Russia warns 'severe consequences' for those responsible for cyber attacks against Moscow

Russian Foreign Ministry, on Tuesday, 29 March, informed that Moscow has been witnessing an increase in the number of cyberattacks on its authorities, media outlets and critical infrastructure elements. The ministry in the statement asserted that the people responsible for the actions will not go unpunished, Interfax reported.

The ministry has warned of "severe consequences" for "instigators and perpetrators" of cyberattacks against Russia. 

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the "unprecedented scale" and "coordinated nature" of the move show that the Ukrainian special technical and information forces trained by the US and other NATO members as well as "anonymous hackers and provocateurs" carrying out cyberattacks against Russia after the directives given by the Western curators of Ukraine government, as per the Interfax news report.

The Russian Foreign Ministry claimed that an army of cyber-mercenaries with specific combat aims continue to fight against Russia. In the statement, the ministry stated that the Russian agencies are giving a "strong response" to the cyber attack. The ministry stated that they will find out the source of the cyberattack and people responsible for the act will be held accountable according to the law. 

Russia faces cyber threats from anonymous group 

It is to mention here that ever since Russia launched "military operations" against Ukraine, the Anonymous group has been repeatedly issuing warnings to the Russian government. On March 28, Anonymous claimed that the hackers had released 140,000 emails from Russian firm MashOil. According to Anonymous, Mashoil manufactures and maintains drilling, mining equipment. Furthermore, the anonymous group asserted that they will continue to target Russian websites till the Kremlin does not stop the military offensive in Ukraine.

The Anonymous group on Saturday claimed that it had broken into secret databases of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBRF), The Kyiv Independent reported. They added that more than 28 gigabytes of Russian government financial information will be released to the public. Earlier on February 27, Anonymous had warned Russia's President Vladimir Putin of facing consequences for his actions against Ukraine. In a video posted on Twitter, the group had warned of several cyberattacks against the Russian government's official websites. The hacker's group had also warned to reveal the secrets of the government agencies by hijacking the official systems.  

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