The TECH hacktivist group Anonymous is "embarrassing" Russia through five main methods
- According to cybersecurity expert Jeremiah Fowler, Anonymous uses a variety of tactics in its digital war with Russia, the most effective of which is hacking into databases and leaking information online.
- Processing the size of the leaked data will take years.
- Researchers in the field of cybersecurity assert that the hacks have also revealed Russia's cybersecurity defenses to be significantly weaker than previously thought.
Russia and the cybersecurity technology it uses are being "embarrassed" by Anonymous's ongoing efforts.
This is what Jeremiah Fowler, co-founder of the cybersecurity firm Security Discovery, claims. Fowler has been keeping an eye on the hacker group ever since it declared a "cyber war" against Russia for invading Ukraine.
He stated to CNBC, "Anonymous has made Russia’s governmental and civilian cyber defenses appear weak." The group has successfully embarrassed Russian businesses, government agencies, energy companies, and others by demystifying Russia's cyber capabilities.
He stated, "The country may have been the "Iron Curtain," but with the scale of these online attacks, it appears to be more like a "paper curtain."
CNBC's inquiry for clarification was not immediately answered by the Russian embassies in Singapore or London.
Listing the claims of Anonymous
According to Fowler, who in a report that was released on Friday summarized numerous of the collective's claims against Russia, Anonymous and its affiliate groups aren't losing steam, even though missile strikes are making more headlines these days.
Fowler helped CNBC rank the claims made by Anonymous in order of effectiveness into six categories:
1.gaining access to databases
Claims:
Fowler stated that Anonymous has claimed to have hacked over 2,500 Russian and Belarusian websites. Posting leaked information about Russian military members, the Central Bank of Russia, the space agency Roscosmos, oil and gas companies (Gaz region, Gazprom, Technote), the property management company Sawatzky, the broadcaster VGTRK, the IT company NPO VS, law firms, and more. Defacing and deleting hacked files .He said that stolen data was sometimes leaked online in such large quantities that it will take years to review.
Fowler stated, "The biggest development would be the vast majority of records taken, encrypted, or dumped online."
Cybernet threat intelligence researcher Shmuel Gihon agreed that the amount of leaked data is "massive."
He remarked, "We currently don't even know what to do with all this information, because it's something that we haven't expected to have in such a short period of time."
2.focusing on businesses that are still doing business in Russia
Claims:
dumping 10GB of emails, passwords, and other data belonging to the Swiss food company Nestle and blocking the websites of businesses that have been identified as continuing to conduct business in Russia. Nestle stated that these assertions lack "fundament."
At the end of March, a Twitter account called @YourAnonTV began posting logos of businesses that were supposedly still operating in Russia. In one post, the account gave an ultimatum to pull out of Russia within 48 hours or else "you will be under our target."
The hacktivists are increasing the financial stakes of operating in Russia by targeting these businesses.
According to Fowler, "[companies] risk much more than the loss of sales and some negative PR by going after their data or causing disruption to their business."
3.preventing websites
Claims:
Disrupting internet connectivity at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which caused a 100-minute delay in Vladimir Putin's keynote address, blocked Russian and Belarusian websites. Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks work by flooding a website with enough traffic to take it offline. Geolocation blocking of foreign IP addresses is a fundamental defense against them. Fowler asserted that Anonymous purportedly circumvented those defense mechanisms by hacking into Russian servers.
He stated that "the owners of the hacked servers frequently do not know that their resources are being used to launch attacks on other servers and websites."
Fowler asserted that, contrary to popular belief, DDoS attacks are more than merely inconvenient. He stated, "Critical applications become unavailable during the attack, and operations and productivity come to a complete stop." When government and general public services are unavailable, there is a financial and operational impact.
4.Educating new hires
Claims:
According to Fowler, Anonymous was able to expand its reach, brand name, and capabilities by training new recruits on how to launch DDoS attacks and hide their identities. It also provided cybersecurity assistance to Ukraine. He stated that people wanted to participate but weren't sure how. He claimed that Anonymous filled the void by instructing low-level actors in fundamental skills.
This made it possible for skilled hackers to launch more sophisticated attacks, such as those carried out by NB65, a hacking group affiliated with Anonymous that made a claim on Twitter earlier this month that it had taken control of the domain, email servers, and workstations of a manufacturing plant run by the Russian power company Leningrad sky Metallichesky Zavod using "Russian ransomware."
CNBC inquired for information, but LMZ did not immediately respond.
According to Fowler, "just like in sports, the pros get the World Cup and the amateurs get the smaller fields, but everyone plays."
5.stealing streaming media and services.
Claims:
broadcasting censored images and messages on television, including Russia-24, Channel One, Moscow 24, Wink, and Ivi. Increasing attacks on national holidays, such as hacking into Russian video platform RuTube and smart TV channel listings on Russia's "Victory Day" (May 9) and Ukraine's "Constitution Day" (June 28).
Fowler stated that the messages only resonate with "those that want to hear it," despite the strategy's stated goal of directly challenging Russian war censorship.
VPNs may already be used by these Russian citizens to circumvent Russian censorship; Others have been sentenced to prison or have decided to leave Russia.
The "uber rich," some of whom are departing for Dubai, as well as professionals in the fields of journalism, technology, legal, and consulting, are among those leaving Russia.
