For the past 2 weeks, Russia has been at war with Ukraine. Multiple countries, including the United States, have enacted sanctions to slow down Russia’s attacks. The infamous hacker group Anonymous entered the chat Feb. 27 to show their support of Ukraine by hacking into Russian broadcast channels.
The footage was shared on pro-Putin channels, which showed the aftermath of missile attacks that took the lives of many innocent civilians.
Who are Anonymous?
There is little information about the group, but they were formed in 2003, and appear to work under a shared philosophy of dissent against internet censorship and control. According to Gabriella Coleman, author of Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous, there are thousands of people around the world in this group.
Since the start of Russia’s invasion, the amount of reported deaths during the conflict drastically varies. Russian intelligence reports few soldiers’ have died, with more Ukrainian soldier deaths, Ukraine has reported the opposite. Neither country reported on the civilian causalities. Truth be told, it is difficult to get an accurate read on the number of deaths in the midst of an ongoing conflict.
For now, we will utilize the data from the UN, who’s information was collected from Feb. 24-March 6. The UN reported 1,207 civilian casualties in the country: 406 killed and 801 injured.
What has anonymous done so far?
- Hacked TV stations to play video of Russian missiles attacking Ukrainian civilians
- Hacked Russian airwaves to play audio of the Ukrainian national anthem.
- Broadcasted troll faces on Russian military radio
- Took down Kremlin’s official website
- Hacked the Ministry of Defense database
With the ongoing conflict, cyber criminals are chomping at the chance to utilize this travesty as an opportunity to steal vulnerable peoples’ data. Here’s what you can do to protect yourself.
- Frequently back up your data
- Have effective antivirus and malware detection software
- Have strong passwords
For more information on how we can protect your information from potential cyber attacks, please contact us today.