Hackers deface Russian platforms and smart TVs to display anti-war messages

On the same day Russia celebrated its role in defeating Nazi Germany, many of the country’s online platforms were defaced in protest of the war in Ukraine. reported on Monday that Russians with smart TVs saw channel listings replaced with a message implicating them in the ongoing conflict. “The blood of thousands of Ukrainians and hundreds of murdered children is on your hands,” the message read, according to the outlet. “TV and authorities are lying. No to war.”

In addition to smart TVs, the apparent hack targetted some of the country’s largest internet companies, including Yandex. Hackers also went after Rutube, Russia’s alternative to YouTube. “Our video hosting has undergone a powerful cyberattack. At the moment, it is not possible to access the platform,” the service said in a statement it posted on its Telegram channel. Rutube later stated it had isolated the attack and that its content library wasn’t accessed in the incident.

Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, the country has come under consistent attack from hackers. In the early days of the conflict, Anonymous responsibility for a series of DDoS attacks that left several official government websites, including one belonging to the Ministry of Defence, inaccessible. It’s believed Anonymous was also responsible for an incident that saw several Russian state TV channels play the Ukranian national anthem. At the same time, Ukraine, with help from Microsoft and other western companies, recently managed to Russian military hackers from disrupting one of the country’s energy providers.