14 DAY TRIAL // Myrotvorets, a group of Ukrainian nationalist hackers, has leaked the personal details of local journalists they consider pro-Russian for the second time in four months.
The last incident occurred in August and targeted journalists who had managed to acquire press accreditation for the Russian-held sections of eastern Ukraine.
Data dump took place in August
The data dump included information on Ukrainian and foreign journalists working for over 30 international media outlets such as CNN, Al Jazeera, Radio Free Europe, The Daily Beast, BBC, and the Associated Press.
The previous leak took place in mid-May 2016 and included even a larger list of reporters, from agencies such as AFP, Associated Press, Reuters, BBC, CNN, CCTV, Deutsche Welle, Al Jazeera, the New York Times, Gazeta Wyborcza, Kyiv Post, Vice News, Russia Today, and Daily Beast, and many others.
The kindergarten-level thinking behind this leak is that any journalist who gets accreditation in the pro-Russian regions must be themselves pro-Russia.
This may not be the case, as journalists have always ventured into war zones to provide fair and accurate reporting, not necessarily believing or being a supporter of the people they interview.
Ukrainian government is not taking any action
Free Speech Radio News reports that Ukrainian authorities have reacted to the data leak with silence and celebration. It is believed that the government is not taking actions against the hackers because they would like to deter journalists from reporting from Ukraine and the frontline regions.
Any leak of PPI (Personally Identifiable Information) poses a danger to the people involved, but this is usually of a financial nature. In a country torn by war and heightened nationalist demagoguery, journalists exposed in the leak are now in physical danger.
After both leaks, journalists have reported about receiving death threats via phone calls and on social media.