Putin’s secret cyber warfare office … in the heart of Covent Garden

Putin’s secret cyber warfare office … in the heart of Covent Garden



Posted by theipaper

2 comments
  1. Vladimir Putin’s intelligence services have used a UK company based in one of London’s premier tourist spots to pursue a [cyber warfare campaign](https://inews.co.uk/news/russians-hacked-nhs-systems-kremlin-protected-cyber-army-3131435?srsltid=AfmBOopDtVhwDooIELdHGTm_fFzBo_9BL2k-gWO0wvzXfiW6Zu34Jkx0&ico=in-line_link) that includes ensnaring Russians willing to fight for [Ukraine,](https://inews.co.uk/news/alaska-summit-over-next-steps-what-happens-now-ukraine-3863938?ico=in-line_link) it can be revealed.

    The disclosure will be highly embarrassing for the UK not only because of criticism that exposes “lax” corporate regulation, but also because it has taken sanctions imposed by the European Union – rather than Britain – to bring the Kremlin’s clandestine operation to a halt.

    Just days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a technology company called Stark Industries Solutions Ltd was incorporated at Companies House with a registered address in Covent Garden.

    The company offered web-hosting services allowing its clients to place websites online from anywhere in the world for less than £6 a month. Locating Stark Industries in London allowed third parties linked to the Kremlin to use the firm’s services to help disguise their origin and provide them with a veneer of credibility, according to experts.

    This May, the European Union imposed sanctions on Stark Industries and its owners, stating that its clients for the last three years have included “various Russian state-sponsored and state-affiliated actors” whose “destabilising activities” including cyber attacks and “co-ordinated information manipulation”, have been conducted via the British company.

    Stark Industries was set up and run by two tech tycoon brothers, Ivan and Iurie Neculiti, who originate from Transnistria, a breakaway corner of Moldova which is run by pro-Russian separatists and relies heavily on support from Moscow.

    Their company, which appears to have been named as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fictional “Stark Industries” conglomerate featured in Marvel’s Iron Man comics, attracted significant business from shadowy corners of the Russian government intent on causing digital havoc.

    Although it has no UK employees and assets of less than £25,000, the company has been able to use a mail-drop address to appear as a British business, promising to get its clients’ websites online in as little as 30 minutes.

  2. This is absolutely embarrassing to the UK. But as to the article’s insinuation that the EU is handling combatting Russia more effectively, I would suggest that continuing to buy Russian gas is perhaps more damaging than this oversight.  

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