Anonymous claims to have hacked Russian TV channels to show images of war in Ukraine

After declaring a “cyber war against the Russian government” last week, Anonymous claims to have hacked Russian state television to broadcast footage of the war in Ukraine.

The hacking collective said it had attacked Russia 24, Channel One and Moscow 24, including other Internet sites. streamingto show independent coverage of the war in Ukraine as the invasion entered its twelfth day.

“The hacker collective Anonymous hacked the services of streaming russians Wink and Ivi (like Netflix) and live TV channels Russia 24, Channel One, Moscow 24 to spread images of war from Ukraine,” an account associated with the group tweeted over the weekend.

“Ordinary Russians are against the war”

The tweet was accompanied by a video of what indeed appears to be war material from Ukraine disrupting Russian news broadcasts. A message at the end states that “ordinary Russians are against the war,” calling for an end to Russia’s violent invasion of Ukraine.

Twitter accounts historically associated with Anonymous, the amorphous online activist community, claimed to be behind the hackers’ attack, calling it the “biggest Anonymous operation ever.”

“Having said that, we are concerned that some governments will indeed see us as a threat and create some scenario to make us look bad (false flag),” the group tweeted late on Sunday.

“We only want peace, not war,” Anonymous continued. “We’ve been in the limelight before. We have been in the news many times, but never anything like what we are experiencing now.”

“Cyberwar against the Russian Government”

This is not the first hacker attack on Russian media during Moscow’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Last week, Anonymous claimed to have hacked several Russian media outlets, including the state news agency TASS, Kommersant, Izvestia, Fontanka, Forbes, and RBK.

The group also claims to have hacked other notable targets, such as the website of the Russian Space Research Institute.

Media censorship in Russia

Russian authorities have intensified pressure on the media. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new law that allows those who distribute “false news” about the Russian Army to be sentenced to prison terms of up to 15 years.

The Kremlin has been saying the Russians that the invasion is a “special military operation” and a peacekeeping exercise, cracking down on any dissent against the war.

Russian propaganda channels have been claiming that it is a civil war that has broken out in Ukrainerun by Nazi nationalists spurred on by the West and NATO expansion.

Due to the nature of the Anonymous group, it is difficult to attribute a cyberattack to this group or even confirm that someone is a member of a collective that is open to anyone claiming to use hacking for a particular cause. (I)