Documents linked to one of the masterminds of Vladimir Putin's political strategy have been hacked and posted online by a Ukrainian cyber group.
The timing of the hack and the target, Vladislav Surkov, suggest that this could be a form of retaliation for the purported Russian hacking of the US election.
![Image of passport of Putin-adviser Vladislav Surkov released in hack by Ukrainian group Cyber Junta.](/web/20161130213956im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/a/p/l/5/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gsaoes.png/1477450409976.jpg)
The group, called Kiberkhunta (or Cyber Junta) posted 2000 emails from Surkov dating from between September 2013 and November 2014.
Coming against the backdrop of the Russian cyber campaign against the US during the current presidential election year, at least one analyst sees the possibility of a connection to those events.
![Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, right, speaks to Vladislav Surkov, then-deputy prime minister in charge of ...](/web/20161130213956im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/j/i/7/b/4/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gsaoes.png/1477450409976.jpg)
"It is possible that we are seeing the first example of mutually assured doxing," said Kenneth Geers, Kiev-based Senior Research Scientist at COMODO, referring to the practice of hacking and publishing private emails.
'Mutually assured doxing' is a play on the Cold War concept of Mutually Assured Destruction - the permanent nuclear stand-off between Russia and the US which dissuaded either side from starting a war.
"We should usually assume there is some political goal behind every leak," he said.
Geers, who is also an ambassador for the NATO Cyber Centre, said the Surkov leak may hint at an emerging behavioural norm between nation states.
"We may see a doxing escalation ladder materialise: how far do you want me to go, all the way to the top?" said Geers.
"As painful as it is today, doxing serves a long-term historical role in reducing corruption."
In the murky world of hacking, nation states often use proxies or unofficial groups to carry out activity - as the US claims Russia has done through front groups such as WikiLeaks, Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks. The Surkov email leak follows the alleged Russian hacking and publishing of emails of US political elites.
It's far from clear there is any link between the Ukrainian hacker group Kiberkhunta, of which little is known, and cyber forces loyal to the US.
The email content focus on political news in Ukraine and the Republics of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Moldova. They contain messages discussing plans to destabilise the Ukrainian government in coming months.
Other emails include a list of casualties from the eastern Ukraine, where Russia has promoted an armed uprising by sending in unofficial fighters and material.
The missile that downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014, killing 298 people, including 28 Australians, was launched from territory in eastern Ukraine.
Within hours of the leak the Atlantic Council (of which Geers is also a member) published a thorough analysis of the information, suggesting that it is authentic.
"Nearly every email in the leak is insignificant, and thus far no one has found a 'grand slam' email that would rock the Kremlin to its core," the Washington, DC-based think-tank wrote, based in part on the mundane nature of many of the emails.
"This alone helps lend credibility to the email's authenticity."
However, demonstrating the ability to target the information of a crucial Putin aide may be more important than the content of the emails.
Киберхунта выложила сканы паспортов Суркова и его жены, подтвердив взлом его почты https://t.co/XDx0nTDqvS pic.twitter.com/6uVZXwyBd8
— Mikhail Golub (@golub) October 25, 2016
Russia is accused of hacking of the Democratic Party and members of Hillary Clinton's team, then releasing the data via their proxies.
The information has been used to try to influence the outcome of the US election, according to a joint statement from the US intelligence community and the Department of Homeland Security, and triggered the resignation of the chairwoman Wasserman Schultz of the Democratic Party on the eve of the convention in July.
The White House pledged retaliation for the hacks and ongoing publishing of emails of US politicians.
Russia security policy expert Matthew Sussex, of the Lowy Institute, sees the hack of Surkov as an "escalation" of tensions between Washington and Moscow.
Surkov, as the "ideologue behind Russian sovereign democracy" is "one of Putin's go-to guys and has been mentioned as a potential successor," said Sussex.
One analyst said privately that hackers in Ukraine were likely piling on any tension between the US and Russia.
"The media is watching for any type of leak at this point, why not? The exposure would be greater than normal," he said.
Fairfax Media has contacted Kiberkhunta for comment.
Should there be doubts about authenticity, though, Kiberkhunta published images of passports belonging to Surhov and his wife.
Hacks attributed to Russia published the passport information of First Lady Michelle Obama in September.
And the choice of Surkov too is likely significant. Not only has he been instrumental in Russia's efforts to undermine Ukraine's independence, he has described himself as "one of the authors" of Putinism.
A sort of post-modern tragic, Surkov is one of the minds behind Russia's so-called "sovereign democracy", in which a power elite seeks to control all the forces behind what looks like a democracy to the public - even the opposition.
The cultivated confusion and contradiction helps erode faith in the existence of political reality within Russia.
When the US sanctioned him for his role in Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea in 2014, Surkov famously shrugged them off.
"The only things that interest me in the US are Tupac Shakur, Allen Ginsberg, and Jackson Pollock. I don't need a visa to access their work. I lose nothing."
Surkov has since defied separate EU travel sanctions on a visit to Greece in May.
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