Hacking Group Anonymous Declares ‘Cyber Warfare’ on Russia

We at eTeknix are, first and foremost, a technology publication. We tend to avoid, whenever possible, giving our opinions on political issues unless they are directly relevant to what we know and love (PC hardware!). – It is, however, hard to ignore the fact that with the current situation between Russia and Ukraine, the feeling throughout Europe at the moment is more than a little anxious about the whole situation. – In some interesting news that is certainly relevant to our remit, however, following various Twitter posts, hacking group ‘Anonymous‘ has officially declared “cyber war” on Russia!

And more so, it appears that they’ve already had more than a few ‘success’ stories.

Anonymous Declares ‘Cyber Warfare’ on Russia!

Following an initial post made on February 24th, Anonymous has officially declared that their top priority for disruptive online activity is now primarily focused on Russia and the Russian government. Since then, they’ve already had a number of successes with disruptions placed on Russia’s state-backed news outlets and also government-run websites (most recently their Ministry of Defence whose website was down for around 2-3 hours).

Although no exact comments on their collective goals have yet been stated, it seems pretty clear that Anonymous fully intends to keep this (primarily DDoS-backed) activity up until Russia withdraws from Ukrainian territory, or, at least, hostilities are ceased.

A New Era of Warfare

The activities of Anonymous has undoubtedly been somewhat driven by the fact that immediately prior to Russia’s military activities, the Ukrainian government confirmed a number of cyber-attacks believed to have originated from state-backed (and funded) facilities in and/or around Moscow. – Will Anonymous have any kind of real tangible effect here though? The short version is that it’s honestly hard to say. – Their involvement, however, will undoubtedly be praised by many. And not just those among the online ‘hacking’ community, but likely others who view their current activities (in an exceptionally metaphorical online sense) as them currently doing ‘the Lord’s work’.

If nothing else though, it does clearly highlight the fact that modern warfare isn’t solely conducted on the physical battlefield anymore. It has an equally turbulent role in the battle for online security!

If you want to keep abreast of the latest news and activities from this well-known (and somewhat notorious) hacking group, you can check out their official Twitter feed via the link here!

What do you think? Will activities like this help or hinder the current situation? Indeed, do you think they will have any effect at all beyond being a minor inconvenience? – Let us know in the comments!