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Anonymous Hackers Rename Vladimir Putin’s $97 Million Yacht And Set Course For 'Hell'

Anonymous Hackers Rename Vladimir Putin’s $97 Million Yacht And Set Course For 'Hell'

They broke into maritime data and switched the official name of the vessel called 'Graceful'.

Anonymous hackers have broken into maritime data to change the official name of Vladimir Putin's yacht.

The Russian President is believed to have forked out a whopping $97 million on the vessel, which is named Graceful, however it's now been altered following Anonymous' cheeky tactic, according to The Independent.

The so-called 'legion', who have declared a cyber war on Russia for invading Ukraine, managed to get into the Automatic Identification System, which is used to track ship movements and locations across the globe.

Once they were in there, they altered the yacht's name from Graceful to 'FCKPTN'.

They also altered the ship's destination from 'anonymous' to make it look like it had crashed into Snake Island, which is where 13 Ukrainian troops were reported to have told the Russian Navy to 'go f**k yourself'.

Anonymous eventually put the vessel's destination to 'Hell'.

Bloomberg's Ryan Gallagher says the hackers were hoping to 'put the yacht in the scope of sanction packages'.

Anonymous were also wanting to ‘put a little smile on some faces for a short period in these dark times’.

The group has been very busy since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Shortly after Vladimir Putin ordered troops to march into the neighbouring country, the hackers have been trying to hit Russia with a cyber war.

Putin has also been directly targeted by sanctions.
Alamy

Anonymous posted a video to Twitter where they sent an ominous warning to the Russian President.

"Mr Putin, the ongoing invasion of Ukraine has shown that your regime has no respect for human rights or the self determination of your neighbours," a hacker said.

"In the past several days a full scale invasion has commenced, civilian neighbourhoods have been bombed and innocent people have been killed. 

"Refugees are fleeing the violence and the population is being forced into conscription by Ukrainian officials. 

"This is an ugly situation all around but you are the instigator."

The group says the ‘whole world’ can see through Putin’s propaganda and that even his own citizens are against his 'foolish actions' - the video then cuts to news articles reporting on the protests being held in Russia. 

The clip claims Putin will start to experience more unrest in his country, as the sanctions being placed on Russia by other countries will 'hurt' its citizens.

Anonymous has also launched an attack on the Belarusian government websites amid President Alexander Lukashenko's continued support of Vladimir Putin.

Lukashenko believes that the West is 'pushing Russia into World War Three' because of the sanctions they are imposing on the country.

The close ally of Putin has allowed Russia to place nuclear weapons on its territory after a referendum on Sunday (27 February).

Anonymous took responsibility for shutting down the website of 'The Ministry of Communications and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus' as well as the websites of 'State Authority for Military Industry of the Republic of Belarus' and 'Belarus Military'.

If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information. 

Featured Image Credit: Alamy/Marcus Brandt/dpa/Alamy Live News

Topics: Russia, Vladimir Putin, News