Hackers reveal Kremlin official’s text messages

Hackers in Russia are attacking a prominent Kremlin official by revealing roughly 40,000 of his text messages.

Anonymous International, known for leaking internal documents from President Vladimir Putin’s government, dumped the archive of texts online at the end of last month.

{mosads}The group claimed the communications belong to Timur Prokopenko, who reportedly helped shape Russian domestic policy between 2012 and 2014.

The texts reveal Prokopenko’s close relationship with Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor and his desire to influence the Russian media group RBC. He tried at one point to suppress stories about Ukraine that did not reflect the Putin government’s perspective, according to one analysis of the texts.

Anonymous International’s efforts reveal that even the Kremlin, a major force behind international cyberattacks, is not safe from hackers who oppose its political agenda. The group emerged at the end of 2013 and posts at b0ltai.org, which is blocked in Russia for most users.

This was not the first time that Prokopenko was hacked by Anonymous International, according to digital media outlet Quartz. The group released 9,500 emails purportedly belonging to him in February, and another series of messages in April.