'Anonymous' says it has hacked Russia's central bank; threatens to release secret docs

As the Russia-Ukraine war continues to witness hacktivism across the globe, hacker group 'Anonymous' said that it hacked the Central Bank of Russia on Thursday. Anonymous TV reported that the Anonymous Collective has said that over 35,000 files will be released within 48 hours with secret agreements. Russia’s Central Bank was targeted by the group after Anonymous also targeted the companies that continue to operate in Russia even as Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin’s forces continue to attack.

Since Putin announced the ‘special’ military operation in Ukraine in late February, Anonymous has breached several services linked to Moscow including the streaming platforms. As the Russia-Ukraine war entered day 29, it is pertinent to note that the conflict has sparked a surge in volunteer hackers to tackle Moscow on the digital frontline. Apart from Anonymous, other such hacker groups include Squad303 and Cyber Partisan who have carried out cyberattacks against Russian targets. 

Anonymous had declared ‘electronic war’ on Kremlin

In view of Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, Anonymous had declared an “electronic war” on the “Kremlin's criminal regime”. The hacker collective claimed to have hacked 2,500 Russian as well as Belarusian government state media and other websites “in support of Ukraine”. On March 18, Anonymous had announced the launch of “unprecedented attacks” on the websites of the Russian government and increased their capacity “at peak times from 500 GB to 1TB” which is “two or three times more powerful than the most serious incidents”. 

On March 16, Anonymous announced that it had hacked into the website of the Russian state corporation for nuclear energy Rosatom. The Russian corporation is believed to be controlling a nuclear power plant in Ukraine which was seized by Moscow. Russia captured Zaporizhzhia and Chernobyl nuclear power plants in its invasion of Ukraine. Anonymous confirmed that they just hacked the government website and not the nuclear plant. They said, “We would never endanger any lives.”

According to The Jerusalem Post, the hackers changed the interface on the site and made it otherwise inaccessible. Additionally, Anonymous also gained access to gigabytes of data which they now plan to leak to the general public. The hackers breached the Rosatom website after the Russian forces on March 4 captured Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant followed by constant shelling leading to damage in some parts. 

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