Anonymous vs. Russia: How helpful are the hackers?

After the invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine, the hacker collective Anonymous Russia declared cyber war. In the past three weeks, Anonymous has reported numerous successful attacks. But are the claims true?

"The Anonymous collective is in cyberwar against the Russian government," the loose hacker association announced its virtual campaign against Russia on February 24, 2022. Since then, reports of hacked websites and stolen data hitting both the Russian government and news and TV stations, as well as large state-owned corporations and various agencies, have been mounting.

However, there are doubts that really all hacks for which Anonymous has taken responsibility have really achieved the stated effect.

The Anonymous collective is officially in cyber war against the Russian government. #Anonymous #Ukraine

— Anonymous (@YourAnonOne) February 24, 2022

Among the cyber attacks attributed to Anonymous are the hack of the German branch of the Russian oil producer Rosneft. A "great damage" is said to have been done, 20 terabytes of data anonymous wants to have captured.

Largest Anonymous operation ever

In what it claims to be the "largest Anonymous operation of all time," Anonymous claims to have hacked all Russian TV channels and some streaming services such as Ivi and Wink on March 7, 2022. 

The TV stations are then said to have briefly broadcast war pictures from Ukraine – again, there was initially no evidence, as CNBC writes. Meanwhile, the paralysis of the website of the Russian nuclear agency Rosatom, including the leak of captured data, is said to have been the account of Anonymous hackers. But is all this really true? Cybersecurity expert Jeremiah Fowler has scrutinized some of the hacktivists' claims. 

Even the alleged broadcasting of war images on Russian state channels would rate Fowler as a fact-checker as true, as he writes. A colleague friend of mine had filmed at least one TV channel that broadcast a pro-Ukrainian message.

Fowler's conclusion: Anonymous does not seem to exaggerate in his claims. On the other hand, not all reports that other hacker groups have spread in recent weeks seem to be true. For example, the security firm Check Point has misjudged both the claim of a pro-Ukrainian group to have hacked a Russian nuclear power plant and that of pro-Russian hackers who paralyzed the Anonymous website.

Anonymous: Potentially dangerous war game

The extent to which the cyber attacks cause lasting damage to the Russian government, authorities or corporations is not clear. According to experts, however, cyber attacks are a cheap and at the same time very effective means of expressing protest. 

However, the intervention of Anonymous and other hacktivists is also a double-edged sword. After all, who knows what the hackers will turn against next time. And who protects the IT infrastructure of Western countries like Germany when Russia retaliates?