On the eve of the Munich Security Conference last month, one of the largest satellite dishes on the roof of Russia's diplomatic compound in Vienna was quietly reoriented. The day after the conference ended, it was moved back to its previous position, the Financial Times has reported.
The repositioning, monitored by western intelligence officials, offered a rare real-time glimpse into Russia's signals intelligence priorities, "Hvylya" reports, citing a Financial Times investigation. The MSC is Europe's most important annual gathering of security and defense officials and politicians - an obvious target for electronic eavesdropping.
A western intelligence official in Vienna said the frequency with which some Russian dishes are being repositioned is a key indicator of active intelligence collection. Dishes used for standard embassy communications back to Moscow would not need to be moved, the official noted. Frequent repositioning means the operators are targeting multiple satellites carrying different communications traffic.
Tracking such movements has become possible partly thanks to NomenNescio, a group of Vienna-based electronic engineers and communication enthusiasts who have been documenting Russia's rooftop equipment with high-resolution photography over the past two years. By analyzing the angles and equipment mounted on the dishes, the group can determine which satellites are being targeted at any given time.
The dishes sit atop a six-storey octagonal building housing the Russian mission to the UN - the center of a nine-acre high-security compound on the east bank of the Danube, known informally as "Russencity." Western intelligence agencies have been reluctant to discuss Russia's technical capabilities in detail, but the open-source analysis by groups like NomenNescio has helped fill in the blanks.