Science & Tech
Ariana Baio
Mar 07, 2022
Video
Anonymous, the mysterious group of hackers that wages cyberattacks against governments, large institutions, and companies announced on Sunday they hacked into Russian broadcasts to show footage of the war in Ukraine.
Reports from Russia indicate that many citizens are unaware of the truth about the war in Ukraine. The New York Times reported that Russian citizens believe President Vladimir Putin is "de-Nazifying" the country.
Russian broadcasts are not showing the bombardment of Ukrainian cities or peaceful protests from Ukrainians. Rather the highly regulated television broadcasts feature claims of Russia's success in capturing Ukraine and peace talks with Ukraine.
With Putin's recent ban on Facebook and major news outlets, a growing concern is that Russian citizens are oblivious to the truth about what's going on.
So, Anonymous took matters into their own hands.
In a tweet from an account linked to the organization, the group shared footage of what appears to be a Russian TV show being interrupted by live footage from Ukraine to inform Russian citizens of the invasion.
The hacking collective #Anonymous hacked into the Russian streaming services Wink and Ivi (like Netflix) and live TV channels Russia 24, Channel One, Moscow 24 to broadcast war footage from Ukraine [today]pic.twitter.com/hzqcXT1xRU— Anonymous (@Anonymous) 1646608997
The footage of the war in Ukraine was aired alongside text that read, "We are ordinary citizens of Russia. We oppose the war on the territory of Ukraine. Russia and the Russians against the war! This war was waged by Putin's criminal, authoritarian regime on behalf of ordinary Russian citizens. Russians, oppose the genocide in Ukraine," according to website Ukrinform.
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The organization announced at the beginning of March it would wage a full cyberwar on Russia from another Twitter account associated with the group and they have held true to their word.
The Anonymous collective is officially in cyber war against the Russian government. #Anonymous #Ukraine— Anonymous (@Anonymous) 1645739425
Previously, Anonymous hacked into electric vehicle charging stations along Russia's highway to display pro-Ukrainian messages on the LCD screens. Hackers also got ahold of communications and documents between the Russian Ministry of Defense and leaked them to the public.
It is unknown who is a part of the group, where they are based, or how they hack government websites. But the vigilante organization has been around since 2003 and worked to fight for those facing injustices.
The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.
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