A hacker group affiliated with the group Anonymous allegedly struck the popular Russian payment processor Qiwi. The Battalion 65 network announced on social media that it had managed to gain access to the platform’s databases – a claim the company denied.
An anonymous partner hacked the Russian payment system Qiwi
Hackers from Network Battalion 65 (NB65), a group affiliated with the decentralized hacktivist collective Anonymous, reported in a recent tweet that they hacked Qiwi, which is a major provider of payment and financial services in the Russian Federation and other post-Soviet countries.
A message posted on the Twitter account @xxNB65 noted that the group, which includes Qiwi payment system, Qiwi Bank, Contact money transfer system and other platforms, also offers the most common payment application in Russia, which was the main reason for the attack.
The alleged perpetrators of the attack claim to have encrypted Qiwi’s networks with a set of ransomware. NB65 also claims to have the credit card data of about 12.5 million of the company’s customers, as well as about 30 million payment records.
“We will release 1 million records every day after your 3-day contract expires. You should contact us soon if you want your business to survive,” the hackers warned, adding that if anyone is to blame for the current situation, it is Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In late February, Moscow launched a military attack on neighboring Ukraine, and Anonymous vowed to disrupt Russia’s Internet space in response to the invasion. Since then, the group has attacked Kremlin, State Duma, and Defense Ministry websites, attacked Russian TV channels, and released millions of emails. In March, the group claimed to have published 28 GB of Bank of Russia documents.
The authors of the NB65 tweet note that Qiwi said in a recent press release that sanctions targeting the Russian financial system have not affected its business. Following the report of the Anonymous attack, Qiwi, quoted by TASS, stated that its payment services were operating normally and insisted that the personal information of its customers was safe.
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