Hacker community Anonymous has disabled several Russian government websites, including the state-controlled “Russia Today” news service. The hackers took over the websites of the Kremlin, the Russian government, and the Russian defense ministry, as well as RT.com, soon after they declared war on Russia.
RT.com confirmed that the attack took place. The attack reportedly slowed down some websites and left others offline for “long periods”.
RT had met with great backlash for its portrayal of the situation in Ukraine by showing fireworks and merry celebrations. In Britain, lawmakers said the TV channel was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “personal propaganda tool” and should be banned.
Anonymous is known to be a decentralized community with no hierarchy or leadership, and has previously carried out attacks that hit key targets such as the CIA and the Church of Scientology. Anonymous video, released on February 15, threatened to “take hostage” Russia’s industrial control systems if the Ukraine crisis escalated.
Earlier this week, Russian cyber forces carried out DDoS attacks on the websites of several Ukrainian banks and government offices. The Ukrainian government had sought help from volunteer “hackers” to protect critical infrastructure and help spy on Russian troops.
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