discussions between top South Korean security officials, have claimed that Seoul is concerned that artillery shells destined for the US could end up in Ukraine.

The possibility of Ukraine using South Korean weapons would be a problem for President Yoon Seok-yeol, as it would violate the country’s longstanding, voter-supported policy of not exporting weapons to countries at war.

On Tuesday, however, officials attempted to downplay the Pentagon documents, whose authenticity has not been verified by independent experts. Yoon’s office said an initial investigation concluded there was a “small possibility” that internal US intelligence communications were intercepted, the Yonhap news agency reported.

Source: AP, Guardian, Reuters.