Russia-Ukraine war: Anonymous declares ‘cyber war’ against Russia, targets govt websites

Amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, cyber hacker collective ‘Anonymous’ has now declared a “cyber war” against Russina President Vladimir Putin's government as he launched full-scale invasion of Kyiv. According to international reports, the hacker collective aim is to have disabled several Russian government websites. Meanwhile, the collective also targeted RT.com, a Russian state-controlled international television network.

According to reports, RT.com and several other sites have been targeted in what appears to be a widespread denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. Hacker collective ‘Anonymous’, infamous for hacking international government accounts, on Thursday declared a “cyberwar” against Russia following its attack on Ukraine. The collective revealed their move on social media, claiming to have disabled several Russian government websites.

Social media account claiming to represent the group on Thursday wrote, “The Anonymous collective is officially in cyber war against the Russian government.” Furthermore, it tweeted, “The #Anonymous collective has taken down the website of the #Russian propaganda station RT News,” confirming their attack on RT.com.

Anonymous targets Russian government's websites

Meanwhile, the websites of the Russian government, the Kremlin, the Duma, the Ministry of Defence were all affected by the ‘cyberattack’ launched by the hacker collective. Several users came forward on social media platforms to inform that the websites targeted by the group slowed down and went offline for extended periods of time throughout the day. The group, in a series of tweets, made it clear that it was opposing Putin and his recent moves against Ukraine.

“F**k #Putin… We support the people of #Ukraine… We are legion. We will not forget the lives that have been lost under Putin's regime,” an account related to the collective tweeted. “The Putin criminal regime are gonna have a very hard time recovering from our attacks!” it wrote from another account. ‘Anonymous’ also added that “an inevitability that the private sector will most likely be affected too,” in the attacks.

“So, while people around the globe smash your internet providers to bits, understand that it's entirely directed at the actions of the Russian government and Putin,” an account linked to the hacker collective said in a message to Russians. Hackers affiliated with Anonymous have attacked websites of the US government, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Westboro Baptist Church, ISIS, among many others in the past. The group is now targeting Russia in support of Ukraine.

Russia's cyberattack on Kyiv

Earlier on Thursday, Ukraine had reported that the country’s cybersecurity service reported continued cyberattacks from Russia. Kyiv informed that its cellular networks were saturated with voice calls. Furthermore, Ukraine suggested its people use text messaging.

(Image: AP/ UNSPLASH)