Who is Anonymous? The hacker group taking down Russian websites and TV channels to combat Putin

In the early hours of this morning (7 March), Anonymous hacked streaming services and news channels in Russia to broadcast footage of the war with Ukraine to combat Putin's clampdown on information in Russia.

The Twitter account Anonymous TV released the following statement:

"The hacking collective #Anonymous today hacked into the Russian streaming services Wink and Ivi (like Netflix) and live TV channels Russia 24, Channel One, Moscow 24 to broadcast war footage from #Ukraine."

But what is Anonymous and what does the group do?

Below is everything you need to know about the international hacking organisation Anonymous.

Who is Anonymous?

Anonymous is a decentralized hacking collective and online movement primarily known for its various cyberattacks against several governments, institutions and corporations and the Church of Scientology.

Anonymous members, also known as anons, can usually be seen in public wearing a Guy Fawkes mask in the style portrayed in the graphic novel and film V for Vendetta.

Some anons also opt to mask their voices through voice changers or text-to-speech programs.

What does Anonymous do?

In recent years the Anonymous collective has become increasingly associated with collaborative hacktivism on a number of international issues.

Anonymous' first notable appearance in the public sphere was through Project Chanology in 2008 - a series of protests, pranks, and hacks targeting the Church of Scientology.

Following this the group undertook protests and other actions in retaliation against copyright-focused campaigns by motion picture and recording industry trade associations.

However, the most famous of Anonymous' hacktivism campaigns involves government agencies in the United States, Israel, Tunisia, Uganda and others; the Islamic State; child pornography sites; copyright protection agencies; the Westboro Baptist Church; and corporations such as PayPal, MasterCard, Visa, and Sony.

What are they doing in Russia and why?

Over the weekend members of Anonymous have declared cyber war on Russia, targeting more than 1,500 Russian websites.

This comes just weeks after Russia began targeting Ukraine using cyberattacks, taking down government websites during their invasion of the country.

Today (7 March), Anonymous continued their efforts to prevent misinformation in Ukraine, hacking into Russian TV and streaming services to broadcast footage of the war.

This hack aims to subvert attempts by the Russian government to control the information released to the public over the war - which has instead been characterised by Russia as a "special military operation" to "denazify" Ukraine.

Anyone spreading what the Russian government deems to be misinformation has been threatened with a jail term of up to 15 years.

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