Tech

Russian State Media Hacked to Show Casualty Numbers for Russian Soldiers in Ukraine War

Russia has not released the number of casualties it has faced in its ongoing invasion. Hackers aimed to change that.
Hacked Russian media message
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Hacking. Disinformation. Surveillance. CYBER is Motherboard's podcast and reporting on the dark underbelly of the internet.

Hackers targeted the websites of major Russian media outlets on Monday, including the state-run news agency Tass, to display a message with the current number of Russian army casualties reported by the Ukrainian military, figures that the Russian state has not officially released to the Russian public.

The figures in the message from the hackers haven’t been independently verified by international authorities. But the move is part of a tsunami of hacktivism in opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Earlier someone leaked internal messages from the pro-Russia ransomware group Conti.

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“Dear citizens. We urge you to stop this madness, do not send your sons and husbands to certain death. Putin makes us lie and puts us in danger,” the message displayed on the websites read. “This message will be deleted, and some of us will be fired or even jailed. But we can't take it anymore.”

ru_media_message.png

On top of an image of the Russian flag, the message added that there have been “5,300 dead Russian soldiers in Ukraine in four days,” and that this was “More than during the First Chechen War (1994-1996).”

News sites Fontanka and Kommersant were also targeted in the hack. The message included a logo for the hacking collective Anonymous.

Roskomnadzor, the Russian state media regulator, previously said that media outlets are allowed to only use information and data from official Russian sources concerning what it describes as the “special operation” in Ukraine. On Sunday, Russian army spokesperson Igor Konashenkov admitted on state television that Russian troops have been killed and injured in the invasion, but did not specify how many.

Do you have any more information on hacks happening during the Russian invasion of Ukraine? We'd love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Joseph Cox securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr on josephcox, or email joseph.cox@vice.com.

Tass’ editorial department itself reported on the hack, publishing a statement from the company’s corporate communications department.

“The TASS news agency's website has been under constant massive hacker attacks over the past few days. Today, the attackers managed to breakthrough. Work to restore the TASS website's performance is currently underway,” the statement read. Tass’ article claimed that the hackers “posted information that does not correspond to reality.”

The 5,300 figure itself comes from an update on the website of the Ukrainian military. On Monday, the website said that the total losses of the enemy from February 24 to February 28 included “Personnel approximately 5300 (to be specified).”

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