"Global hacking group Anonymous launches \u2018cyber war\u2019 against Russia"

" \n Global hacking group Anonymous launches \u2018cyber war\u2019 against Russia \n \n\n \n The murky online group known as Anonymous appears to be wading into the Ukraine-Russia conflict by declaring it is at cyber war against President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government. \n \n\n \n Following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, a Twitter post from an account named \u201cAnonymous\u201d \u2014 with 7.4 million followers and nearly 190,000 Tweets \u2014 summoned hackers around the world to target Russia. \n \n\n \n A post from the account on Feb. 24 stated the loosely connected global group was gearing up for action against the country \u2014 \u201cand we will be retweeting their endeavors,\u201d it said. \n \n\n \n In the days thereafter, posts by the account claimed responsibility for disabling websites belonging to the Russian oil giant Gazprom, the state-controlled Russian news agency RT, and numerous Russian and Belarusian government agencies, including the Kremlin\u2019s official site. \n \n\n \n Subsequent posts took credit for disrupting Russian internet service providers, leaking documents and emails from the Belarusian weapons manufacturer Tetraedr, and shutting down a gas supply provided by the Russian telecommunications service Tvingo Telecom. \n \n\n \n The account holder summarized the group\u2019s intentions in a Twitter post last week, which stated: \u201cAnonymous has ongoing operations to keep .ru government website offline, and to push information to the Russian people so they can be free of Putin\u2019s state censorship machine. We also have ongoing operations to keep the Ukrainian people online as best we can.\u201d \n \n\n \n \u201cRussia may be using bombs to drop on innocent people, but Anonymous uses lasers to kill Russian government websites,\u201d read a post on Feb. 26. \n \n\n \n No official account \n \n\n \n Despite the account\u2019s large following, the person \u2014 or persons \u2014 behind the \u201cAnonymous\u201d Twitter account denied that it is the group\u2019s official account, stating in a post: \u201cWe are a decentralized resistance movement. There is no official #Anonymous account.\u201d \n \n\n \n It\u2019s one of many Twitter accounts that purport to act under the larger umbrella of Anonymous-affiliated social media accounts, although it appears to be one of the largest. \n \n\n \n Read: MIIF acquires 14.4 million shares in Asante Gold Corporation \n \n\n \n Substantiating the group\u2019s claims is difficult, if not impossible, since anonymity is a key tenet of the collective. \n \n\n \n A review of a website that checks server outages confirmed that many of the websites that the group claimed to have knocked down are currently \u2014 or were recently \u2014 disabled. \n \n\n \n An article on RT published on Feb. 28 confirmed that its own website, as well as that of the Kremlin, had in fact been shuttered by Anonymous last Friday. The article also stated the group had targeted other Russian and Belarusian media outlets on Monday, replacing their main pages with the message \u201cStop the war.\u201d \n \n\n \n A global coalescence \n \n\n \n Attracting the ire of online hackers is yet another example of how global players \u2014 from NATO powers and international businesses to everyday consumers \u2014 are using their leverage, big or small, to protest Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. \n \n\n \n \n \n\n \n Empty spaces in the shelves of a vodka section of a Pennsylvania liquor store after Russian labels were removed.Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images \n \n\n \n Bars are boycotting Russian-made vodka , although the brand Smirnoff is reportedly being targeted despite being owned by a British company and made in the United States. \n \n\n \n Lobbying firms , tech trade shows and sports leagues have announced they are cutting ties with Russia. The Walt Disney Company yesterday said it\u2019s halting future theatrical film releases in Russia. \n \n\n \n A two-sided cyber war \n \n\n \n Russia is already believed to be engaging in its own version of cyber warfare with Ukraine. Last week, destructive \u201cdata wiping\u201d software hit Ukrainian governmental agencies and financial institutions , according to Reuters. The news agency said Russia has denied any involvement. \n \n\n \n Several of Ukraine\u2019s governmental websites last week were shut down in denial-of-service, or \u201cDDoS,\u201d attacks, reported Reuters. Ukraine has suffered digital attacks since 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula, it said. \n \n\n \n A post by the \u201cAnonymous\u201d Twitter account last week reiterated that the group is not at war with Russia as a whole, or its people. \n \n\n \n The identities of those behind Anonymous are largely unknown. A pinned message on the \u201cAnonymous\u201d Twitter account states that they are \u201cworking class people seeking a better future for humanity \u2026 who agree on a few basic principles: freedom of information, freedom of speech, accountability for companies and governments, privacy and anonymity for private citizens.\u201d \n \n\n \n Anonymous has targeted other high-profile entities in the past, including the governments of the United States and China, the Church of Scientology and the Islamic State group, while expressing support for uprisings such as the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street. \n "

"Global hacking group Anonymous launches \u2018cyber war\u2019 against Russia"

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