The international hacker group Anonymous has published 28 gigabytes of documents that it claims it has obtained after breaking into the Russian Central Bank's cyber security, along with a video warning Russian President Vladimir Putin that all his secrets will be revealed.
“The leak about the Central Bank of Russia (28 gigabytes) has been published by Anonymous,” says the group on Twitter, stating that it has distributed the documents to several points on the Internet and that, if the links are censored, it will share them with new ones.
In a video, hackers call the Russian president a “liar, dictator, war criminal, murderer of children”.
“Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed on Putin's orders in Ukraine, hundreds of thousands have been displaced, hospitals, schools and shelters have been bombed, children have lost their families and families have lost their children,” they say.
“Vladimir Putin, no secret is certain, we are everywhere: in your palace, where you eat, at your table, in your bedroom,” added a hacker wearing the typical Anonymous mask.
“We now share thousands of documents belonging to the Central Bank of Russia: agreements, correspondence, money transfers, trade secrets of your oligarchs, economic reports that you hide from the public, trade agreements you have signed with other countries, statements, information from your registered supporters, your videoconferences and the programs you use,” says the group.
“Anonymous” had claimed Thursday to have infiltrated the Central Bank of Russia and threatened to release 35,000 files that include “secret agreements”.
The Russian Central Bank is responsible for protecting and ensuring the security of the ruble, a currency whose value has plummeted since the invasion of Ukraine began last month.
The attack comes amid uncertainty and speculation about the future of the current head of the Russian Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, who recently uploaded a strange video acknowledging that the Russian economy was in an “extreme” situation.
“We would all like it very much if this had not happened,” Nabiullina said in her post.
But Vladimir Putin asked parliament this week to nominate her for another term, apparently disrupting rumors that she might resign in protest of the war.
Earlier this week, Anonymous warned Western companies that continue to operate in Russia that they must withdraw or risk facing cyber attacks in light of the invasion of Ukraine.
The collective is responsible for several attacks on Russian state-controlled media and government websites in which it forcibly exchanged Kremlin-led programming for videos of bloodshed on the ground in Ukraine and anti-war statements.
Anonymous has also conducted cyber raids on organizations such as Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor and the Russian intelligence and security service FSB, leaking thousands of classified documents to expose the details of Putin's plans to conquer Ukraine and undermine the Kremlin's internal propaganda campaign.
But now, hacktivists are turning their attention to large corporations that have not yet suspended their operations in Russia in the midst of the war.
(With information from EFE)
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