War is not only on the battlefield. Hackers are actively struggling with each other as well. Recently, Anonymous said that they had breached Russian search engine Yandex.ru and put 150k users at risk. However, itâs impossible to claim whether this information is accurate. Moreover, many users claim that the passwords do not work. And even if they work, 2FA would make them useless.
JUST IN: The network of the Russian search giant https://t.co/yGsYTZ1Lyr has been breached by #Anonymous, leaking data of 150k users with mail & password, incl. verified accounts. #OpRussia #FreeUkraine pic.twitter.com/UPW10DOFCA
— Anonymous TV đșđŠ (@YourAnonTV) March 5, 2022
To understand whether this information is true, our friends at Cybernews analyzed the files. Interestingly, one of the files includes tons of data. Say, it contains more than 5 million email addresses and passwords belonging to Yandex, mail.ru, inbox.r/lv, and even Gmail accounts. As for the second file, it contains 125K entries belonging to Yandex clients.
We also canât insist that the data has been leaked because the Yandex internal system was breached. We mean there is every reason to think this is a collection of Yandex emails and passwords from the previous leaks.
If so, regardless of Anonymousâ statements, Yandex.ru users shouldnât be at risk. In similar situations, the companies always require a password change. Yandex.ru hasnât notified its users to do anything like this. Apart from this, users can protect their accounts by two-factor authentication. Well, we are not going to call into question Anonymousâ statement. But we think itâs just a long list of email addresses.
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In this regard, we should recall the case when Yandex announced (in February) that an employee provided unauthorized access to users’ mailboxes for personal gain. But at that time, only 4,887 mailboxes were compromised. In effect, Yandex.ru has decided to make changes to administrative access procedures.
Those Who Are Against The War Might Be At Risk
Well, while we have been trying to find reasons why this could be unreal, Farida Rustamova shared her thoughts on this and they seem distressing. She said that there had been a data leak from the Yandex Food delivery service. It contains tons of addresses that also display the names and phone numbers of people throughout Russia. So it turns out, apart from law enforcement, now everyone can track others.
1/3 The major data leak from Yandex food delivery service is really bad. It contains the addresses connected to the names and phone numbers of people throughout Russia. Until now almost only law enforcement could track independent journalists, activists and any dissidents
— Farida Rustamova (@faridaily_) March 23, 2022
This simply means anyone can google them and find where they live or work. Is this anyhow related to what Putin calls âself-purificationâ of Russia from âscum and traitorsâ?
No one can guarantee that a group of crazy people wonât persecute and publicly shame those who are against the war. By the way, recently, Anatoly Chubais, a Russian climate envoy left the country. Earlier he issued statement, saying the war in Ukraine is not right.
