Anonymous is a group of hackers around the world that have participated in fighting the political aggression happening in Eastern Europe.
Following Russia's incursion into Ukraine, the group reportedly brought down the websites of Russian oil giant Gazprom.
Anonymous also pulled down the state-controlled Russian news agency RT, as well as a number of Russian and Belarusian government agencies in subsequent posts.
The activist group vows to help Ukraine, assuring the country that it will help in making sure they are online.
Anonymous Cyberattack on Russia
It all started with a tweet. Following the commencement of the Eastern European conflict, a Twitter post from an account named "Anonymous" summoned hackers around the world to target Russia.
Anonymous is a decentralized collective that operates without hierarchy or leadership. The group has been known to attack a wide range of targets, including the CIA, the Islamic State and the Church of Scientology.
During the political aggression towards Ukraine, the global group geared up for this cyber attack.
A tweet from Anonymous was posted on Feb. 24, "There are many #Anonymous accounts gearing up for action against the imperialist state of Russia, and we will be retweeting their endeavors."
There are many #Anonymous accounts gearing up for action against the imperialist state of Russia, and we will be retweeting their endeavors.
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) February 24, 2022
Following the declaration of conflict, RT.com, the Russian government's website, and the Russian defense ministry's website all experienced a brief outage by hackers affiliated with the Anonymous collective, according to a statement released by the group.
According to CNBC, numerous tweets followed after the incident claiming the group was behind the disruption of the internet service in Russia. They also leaked emails and documents from the Belarusian weapons manufacturer Tetraedr, as well as shut down Russian telecommunications service Tvingo Telecom. However, this comes as no surprise since the group tweeted the threatening messages.
Furthermore, RT.com confirmed that it was the victim of a cyberattack. RT.com noted that it caused some websites to become unresponsive while others were taken offline for "extended periods of time."
It is reported that RT's coverage of the situation in Ukraine has overwhelmingly been from a pro-Russian point of view. Some of the news coverage they air are clips of fireworks and joyful celebrations in the newly occupied territories.
Cyber Conflict in Eastern Europe
Last month, before the country was under conflict, Ukraine has been hit by hundreds of computers infected by a newly discovered piece of destructive software.
Government agencies and financial institutions were among those who suffered losses.
ESET, a cybersecurity firm discovered this circulating in their country. The cyberattack is part of what Ukrainian officials have described as an intensifying wave of hacks directed at the country.
As reported by Reuters, experts believe that this attack has been set in motion long before its launch. The company announced on Twitter that the data-wiping program had been installed on hundreds of machines across the country.
Vikram Thakur of cybersecurity firm Symantec said that infections had spread outside of Ukraine as a result of the incident.
He also added that the infectious spread both in Ukraine and Latvia.
It is unclear who is responsible for the wiper, but suspicion immediately fell on Russia, which has also been accused of launching data-scrambling hacks against Ukraine and other countries on numerous occasions.
However, Russia has categorically denied the accusations.
