Anonymous has released over 2 million Russian emails.
Anonymous, a cyber espionage organisation, claims to have already released millions of hacked Russian emails. The organisation has waged a cyberwar on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, attacking government institutions, state-run media outlets, and the central bank. The decentralised hacker group Anonymous said on social media that it had leaked well over two million emails gathered during hacks on Russian firms. "This is just the beginning," stated a statement sent on Twitter this past Sunday by the connected Anonymous TV account.
#OpRussia: Since declaring ‘cyber war’ on Kremlin’s criminal regime, #Anonymous has released over 2 million Russian emails via #DDoSecrets and this is just the beginning. In the coming days, the #Anonymous collective will release other data related to Russian entities. #FreeUkraine pic.twitter.com/f1povI6uF1 — Anonymous TV 🇺🇦 (@YourAnonTV) April 10, 2022
In the tweet, Anonymous also promised to reveal further stolen data from Russian organisations. In keeping with its pledge, the collective said on Monday that it had leaked over 600,000 fresh emails from three Russian databases. The batch comprises over 200,000 emails (446GB) from the Russian Federation's Ministry of Culture. According to the hackers, censorship is one of the key tasks of the department, which is in charge of implementing state policy in the arts and maintaining archives.
Anonymous has also released 230,000 emails (150GB) sent by the Blagoveshchensk municipal government in the last three years, as well as 130,000 emails (116GB) sent by the governor of the Tver region and his staff in the last five years. Anonymous promised to damage Russia's internet Gaming space shortly after Moscow started its armed assault on Ukraine in the early hours of February 24. Later, the Kremlin, the State Duma, and the Defense Ministry's websites were attacked. The organisation reportedly threatened to hack into Russian state-run television networks in order to "spread the truth about what is going on in Ukraine." Russia Today (RT), a government-funded worldwide network, was subjected to a major DDoS attack. Then, an Anonymous affiliate, NB65, attacked the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. Late in March, the hacktivist collective published 28GB of data taken from Russia's Central Bank (CBR). More than 35,000 files were claimed to have been leaked, containing some of the monetary authority's "secret agreements."
Anonymous is also said to have taken down the websites of foreign firms that still conduct business in Russia.