An international hacker group calling itself "Anonymous" over Russia's invasion of Ukraine declares that the Russian government will be the target of the attack.


I don't know the connection, but it is believed that the Russian government's site and others were actually hit by cyber attacks after that.


Who is "Anonymous"?

We asked Mr. Nobuhiro Tsuji, a security researcher at SB Technology, who has been following this trend for over 10 years.

Posted "Hacking a national broadcast channel"

On the 7th of this month, the post "Hacking the distribution channel of Russia's national broadcast and showing the video of the battlefield in Ukraine" attracted a lot of attention on the Internet.



I posted an account on Twitter claiming to be Anonymous.



According to Mr. Tsuji, "Anonymous" is a group of loosely connected hackers that appeared on bulletin boards on the Internet around 2006, and is positioned as one of the "hacktivists" who launch cyber attacks for the purpose of political claims. increase.

Anonymous is a “moving crowd”

"Anonymous" is an adjective meaning "anonymous" in English, and it seems that hackers from all over the world participate anonymously in the activity, but it is not known in detail what kind of person is a member.



There are no conditions to become a member, and you can come and go freely, and Mr. Tsuji says, "It's like a group of people who tend to think of it as a group, but raise protests according to the content of each, and declare themselves anonymous. If you do, anyone can be. Anonymous doesn't have a leader or a membership list. The expression "Ugo-no-shu" may be the most appropriate. "



The main method is the "DDoS attack" that sends a large amount of data to websites and servers to force them to stop functioning, and has repeatedly attacked governments and companies in each country.

The one who claimed to have carried out a cyber attack

▽ From 2010 to the following year, with the "Arab Spring", to the Egyptian government, etc.

▽


In 2012, protesting the penalties for illegal downloads in Japan, to the government and courts, etc.


Protesting to local governments in Wakayama prefecture


▽ In 2016, appealing for the protection of marine life, to Japanese aquariums and companies


▽ In the meantime, protesting the military coup d'etat in Myanmar and


attacking the military etc.

Claims to have gone.

In Japan, it is suspected to be involved in cases where websites such as the Ministry of Finance, the Diet, and Kansai Airport have been hit by cyber attacks.

There are countless accounts that are considered to be members

When conducting an offensive activity, Anonymous sets a specific theme and publishes its claims and requests to gain sympathy with many people online.



According to Mr. Tsuji, on Twitter, there are about 10 confirmed accounts that claim to be Anonymous, even for major accounts with tens of thousands or more followers, and there are innumerable accounts that claim to be members.



Also, like Twitter, there are accounts on multiple SNS such as YouTube.

One of the accounts "Targeting the Russian Government"

This time, shortly after the Russian invasion began, one of Twitter's accounts said, "Our strategy is targeting the Russian government. Now is the time for the Russian people to come together and say'NO'to Putin's war. It's time to hit it. "

Claims to have stolen confidential data ...

Also, before the invasion, another account released a video of a masked person speaking English, and developed a theory that Ukraine and others should form a neutral group different from NATO and Russia.

Each account separately claims to have taken down sites such as the Russian government, energy companies, and the media, or stole sensitive data, and the number is innumerable.



I don't know the connection, but some sites related to the Russian government have actually gone down.



However, according to several experts, if you check the website that you said was down, there are cases where you can not connect from outside Russia but you can access from within the country, and whether the attack is actually successful or not Says that there are many unclear points.



Mr. Tsuji said, "In some cases, while claiming that the site was brought down, there were cases where it was possible to connect to the site, or even though it was a site that could not be connected from the beginning, I did not know whether it was intentional but made a fuss about it. It's not limited to, but everything can be a lie, and it's important to treat it as unspoken information. "

"It is a crime to steal and disclose information"

Finally, Mr. Tsuji pointed out that there are articles that praise and sometimes deify Anonymous's actions, and said, "Of course, any ideological beliefs are free, but what Anonymous is doing is a crime. It's important to keep in mind that it's an act. Bringing down a site or stealing and disclosing information is no different than a crime. Don't even think about doing it yourself. " I was calling.