Anonymous Leaks 79GB of Russian Oil Pipeline Giant’s Email Data

Anonymous claims it breached Omega Company which is the in-house R&D unit of Transneft, the largest oil pipeline company in the world based in Moscow, Russia.

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, hacktivist groups especially those affiliated with Anonymous, are targeting key state-backed organizations in Russia almost every day. Their latest victim is Transneft, a Moscow, Russia-based state-controlled pipeline transport company. Transneft is also known as the largest oil pipeline company in the world.

What Happened?

On Thursday, March 17, 2022, Distributed Denial of Secrets (aka DDoSecrets), a non-profit whistleblower organization, announced receiving a whopping 79GB worth of emails belonging to Transneft’s research and development division called Omega.

On Twitter, @YourAnonNews, one of the largest social media representatives of the Anonymous movement also acknowledged the hack.

It is worth noting that originally the data was shared with DDoSecrets by Anonymous hacktivists and the organization itself is not behind the hack or leak.

What was Leaked?

According to the details shared by DDoSecrets, the email leaks contain the email accounts data of company employees. The data doesn’t just include email messages but also sensitive files such as invoices and product shipment information.

There are image files as well that show equipment configurations and server racks. The Verge reported that some of the emails it examined to authenticate were as recent as 15th March. DDOSecrets noted that the attachments part of the leak could contain malware.

Anonymous Leaks 79GB of Russian Oil Pipeline Giant's Email Data — Screenshot from the official website of DDoSecrets

About Transneft

For your information, Transneft is a Russian state-controlled oil pipeline firm. It is the world’s largest oil pipeline company and the latest to join the list of companies blocked from dealing with US market investors as per the terms of sanctions against Russia.

The Omega Company is its in-house R&D unit responsible for producing advanced temperature monitoring and acoustic systems for oil pipelines.

Anonymous siding with Ukraine

As you may already know Russia has come under the radar of hacktivists, particularly the Anonymous collective, after the country invaded Ukrainian territories on February 24th, 2022. Since then, Russian IT infrastructure is being targeted every other day including government websites, State-run TV channels, online video streaming platforms, etc.

Just last week, the group hacked Roskomnadzor (aka Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media), a major Russian federal agency. The group also leaked over 360,000 files via DDoSecrets.

However, the group’s most significant attack took place last week when one of its affiliates hacked over 400 surveillance cameras in Russia. The hacktivists then defaced the compromised cameras with messages against President Putin and in support of Ukraine.

The second attack, which is ongoing, is being set up by Squad303, a newly formed digital army comprising Anonymous-associated programmers. In the first stage of the attack, the group sent out 7 million text messages to random Russian citizens across the country urging them to protest against the Russian attack on Ukraine.

Details of both attacks are available here.