Graphika
Research Reports/Exposing Secondary Infektion
GatedJun 16, 2020

Exposing Secondary Infektion

Forgeries, Interference, and Attacks on Kremlin Critics Across Six Years and 300 Sites and Platforms

Influence OperationsTrust & Safety
Ben Nimmo, Camille François, C. Shawn Eib, Léa Ronzaud, Rodrigo Ferreira, Chris Hernon & Tim Kostelancik
Graphika Research
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Secondary Infektion is a series of operations run by a large-scale, persistent threat actor from Russia that worked in parallel to the Internet Research Agency and the GRU but was systematically different in its approach.

The campaign used fake accounts and forged documents to sow conflict between Western countries and most often targeted Ukraine. It produced at least 2,500 pieces of content in seven languages across over 300 platforms from 2014 into 2020.

Written By

Ben Nimmo

Head of Investigations

Ben Nimmo was Head of Investigations at Graphika, where he led an expert team of OSINT investigators in detecting, identifying and analyzing inauthentic behavior and information operations online. He specializes in analyzing patterns of online disinformation and influence operations across varying platforms and geographical regions. He is now the Principal Investigator, Intelligence & Investigations at OpenAI.

Camille François

Chief Innovation Officer

Camille François works on cyber conflict and digital rights online. She was the Chief Innovation Officer at Graphika, where she led the company’s work to detect and mitigate disinformation, media manipulation and harassment.

C. Shawn Eib

Analyst

Léa Ronzaud

Senior Analyst

Léa Ronzaud leads monitoring and investigations into the detection and tracking of Russian influence operations and violent extremist groups. She also researches nihilistic violent extremism and hacktivism. Léa’s work has helped disrupt efforts by extremists in multiple countries to orchestrate real-world harm and exposed the inner workings of nation-state influence operations from Russia, China, and Iran.

Rodrigo Ferreira

Rodrigo Ferreira

Lead Engineer

Chris Hernon

Analyst

Tim Kostelancik

Analyst

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  • Raw behavioral modeling data
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60+ government agencies briefed
Used by NATO and EU Parliament
Contributed to 200+ platform takedowns