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Microsoft president Brad Smith has claimed that Russian intelligence agencies and the private military company The Wagner Group are attempting to “penetrate gaming communities”.
During a conversation at Semafor’s World Economy Summit, the topic turned to leaked Pentagon documents that appear to originate from a gaming chatroom and contain sensitive information about the Ukraine war. This includes, among other things, details about the deployment of British special forces.
In response, Smith stated that Microsoft’s threat analysis team had “been identifying efforts by the Russians” to insert themselves into gaming communities with the aim of spreading information from there. He specifically mentioned Discord and Minecraft as examples. Smith went on to say that Microsoft has been “advising governments” on this issue, before adding: “It’s the Wagner Group, it’s Russian intelligence.”
“They’re just using this in part as a way to get information out there,” Smith added.
The Microsoft executive stated that this issue is “not the number one thing [Microsoft] should be worried about”, noting that The Wagner Group and Russian intelligence would “always publish information somewhere”. According to Smith, gaming communities “just happen to be a good place for them to get the information out there, and then journalists eventually find it.”
Smith also conceded that playing games like Call of Duty would not “lead to deaths in the real world”, stating that “these are video games”.
You can watch the full discussion in the tweet below.
Microsoft President @BradSmi says the Wagner Group and Russian intelligence have been working to penetrate gaming communities to use them “as a place to get information into circulation.” pic.twitter.com/F7CCmaqOvu
— Semafor (@semafor) April 12, 2023
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