The international hacker collective Anonymous has warned Western companies that continue to operate in Russia to refrain from cyberattacks or risk cyberattacks in light of the invasion of Ukraine.
Anonymous has been responsible for several attacks on Russian state media and government websites in which they forcibly replaced Kremlin-targeted programs with videos of Ukrainian bloodshed and anti-war statements.
The collective has also cyber-raided entities such as Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor and Russia’s FSB intelligence and security service, exposing thousands of secret documents to reveal details of Putin’s plans to conquer Ukraine and undermine the Kremlin’s internal propaganda campaign.
But now hacktivists are turning their attention to large corporations that have not yet suspended their activities in Russia during the war.
The official Anonymous Twitter account said yesterday that companies have 48 hours to “get out” of Russia or become a target for new attacks.
The same account said on Thursday that its #OpRussia cyber campaign is “launching unprecedented attacks” on Russian government websites and will double the power of its attacks.
Anonymous, an international hacking collective, has warned Western companies that continue to operate in Russia to back off or risk cyberattacks in light of the invasion of Ukraine.
Anonymous is responsible for several attacks on Russian state media and government websites in which they forcibly replaced Kremlin-sent programs with videos of bloodshed in Ukraine and anti-war statements.
“Press Release: We call on all companies that continue to operate in Russia, paying taxes to the budget of the Kremlin’s criminal regime: Get out of Russia!” read the tweet.
“We give you 48 hours to think and leave Russia, otherwise you will be under our target! #Anonymous #OpRussia.
The ad was accompanied by a logo image for companies ranging from oilfield services corporation Halliburton to cloud computing service Citrix.
Both Halliburton and Citrix had already announced prior to the Anonymous tweet that they were suspending operations in Russia, joining a long list of multinationals such as McDonalds and IKEA that have stopped offering their services.
However, the food giant Nestle has doubled its operations in Russia, announcing that it will continue to sell groceries there despite being one of the main targets of anti-war protests.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday recalled the world’s largest food and beverage company, urging the Swiss giant to cease operations in Russia.
He singled out Nestle and their slogan “Good food, good life”.
“Business in Russia works despite the fact that our children are dying and our cities are being destroyed,” he said.
But the company claimed it was not making a profit from its operations in Russia, but was delivering only “essential goods” there, while continuing to distribute food in some of Ukraine’s hardest-hit cities.
A Nestle spokeswoman said yesterday: “We have significantly reduced our activities in Russia: we have stopped all imports and exports from Russia, with the exception of essential goods.
“The fact that we, like other food companies, provide the population with important food does not mean that we just continue to work as before.”
The company also stressed that it is investing in humanitarian causes related to the conflict.
“Our colleagues in Ukraine are doing everything possible to help the population with food donations.
“We are still one of the few active food companies in Ukraine and sometimes even manage to deliver groceries in Kharkiv.”
Food giant Nestle, however, has doubled down on its operations in Russia despite threats from Anonymous, saying it will continue to sell groceries there despite being one of the main targets of anti-war protests.
Banners against Swiss food giant Nestle during a demonstration against the Russian invasion of Ukraine outside the Swiss parliament building in Bern, March 19, 2022.
While Anonymous’s pledge to punish companies operating in the region has received widespread support on social media, some cybersecurity experts have expressed concern that seeking help from freelancers who violate cyber norms could have dangerous escalation.
Others have expressed concern that decisions by multinational corporations to suspend their operations in Russia will only serve to punish millions of innocent Russians whose livelihoods will suffer.
In particular, the decision to block Russia’s access to the SWIFT international banking system and the termination or suspension of payment companies such as PayPal, Visa, Mastercard and Google Pay means that countless Russian businesses, entrepreneurs and workers are already facing their wages evaporated.
Marina Ovsyannikova, the former TV editor who launched a daring and heroic live anti-war protest during a state-controlled evening newscast, warned of the consequences of measures being taken by Western governments and companies against ordinary Russian citizens.
‘[The sanctions] The West is imposing on all the people, probably the right decision, but you must understand that it is not only the oligarchs and Putin’s inner circle that are suffering, ”she told ABC on Sunday.
Ovsyannikova said her own 11-year-old daughter went hungry at a school in Russia after she couldn’t buy herself lunch when the credit card she used was blocked.
Meanwhile, Russian small business owners told the BBC: “This is a whole new kind of crisis that leaves us all feeling lost and confused.” Not only in business, but also in our lives. Loss of income, forced abandonment of lifestyle led to a reduction in ties. There are many things that we have already lost and have not yet fully understood.
Moscow-based journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, 43, gave her first interview to US media on Sunday, speaking with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week. Ovsyannikova said her own 11-year-old daughter went hungry at a school in Russia after she couldn’t buy herself lunch when the credit card she used was blocked.
A senior Ukrainian cybersecurity official, Viktor Zhora, said he usually does not support Anonymous’ vigilante-style cyberwarfare, but acknowledged that the war in Ukraine constituted an emergency.
Earlier this month, the Deputy Chairman of the State Special Communications Service of Ukraine stated: “We do not welcome any illegal activity in cyberspace. But the world order changed on February 24, the day Russia invaded his country.
On March 15, Anonymous shut down several Russian government websites, including the website of the Russian security and intelligence service (FSB).
Using the military term “Tango down” to refer to the sites they successfully hacked, the organization reported via social media that they had hacked the websites of Moscow.ru, the Analytical Center under the Government of the Russian Federation, and the Ministry of Sports. Russian Federation and FSB.
Anonymous also released private correspondence they claimed was between Vladimir Putin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, which outlined plans to cut Ukrainian forests and sell them.
On March 15, a group of hacktivists tweeted which websites they had successfully blocked, including the FSB, Russia’s intelligence service. They also released private correspondence between Vladimir Putin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, which outlined plans to cut Ukrainian forests and then sell them.
A letter published by Anonymous on Twitter, allegedly from Minister Shoigu, reads: “Dear Vladimir… In order to create fortifications to provide formations, military units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation involved in a special combat operation, logging is required on defense lands and other categories with the subsequent use of the resulting wood by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
It was further said that the funds would be used “in the interests of defence”.
Earlier this month, Anonymous said it hacked into Russia’s media censorship agency and released 340,000 files from the federal agency Roskomnadzor, stealing secret documents that they then handed over to the transparency organization Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets), which released them online.
The find of 820 gigabytes of emails and attachments revealed how the Kremlin is censoring everything related to their brutal invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow is instead calling a “special military operation.”
The leader and co-founder of DDoSecrets is Emma Best, a US whistleblower who previously targeted Russian government agencies and US police in the wake of the George Floyd protests.
David Betz, professor of war in the modern world at King’s College London, said: “I think it’s positive. The censors must be exposed.”
Anonymous’ latest alleged cyberattack against Russia was against printers.
A member of the collective, whose Twitter alias is DepaixPorteur, announced on Sunday evening: “We are currently launching an attack on 156 Russian printers. copies so far.
The user claimed that Anonymous had hacked into unsecured Russian printers on various networks and printed out documents with anti-war messages and instructions on how to download and install Tor, an open source anonymous browsing software to help Russians evade the Kremlin’s media censorship.
Later on Sunday, the same account tweeted: “We have been printing anti-propaganda and tor installation instructions for printers all over Russia for 2 hours and have printed over 100,000 copies so far. As we speak, 15 people are working on this operation.”