A hacker group successfully launched a cyber attack against the Federal Security Service (FSB), a Russian government intelligence agency. According to reports from cybersecurity specialists, about 7.5 terabytes of classified information were extracted in the attack.
Various media claim that among the information
compromised during this incident are Russian
projects to disable private browsing with Tor
browser, social media blocking and the isolation of the Internet in
Russia from the rest of the world web.
According to cybersecurity specialists, the FSB
is the most important intelligence agency at the Kremlin’s service, fulfilling
functions similar to those of the FBI in the U.S., although its functions also
cover the Russian government’s intelligence activities abroad. Simply put, it’s
a kind of reincarnation of the extinct KGB.
A few days ago, a hacker group self-appointed
“0v1ry$” managed to hack into the systems of SyTech, a private
company that works closely with the FSB. Subsequently, the hackers shared the
stolen information with Digital Revolution, an internationally active hacker
group; the organization published in various forums multiple samples of the
stolen information, which forced the FSB to take some measures to protect its
confidential data.
After leaking the information the Digital
Revolution hackers began a period of inactivity; similarly, activity of the
0v1ru$ group seems to have stopped.
Among the FSB’s alleged projects is
“disabling anonymity” for Tor network users, collecting information
from people and organizations of interest, and extracting social media data.
Various media and cybersecurity specialists have claimed that this could be the
largest data breach ever occurred in Russia.
Previously, researchers at the International
Cyber Security Institute (IICS) had reported on the Russian government’s plans
to isolate Internet traffic on its territory from the rest of the world’s web traffic.
Vladimir Putin’s plans include the creation of a new Russia-exclusive domain
name system (DNS) that will be implemented according to the president’s
consideration. If so, Internet service providers would have to disconnect from
any foreign server to use only Russian DNS.
