Russia has a stash of scary malware? We're shocked

Wrecking foreign infrastructure? But that's Team America's job!

Register Kettle Lately, we've learned of Russia's stockpile of cyber-weapons, and we're genuinely wondering if anyone's surprised by these revelations.

If you'll allow us some artistic license, ten years ago Edward Snowden waltzed out of the NSA's server rooms with tucked under his arm highly classified Powerpoint slides of Five Eyes' surveillance capabilities. Those documents included evidence of Western snoops overstepping legal boundaries.

Now a whistleblower has done something kinda similar, obtaining and leaking the so-called Vulkan files detailing the Kremlin's arsenal of destructive malware. This code has been linked to the infamous NotPetya outbreak and other attacks.

Is this a shock? What should we do next with this information? A bunch of us El Reg vultures flocked together to discuss it all for this week's Register Kettle podcast, which you can watch below.

It's not like we haven't seen this sort of drama before. The power grid in Ukraine partially fell to a malware infection in 2016, with Putin fingered for it, and Russia has form, so to speak, in related disruptions.

But enough typin'. Check out the video for more commentary. ®

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