International hacking collective Anonymous has vowed to stage cyberattacks against Russia's government entities and corporations in the wake of Vladimir Putin's Ukraine invasion. But the durability of the attack's effectiveness is questionable as Russia itself hosts a large number of hackers who have been part of larger cyberattacks in the past and even interfered in elections of foreign countries including the US.
The hacker group announced in a tweet on Thursday that it is involved in operations against Russia. "We want the Russian People to let understand that we know it's hard for them to speak out against their dictator for fear of reprisals."
Anonymous Wants Peace
However, the group also maintained that it wants peace in the world and a future for all of humanity. "So, while people around the globe smash your internet providers to bits, understand that it's entirely directed at the actions of the Russian government and Putin," said the group.
Russia's Websites Down
Following the announcement of the cyberattack by the group, RT.com, Russia's government-funded media outlet, said that it was targeted in what appears to be a widespread denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, reported Fox News.
Such attacks are launched by coordinated efforts, knocking a website offline by flooding it with traffic.
Not only RT was targeted with their cyberattack, websites for the Kremlin and State Duma lower house of parliament were also intermittently unavailable on Thursday, emboldening a belief that it could have been caused by DDoS attacks.
US Sees Potential Cyber Threat
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Ukrainian Defence Ministry officials sought assistance from underground hackers of the country to strengthen their cybersecurity defenses.
Ukraine asked the offensive cybersecurity volunteers to conduct digital espionage against Russian forces and put defensive volunteers to protect the country's infrastructure.
On Thursday, Ukraine's several government websites became the target of cyberattack as Russia inched closer to the Ukrainian capital.
In line with the surging cyberattacks, the US government also sees potential threats against its financial institutions as the country has been previously targeted by Russian hackers, who are accused of meddling in the US elections in 2016.
