Hacking group Anonymous is claiming it has used Russian cybercrime tools to successfully attack the Kremlin’s spy satellite programme.
Network Battalion 65 (NB65), an Anonymous-linked hacker group, shared tweets and files of server information from the Russian space agency Roscomos.
It claimed that President Vladimir Putin "no longer has control over spy satellites", the Daily Star reports.
The claim is the latest attack on Russia since the outbreak of war six weeks ago when the group vowed to "punish" Moscow for its illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Anonymous' cyber war on the Kremlin has also included hacking into their government's website and state-owned media channels, showing pictures of the misery caused by its soldiers in under-siege Ukraine.
Research into the stolen files by cybersecurity experts suggests that NB65 were able to make a modified version of Conti, a 'ransomware' virus used by Russian hackers to steal money from hospitals and health services across Ireland, Europe and the US.
They then turned it against Russian space systems.
Roscosmos chief and Putin ally Dmitry Rogozin denied the claims, calling the hacker group "scammers and petty swindlers."
He tweeted: "All our space activity control centres are operating normally."
However, analysis of the leaked files by Intezer Analyze suggests Anonymous hackers used 65 per cent of the source code of Conti and broke into Roscosmos to steal files.
The attack comes as part of an intensifying campaign by Anonymous against Russia.
Declaring that the collective is "officially in cyber war against the Russian government", Anonymous took down the website of Russia Today, the country's main state broadcaster, early this morning.
They also targeted the websites of the Russian government, the Kremlin, and the Russian defence ministry.
In a message to one hacked Russian website, the Anonymous-linked group NB65 said: "We warned you that no internet facing technology is off limits to us.
"We've warned you repeatedly that until you stop we will press harder and harder until we cripple every single piece of tech, every information system, and every network we find."
