A Bulgarian group of dozens of cyberactivists at first clubbed together to battle Russian disinformation, but they have since found other foes — like animal abusers.
They call themselves the BG Elves, which both refers to the kind-hearted characters of Scandinavian mythology and hints at a rivalry with the Internet’s malicious trolls.
The collective of about 70 anonymous cybersecurity experts have made a name for themselves by creating problems for their adversaries.
Photo: AFP
One of their latest efforts was helping an animal rights non-governmental organization (NGO) uncover evidence that led to the March arrest of a woman and a man accused of selling videos online of hundreds of animals being tortured to death.
“Our work was crucial, because for the first time a crime was solved in Bulgaria based on OSINT data, proving that our efforts can produce concrete results,” said software developer Petko Petkov, the Elves’ only public face.
OSINT refers to open-source intelligence, which is information gathered with digital investigation techniques such as reverse image search and geolocation.
Last summer, the NGO alerted the cybersleuths to videos posted on Telegram of a masked woman torturing animals.
The Elves tracked her down within hours.
Using OSINT, they were also able to trace the locations where the videos of cats, rabbits and guinea pigs being tortured on camera were filmed by her accomplice. The videos sparked widespread protests in Bulgaria and prompted the government to propose emergency legislation.
Set up in 2023 in response to pro-Kremlin disinformation flooding Bulgaria, the group first zeroed in on the key players involved in the campaigns.
“There were about 10 of us in a chat group, we refined the concept, then put out a call for volunteers,” Petkov told AFP about the group’s founding.
They have grown significantly since and include experts in cybersecurity, social engineering and databases.
“We are not hackers, we are researchers,” said Petkov, 37, who moved from central Bulgaria to Kyiv shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Dedicated to activism, the Elves try to fight the deluge of disinformation by disseminating “counterpropaganda that makes people think,” he said.
“We noticed that a [disinformation] narrative ... takes some time to reach people. Our idea was to flood the space with humor and irony before the propaganda takes hold,” Petkov said.
Recently, they launched a viral meme campaign targeting the main false claims about Bulgaria’s accession to the eurozone, distributing the content through profiles embedded within major disinformation networks.
In March, BG Elves supported a Romanian journalist in an investigation that exposed a Russia-linked disinformation and propaganda network funded through online advertising.
In the wake of the recent arrests, Bulgaria proposed a bill in parliament, which allows for higher prison terms of up to 10 years for torturing animals. Nearly 300 people have been convicted of such offenses in the past five years, but few end up in prison.
Petya Altimirska, president of the animal welfare association CAAI, who had reached out to the Elves for help in the abuse case, has since received numerous reports of “even more serious” cases, adding that the cybersleuths are already “on it”.
While the group was praised for exposing the animal abuse, it has also faced criticism and numerous threats for its provocative approach and alleged political bias.
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so
RSS