Anonymous hacks CCP-run website; warns China to not do 'anything stupid against Taiwan'

Cyber hacking group ‘Anonymous’ has recently hacked a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) website, further warning Beijing not to attempt "anything stupid against Taiwan." In the midst of Russia's attack on Ukraine, Anonymous stated that it is taking a break from the cyberwar on Russia, Taiwan News reported. Further, the group has claimed to hack the website of the ‘Chengdu Pidu District Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference’ on Monday, May 2. 

Anonymous, on a newly produced HTML page on the website, added their logo, along with a photograph of a person wearing a black hoodie and a 'Guy Fawkes' mask. In addition to this, the meme "Taiwan Numbah Wan!" emerges on the page, which is a reference to a famous phrase made by video game streamer "AngryPug" in 2015 during a battle in the computer game "H1Z1" to annoy Chinese streamer "Em0", Taiwan News reported. Further, Taiwan's flag is shown underneath the statement, accompanied by its national emblem. 

The group claimed to take a "short break" from its cyberattacks on Russia

The group then claimed to be taking a "short break" from its cyberattacks on Russia in order to "remind China to not try anything stupid against Taiwan." It also highlighted that it has conducted several attacks against the Russian government and its state-run media websites, industrial control systems, as well as hundreds of surveillance cameras since the war commenced. 

Anonymous also noted that a "souvenir" was left by an Anonymous member "Cyber Anakin" for China after a five-day breach into Chinese computer networks, particularly nuclear power plant interfaces, Taiwan News reported.  

Meanwhile, the defaced CCP website shortly went offline, and as of publication, the website is still unusable. The Internet Archive Wayback Machine has an archived form of defacement, Taiwan News reported. 

Anonymous exposed the personal information of 120,000 Russian troops

Apart from this, on April 3, the cyber collective 'Anonymous' claimed credit for exposing the personal information of 120,000 Russian servicemen fighting in Ukraine. The information, according to the media reports, was released in March and contained names, dates of birth, residences, unit affiliations, and passport numbers. "All soldiers participating in the invasion of Ukraine should be subjected to a war crime tribunal," said 'Anonymous' in a tweet. 

It is worth noting that the leak of 120,000 Russian troops' personal information had also surfaced in Ukraine's Pravda on March 1, just a few days after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a "special" military operation in Ukraine. The Ukrainian publication, on the other hand, did not specify when the information was obtained, just saying that the "Centre for Defence Strategies acquired this information from reliable sources", as per media reports. 

(Image: AP/Shutterstock)