Anonymous Hacks Putin's Secret Data—Publishes Trump File

The Anonymous hacking collective is at it again, claiming a new cyberattack on Russia "in defense of Ukraine." The group has released a cache of some 10 terabytes of data, allegedly containing information on all businesses operating in Russia, Kremlin assets in the West, pro-Russian officials, and even US President Donald Trump.

The Anonymous PR machine is in full flight once again, but this time it's not exactly sparking widespread surprise. With so many high-profile hacks already under our belts, some might say that Anonymous has become a bit of a familiar nuisance. And Cybernews reports that from what files have been examined so far, the overall consensus seems to be that the leaked info is simply not that exciting, and apparently not that secret.

But it will generate headlines – which is the point – and there will be plenty of analysis on the data cache, including the Trump file and the even more intriguing "Domino's Pizza" file. Unsurprisingly, the Anonymous claims have been largely debunked, although some of what’s included in the cache might be useful to Ukraine’s armed forces.

In March 2024, Ukraine's Defense Intelligence (HUR) claimed a successful hack into Russia's Ministry of Defense's database. It said it obtained data that helped the agency establish the identity and structure of the Russian Armed Forces.

But is this just a case of open-source intel being useful if collated and provided to those who can use it? While the leaked data might be interesting to some, it doesn't add any credence to Anonymous' claims. As one analyst notes, "mostly the information in the archive is specific to individual companies in Russia with folders for them and random PDFs for each company."

Posting on BlueSky, DDOSecrets’ Emma Best issued a scathing riposte to Anonymous. “Claims impossible data without explanation. Releases less than 2% of what they say they have. Data looks like a scrape of existing releases. High quality folders like ‘China government site’ and ‘Dominoes pizza’… Do I even need to say it?”

As for the contents of the cache, it's unclear what information is being searched for. Russia’s role as a rogue state is well established now, especially as viewed from Europe, as its Ukraine campaign continues. But blue chip international names and NGOs operating in the region have been found in the data.

For now, you can ignore this as a mid-week distraction. But we will clearly return to the story if and when anything more interesting turns up in the data. And who knows, maybe Anonymous has finally hit upon something worth shouting about – or maybe they'll just prove themselves to be another bunch of cyber-thieves with too much time on their hands.

Update: Republished on April 18 with further analysis on contents of data cache

We've been digging deeper into the data cache, and it seems that while some of the information might be useful to Ukraine's armed forces, much of it is simply old news. But one thing is certain – this story will continue to unfold as we get more details about what's really going on.