Anonymous claims that it has hacked the Russian Ministry of Defense database as well as several state-operated Russian television channels. A spokesperson for Russia Today (RT), stated that RT websites were inundated by DDoS attacks after Anonymous’s recent statement.
Anonymous aims to laser-kill Russian government websites
After Ukraine invaded Ukraine last week, Anonymous, a decentralized international group, wants to harass Vladimir Putin and the Russian government. “Russia may use bombs to attack innocent people, but Anonymous uses lasers for killing Russian government websites,” Anonymous (@youranonnews). shared this with its 7.6million Twitter followers on February 26.
Anonymous also shared a Tweet from netblocks, which described a large scale cyberattack on the Kremlin State Duma (and Ministry of Defense) Netblocks published the following tweet:
Confirmed: Numerous Russian government websites, including the Kremlin and State Duma, are down again. Real-time network data shows an impact on FSO networks, consistent with previous cyberattacks. This incident occurs as Russia continues to invade Ukraine.
Anonymous was founded in 2003 by Anonymous on the imageboard site 4chan. Anonymous members have released videos in the past of Anonymous members wearing Guy Fawkes masks from “V for Vendetta.” The group uses voice changers and text-to-speech to publish the videos. The group’s motto is “We [Anonymous] are just a group of people online who need–just sort of an outlet to do what we want, that we wouldn’t be able in regular society.”
Russia Today (RT), Hit by Large-Scale DDoS Attacks
Reports show that Anonymous uploaded pro-Ukrainian patriotic songs with war images to state-operated Russian TV stations. The same report also highlights the fact that Russia Today (RT), a news organization, discussed the Anonymous threat following a large-scale DDoS attack.
An anonymous spokesperson for RT stated that RT’s websites were the target of DDoS attacks by some 100 million devices, mainly based in the United States. In addition, Max Keiser, a bitcoin advocate, is being called out for deleting large quantities RT-related Tweets.
Anonymous is informal, so it is difficult to determine if Anonymous’s attacks are genuine. Many believe Anonymous is a smokescreen. Anonymous doesn’t have a hierarchy or leadership and anonymity makes it difficult to attribute actions to individuals or the group. Anonymous claims to have been behind numerous cyberattacks in the past decade, however.
