As of: April 1, 2024, 8:43 p.m
By: Nadja Zinsmeister
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New revelations from Russia: Shortly after the death of Alexei Navalny, hackers are said to have gained access to the Russian online prison system.
Moscow - Anti-Kremlin hackers are said to have launched a cyber attack on the computer network of the Russian prison system shortly after the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. As the IT experts reported anonymously in an interview with the US broadcaster CNN, they published, among other things, a photo of Navalny with a message on the hacked prison operator's website and secured personal data from other prison inmates.
The hacker attack took place a few hours after the official announcement on February 16 that Alexei Navalny had died in the Siberian “Polarwolf” prison camp. Those responsible provided
CNN
with a screenshot of their cyberattack. The website featured the message “Long live Alexei Navalny” in Russian, accompanied by a photo of Navalny and his wife Yulia at a political rally. The words “Love Russia” and “No Putin” can also be seen in English in the screenshot.
Revenge for Navalny's death: Hackers expose Putin - relatives were able to buy food for prisoners for 1 cent
The hackers also claim to have gained access to an official online purchasing portal through which families and relatives in 34 regions of Russia can buy food for prisoners. For several hours, they manipulated the prices of products such as pasta and beef so that the families could buy the food for one ruble (around 0.010 euros).
CNN
reporters
said they saw screenshots and videos of purchases in the online store that showed the temporarily low prices.
Alexei Navalny died in a Russian prison camp. © Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP/dpa
On February 18, the online shopping portal called JSC Kaluzhskoe actually reported a system malfunction on Russian social networks, “as a result of which prices for food and everyday goods were incorrectly reflected.” The notice went on to say that the “orders placed on February 18, 2024 containing incorrectly priced merchandise have been canceled.” A cybersecurity expert with experience in analyzing data dumps also confirmed
to CNN
that the leaked data appeared authentic and most likely came from the hacked prison store.
Hacker attack on Russian prison system - could leaked data shed light on Nalwany's death?
According to their own statements, the hackers critical of the government come from different countries. Some members of the group are Russian emigrants, others are Ukrainians. They are also said to have stolen a database containing information about hundreds of thousands of Russian prisoners and their relatives and contacts. Some of the data would include information about prisoners in the Siberian penal colony where Navalny also died in February. They now want to use the various data, such as phone numbers and email addresses of inmates - "in the hope that someone can get in touch with them and understand what happened to Navalny," a hacker told reporters.
CNN
says it tried to verify the data. Since some duplications were identified, it is possible that the number of leaked data is actually slightly lower than the 800,000 stated. The information is authentic. Numerous names were matched with people who, according to public records, are currently in Russian prisons.
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Shortly after Navalny's death: Kremlin probably only brought the hacker attack under control after days
The responsible Russian security personnel managed to become aware of the problems in their online systems within a few hours. However, in some cases it took days to fix them.
Alexey Navalny was one of the most famous opposition leaders in Russia. After narrowly surviving an assassination attempt with the nerve agent Novichok in 2020 and fighting his way back to life in Germany, he voluntarily returned to Russia after his recovery, where he was officially arrested and taken to the Siberian “Polarwolf” prison camp. The prison is considered one of the harshest penal colonies in Russia due to the extreme conditions and torture of inmates. Navalny's death was announced on February 16. According to official Russian information, he suffered from weakness. However, Kremlin critics clearly see the death as a murder. Shortly after the death, the family's lawyer was also arrested.
(nz)