Unverified claim — April 23, 2026: Threat-intel monitor VECERTRadar flagged actor RHODES advertising roughly 110 GB (~200,000 files) allegedly taken from VNIIFTRI, Russia’s All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Physical-Technical and Radio-Technical Measurements.
The same post marked the claim unconfirmed, with no verified samples available at detection time. That matters: GB-scale “state secrets” marketing is common extortion theater until independently validated.
What was claimed
RHODES framed the archive as critical technical and measurement-related material tied to a national metrology hub. No attested personal-data headcount accompanied the listing.
What this is not
This is not a confirmed Russian government disclosure, and it is not a verified dump of classified files. Treat follow-on “VNIIFTRI docs for sale” posts as unverified unless a reputable lab publishes sample forensics.
Action items
- Researchers: do not download alleged archives from cybercrime forums.
- Organizations in measurement/GNSS supply chains: watch for spear-phishing that name-drops VNIIFTRI projects.
- Update this catalog row if VNIIFTRI or a regulator later confirms or debunks the claim.
Canonical record: VNIIFTRI RHODES claim 2026.