I read the serious discussions about ‘who eavesdropped on Ushakov and Dmitriev’ and can’t help but chuckle to myself.
All these deliberations about whether it was the NSA or GCHQ are based on the assumption that Ushakov had to use a secure means of communication. Had to… because why exactly?
Because politicians are renowned for their unwavering commitment to adhering to rules, including #OPSEC? But they are not.
Let us recall the US and European leaders who, in #Ukraine Kyiv in 2013, happily chatted on the phone and were recorded (‘Nuland–Pyatt call’).
Shortly afterwards, Sergei Glazyev from the #Russia presidential administration did the same and was recorded… by the new SBU (‘Glazyev tapes’, much less well-known but much more devastating).
In summary, if one can generalise the concept of high-level politics in #infosec matters, it is that those in power do not apply the rules to themselves and do not learn from their mistakes precisely because they are in power.
In short, Hanlon’s razor applies.