Anonymous Hits Russia With Devastating Drone Hack That Could Speed Up End Of War

The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has seen drones play a more central role in combat, which could even influence outcome of the bloody conflict. Anonymous, the decentralized hacktivist collective and movement, which swore to fight Russia on the cyber front to punish the Kremlin for what it calls a "special military operation," has now hacked into a weapons company, which handles the Russian Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), getting its hands on tactics and plans.

It was initially widely believed the Russian military would steamroll over Ukraine in a matter of days, but things didn't exactly go that way for President Vladimir Putin. While heavy western arms support and fierce Ukrainian resistance have played a visible role in derailing the Kremlin's plans, the cyber warfare carried out by Anonymous behind the scenes has played no less an important part. Following relentless attacks on Russia's government websites, businesses believed to be supporting the Kremlin, oligarchs and sycophants, Anonymous has now hit Russia's military force itself with the drone hack.

The hack, announced on Twitter, allowed the Anonymous operative with the Twitter handle @Youanonspider, to obtain classified documents bearing information about Russia's drone plans and tactics, which the hacktivist collective hoped would "help the war to end as soon as possible."

As a sneak peek to the full hack, Anonymous shared a few images of the loot. One showed the list of the largest exporters and competitors of the country in terms of innovations in the unmanned vehicle industry.

Another image is a "technical and commercial offer" from Rosoboronexport for the unmanned aerial vehicle "Orion-E." Anonymous also included in the tweet a link containing "military plans and documents collected from various Russian military companies and government sources."

In an exclusive interview with the International Business Times, @Youranonspider revealed that "the documents we shared include the presentation, planning and tactics of Russian unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturers and various weapons manufacturers."

The operative, who previously took down the official website of the Belarus Ministry of Internal Affairs, did not mince words when asked for a message: "Dictator Putin. For the war crimes, you have committed, the innocent people you have killed and the dozens of people you have destroyed, we will not let you alone," Youranonspider said. "We will expose you and the war crimes you have committed. We will share the crimes of your corrupt government," they added.

"We are in the palace where you hide in your house. we are in the streets, on the cameras of lawless government buildings, on the cell phone of the man you trust the most," they said. "We are in the electronic car navigation system. We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We don't forgive. We do not forget. Expect us," the operative said.

Reciting what appears to be the mantra of the hacktivist collective and movement, they said, "We are Anonymous We are legion We do not forgive We do not forget Expect us."