Anonymous hacking collective teases giant data dump that will 'blow Russia away'

Hacking collective Anonymous is ramping up its attempts to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine by promising a data dump that's "gonna blow Russia away".

The group have been targeting assets in Russia since it invaded Ukraine, with many smaller business already hacked. But a new massive leak of data is in the works.

Member DepaixPorteur tweeted the group were working on a "huge f***ing data dump that's gonna blow Russia away".

"We have hundreds if not thousands of gigabytes of data to compile. This will be a few days, so don't hold your breath. But it will be worth the wait."

The hackers have said they won't stop releasing documents until Russia ends its invasion.

In recent days that's seen them release 2.4GB of data from construction company Rostproekt, as well as announcing a new site to host the hacks.

"We are #Anonymous. We have created a new site to host our upcoming leaks + future Anonymous leaks," the tweet read.

"We also hacked Rostproekt emails as a treat to celebrate the new site & to hold you over while waiting for the upcoming dump(s)."

Website DDoSecrets today published 5500 emails from Thozis Corporation., a Russian investment firm owned by Zakhar Smushkin, which is involved in the project to build a satellite city in Saint Petersburg. They were provided by Anonymous.

That follows the release of 140,000 emails from Russian firm MashOil, which designs, manufactures and maintains drilling, mining and fracking equipment.

Meanwhile the group said an attack on federal civilian aviation authority Rosaviatsiya doesn't fit with its objectives.

"Anonymous are not terrorists and we do not justify attacking civilian targets," one member wrote on Twitter.

"We have been labelled cyber terrorists by govt agencies worldwide as a means to crack down on the collective."

According to reports, the official website of the agency went offline at the beginning of the week after all its files, documents and emails were deleted from servers.

Approximately 65TB of data was lost, with the agency saying it was based on a malfunction instead of a hack that some instantly blamed Anonymous for.

The innocence of the collective was backed by the International Business Times, who reached out to DepaixPorteur.

"Everyone I know is saying it wasn't us," he said.

Meanwhile Reuters has reported that Russian groups have been trying to hack NATO and the military of some eastern European Countries.

A report from Google's Threat Analysis Group said newly created Gmail accounts were being used for "credential phishing campaigns", and put the blame on a group called Coldriver or Callisto.