Hacker group Anonymus has announced “large-scale” cyber attacks on the Russian government. The Russia Today website is also unavailable on Friday night.
Anonymous says it has declared “cyberwar” against the Russian Federation. This is what several accounts of the hacker group shared on Twitter Thursday evening. It is the response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The website of Russia’s state broadcaster Russia Today (RT News) could not be accessed Friday evening. “The collective Anonymous has shut down the website of the Russian propaganda channel RT News,” the hackers said on Twitter.
“Many Russian government websites are not available,” said a previous anonymous post. And demanded the association’s accounts to provide support to Ukraine.
The hacker operations are said to be directed against the Russian government. “It is inevitable that the private sector will also be affected,” one post on Twitter said. The community is committed to world peace. The action is not directed against the Russian people.
The news channel RT – formerly Russia Today – also broadcasts in Spanish and Arabic in the United States and other countries and sees its German-language program as contributing to the diversity of opinions in Europe. Critics accuse RT of propaganda and disinformation in the Kremlin.
Ukraine calls on hackers to defend themselves
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government has asked volunteers from underground Ukrainian hackers to help protect critical infrastructure and carry out cyber espionage missions against Russian forces.
According to two people familiar with the matter, the government’s request appeared on hacker forums. “The Ukrainian Internet Community! It’s time to take part in the cyber defense of our country,” reads the publication.
Representatives of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A defense attache at Ukraine’s embassy in Washington said he could neither confirm nor deny the information about the contact. According to an internal source, hundreds of orders have already been received, which are now being checked to ensure that there are no Russian customers among them.
The US government is also arming itself: the Ministry of the Interior has been appointed the lead agency to monitor Russian activities and coordinate office actions after warnings of possible cyber attacks on the United States and an ongoing disinformation campaign.
