In the first two months of this year, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) commissioned three closed tenders worth more than 30 million rubles, approximately $1 million, in total, with the aim of creating systems for “mass distribution of information messages through social networks with the purpose of forming public opinion.”
One of the systems, named ‘Disput,’ will monitor social networks and analyze how users’ opinions evolve and spread.
The second one, ‘Monitor-3,’ will research “secret means” to manage networks with the help of a virtual community of experts, while ‘Storm-12,’ the third one, will automatically spread information in order to influence “a mass audience.”
The official client is ‘Military Unit №54939’ and its head Alexander Bychkov, according to the Russian business daily Kommersant, citing unnamed sources.
All three tenders were won by the same company, ‘Iteranet,’ which is headed by a former deputy head of the Russian Cryptography Institute, Igor Matskevich, who previously worked on top secret state orders.
Disput and Monitor-3 are expected to be ready by the end of 2012, while Storm-12 is expected in 2013.
Source: Kommersant
