Interesting any idea why the FSB/GRU make their agents operate using their real identities as opposed to using a cover?

Or did Tom Clancy lie and they are so incompetent they can't even use OSINT tools lol

It's not like the spies were routinely careless or didn't do the obvious things a spy should do. They did travel under cover identities but those covers were linked to mobile phone and other data in foreign countries. That left a trail that could be followed to identify real personal data when they intersected back in Russia. They also used public posts on Russian social media. I guess OO7 didn't know a single group photo from some department secretary's retirement party can undo years of spy craft. And just swapping out a SIM when you get back home in Russia doesn't change the phone's ESN.

I'm not an expert though. There's a lot of detailed info on OSINT sources and methods online. The bottom line is it's extremely difficult to put the data genie back in the bottle. The stuff seeps out everywhere and searching aggregated databases from multiple sources and time periods uncovers any connection. It only requires a single slip-up happening one time. This just reinforces that a regular citizen in a Western democracy who's not a spy trained to operate under cover with a nation-state providing authentic false identities, is screwed in terms of maintaining their own privacy.

Idk the math isn't mathing. In the US drugs are moved using graffiti or word of mouth or dead drops because dealers are operating under the assumption all digital devices are monitored. If they use phones at all burners are discarded not sim swapped

Is the FSB/GRU more incompetent than my local fentanyl dealer? new identity, plastic surgery, contacts to protect iris scanning, no digital comms except in house tech, avoiding legal entrypoints seem to be the very basic in today's age especially for a hit

Tom Clancy lied that's a few hours of my life I'll never get back lol

> ESN

In Soviet Russia, you don't get an ESN.

The correct term to use here is IMEI, ESN is CDMA-specific (and hence mostly US-specific) as far as I understand.

Thanks for reminding me. Now that you mention it, I think that IMEI is probably used most places now (including the US where I am). ESN is probably just an antiquated term that's out-of-date but which is still stuck in my head. Anyway, I just meant the device's hard coded globally unique identifier.