Anonymous Declares Cyber War Against Pro-Russia Hacker Group Killnet

The Pro-Russia Hacker Group Killnet recently targeted European institutions, while Anonymous hackers are already claiming to have leaked the group’s personal information in a database dump.

The Anonymous hacktivists collective announced declaring cyberwar against pro-Russia hackers Killnet. The hacktivist group posted about this recent development on their Twitter handle, @YourAnonOne. The tweet read:

“The #Anonymous collective is officially in cyberwar against the pro-Russian hacker group #Killnet.”

Shortly after posting the tweet, Anonymous revealed that the official website of Killnet (Killnet.ru) was taken offline. Anonymous later posted that Killnet’s user database has also been leaked online.

“Pro Russian hackers group KillNet user database is leaked online by #Anonymous. LOL,” wrote @AnonOpsSE.

As seen by Hackread.com, the leaked database contains 146 email address and their plain-text passwords.

Tweets from Anonymous and alleged database leak (Image: Hackread.com)

Why Anonymous Furious at Killnet?

This act could be in response to the warning issued by cybersecurity agencies in the UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, citing that pro-Russian hackers may soon target organizations outside of Ukrainian borders.

It is worth noting that the FVEY (Five Eyes Alliance) published a threat assessment report yesterday. The organization revealed that numerous Russian government-sponsored and other hacker groups have vowed to support Russia.

The same report claimed that these groups could target Western critical national infrastructure organizations. Some identified cybercrime groups included DDoS attackers Killnet, CoomingProject, Sality botnet fame Salty Spider, and Emotet operators Mummy. Hence, Anonymous wants to disrupt Killnet’s attacking capabilities that have intensified in Europe recently.

Killnet Claims They’re “Ordinary People”

In an interview with the Russian news network RT, Killnet explained their version of ongoing events. In its interview given in the Russian language, the group claimed that it comprises “ordinary people from all over Russia who stood up to defend their country.”

“We have always been hated . First, it was the “terrible” empire, then the “bad” Soviet Union, and now it’s the “evil” Russia.” DDoS is the face of our project. Behind the scenes lies a huge amount of work on an invisible front. This is the calculation of the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, hacking enemy systems, monitoring and collecting information, as well as capturing control systems.

Killnet

Killnet on Telegram

Killnet’s Recent Hacking Spree

Killnet specializes in DDoS attacks and has recently targeted websites of numerous Italian government ministries and institutions, including the country’s customs agency, foreign affairs department, culture and heritage ministry, education ministry, and the superior council of the judiciary.

This hacking spree occurred in early May, while on 16 May, Killnet attacked the Italian upper house of parliament, the Automobile Club d’Italia, and the National Health Institute. In April, Killnet attacked the Romanian government-owned websites, including the Ministry of Defense, with DoS attacks originating from Russia.

The pro-Russia group has also attacked the websites of the governments of the USA, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, and other NATO members.

More Anonymous Attacks on Russia News

1. DDoS Attacks by Hacktivists Disrupted Russian Alcohol Supply Chain
2. Anonymous sent 7 million texts to Russians & hacked their security cams
3. Russian TV Schedules Hacked on Victory Day to Show Anti-War Messages
4. Confirmed: Anonymous Hacks Central Bank of Russia; Leaks 28GB of Data
5. Anonymous & its affiliates hacked 90% of Russian misconfigured databases

I am a UK-based cybersecurity journalist with a passion for covering the latest happenings in cyber security and tech world. I am also into gaming, reading and investigative journalism