Anonymous claims that they breached Roskomnadzor’s database, releasing 364,000 files totaling 820 GB. They passed off this information to Distributed Denial of Secrets, a transparency organization, which leaked it online.
What’s in the Leak?
The files relate to emails and correspondence from the Russian Republic of Bashkortostan. It is one of the largest republics in Russia, with a population of more than four million. Some of the files are dated as recent as 5th March and show that Roskomnadzor gave specific instructions to censor any news that referred to the Russian invasion as an act of war. The files were shared on Substack, including details about the numbers of the conflict, press coverage censored by Roskomnadzor, including images. A majority of the files included censored articles that weren’t released to the Russian public.
Be careful when downloading these files
While the files are split into two torrents and can be downloaded directly, it’s important to exercise caution when downloading files from certain directories. Often, large email attachments are a vector for malware or phishing, so it’s important to be cautious. More than 360,000 files are from the Roskomnadzor network, totaling almost 527 GB. The remaining are from two separate directories, totaling roughly 291 GB. This data has yet to be extracted. One is likely a database for legal research, whereas the other focuses more on HR protocols.
Anonymous’ Past Attacks on the Russian Government
Since the start of the war, Anonymous has been incessant with its attacks on the Russian government. On February 25, they published data of the Russian Ministry of Defence and followed it up by hitting Gazprom’s official website. They even released key documents relating to the Russian Nuclear Safety Institute and published personal, identifying information of more than 120,000 soldiers. As this war of attrition continues, cyberattacks and digital warfare will become increasingly important. Anonymous’ actions have led to major disruptions, and it’s proven to be a constant thorn in Roskomnadzor’s censorship plans. From hacking car charging stations to publishing information of thousands of bank accounts from Sberbank, they continue to exploit vulnerabilities in Russia’s digital defenses.
Are These Documents Legitimate?
It’s important to note that no one has yet combed through all the documents. Given the sheer amount of email attachments, it’s very likely that most of these contain malware. In fact, some tin foil theorists even believe that these documents were dumped by Russia with malware attached to them to spread their own virus.
