Anonymous Claims Hack Of Russia’s Central Bank

The hacktivist collective Anonymous has claimed to have compromised Russia’s Central Bank and stolen thousands of confidential files.

The claim was made in a Twitter post by one of the group’s accounts, in which it promised to release thousands of files within 48 hours.

Anonymous, it should be remembered, declared war against Russia after its unprovoked invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

Central bank

Last week Anonymous hacked the federal agency Roskomnadzor, Russia’s communication watchdog that is overseeing much of Moscow’s clampdown against foreign tech platforms and services, including the block on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Anonymous then posted a 800GB Roskomnadzor data dump, which even included internal photo’s from recent office parties at Roskomnadzor.

Prior to that, Anonymous hacked Russian state TV channels to show war footage of the invasion of Ukraine to oblivious Russian citizens.

It hacked live TV channels of Russia 24, Channel One and Moscow 24 to show the realities of Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.

The group has also hacked into Russia streaming services Wink and Ivi, and other Russian targets including the Russian intelligence and security service FSB.

Indeed, it has leaked thousands of classified documents to expose the details of Vladimir Putin’s plans to conquer Ukraine.

Now the group has threatened to release 35,000 files stolen during Russia’s Central Bank hack.

If this hack claim pans out, this will be quite a coup for Anonymous, as Russia’s Central Bank is responsible for protecting and ensuring the safety of the ruble, the Russian currency which has plummeted in value since the invasion of Ukraine began last month.

Russian tensions

Russia’s Central Bank has been in the media spotlight for another reason this week, amid speculation over the future of the bank’s head Elvira Nabiullina.

Nabiullina was photographed looking dejected at a recent Kremlin meeting and posted a cryptic video, in which she acknowledged the Russian economy was in an ‘extreme’ situation and said, ‘We all very much would have liked this not to have happened.’

Despite that, Vladimir Putin this week asked parliament to nominate her for another term in office.

Meanwhile Anonymous earlier this week issued a stark warning for Western companies continuing to operate in Russia. It said they must pull out of Russia, or risk facing cyberattacks in light of the invasion of Ukraine.