After continuously attacking pro-Ukraine nations since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in March 2022 pro-Russian hacker group Anonymous Russia has listed Indian companies as targets over the Christmas weekend.
The Cyber Express reported on December 23- that Anonymous Russia has started targeting ‘Russophobic’ countries. The target list was shared on the group’s Telegram channel then had an Indian website too.
Curiously, India has been neutral on the Russia-Ukraine issue, even hinting at support for Russia by offering to buy oil from the country despite severe criticism from the West.
Anonymous #Russia targeting #India is interesting as they are some what neutral in support for #RussiaUkraineWar #cybersecurity #infosec #UkraineRussiaWar️ pic.twitter.com/PGAXuCeloz
— CyberKnow (@Cyberknow20) December 24, 2022
Anonymous Russia, a reasonably new organization, has listed five Indian firms’ websites as possible targets. These businesses operate in different industries and have a .in domain as the extension, signifying the website belongs to the Indian region.
Based on the industry and the customer base in which these operate, the targets appear to be random, with a high probability of comparatively easy hackability.
Clear hints, unclear reasons
Even the Russian-Ukrainian war, India has shown visible signs of shifting its preference from post-Trump USA to Russia. As per the country’s “Act Far-East” policy made public in 2019, India has “a unique and privileged strategic alliance with Russia”.
The bilateral trade between the two countries during April 2020-March 2021 amounted to USD 8.1 billion and is slated to increase to US $ 30 billion by 2025, says a briefing published by the Indian embassy at Moscow.
India was one of the few countries that did not support the decision of the G7 countries and its allies to cap Russian oil prices. “The Deputy Prime Minister welcomed India’s decision not to support the price cap on Russian oil, which was imposed on December 5 by the G7 countries and their allies,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement last month.
After March 2022, “Anonymous Russia” appeared as a Russian reaction to the multinational collective of pro-Ukraine hackers created in collaboration with Anonymous. Since then, cyber assaults on numerous pro-Ukraine companies have increased.
Explicit assaults were confined to targets in the United States and Europe. Killnet, the most vociferous of them, claimed responsibility for the cyberattacks on Skylink in November, as well as the White House and European Parliament websites.
