Russians in Silicon Valley suspected of hacking

Фото: Depositphotos

Russian investor Pavel Cherkashin, who settled in San Francisco, believed that he had come up with the ideal name for his information technology palace, which he creates in the building of the Catholic Church, bought for $ 11,5 million. The chosen name sounded like Hack temple (Temple hacking).

But he came up with it even before a powerful stream of news about Russian attempts to influence the presidential election of 2016 of the year with the help of hacker computer hacks, as well as through the dissemination of inflammatory messages and increasing controversy through Facebook and Twitter, writes The New York Times.

“Our investors were very concerned, saying that the name was no good, and we should change it. It turns out that a handful of Russians are opening a hacker temple in the middle of San Francisco, doing it at the very moment when hackers from Russia are considered the greatest evil in the world. We were told that this was impossible, ”said 44-year-old Cherkashin, who was planning to officially open the Temple of Hacking in the fall of 2017.

Against the background of numerous news about hacking hacks and campaigns of influence that appear throughout the 2017 year, immigrants from Russia living in Silicon Valley (and there are tens of thousands of them) found themselves in a very strange situation. Some Russian venture capitalists say that start-ups began to take their money with great caution, and a number of engineers from Russia say that they were treated differently in society and in the companies where they work. Lawyers also state that some IT companies are tightening security measures, restricting people from other countries to access data.

At the same time, many say that Russia has gained a reputation as a country famous for its hackers, and accordingly, interest in such talented specialists has increased.

Such a tense situation is something new. For decades, immigrants from Russia helped to create the latest generation of the largest companies in Silicon Valley. Co-founder Google Sergey Brin and one of the first investors in Facebook Yuri Milner was born in Russia.

Cherkashin is a partner in the company GVA Capitalinvested 120 million dollars in start-up companies. But now, when Cherkashin explains to them why they should take investments from him, they begin to ask skeptical questions as soon as they hear his Russian accent.

“You feel like a politician caught in a sex scandal. Everyone knows you because of this, and every time someone recognizes you, smiles appear on their faces and silent questions like “So, how is your personal life going?” I feel this way every time I meet with an investor and he hears my Russian accent. Such a meaningful smile immediately appears on his face,” Cherkashin said.

According to the businessman, potential partners and startups invariably ask the same question: is it pure money?

“I sometimes hear this question two or three times a day. I don’t think people would ask such questions to managers from other regions,” Cherkashin noted.

Entrepreneur and lawyer Yuli Zegelman, who invests in and represents their interests in companies founded by Russian-speaking businessmen, says that potential American business partners are very worried that they may accidentally end up in the same business with the Russian state.

“They do not want to receive money and deal with companies whose technical specialists are somehow connected with Russia,” he admits.

Zegelman noted that some cybersecurity firms, large information technology companies, government customers, and reputable venture capital firms express the greatest concern about working with new immigrants from Russia. But some start-up firms and small investment companies today are more interested in talents from Russia.

“If 10 years ago the question had been asked about what Russia is famous for, the answer would have been: Putin, oligarchs and oil. And today, when you ask people what they think about Russia, they say, “Oh, great encryption, lots of talented engineers,” Zegelman said.

Lawyer Leonard Graiver, who specializes in start-ups and is a member of the board of the American Business Association of Russian-speaking professionals, notes that hackers, by their actions, put the Russian IT specialists on the front line. His firm acts as an intermediary in the conclusion of transactions and contracts in the field of IT between Russia and Silicon Valley, dealing with issues of licensing and the search for talent. According to him, the average transaction volume in 2017 year increased to four million dollars, while in 2016 year it was from one to two million.

But now, when companies are recruiting Russian specialists, they are asking a new question, which seems very strange: isn’t it possible that we launch the fox into the hen house? According to Griiver, some companies ask him to organize enhanced measures of internal security.

“Many clients are trying to find ways to hire these Russian hackers, while at the same time increasing their security measures. They isolate the source codes of the programs so that the specialist does not have access to the main tree structure,” he said.

When young Russian specialists come to San Francisco for the first time, many of them are primarily associated with investor Nikolai Davydov. Thirty-year-old Davydov says that he belongs to the so-called “new wave”. This is a group of engineers and founders of companies from Russia who have come to Silicon Valley in the past few years. They are going to San Francisco in a bar Rum & Sugar, which belongs to an immigrant from Russia, and every Wednesday meets in Redwood City, where they tell each other stories and share information.

But now Davydov and his friends very often become objects of jokes.

“At one of the conferences where I was supposed to speak, the presenter introduced me as follows:“ I invited Nick because I wanted to collude with the Russians ”. And there are a lot of such jokes, ”said Davydov.

He is an investor in a cyber security firm. Wallarmwhich is in san francisco. This year, her profit growth is measured in double digits, and he explains this by the strange reputation she has gained Wallarm in connection with the campaign of influence on the elections and the fact that its founders are Russians.

29-year-old Ivan Novikov, co-founder and CEO Wallarm, with less enthusiasm, talks about how the news about Russian interference in the elections affected his life.

“In fact, any Russian working in the field of information technology is considered a hacker. So we are all Russian hackers. And many people like to emphasize this. But it’s no longer funny when you hear it 10 times a day or several times at every party. We don’t like the hype around this at all,” the businessman admitted.

Other entrepreneurs who came from Russia say that they do not notice any change in their attitude towards themselves. Stanislav Shalunov - co-founder of the company Open garden which develops networking software, says it sees no difference.

“Now there is a lot of news about hacking hacks, but I don’t think that someone will say that people coming from Russia and working in the field of information technology in the United States are doing this. It is clear that now the United States is employing very many people from Russia, ”he stressed.

As for the company, which did not become the “Temple of hacking”, investors want it to have a new name before its opening.

Two young Russian entrepreneurs were preparing sandwiches for breakfast last week in the parish outbuilding kitchen. The house has eight bedrooms, and some of them have four beds. The living room has mid-century modern sofas. The terrace is covered with artificial grass and is often used for parties. Before Cherkashin bought the building in January 2016, it was called the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

In the nave of the temple, stained glass with images of saints was covered with translucent panels to smooth out the feeling of the church. Volunteers repaired the broken organ, and now they play it again, though during parties.

“If there is a city in the world where you can go to church and get into the hackers' house, then only this one,” Cherkashin said.

An artist from Ukraine, Yevgeny Lapchenko, altered Bosch's triptych "Garden of Earthly Delights", hanging on the wall along one of the aisles. Among intertwined human figures there are familiar luminaries from the world of information technologies: the co-founder Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), Steve Jobs takes a selfie, and Bryn makes Google Rides in a self-driving car.

As for the renaming of the Temple of Hacking, Cherkashin has not yet invented a new name.

“You could call it the Temple of Startups, but that would be very boring,” he says.

Text translation prepared edition Inosmi.

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