Anonymous declared cyber war on Russia: what results did they achieve

More than three weeks ago, a popular Twitter account called Anonymous claimed that a shady activist group was waging a "cyber war" against Russia. CNBC.

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The account, which has over 7,9 million followers, of which about 500 came after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, has since claimed responsibility for taking down prominent Russian government, news and corporate websites and leaking data from organizations such as Roskomnadzor, the federal agency responsible for censoring Russian media.

But is it true?

It appears so, says Jeremy Fowler, co-founder of cybersecurity firm Security Discovery, who worked with researchers at Website Planet to test the group's claims.

“Anonymous proved to be a very capable group that released some important information, records and databases of the Russian Federation,” he wrote in a report summarizing the results.

Hacked databases

Of the 100 Russian databases analyzed, 92 were compromised, Fowler said.
They were owned by retailers, Russian ISPs and intergovernmental websites, including the Commonwealth of Independent States, or CIS, an organization made up of Russia and other former Soviet republics that was created in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union.

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Many CIS files were erased, hundreds of folders were renamed "putin_stop_this_war" and email addresses and administrative credentials were exposed, said Fowler, who compared it to MeowBot's 2020 malware attacks that "had no purpose other than malicious script.

Another hacked database contained over 270 names and email addresses.

“We know for a fact that hackers found these systems and likely gained access to them,” Fowler said. “We don’t know if the data was downloaded or what the hackers plan to do with this information.”

Other databases contained security information, internal passwords, and a "very large number" of secret keys that unlocked encrypted data, Fowler said.

As to whether it was Anonymous's work, Fowler said he matched the results to Anonymous's claim, "and the timing fits perfectly."

Hacked TV broadcasts and websites

A Twitter account called @YourAnonNews also claims to have hacked Russian state TV channels.

“I would say that’s true,” Fowler said. “My partner at Security Discovery, Bob Dyachenko, actually captured a live government news feed from a website and captured the video on the screen, so we were able to confirm that they hacked at least one live feed and ran a message in Russian.”

Anonymous claims to have disrupted the websites of major Russian organizations and media agencies such as the energy company Gazprom and the state-sponsored RT news agency.

“Many of these agencies have admitted to being attacked,” Fowler said.

He called denial-of-service attacks, which aim to take down websites by flooding them with traffic, "very simple." These and many other websites have been shut down at various times in recent weeks, but they have also reportedly been targeted by other groups, including some 310 digital volunteers who have signed up for the Ukrainian IT Army Telegram account. .

False claims by other groups

Fowler said he didn't find a single case where Anonymous overdid it.

But it's happening to other hacktivist groups as well, says Lotem Finkelstein, head of threat intelligence and research at cybersecurity company Check Point Software Technologies.

In recent weeks, a pro-Ukrainian group has claimed to have hacked into a Russian nuclear reactor, and a pro-Russian group has said it has shut down the Anonymous website. Check Point concluded that both claims were false.

“Because there is no official Anonymous website, this attack … looks more like a pro-Russian morale boost and a promotional event,” CPR said, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by Anonymous affiliates, who have ridiculed it on social media.

According to Finkelstein, bands make false claims by releasing old or publicly available information in order to gain popularity or fame.

Fowler said that he felt Anonymous was nevertheless more dedicated to "cause" than notoriety.

“What I saw in these databases was more to do with messaging. It was more about the end result,” he said.

Cyber ​​"Robin Hood"

Hacktivists who engage in offensive actions like this cyberwarfare without government permission are engaging in criminal activities, said Paul de Souza, founder of the non-profit Forum Cybersecurity Initiative.

Despite this, many social media users applaud Anonymous' efforts, with many posts receiving thousands of likes and messages of support.

“They're like cyber-Robin Hood when it comes to cases that people really care about and that no one else can do anything about,” Fowler said. “You want action now, you want justice now, and I think groups like Anonymous and the hacktivists give people that immediate gratification.”

Many hacktivist groups have strong values, says Marianne Bailey, a cybersecurity partner at the consulting firm Guidehouse and a former head of cybersecurity at the US National Security Agency. Cyber ​​activism is an inexpensive way to influence the actions of governments and corporations, she says.

“This is protest in the 21st century,” Bailey said. However, cheering them on can be dangerous in the "fog of war," she added.

“A cyber attack can have immediate consequences, in most cases long before it can be determined exactly who carried it out,” she said. — A retaliatory cyberstrike may be directed in the wrong direction. What if incorrect information is given intentionally? What if someone claims to be making an attack from a certain country, but this is not true?”

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She said that cyber warfare could be cheaper, simpler, more effective and easier to deny than traditional warfare, and that it would only intensify over time.

“With more devices connected to this global digital system, the opportunities for impact continue to expand,” she said. “Such warfare will undoubtedly be used more often in future conflicts.”

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• World famous and one of the most popular bands hackers Anonymous recorded a video message to Russian President Vladimir Putin. They promised to find all "skeletons in the closet" and "leave no stone unturned".
• ForumDaily told who such Anonymous and what interest do they have in taking sides Ukraine.

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