The System for Operative Investigative Activities (SORM; ) is the technical specification for lawful interception interfaces of

telecommunication Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

s and

telephone network A telephone network is a telecommunications network that connects telephones, which allows telephone calls between two or more parties, as well as newer features such as fax and internet. The idea was revolutionized in the 1920s, as more and more ...

s operating in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The current form of the specification enables the

targeted surveillance Targeted surveillance (or targeted interception) is a form of surveillance, such as wiretapping, that is directed towards specific persons of interest, and is distinguishable from mass surveillance (or bulk interception). Both untargeted and target ...

of both

telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

and

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

communications. Initially implemented in 1995 to allow access to surveillance data for the FSB, in subsequent years the access has been widened to other

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

agencies.

History

SORM-1

SORM was first implemented in 1995, requiring telecommunications operators to install FSB-provided hardware allowing the agency to monitor users’ communications metadata and content, including phone calls, email traffic and web browsing activity, despite the low internet penetration rate at the time.

SORM-2

In July 1998 the system was replaced by SORM‑2. Under SORM‑2, Russian

Internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, no ...

s (ISPs) must install a special device on their servers to allow the FSB to track all credit card transactions, email messages and web use. The device must be installed at the ISP's expense. It has been estimated to cost $10,000–30,000. Other reports note that some ISPs have had to install direct communications lines to the FSB and that costs for implementing the required changes were in excess of $100,000. In July 2000, Russia's Minister of Information Technology and Communications Leonid Reiman issued the order No 130 "Concerning the introduction of technical means ensuring investigative activity (SORM) in phone, mobile and wireless communication and radio paging networks" stating that the FSB was no longer required to provide telecommunications and Internet companies documentation on targets of interest prior to accessing information. In August 2014, SORM-2 usage was extended to monitoring of

social networks A social network is a social structure consisting of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), networks of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of meth ...

, chats and forums, requiring their operators to install SORM probes in their networks.

SORM-3

ministerial order A ministerial decree or ministerial order is a decree by a Ministry (government department), ministry. With a ministerial decree the administrative department is delegated the task to impose a formal judgement or mandate. Ministerial decrees are u ...

from the Russian Ministry of Communications from 16 April 2014 introduced requirements for the new wiretapping system SORM-3. Telecommunications operators were required to install compliant equipment by 31 March 2015. According to regulations of Russian Ministry of Communications, SORM-3 equipment supports the following selectors for

: # Single

IPv4 Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is the first version of the Internet Protocol (IP) as a standalone specification. It is one of the core protocols of standards-based internetworking methods in the Internet and other packet-switched networks. ...

IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is the most recent version of the Internet Protocol (IP), the communication protocol, communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic ...

address # IPv4 or IPv6 networks identified with address mask # User ID within telecom operator's system, supporting "*" and "?" as globbing symbols (wildcards) #

email address An email address identifies an email box to which messages are delivered. While early messaging systems used a variety of formats for addressing, today, email addresses follow a set of specific rules originally standardized by the Internet Enginee ...

, if targeted user connects via

POP3 In computing, the Post Office Protocol (POP) is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a mail server. Today, POP version 3 (POP3) is the most commonly used version. Together with IMAP, i ...

SMTP The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is an Internet standard communication protocol for electronic mail transmission. Mail servers and other message transfer agents use SMTP to send and receive mail messages. User-level email clients typi ...

IMAP4 In computing, the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is an Internet standard protocol used by email clients to retrieve email messages from a mail server over a TCP/IP connection. IMAP is defined by . IMAP was designed with the goal of pe ...

; connections protected with cryptography are specifically excluded # email address, if targeted user connects to a webmail system from a predefined list of services: mail.ru; yandex.ru;

rambler.ru Rambler () is a Russian search engine and one of the biggest Russian web portals, owned by the Rambler Media Group. The site was launched in 1996 by Stack Ltd, went public in 2005, was acquired by Prof-Media in 2006, and has since been acquired b ...

; gmail.com; yahoo.com; apport.ru; rupochta.ru; hotbox.ru; again, connections protected with cryptography are specifically excluded # User's phone number # IMSI #

IMEI The International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) is a numeric identifier, usually Unique identifier, unique, for 3GPP and iDEN mobile phones, as well as some satellite phones. It is usually found printed inside the battery compartment of the ph ...

MAC address A MAC address (short for medium access control address or media access control address) is a unique identifier assigned to a network interface controller (NIC) for use as a network address in communications within a network segment. This use i ...

of user's equipment # ICQ UIN The equipment has

deep packet inspection Deep packet inspection (DPI) is a type of data processing that inspects in detail the data (Network packet, packets) being sent over a computer network, and may take actions such as alerting, blocking, re-routing, or logging it accordingly. Deep ...

(DPI) capability.

Architecture and deployment

Russia uses deep packet inspection (DPI) on a nationwide scale, with part of the DPI infrastructure used for SORM. Some mobile networks use DPI to additionally filter traffic. The SORM device recommended by the FSB is named ''Omega''. Equipment by Cellebrite appears to be in use. SORM also enables the use of mobile control points, a laptop that can be plugged directly into communication hubs and immediately intercept and record the operator's traffic.

Roskomnadzor The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, abbreviated as ''Roskomnadzor'' (RKN), is the Russian federal executive agency responsible for monitoring, controlling and censoring Russian mass media. ...

, a federal executive body responsible for media control, reported that several local ISPs were fined by the government after they failed to install FSB-recommended SORM devices.

Access by government agencies

On January 5, 2000, during his first week in office,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

amended the law to allow seven other federal security agencies (next to the FSB) access to data gathered via SORM. The newly endowed agencies included: * Russia's tax police * Russian Police * Federal Protective Service * Border patrol and customs * Ministry of Internal Affairs *

Kremlin Regiment The Kremlin Regiment (), also called the Presidential Regiment (), is a unique military regiment and part of the Russian Federal Protective Service (Russia), Federal Protective Service with the status of a special unit. The regiment ensures the s ...

* Presidential Security Service * Parliamentary security services

Warrant and notification regulations

The acquisition of communications by entitled security services in general requires a court warrant, but at the same time they are allowed to start wiretapping before obtaining such warrant. The warrant is also only required for communications ''content'', but not

metadata Metadata (or metainformation) is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data itself, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including: * Descriptive ...

(communicating parties, time, location etc.), which may be obtained without the warrant. In cases where an FSB operative is required to get an eavesdropping warrant, he is under no obligation to show it to anyone. Telecom providers have no right to demand that the FSB provide a warrant, and are denied access to the surveillance boxes. The security service calls on the special controller at the FSB headquarters that is connected by a protected cable directly to the SORM device installed on the ISP network. Since 2010, intelligence officers can wiretap someone's phones or monitor their Internet activity based on received reports that an individual is preparing to commit a crime. They do not have to back up those allegations with formal criminal charges against the suspect. According to a 2011 ruling, intelligence officers have the right to conduct surveillance of anyone who they claim is preparing to call for "extremist activity."

''Zakharov v. Russia''

In December 2015, The

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

ruled on a case on the legality of Russian SORM legislation. In a unanimous Grand Chamber decision, the Court ruled that Russian legal provisions "do not provide for adequate and effective guarantees against arbitrariness and the risk of abuse which is inherent in any system of secret surveillance." It noted that this risk "is particularly high in a system where the secret services and the police have direct access, by technical means, to all mobile telephone communications." It ruled that therefore, the legislation violated

Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides a right to respect for one's " private and family life, his home and his correspondence", subject to certain restrictions that are "in accordance with law" and "necessary in a democrat ...

. In response, the

Duma A duma () is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were formed across Russia ...

passed a law that allowed the

Constitutional Court of Russia The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation () is a high court within the judiciary of Russia which is empowered to rule on whether certain laws or presidential decrees are in fact contrary to the Constitution of Russia. Its objective is o ...

to overrule any international court orders that it found to contradict the Russian Constitution.

Yarovaya law

In July 2016, President

signed into law two sets of legislative amendments commonly referred to as the Yarovaya law, after their key author,

Irina Yarovaya Irina Anatolyevna Yarovaya (; born 17 October 1966) née Chernyakhovskaya is a Russian political figure, a List of Deputy Chairmen of the State Duma, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma from United Russia Party and a member of her party's General ...

, a leading member of the ruling party

United Russia The All-Russian Political Party United Russia (, ) is the Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Russia, political party of Russia. As the largest party in the Russian Federation, it holds 325 (or 72.22%) of the 450 seats in the St ...

. The new regulations took effect on July 1, 2018. According to the amendments, Internet and telecom companies are required to disclose communications and metadata, as well as "all other information necessary," to authorities, on request and without a court order.

References

External links

Media

*
Russian Spies, They've Got Mail
- Regulations Allow Security Services to Tap Into Systems of Internet Providers''. Sharon LaFraniere,

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

, March 7, 2002 *
Russia: Surveillance of communications
Statewatch, June 2000. *
New KGB takes internet by SORM
'
Mother Jones Magazine
February 2000. *

'
Numbers & Oddities Newsletter
1999 December 20

Official instructions

Об утверждении типовых Требований к плану мероприятий по внедрению технических средств для проведения оперативно-разыскных мероприятий
15 January 2008
Об утверждении Требований к сетям электросвязи для проведения оперативно-разыскных мероприятий. Часть I. Общие требования
16 January 2008 {{Portalbar, Russia, Internet 1995 establishments in Russia Computer surveillance Federal Security Service Internet in Russia Mass surveillance Law of Russia