Roughly 79 gigabytes of emails allegedly stolen from Russian state-controlled oil pipeline company Transneft emerged on a known leaks hosting website.
The largest pipeline company in the world, the Moscow-based Transneft transports oil and oil products in Russia and the CIS countries, operating more than 70,000 kilometers of pipelines.
The leaked data is said to have been exfiltrated from the OMEGA Company, the multi-discipline research and development department of Transneft.
The Anonymous hacktivists who took responsibility for the attack posted the data on leak hosting website Distributed Denial of Secrets. They claim to have hacked Transneft in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The leaked data contains email messages apparently originating from the accounts of multiple Transneft employees, along with attached files, including invoices, product shipment information, and more.
The emails reflect some of the most recent activity associated with the accounts, and some of the messages include information related to the sanctions that the United States and the European Union have announced against Russia since February 25, shortly after it launched its invasion of Ukraine.
[READ: Russia-Ukraine: Threat of Local Cyber Operations Escalating Into Global Cyberwar]
“This dataset was released in the buildup to, in the midst of, or in the aftermath of a cyberwar or hybrid war. Therefore, there is an increased chance of malware, ulterior motives and altered or implanted data, or false flags/fake personas. As a result, we encourage readers, researchers and journalists to take additional care with the data,” a note on the leak hosting website reads.
Furthermore, Distributed Denial of Secrets also notes that the source of the data has dedicated the leak to Hillary Clinton, who in February encouraged hackers to launch cyberattacks against Russian entities.
The Ukrainian government too encouraged hackers to target Russia, and even gathered its own army of hackers to take cyber-action against the invaders.
Right after Russia started its invasion, Anonymous announced full support for Ukraine, and shortly after it claimed responsibility for cyberattacks on the websites of state news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti.
Members of the hacktivist movement have continued to target Russian entities, claiming to have hit Russian intelligence, government organizations and private companies. On Monday, they issued a warning to tens of international companies to cease operations in Russia or face cyberattacks.
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