​Anonymous Says It Has Hacked The Central Bank Of Russia

Hacktivist group Anonymous has threatened to release files after hacking the Central Bank of Russia.

The bank, also known as the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, is responsible for protecting and ensuring the safety of the Russia's currency, the ruble, which took a nosedive following Russia's invasion of Ukraine last week.

News of Anonymous's hack was shared on Twitter last night, 23 March, by one of the group's accounts, @YourAnonTV.

The post included an image of the smiling mask associated with the group and read: "JUST IN: The #Anonymous collective has hacked the Central Bank of Russia. More than 35.000 files will be released within 48 hours with secret agreements. #OpRussia."

The exact nature of the files threatened for release has not been revealed, but Anonymous claims they include 'secret agreements'.

News of the hack comes after reports emerged about central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina having sought to resign from the role in the wake of the Ukrainian invasion, only to have President Vladimir Putin tell her to stay in the role.

The bank was forced to more than double the key interest rate and impose capital controls to staunch the outflow of cash following Putin's announcement of a 'special military operation' on 24 February, with Oleg Vyugin, a former top Bank of Russia official who's known Nabiullina for more than 20 years, telling Bloomberg the bank can 'only adapt to shocks' amid an escalation.

Vadimir Putin (Alamy)

Nabiullina, 58, did not respond to the publication when it looked into the news of her resignation, but Sergei Guriev, professor of economics at Sciences Po Paris, said she 'didn't sign up to work in wartime'.

Guriev, who previously served as chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, added: "She's not the kind of person who can work with financial markets shut off and catastrophic sanctions."

The alleged hack of the bank comes amid a flurry of attacks launched against Russia by Anonymous, which promised 'cyber war' against the Russian president following the invasion.

This week it also claimed to have remotely accessed unsecured printers across the country to print out 'anti-propaganda' messages about the war across the border, writing: "We have been printing anti-propaganda and Tor installation instructions to printers all over [Russia] for 2 hours, and printed 100,000+ copies so far. 15 people working on this op as we speak."

At the time of writing, 24 March, there are less than 40 hours to go before Anonymous has threatened to release the files from the Central Bank.

Topics: World News, Ukraine, Technology, vladimir putin, Russia

Emily Brown