First Leak of US Classified Documents by Gamers, "Dispute Over Russia War Casualty Figures"

Investigations have revealed that the leak of classified documents, which sparked diplomatic tensions between the United States and its allies, likely began from a quarrel among gamers on the game chat app Discord, drawing significant attention. Pro-Russian gamers posted manipulated materials downplaying Russia's losses in Ukraine, which led some opposing gamers to disclose certain documents that were in private channels, causing the leak to spread rapidly. Intelligence agencies are expected to strengthen surveillance of gaming communities, including Discord.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

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According to the British daily The Guardian on the 11th (local time), Bellingcat, a UK investigative research group, reported that the initial leak of secret documents from the U.S. Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) began from a dispute among gamers on the voice chat app Discord.

Bellingcat analyst Aric Toler stated, "On April 4th, ten classified documents related to the Ukraine war, including one marked 'Top Secret,' were uploaded to a private Discord server called 'Minecraft Earth Map.' There was a dispute on that server between gamers posting information from pro-Russian Telegram channels attempting to downplay Russian military losses in the Ukraine war and gamers disputing its accuracy. One user shared classified documents from the private server, which then spread."

The user who posted the classified documents reportedly found them on another Discord server dedicated to fans of Filipino YouTuber 'Wow Mao.' That server had already hosted 30 documents, including unverified Ukraine-related files, three days earlier. However, the documents shared on the Wow Mao fan server are also presumed not to be originals. Suspicions about classified documents appearing on some Discord servers have been raised since mid-January.

The classified documents first appeared in a private chat room related to the Minecraft Earth Map and are believed to have rapidly spread about a month later on the far-right online community 4chan.

This is not the first time sensitive information leaks have occurred due to disputes within gaming communities. According to The Guardian, more than ten cases of weapon-related classified document leaks have been estimated to have occurred since 2020 through chat rooms related to the war simulation game War Thunder. In October 2021, detailed design secrets of the French Leclerc tank were leaked in one such chat room.

For these reasons, intelligence agencies worldwide are increasing their surveillance of gaming communities. The Guardian also reported that Edward Snowden, a former CIA agent, revealed in 2013 that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) had spied on the console game Xbox and the online game World of Warcraft communities.

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