Anonymous hacks Chinese site, Russian device as 'warning shot' over Ukraine

[Kamaji]

Anonymous hacks Chinese site, Russian device as 'warning shot' over Ukraine

Group's spokesperson says 'we are taking off the gloves altogether'
 
By Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
2022/02/24

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The decentralized international hacktivist group Anonymous has hacked into a Chinese website to upload images of an electronic device located in Russia that it had hacked into as a "warning shot" over its military aggression towards Ukraine.

On Tuesday (Feb. 22), Anonymous hacked into the Chinese Culture website (http://www.chineseculture.com.cn/) and uploaded a rogue page including its logo and images of a Russian device that the group had hacked. The website was taken down within a day after the hack, but an archived version of the page changed by the hacktivists can be found on Internet Archive's WayBack Machine.

The first image that appears is the Anonymous logo, immediately followed by an image of the Guy Fawkes mask. Next, is a video that plays the music video for "Fragile," a Mandopop song sung by Malaysian rapper Namewee (黄明志) and Taiwan-based Australian singer Kimberley Chen (陳芳語).

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The representative said the hacked device was a Modicon M251 logic controller made by Schneider Electric. The spokesperson said they were previously "playing nice and not give them an excuse to start a war," but now that missiles had been fired on Kyiv and elsewhere, "we are taking off the gloves altogether."

The hacktivist stated, "Anonymous will formally attack Russian websites or devices later" in retaliation for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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Source:  https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4454191

[Kamaji]

According to the Schneider Electric website, the "Russian device" in question is this:

Modicon M251 logic controller- your choice for modular and distributed architectures, that connect everything!
The Modicon M251 with CANopen, Modbus TCP and EtherNet/IP let you easily connect to SCADA, MES, ERP by standard Ethernet cables and even via Wi-Fi. Boost your machine’s performance with data transfer via SD Card, embedded web server and more. Get unlimited access to your machine via Ethernet - everywhere and any time and simplify maintenance with any mobile device through visualization pages designed directly inside EcoStruxure Machine Expert and stored in the PLC’s web server.

So, not sure how significant this claim is in the grand scheme of things.

[Smokin Joe]

Sounds like a warning shot. We will see what develops.

[DB]

According to the Schneider Electric website, the "Russian device" in question is this:

So, not sure how significant this claim is in the grand scheme of things.

Those are industrial controllers controlling who knows what. Chemical plants, power plants, who knows. They are threatening to hijack them to cause physical plant damage. I would think anyone seriously wanting to do that would just do it instead of providing a warning.

[Kamaji]

Those are industrial controllers controlling who knows what. Chemical plants, power plants, who knows. They are threatening to hijack them to cause physical plant damage. I would think anyone seriously wanting to do that would just do it instead of providing a warning.

Thanks for the info!

[GtHawk]

I just wonder how Russia would react, they aren't known for playing nice and I could see them spending however long it took or whatever it cost to track down the hackers and eliminate the risk. I'm not so sure I would have a problem with that.