Anonymous Wages Cyber War Against Putin

Anonymous
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Anonymous Wages Cyber War Against Putin

I try hard to stay out of politics in my real life and on my blog, it is just too much drama and I can’t deal with all that drama in my life right now, but this particular post does have a political element to it, but it really fits into the “Technology” category. I do not pledge support for or against, either Russia or Ukraine.

Hacktivist group Anonymous has declared cyberwar on Putin after Russia invades Ukraine. Anonymous is one of the “old school” hacking groups in existence. Formed in 2003, their members have launched countless attacks against government computer networks throughout the world, and are arguably most famous for using the Guy Fawkes masks as the ‘face’ of their movement. Anonymous is a decentralized international activist- and hacktivist collective and movement primarily known for its various cyberattacks against several governments, government institutions and government agencies, corporations, and the Church of Scientology (Wikipedia page for Anonymous). Anonymous official Twitter account, “YourAnonNews”, which boasts 7.4 million followers, made the declaration on February 24th, 2022, saying that the hacking group is “currently involved in cyber operations against the Russian Federation.”

The group stated, “We want the Russian people to understand that we know it’s hard for them to speak out against their dictator for fear of reprisals …” and “We, as a collective want only peace in the world. We want a future for all of humanity. So, while people around the globe smash your internet providers to bits, understand that it’s entirely directed at the actions of the Russian government and Putin.” (Source)

As a follow-up to their threats against Russia, the Guy Fawkes-wearing hacktivist group Anonymous has stated that its members have hacked 300+ Russian government, state media, and bank websites in the first 48 hours after releasing their threat and it doesn’t look like they are done yet. Government, state-owned media, and banking websites throughout Russia were virtually attacked, many of which are still offline. Some of the hacked websites had been modified to play the Ukraine’s national anthem and were defaced. Hacking group GNG, which is affiliated with Anonymous, is also actively hacking Russian government networks and releasing stolen data via their websites.

One Anonymous Twitter account claimed Saturday evening that it was responsible for knocking the Chechen government website offline, and it was still down on the morning of the 27th of Feb. Another Anon account said Russian state TV channels had been hacked “to broadcast the truth about what happens in #Ukraine.” One account posted a video of Russian state TV being hacked to broadcast Ukraine’s national anthem. Another posted audio of what it said were Russian military communications intercepted by the hackers; they broadcast the Ukrainian national anthem on that Russian channel as well.

Members of the collective posted a video press release Saturday that vowed, “these actions will continue,” as “activists will not sit idle as Russian forces kill and murder innocent people trying to defend their homeland.”

“To all of the Russian soldiers who may read or hear of this message, and to any of their family and friends who may be able to pass this message along, we strongly encourage all of you in the Russian forces to lay down your weapons and just walk away. Putin’s crimes do not have to be your crimes,” the message continued. “As bombs fall on Ukraine together as a collective we will try our best to give valid information to the people of Russia about the crazy actions of Putin and also try our best to help the people of Ukraine by giving them care packages: Our care packages are meant to help keep data channels open and to also help obfuscate their communications from prying eyes.”

It looks like you do not want to piss off Anonymous!

Sources:

https://www.hstoday.us/featured/anonymous-claims-hits-on-more-than-300-russian-cyber-targets-in-48-hours-including-gas-control-system/

https://www.foxnews.com/world/russian-news-websites-hacked-anonymous-ukraine-invasion

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Average Joe

Welcome to the Average Joe Weekly blog. This is basically my place on the web where I can help spread some of the knowledge that I have accumulated over the years. I served 10+ years in the Marine Corps on Active Duty, but that was some 25 years ago.

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By Average Joe

Welcome to the Average Joe Weekly blog. This is basically my place on the web where I can help spread some of the knowledge that I have accumulated over the years. I served 10+ years in the Marine Corps on Active Duty, but that was some 25 years ago.

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