Ukraine
Anonymous makes a fool of itself with the alleged Nestlé hack – and is ultimately successful
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Anonymous has taken a clear stand against Russia
© Jakub Porzycki / Picture Alliance
The war in Ukraine is also clearing up the Internet: Because many companies are still doing business in Russia despite the attacks, the hacker collective Anonymous has warned of retaliation. The most prominent example backfired, but not without effect.
When it comes to the war in Ukraine, most people in Europe find it easy to choose sides. There is a corresponding lack of understanding that some Western companies are doing business as usual in Russia. The Anonymous hackers didn’t want to let that get away with it. And set a clear deadline.
The companies have 48 hours to withdraw from Russia, otherwise there would be consequences, Anonymous announced late Sunday evening. There was no doubt who the threat was aimed at: a graphic showed the logos of all the companies that were supposed to feel addressed. These include fast food chains such as Burger King and Dunkin Donuts, the Mariotts hotel chain, but also digital service providers such as Cloudflare or the oil company Chevron. And also the food giant Nestlé.
Hack or not?
The hackers then apparently wanted to show Nestlé that they were serious about their threats. “The hacker group Anonymous has released 10 gigabytes of data from the Swiss company Nestlé. This is a retaliatory measure for the company’s ongoing business in Russia,” said a major Anonymous account on Twitter yesterday. The data includes e-mails, passwords and data from 50,000 customers.
But the matter is probably not as clear as Anonymous puts it. According to Nestlé, the attack never took place. The alleged hack has no basis, the company explained to the “Handelzeitung”. An internal investigation could not prove any signs of intrusion into the system. The alleged loot is not at all either: It is test data that was accidentally published online in February, according to the company. From the point of view of IT security, no further measures are therefore necessary, Nestlé explained.
No Kitkat in Russia: Nestlé reacts
Nestlé was targeted by the hackers because Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj had explicitly criticized the large corporation for continuing its business in Russia. This did not remain without effect: the group, which was also criticized before the war for numerous business practices, announced on Wednesday that it would remove numerous brands such as Kitkat and Nesquik from the Russian market. According to the group, they only want to offer essential products such as baby food and medical products there. The company has denied the accusation that its taxes are indirectly financing the war in the country: The statement says that because one cannot expect profits in Russia in the near future, one would not have to pay taxes there either. If profits are made, they want to donate them.
Anonymous has already thrown itself into the next action: Thousands of printers in Russia have been hijacked, the collective said. In addition, instructions on how to use free media were printed out in large numbers of Russian households via the anonymization service TOR.
In addition, there was a handicraft sheet that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not like: The four pigs shown can be reassembled with three kinks – and then show his face.
Swell:anonymous, trade newspaper, T-online