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HACKING group Anonymous has been taking shots at Russian President Vladimir Putin since the invasion of Ukraine.
The group has claimed credit for multiple hacks on Russian government databases and state TV channels, where they broadcasted pro-Ukraine content.
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“The Anonymous collective is officially in a cyber war against the Russian government,” a Twitter account apparently associated with the group said in a February tweet.
Since then, the group has claimed credit for a variety of hacks on Russian government databases, websites, and other entities associated with Putin.
It’s hard to determine if the group is actually responsible for all of the recent cyberattacks on Russia due to their informal nature.
James Collier, a consultant at cybersecurity firm Mandiant said: “It can be difficult to directly tie this activity to Anonymous, as targeted entities will likely be reluctant to public related technical data.
“However, the Anonymous collective has a track record of conducting this sort of activity and it is very much in line with their capabilities.”
CENTRAL BANK HACK
Most recently, the group claimed involvement in hacking of the central bank of Russia, threatening to release files and secret agreements.
“JUST IN: The #Anonymous collective has hacked the Central Bank of Russia. More than 35.000 files will be released within 48 hours with secret agreements. #OpRussia,” hackers tweeted without providing more detail about the attack.
The alleged hacking came as highly regarded central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina reportedly sought to resign after Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine.
Nabiullina’s request was denied by Putin, who instead asked her to stay put, NDTV reported citing four people with knowledge of the discussions.
Now, Nabiullina is left to manage the fallout from a war that’s quickly undone much of what’s she’s accomplished in the nine years since she took office.
Follow our Ukraine Russia invasion live blog for the very latest news and updates…
In a follow-up tweet, the hackers claimed they’d be “targeting” companies that continue to operate in Russia.
“JUST IN: #Anonymous is targeting companies that continue to operate in Russia,” they added.
The direct message came after Anonymous warned Western companies that continued to operate in Russia should pull out or risk facing cyberattacks.
Earlier in March, the group siphoned control of Russian state television and Russian streaming services and broadcasted footage of battlefields in Ukraine.
Anonymous’s footage ended with a written message that attributed the fault of the war to Russia’s totalitarian government, not ordinary Russian citizens.
A new law was passed by the Russian parliament that makes publishing “fake news” punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
News organizations and social media companies have suspended operations in Russia in response to the tamping of free speech.
This is the type of action that would draw the ire of Anonymous’ “leftist-libertarian” disciples.
In a Twitter thread explaining its recent actions against Russia, Anonymous wrote: “We abhor violence. We are anti-war. We are against police brutality. We have raised our fists in the air to stand against aggressor’s time and time again. We would never choose to hurt anyone physically. Understand this and know this if any government says otherwise.”
The tweet came from an unverified account with nearly 8million followers. The account’s bio includes the tag #HackThePlanet.
“We can change the world for the better. That has always been the idea. Ideas are bulletproof,” the thread concluded.
GOVERNMENT WEBSITES HACKED
Six Russian Government websites were taken down in February, according to Ukraine’s state telecommunications agency.
The webpages failed to load with the message: “This site can’t be reached. Government.ru took too long to respond.”
Webpages for Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service, and Cabinet of Ministers were included in the outages.
Anonymous tweeted it was “at war with Russia” and to “stay tuned”.
The organization tweeted on Saturday: “Anonymous has ongoing operations to keep .ru government websites offline, and to push information to the Russian people so they can be free of Putin’s state censorship machine.
“We also have ongoing operations to keep the Ukrainian people online as best we can.”
Russian state media has denied the outages are linked to Anonymous.
The websites appear to have had interrupted connectivity since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
DATABASE LEAK
In another attack, Anonymous targeted Roskomnadzor, the Russian agency responsible for monitoring and censorship of Russian media.
Anonymous released the files on a Substack titled “Distributed Email of Secrets.”
“Roskomnadzor has given instructions about what can be said and ordered media outlets to delete stories that call Russia’s invasion of Ukraine an Invasion,” the post reads.
“In response to Facebook’s fact-checking Russia’s statements about the war, Roskomnadzor began restricting access to Facebook before later blocking it.”
Anonymous said they urgently released the data as they anticipated that Russia may cut itself off from the internet.
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“The source, a part of Anonymous, urgently felt the Russian people should have access to information about their government,” the Anonymous post said.
The files and databases stolen from the network were said to include 820 gigabytes of emails and attachments, with some as recent as March 5, 2022.
“#Anonymous ALWAYS delivers. Expect us,” the group tweeted.
SPACE AGENCY SHUT DOWN
The group claimed to have shut down Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos.
The hacking team said that Russian officials have “no more control over their spy satellites.”
However, the Director-General of Roscosmos, Dmitry Olegovich Rogozin, denied the claim and called the group “petty swindlers.”
In a social media statement, he said: “The information of these scammers and petty swindlers is not true. All our space activity control centers are operating normally.”
Rogozin has previously stated that control of the Russian space industry, orbital group, and the Russian International Space Station segment is protected from cybercriminals.
It came days after Anonymous claimed it had successfully breached over 300 Russian websites and offered troops $53,000 to give up their tanks.
The offer to buy tanks from Russian soldiers emerged after reports that Russia refused to open its stock market.
It initially said that they would delay opening it for a few hours, before eventually stating that it would remain closed all day.
The collective claimed to have amassed more than RUB 1billion ($10.3million) and was offering tank crews RUB 5million ($51,000) for each surrendered tank, according to Ukrainian media.
Russian troops have been advised by Anonymous to surrender with a white flag and use the password “million” to show that they accept the collective’s terms.
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has also reportedly said that it will guarantee amnesty to surrendering forces.
Anonymous is allegedly telling Russian soldiers: “Russian soldiers, everyone who wants to live with their families, children, and not die, the Anonymous global community has collected RUB 1,225,043 in bitcoin to help you.”
PUTIN’S SUPERYACHT
Putin’s £73million superyacht was renamed “FCKPTN” with its destination changed to “Hell” after Anonymous claimed to have targeted his assets.
The group broke into the ship’s maritime data and made it appear as if it had crashed into Snake Island in Ukraine.
The vigilante group then renamed the boat’s destination to “anonymous” and “anonleaks” before settling with “hell” or “FCKPTN”.
The ship was soon reverted back to its original name, Graceful.
An Anonymous splinter group led the hack by breaking into the Automatic Identification System used to track ship locations.
They then posted on a German Twitter account they wanted to put the yacht in the scope of sanction packages as well as “put a little smile on some faces for a short period in these dark times,” according to tweets from a Bloomberg journalist.
HACKED PRINTERS AND CAMERAS
On March 21, it was reported the group had hacked unsecured printers across Russia, proceeding to mass print information about the war to circumvent the Kremlin’s state propaganda.
Over 160 devices were targeted with 40,000 copies printed with anti-war messages written in Russian.
The copies also contained information on how civilians can bypass censorship in the country by using the Tor browser.
“We are #Anonymous. We have been printing anti-propoganda and tor installation instructions to printers all over #Russia for 2 hours, and printed 100,000+ copies so far. 15 people working on this op as we speak,” read a tweet from an unverified account.
The materials included messages telling Russian citizens about the “lies” that Putin and state media has been saying about the invasion.
“Citizens of Russia, act now to stop terrorist[s]. Putin killing over thousands in Ukraine,” read the messages. “The people of Russia should find horror in Putin’s actions.”
Over 400 Russian cameras were also hacked by the group.
“We compiled about 100 on this website. This is anti-propaganda to open the eyes of Russian civilians. Also potential recon.”
A live feed of the hacked cameras was shared on the website behindenemylines.live. They were grouped into categories based on their location – business, restaurants, offices, schools, etc.
The group overlaid text describing the invasion reading: “Putin is killing children, 352 Ukrainian civilians dead. Russians liked to 200RF.com”
UKRAINE LATEST
A US defense official told Reuters on Wednesday that Russia’s combat power in Ukraine has declined below 90 percent of its pre-invasion levels for the first time since the war began.
The estimation suggests heavy losses shouldered by Russia.
Estimates put Russian losses at a whopping 15,600 men.
While the United Nations says it has recorded 953 civilian deaths and 1,557 injuries among Ukrainians, the actual figure is expected to be much higher.
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