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Ryan Naraine writes today that Danchev - who lives in Bulgaria - submitted his last blog post for ZDNet in August. His last update to his personal blog, meanwhile, was on September 11. Since then, Naraine has been unable to contact Danchev. Phone numbers are going to voicemail, and snail mail has also been unsuccessful.
Last month, however, ZDNet received an ominous message from a local source in Bulgaria that said "Dancho's alive but he's in a lot of trouble." The source did not elaborate, but apparently Danchev is being kept away from computers and phones.
Meanwhile, a member of the malware research community reached out to ZDNet to deliver a message Danchev had provided to him in September. In the letter, Danchev said that he'd uncovered what appeared to be surveillance equipment in his bathroom, which he surmised were "courtesy of Bulgarian Law enforcement+intell services who've been building a case trying to damage my reputation, for 1.5 years due to my clear pro-Western views." He asked this malware researcher to hold on to the information and keep it safe.
Danchev included two photos of what he found.
Naraine said Danchev was "relentless in his pursuit of cyber-criminals," and called on the community for help.
"We are unsure about how to proceed and decided to publish this information in the hope that someone in the know can help shed some light on Dancho's disappearance," Naraine concluded. "If you have any information on his whereabouts or can help point us in the right direction, please don't hesitate to contact us."
