Hacking Collectives Hit Russian Satellites, Media and State Websites
The cyberwar is ratcheting up.
The Ukrainian call to arms sent out by Ukraine’s digital transformation minister, Mykhailo Fedorov for volunteers around the globe to hack Russian targets has been answered in large part by the loose collective of hackers known as Anonymous. Now, other cyber warriors are now joining the effort. A group known as Network Batallion 65 claims that it has breached the control center of Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos.
Space Wars
NB65’s infiltration of Roscosmos has cut off Russia’s ability to control its spy satellites. The group of hackers rotated credentials to access the satellite data and shut down the company’s servers, rendering real-time satellite imaging and vehicle monitoring unavailable.
“Have a nice Monday fixing your spying tech,” NB65 said in a Twitter post. “Glory to Ukraine.”
Rebels Witha Cause
While Anonymous has been active on the global cyber stage since as early as 2003, targeting the Church of Scientology and spearheading the Occupy Wall Street movement, the members of hacking collectives have largely been rebels without a cause in recent years. That changed with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
NB65 seems to be united in its protest of the war. The group carried out a data dump Sunday of more than 40,000 files it collected from Russia’s Nuclear Safety Institute.
“We don’t have the capacity to translate this many Russian documents, so enjoy and let us know what you find,” the group said.
Anonymous is Everywhere
Meanwhile, Anonymous has been relentless in its attacks on Russian websites and state-backed news outlets, claiming over 300 successful breaches.
The group targeted state news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti, and the websites of news outlets Kommersant, Izvestiya, and Forbes Russia over the weekend, throttling connections, knocking out servers, and posting anti-war messages on the companies’…
