Anonymous Hacks Russian Media, Claims To Show Ukraine War Footage

(Photo : Pexels / Sora Shimazaki)
Anonymous, the infamous hacker group, has claimed responsibility for taking control of Russia's media outlets and social media companies. The group claims it shows video footage of the war in Ukraine to prevent the Russian government from spreading misinformation among its citizens.

Anonymous, the infamous decentralized group of hackers and previously waged cyberwar against Russia over the latter's invasion of Ukraine, recently took control of Russian state television and streaming services, broadcasting footage of battlefields in Ukraine.

The video shared by the hacker group ended with a written message that attributed the fault of the invasion to Russia's totalitarian government and not its citizens. The recent incident is the latest in a series of battles between the vigilante hackers and Moscow's government.

Anonymous Hacks Russia

The hacker group previously took credit for the hacking and shutting down of the Kremlin's official website in late February. Anonymous is now overlaying "anti-propaganda" text on Russian CCTV cameras.

Furthermore, the group even has a slush fund that they use to pay Russian soldiers in exchange for surrendering their tanks. Recently, the Russian federal government passed a new law that makes publishing what authorities considered "fake news" punishable by up to 15 years of imprisonment.

Many news organizations and social media companies have opted to suspend their operations in Russia in response to the alleged dampening of free speech. Many have attributed the decision to be one of the factors that attracted Anonymous to move against Russia, as per The Sun.

The latest attack had Anonymous take control of more than 400 Russian cameras and come just a day after the group attacked the country's streaming services and TV channels. The hackers have compiled about 100 of the camera feeds on the website behindenemylines.live as part of its "Russian camera dump."

The hacker group has placed the footage under various categories on the website, based on the location of the CCTV cameras. The categories include Businesses, Outside, Inside, Houses, Restaurants, Offices, Schools, and Security Offices. However, Anonymous took down the House cameras out of respect for the privacy of the residents in the region.

According to India Today, some of the texts that are overlaid on the footage include "Putin is killing children," "352 Ukraine civilians dead," and "Russias lied to 200RF.com," which is a website that shows images and videos. They include alleged graphics of Russian soldiers captured by Ukraine.

Cyberattacks in Support of Ukraine

Anonymous is joined by Cyber Partisans as the leaders of the cyberattacks on Russia's banks, state broadcaster RT, and a Belarusian rail network that is reportedly used to transport troops from Russia to Ukraine. Recently, the infamous hacker group has also taken responsibility for what is considered to be the "biggest Anonymous op ever seen" when the group took control of several news channels.

Despite peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are underway, no one is sure of when the bloodshed will stop. Cyber groups have taken their stance and expressed their support of Ukraine against Russia's stellar online forces.

One of the more recent Anonymous attacks is where they intercepted Russian military radio and made it broadcast the troll face meme that went viral on social media platforms years ago. The hacker group's associated Twitter account posted a clip of the shortwave radio station UVB-76, Independent reported.