How the world's most dangerous hacker group, Humpty Dumpty. All Humpty Dumpty hackers Humpty Dumpty Anonymous

On the morning of August 14, 2014, Dmitry Medvedev's Twitter account was hacked: within 44 minutes, hackers controlled the Prime Minister's official account. During this time, they managed to write several tweets. The first tweet announced the resignation of the prime minister due to "shame at the actions of the government." Following "Medvedev" wrote about the forthcoming speech of the president in Yalta, criticized the annexation of the Crimea to Russia and spoke about the abolition of the funded part of the pension. By 11:00 a.m., all tweets written by the hackers had been deleted.

Gazeta.ru then wrote that the correspondent of the publication contacted a representative of Anonymous International and asked him about the hacking of Medvedev's Twitter.

“The team’s official position is that we didn’t [hack] Twitter. Unofficial - well, maybe. Well, they will probably think of us. Since several of his [Medvedev's] mailboxes and the contents of three iPhones fell into our hands quite by accident,” an unnamed interlocutor of Gazeta.ru answered on behalf of the group.

In August, the publication talked to the authors of the blog "Humpty Dumpty" look at me, whom they told that the prime minister's Twitter hack was "timed" to coincide with Vladimir Putin's speech in Yalta. Representatives of Anonymous International claimed to have seen drafts of the speech and considered it meaningless. They also said that Medvedev also has a personal Twitter account, which, in particular, is subscribed to the politician Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation Alexei Navalny and journalist Oleg Kashin.

A few days before this interview, Anonymous International published screenshots of several letters from various mailboxes that allegedly belonged to Medvedev. The hackers called the publication a response to "stupid initiatives in the field of tightening regulation on the Internet." The blog noted that the letters that fell into the hands of hackers are not of particular interest. So, Medvedev allegedly used the address for personal correspondence and linking to some services, and the address for "light work correspondence."

Account, according to hackers, Medvedev used to buy new equipment and other goods in foreign online stores. Among them was the American Amazon: hackers noted that Amazon“experiences certain problems with the delivery of orders to protected objects.” For purchases, someone else's account and someone else's credit card were used: they were issued in the name and work address of Vladimir Dyachenko, who, as he wrote The Insider, was the CEO of several construction companies and the Harmony Foundation.

Dyachenko told the publication that he often buys things on the Internet, but has nothing to do with the prime minister and has never met him. He confirmed that he made some of the purchases mentioned in the letters, but denied the authorship of several letters. Among them is a letter discussing US and EU sanctions against Russia and a list of “current cases” that has been supplemented several times, including a plan to equip a “full-fledged cinema hall” in the “main house”.

Kristina Potupchik and a bag of money

Anonymous International published the famous photograph of the former press secretary of the Nashi movement, Kristina Potupchik, with a full bag of cash in December 2014. Judging by the date on the computer screen, the photo was taken on October 17th. Hackers told The Insider that in the photo a member of the Public Chamber Potupchik is captured in the office of the former leader of the Young Guard, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration for Domestic Policy Timur Prokopenko.

“It is not known exactly how much is in the bag, but she received both five lyams and ten lyams [million rubles - MZ]. Just this time we decided to take a photo for reporting. Salvage was given to Potupchik for current needs. She constantly works for the AP [Presidential Administration - MZ]. Work in the blogosphere, payment of bloggers, commentators, organization of actions,” Anonymous International told the publication.

The Insider Potupchik also published another photo: she posed with a medal "For Services to the Fatherland" II degree. The Anonymous International claimed that she received the medal "for organizing a campaign for the Crimea." Later, the hackers published excerpts from Potupchik's correspondence: reports on social media campaigns, a classification of Russian media by the degree of opposition, and "recommendations for propaganda."

AP against Alexei Navalny and his associates

Anonymous International also published the correspondence of Prokopenko himself, a detailed analysis of which in December 2014 was made by The Insider. From letters and messages, in particular, it followed that Prokopenko was responsible for posting ordered materials about all criminal cases related to the founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, Alexei Navalny. For example, in November 2013, Prokopenko received for approval a text about the Yves Rocher case, which was later published on Yevgeny Lavrov's blog and on various resources dedicated to "compromising evidence against Navalny."

On another occasion, Prokopenko received a 24-page report on “working out” Navalny’s topic on the Internet and a letter from Potupchik with screenshots of correspondence between Navalny and Vladimir Ashurkov, where they, in particular, discussed their sources in Alfa Group. It follows from Prokopenko’s correspondence that Anastasia Kashevarova, assistant to the general director of the publishing house, helped him in the media campaign against Navalny News Media Aram Gabrelyanov. So, Kashevarova was responsible for the publication in Izvestia of materials on a criminal case against Ashurkov's common-law wife Alexandrina Markvo.

Prokopenko's trace was also found in the case against the head of the FBK investigation department Georgy Alburov, who, in the theft of the painting "Bad and good man» amateur artist Sergei Sotov, who decorated the fence in Vladimir with his naive works. In June 2014, Prokopenko received a letter with a video recording in which Sotov noted that he had no complaints about people who were filming his drawings from the fence. The next day, the video appeared in the program "ChP" on the NTV channel - but Sotov's words about the absence of claims were cut out. In March 2015, hackers published SMS Prokopenko's correspondence with a TV channel employee lifenews Nikita Mogutin: on the evening of June 19, Mogutin received a disk with a video recording and instructions, and in the morning next day Prokopenko said that investigators had come to Navalny.

Aram Gabrelyanov's big hack

In the summer of 2016, Anonymous International announced that an e-mail, an account in Facebook, as well as iPhone And iPad owned by the owner of the media holding News Media Aram Gabrelyanov. Correspondence, personal photos and other files were published by hackers in parts (,,,). Gabrelyanov’s assistant Anastasia Kashevarova had no doubts about the authenticity of the published article and wrote a post in defense of her boss, noted The Insider.

Gabrelyanov's stolen correspondence discussed cooperation with pro-Kremlin publicists: for example, Alexander Prokhanov asked for 80,000 rubles a month for weekly broadcasts. The nephew of the co-owner of the Izvestia newspaper, Yuri Kovalchuk, conveyed the request of businessman Vasily Anisimov to be removed from the channel to YouTube video of his brawl. Vladimir Markin, then the press secretary of the Investigative Committee, discussed with Gabrelyanov the story with a fake law degree: according to Markin, this topic was raised by Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Buksman. Staff life they confirmed to the chief that the topic of the murder of Boris Nemtsov was presented, in particular, the version of the involvement of the Security Service of Ukraine.

Who is behind the "Anonymous International"- this question did not give rest to journalists during all three years of activity of the hacker group. One of the first to collect and systematize the versions discussed in near-political circles was Ekaterina Vinokurova from Znak.com: the first - special services, the second - "PR-agency" KROS "(Company for the development of public relations), whose president is the husband of the former editor-in-chief of RIA Novosti Svetlana Mironyuk" Sergey Zverev, the third - deputy head of the presidential administration Alexei Gromov. Later, two more hypotheses were added to the list: “Humpty” is “these are fragments of the Nashi movement” or someone who is “connected with the group of Herman Klimenko, the owner Liveventernet who is also in contact with the AP.” At the same time, a man who introduced himself as Lewis and spoke on behalf of Shaltai with Meduza correspondent Daniil Turovsky insisted: “But we claim that we are an independent team. It is simply often impossible to understand who the customer is. Sometimes we get information for intermediaries without knowing the end customer.”

A certain Kucherena (“Anonymous International” suggests that this is lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, author of books about Edward Snowden) sold life photos of Snowden for 100 thousand rubles each: Gabrelyanov bought one picture that was used for advertising mobile application Babo is a project of his son Ashot Gabrelyanov. Particular attention, it follows from the published array, Gabrelyanov Sr. paid materials about the founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation Alexei Navalny. The authors life and "Izvestia" agreed in advance with the chief materials on the activities of the oppositionist.

Among the published files there are several faxes from the deputy head of the presidential administration Alexei Gromov, in which he asked Gabrelyanov to focus on certain topics. Despite cooperation with high-ranking officials, it follows from the correspondence that many of Gabrelyanov’s assets experienced financial difficulties: in the first quarter of 2016, the losses of the Izvestia newspaper amounted to almost 47.5 million rubles, and the zeolite processing plant owned by the media mogul had problems with government contracts.

Ministry of Defense against Spetsstroy

In July 2015, Anonymous International published screenshots of letters from Ksenia Bolshakova, who at the time of the correspondence was working as an assistant to the head of the Construction Department of the Ministry of Defense, Roman Filimonov. From letters dated 2014, it follows that Bolshakova was interested in publications against the Federal Agency for Special Construction (Spetsstroy), including in the Kommersant newspaper. For example, in November 2014, a certain Anna Gryazeva discussed with Bolshakova an article by journalist Ivan Safronov “Spetsstroy disrupts the timing of the rearmament of the group of Russian troops in the South Kuriles” and its promotion on social networks.

In another letter to Bolshakova, it was about paid bloggers: from Polina Bykhovskaya, the secretary of the Department of Construction of the Ministry of Defense received a list of blogs and prices - from nine to 135 thousand rubles. In addition, the correspondence contains examples of tasks for "trolls" and reports on posted paid comments on forums and websites of various publications. Bolshakova's interlocutor explained to her the specifics of various social networks: Facebook- “for the smart ones”, “VKontakte” - “for the stupid”, “Odnoklassniki” - “for the stupid”. The Anonymous International suggested that the commissioned publications were paid from the budget of the Ministry of Defense. A complete archive of letters from the secretary of the Department of Construction of the Ministry of Defense, which came into the possession of hackers, was put up for sale.

Ministry of Defense and custom publications

In the published correspondence between Bolshakova and Bykhovskaya, prices for custom-made publications in various publications were indicated. So, in one of the letters, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Vedomosti, Moskovsky Komsomolets and Arguments and Facts appear: there the “average price” of the placement was 1.8 million rubles for half the page. The Kommersant newspaper, according to Bykhovskaya, is advised "not to interfere" because there are times when "they can agree with everything, take the money and not print it."

The next letter mentioned Novaya Gazeta, Argumenty Nedeli, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Moskovsky Komsomolets, and Argumenty i Fakty. The price of custom material for half a strip in each of these editions ranges from 23 to 78 thousand dollars. In conversation with The Insider Bolshakova and Bykhovskaya did not deny the authenticity of the correspondence, but claimed that the Ministry of Defense did not order any materials. Bolshakova stated that she was interested in the rates out of "journalistic curiosity".

In addition, Anonymous International published a screenshot of Bolshakova’s correspondence with Lesya Ryabtseva, who at that time worked as an assistant to the editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy Alexei Venediktov. The letter included a list of topics that Bolshakova proposed to discuss on Saturday's air. In conversation with The Insider the ex-official called it “coordination of topics” and stated that Ekho Moskvy was not paid for that broadcast. However, Ryabtseva told the publication about the agreement between the Ministry of Defense and Ekho Moskvy, which concerned the Arsenal and Military Council programs. However, Ryabtseva could not explain what the essence of the agreement was.

Letters from Dmitry Kiselev

In April 2016, Anonymous International gained access to email and whatsapp TV presenter Dmitry Kiselev. The hackers put up a full array of letters and messages for auction, posting selected excerpts on their blog. From the publication it was possible, for example, to find out that in February 2014, Kiselev bought an apartment of 204 square meters on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow for 162 million rubles, and earlier - an American motor boat, the cost of which, together with accessories, amounted to almost 49 thousand dollars.

It also follows from the letters posted in open access that in 2016 police officers came to Kiselev's villa in Koktebel: the TV presenter's neighbor complained about the inconvenience associated with his winery. Apparently, the complaint was not followed up, and the police had to come to the Kiselyov estate a second time - with apologies for the inconvenience caused and a promise not to disturb the owner in the future.

With the help of highly paid lawyers from London, Kiselev tried to get the sanctions lifted from his person; the TV presenter was going to involve Western PR agencies in the same task. However, as follows from the letters, he forgot to pay the lawyers, which is why the British lawyers wanted to stop cooperation.

IN whatsapp Kiselev talked in particular with the prankster "Vovan" and the former host of the "Village hour" program, director of the Department of Administrative Work and Interaction with the Regions of the Ministry of Agriculture Konstantin Likutov. IN whatsapp Kiselev sent his photographs from a trip to Syria, in which his wife accompanied him.

Letters from the mailbox of the latter also ended up at the disposal of Anonymous International. In correspondence from the address of the wife of the TV presenter, it was about the purchase of a thesis and finished scientific articles on psychiatry for further paid placement in specialized publications. The hackers noted that Maria Kiseleva translated educational literature at the expense of the state - in the translation department of MIA Rossiya Segodnya: in particular, she studied literature on "perversions in borderline disorders" and "narcissistic and borderline psychopathology."

In addition, Anonymous International published Kiselev's correspondence with the head of the social philosophy sector of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences Valentina Fedotova, who advised the TV presenter in the preparation of his programs. So, Fedotova insisted on "American criticism" of the publicist Viktor Shenderovich, believing that this would be a "blow" for him, and wanted to "take Ksenia Sobchak out of the public sphere." In March 2013, long before the start of the Euromaidan, Fedotova gave Kiselyov advice on Ukrainian politics and asked her to increase her salary so that she could have enough to rest after her illness.

MGB DNR

In September 2015, Anonymous International published official correspondence between employees of the “prosecutor’s office” and the “Ministry of State Security” of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. From the published files, dated late 2014 - early 2015, it follows that the "departments" were in conflict with Alexander Zakharchenko and his associates: the MGB accused the head of the DPR of "leading a criminal group."

Dozens of pages of the "Information on the Destabilization of the Political and Economic Situation in the DPR" contain corruption schemes involving separatist leaders, including the sale of seats in the elections to the "People's Council" of the DPR, which took place on November 2, 2014. The certificate says that the fighters of some units kidnapped people for ransom, mentions torture, murder, theft of vehicles and raider seizures of enterprises. The correspondence contains complaints of local residents about the actions of fighters of the armed formations of the separatists.

Among the published documents there is a report on the visits of the Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov: for example, it is alleged that in October 2014 he came to Donetsk for two days, accompanied by his close associates and “criminal authorities”. These days, the businessman allegedly held closed meetings with Zakharchenko, the "minister of income and fees" of the DPR Alexander Timofeev and their proxies. Among the agreements reached as a result of these meetings were the appointment of Akhmetov's people to the positions of "ministers" and "deputies people's council» DNR. Zakharchenko and his associates were allegedly guaranteed "almost lifelong" retention of power with full financial support.

It is difficult to judge the authenticity of the correspondence published by Anonymous International. However, among the published files were the results of a sociological express survey among residents of Donetsk and Makeevka, which was conducted from December 6 to 9, 2014. It follows from the results of the study that the majority of respondents negatively assess the actions of the DPR authorities and what is happening on the territory controlled by the separatists, do not trust the “newly elected authorities” and are dissatisfied with the behavior of the DPR fighters and their attitude towards civilians.

Mail of the head of Roskomnadzor

In April 2015, Anonymous International claimed to have obtained access to letters from the personal email of the head of Roskomnadzor Alexander Zharov. “We are forced to state the fact that even the head of the relevant department uses personal mail to discuss official and non-official issues of public interest,” the group's blog said. The hackers published excerpts from the correspondence, noting that several private letters were removed from the array.

Most of the posted letters related to Zharov's correspondence with Mikhail Demin, who on November 20, 2014 became an adviser to the general director of Ekho Moskvy, and from December 23 to March 2015 served as the general director of the radio station. So, on February 24, Zharov received for approval the videos of opposition politicians Boris Nemtsov and Mikhail Kasyanov, who called for participation in the opposition march "Spring", scheduled for March 1. Demin also complained to the head of Roskomnadzor about the failure to comply with salary agreements and discussed with him the blogs of Ekho Moskvy employees, the radio station's budget, and the deprivation of Ekho Peterburga's license.

In addition, in an excerpt from Zharov’s correspondence published by hackers, one can find a letter from businessman Konstantin Malofeev, who lobbied for the Spas TV channel, comments on organizing an attack on the Dozhd TV channel for a survey about besieged Leningrad, a discussion of the “anti-blogging” law and ensuring the information security of the Unified State Examination , as well as "analytics" related to Internet regulation.

"Putin's personal chef" and his waiters

In May 2015, the Anonymous International blog published correspondence between employees of the Concord catering company. It belongs to businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is called "Putin's personal chef" and the creator of the "troll factory" in Olgino, as well as attacks on St. Petersburg opposition bloggers. The Kremlin is also among the clients of Concorde: the correspondence refers to dinners that were arranged for Putin several years ago.

July 23, 2014 Roskomnadzor issued an order to block the blog "Humpty Dumpty" on wordpress.com. On the same day, a representative of the department, Vadim Ampelonsky, told Kommersant that the reason for such a decision was the appeal of a certain Igor Osadchy “to the Smolninsky District Court of St. .

The authors of the blog themselves linked the blocking to publications relating to the structures of Yevgeny Prigozhin. “According to our information, [this happened] at the suggestion of Concorde lawyers. Because of our calculations on trolls and other Concord affairs, ”Anonymous International representatives told the newspaper.

“At the same time, the co-owner of Concord, Mr. Prigozhin, according to Shaltai Dumpty, is actively involved in politics, and his structures are “surveillance and organization of provocations against oppositionists and the media” with the help of the Internet Research Agency. It was in the correspondence of one of the employees of this agency, Denis Osadchy, that the plaintiff or his namesake Igor Osadchy appeared. One of the letters written on his behalf contained a report on an information project with news portals and social networks,” Kommersant wrote.

Posted array parsed The Insider: the publication noted that in addition to the reports of the waiters who reported to Prigozhin about everything that happened at the dinners, there were also Prigozhin's memories, which he sent to his personal secretary Anastasia Gubareva. Thus, in a note on events on October 18-19, 2011, Prigozhin admitted that he used contacts with Anatoly Serdyukov to obtain contracts for servicing the Ministry of Defense. In a memoir dated December 10, 2010, about a dinner with the Prime Minister of Finland, the businessman wrote that Putin personally helped him get the Eliseevsky grocery store in St. Petersburg.

Strelkov-Girkin Post: career and hobbies of Igor Ivanovich

In May 2014, Anonymous International published an archive of correspondence from Igor Strelkov (Girkin), the former "defense minister" of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic. A detailed analysis of the leak was made by Fontanka; the publication noted that from the array published by Anonymous International it follows: Strelkov "is really who he claims to be - a retired Russian officer acting out of conviction."

Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin was born in 1970 in Moscow. He studied to be a historian-archivist at the Moscow Institute of History and Archives, but “he didn’t work a day in the profession”: in the early 1990s he fought as a volunteer in Transnistria and Bosnia, and later under contract in Chechnya. Since March 1996, Girkin served in the FSB, from 1999 to 2005 - almost continuously in Chechnya. Then he was redundantly transferred to the reserve with the rank of colonel: the last job of the future "Minister of Defense" of the DPR was the company Marshall Capital Orthodox businessman Konstantin Malofeev. There, the retired security officer worked as a security consultant: from the correspondence, in particular, it follows that he coordinated the work of security during Malofeev’s trip to New York in September 2013.

good salary from Marshall Capital Strelkov spent on his main hobby: World War I machine guns - Maxims, Hotchkisses and Schwarzlose. At the end of December 2013, Girkin was engaged in the restoration of Schwarzlose and Colt, in mid-January he was busy with the next Maxim. Since February, Girkin began to go on some business trips, in March he became a freelance military adviser to the chairman of the Crimean Council of Ministers, Sergei Aksyonov. However, in response to a request for help with documents on March 31, Girkin replied that he himself had not received any official status at all and was staying in Crimea only through personal connections.

Another hobby of Girkin, as it turned out from the hacked correspondence, was fiction: for children he wrote fairy tales about brownies living in the old family estate of the knights of Haldiborn, for adults - stories about the war in Bosnia and Chechnya. In addition, Girkin participated in the organization of the Noble Assembly, "where blue-blooded gentlemen communicate with their equals." Among the attendees of the meetings was Alexander Trubetskoy, a descendant of the princes Trubetskoy and Golitsyn, who, together with Malofeev, once served on the board of directors of the state holding Svyazinvest, who lives in Paris.

Surkov Post: Ukraine, Abkhazia and South Ossetia

At the end of October 2016, the Ukrainian group Cyberhunta announced that the work email account of presidential aide Vladislav Surkov had been hacked (, ,). Hackers published thousands of letters and documents, among which were even scans of passports of Surkov, his wife and three children.

Surkov's correspondence mainly focused on Ukraine, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Thus, among the published documents was the "Plan of priority measures to destabilize the situation in Ukraine "Shatun"" and a letter from Konstantin Malofeev, dated May 13, 2014. Attached to the letter was a list of candidates for the government of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic. As noted The Insider, people from this list really got positions in the “government” of the DPR.

The influence that Surkov has on the separatists in the east of Ukraine is indirectly evidenced, for example, by a letter from the first vice-president of the Russian Wrestling Federation Georgy Bryusov, who conveyed a request to “request for good” a fighter from the Luhansk Zarya battalion Alexander Slabiev with the call sign “Felix”, who "is a good performer in organizing PR projects."

Among the documents posted by the hackers was a certain “Plan of priority measures for the development of laws and other regulatory legal acts” for Abkhazia, aimed at accelerating the socio-economic development of the republic. It is noteworthy that the bill "On Enforcement Proceedings" passed through Russian Ministry justice.

According to the source of the Rosbalt agency, it was the circumstances of the publication of Surkov's correspondence that were of primary interest to the FSB officers when they detained journalist Vladimir Anikeev in St. Petersburg at the end of October. As an interlocutor of Rosbalt, the intelligence service believes that he is not only involved in this leak, but is also the notorious "Lewis" - the creator of the "Humpty Dumpty" blog was previously known under this pseudonym.

Most of the members of the hacker group are wanted.

On Saturday, January 28, Rosbalt reported that FSB officers in St. Petersburg had detained the creator of the Shaltai-Boltai website, Vladimir Anikeev, better known in certain circles as Lewis. As it became known to the agency, the special operation was the result of a long work, during which the man was lured out of the territory of Ukraine.

Anikeev was taken to Moscow, where the FSB Investigation Department charged him under Article 272 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Illegal access to computer information).

The pinnacle of Lewis's "career" was the publication of correspondence allegedly belonging to Vladislav Surkov. In October 2016, a group of Ukrainian hackers who call themselves “Cyber ​​Junta” took responsibility for it. But over the years of "creativity" in the "plums" of "Humpty Dumpty" other familiar surnames flashed every now and then. Rosbalt recalls the most resonant publications.

Putin's New Year's address

A few hours before the start of 2013, the Anonymous International organization published a New Year's address by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Then, for the first time in history, the head of state wrote down two congratulations - this was due to the terrorist attacks in Volgograd. The hackers had at their disposal the text of a version that was not written down at the walls of the Kremlin, but read out from the Far East, where the president arrived to help the victims of a natural disaster.

"Temniks" for federal channels

About a mysterious group that publishes various secret documents, they started talking in 2014. Then the journalists received a number of letters, including the scenario of a rally in support of the Crimea, the data of closed opinion polls on the issue of the annexation of the peninsula to Russia, and reports on the activities of the Young Guard of United Russia.

On March 31, the blog of Anonymous International published a link to documents in which, as stated, “the administration of the President of the Russian Federation prescribed accents for covering certain topics.” Allegedly, the heads of federal channels were given instructions on how to show certain events. For example, in a story about a meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, it should have been explained that “during the 23 years of being part of independent Ukraine, Crimea, due to the fault of the Kiev authorities, has mainly degraded”, and “the goal of the Russian authorities now is to ensure the formation of a new life on the peninsula , to bring Crimea to the all-Russian standards in the quality of life”.

That was just the beginning. Later, Shaltai Dumpty published huge amounts of correspondence, allegedly belonging to the leaders of some media.

Exposing the Kremlin chef

On May 23, 2014, Anonymous International posted a photo with the caption "A Small Announcement for Monday" and a quote from Victor Pelevin's Empire V novel. among the main food suppliers for the Administrative Office of the President of Russia. He is also credited with curating the so-called "Troll Factory" in St. Petersburg, whose employees are engaged in posting comments on political topics on the Internet.

Three days later, the correspondence of alleged employees of the Internet Research Agency was published, containing various documents, reports, notes, estimates of the so-called "trolls". And then another batch. The letters contained, among other things, a mention of a certain confidential certificate, which must be handed over to Volodin and EV.

According to Anonymous International, the "troll factory" was engaged not only in commenting and promoting news on the Web. Allegedly, employees of the Internet Research Agency introduced their agents into a number of media outlets. So, Andrei M. described the work of one of the state news agencies: “Opposition actions are reflected with skepticism. We try to write about power in a positive way, but without aspiration, so as not to create rejection among readers.”

Another publication is connected with the Kremlin cuisine. The hackers allegedly had at their disposal the correspondence of employees of a catering company, which tells about what happened at dinners arranged for the highest officials of the state. One of the reports is titled as follows: “February 15, 2013, Moscow, restaurant of the Russian Geographical Society The birthday of Ivanov S. B. with the participation of Putin V.V.” According to the document, the menu that day included marinated Vasileostrovskaya smelt and black caviar with pancakes, as well as Somali ostrich meat, crocodile, goat meat, gray shark, piranha. “Hot meals were served on stones with the meat of exotic animals and fish. Putin V.V. ate grilled beef for a hot meal,” the report says.

More than a year has passed between the series of the above publications, during which time Roskomnadzor blocked access to the blog of the anonymous Shaltai-Boltai group.

"Departure" of Medvedev to resign

On August 14, 2014, it became known about the hacking of the Twitter account of the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev. Within a few minutes, the following entries appeared in his account: “I have long wanted to say. Vova! You're wrong", "I'll become a freelance photographer anyway!", "I'm retiring. Shame on the actions of the government. Sorry".

The fact of hacking was later confirmed by the prime minister's press service, noting that "the latest messages posted on the microblog do not correspond to reality."

On the same day, representatives of Anonymous International for hacking Medvedev's account.

Correspondence of Timur Prokopenko

In December, the hackers claimed that they had allegedly obtained personal letters and SMS correspondence from the deputy head of the internal policy department of the presidential administration.

SMS-correspondence contains links to various news of a political nature, discussion of recent events - special attention is paid to Ukraine. There is, for example, the following message: “Youth organizations will lay candles and flowers at the Embassy of Ukraine (Address: Moscow, Leontievsky per., 18) in memory of those who died at the hands of Bendera in Odessa. The number of participants in the action is 100 people. Time is 20:00. Zhen, write to the channels to everyone, as information about this action for their decision and call, write to me who will definitely be possible, but don’t drive.

It was also reported about the cooperation of the Kremlin with the deputies of the State Duma.

In addition, it followed from the letters that the presidential administration was engaged in a campaign against Alexei Navalny.

Hacking Kiselev and Gabrelyanov

2016 brought bad news for two Russian media managers at once. At the end of April, Anonymous International announced the hacking of mailboxes and the Whatsapp messenger belonging to the famous TV presenter Dmitry Kiselev.

“The main part of the correspondence is occupied by letters related to professional activity Kiseleva - TV project "Russia Today" and everything related to it, also provides information on finances and assets, both personal and related to TV projects of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. There is also a large amount of other very interesting information, ”the hackers said in a message.

Part of the correspondence was put up for sale, part was in the public domain. From the published screenshots, it follows that "Dmitry" corresponded with a man named Vladimir Kuznetsov, known as the prankster Vovan.

The archive also contains a letter from Vladimir Medinskiy, in which he asks to find a job for his friend in the Rossiya Segodnya news agency headed by Kiselev. In addition, the data array contains personal photographs of Kiselyov, for example, from a ““tourist trip” with his wife to Syria.”

A group of hackers put the correspondence up for auction with a starting price of 33 bitcoins, that is, just under $15,000. Whether anyone bought the archive is unknown.

At the end of June 2016, Anonymous International attacked the head of the media holding News Media Aram Gabrelyanov. The hackers put up a complete archive with photos and videos for auction, some of which were published on their blog.

According to the hackers, the archive contains information about working kitchen LifeNews, the channel's accounting department, as well as "letters of indignation from journalists fired from the editorial office." So, in the array there is a letter from a certain Leysan S., who sends a report with information about employees to the addressee signed by Aram Gabrelyanov. Among them, as the author notes, there are those "from whom you can expect not very good news in relation to the team."

Among the letters there is a price tag that famous writers and political scientists are allegedly ready to ask for their speeches. As well as screenshots of SMS-correspondence, which contains, among other things, promises to delete unwanted information.

Ilya Davlyatchin

Who was responsible for what in the hacker group that stole the correspondence of Russian officials and businessmen

Journalists became aware of all the main participants in the Shaltai Dumpty project, which became famous thanks to the publication in the public domain of stolen personal e-mail correspondence of such statesmen as Prime Minister (and ex-President) of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev and Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation (former first Deputy Head of the Administration of the Head of State) Vladislav Surkov. Most of the members of the hacker group have been put on the wanted list, and one of the founders, Vladimir Anikeev (Lewis), is in custody in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center in Moscow.

Leaders

Chatter. The pseudonym of a major St. Petersburg PR man. He worked with many high officials and businessmen. In recent years, the scope of his interests has shifted to Moscow. It was after meeting Boltai that Anikeev's activity in collecting compromising evidence on civil servants and entrepreneurs reached a new level. Boltai and Anikeev came up with the project "Humpty Dumpty" together. Dumpty determined the editorial policy - whose correspondence should be posted on the Internet. He also performed the peculiar functions of the Secretary of State: all communication with officials, business representatives and security officials was conducted through him. Based on the results of this communication, the editorial policy of the resource was determined. In addition, Boltai was involved in replenishing the project's budget, receiving money for posting or not posting other people's correspondence. The lion's share of the funds settled with him. Anikeev was next in terms of funds received.

Correspondence of high-ranking Russian officials was stolen on a grand scale by the Hatter, Alice and the March Hare

Vladimir Anikeev (Lewis). He worked as a journalist in the St. Petersburg media, then he took up "black" PR. Having connections in various departments, he "extracted" compromising evidence on officials and businessmen. After meeting Boltai, according to Rosbalt's interlocutors, he organized a series of break-ins of the "boxes" of civil servants of the Northern capital. This was done through phishing. After the release of the Shaltai Dumpty project to the federal level, he organized the theft of the contents of phones and tablets of officials using equipment that creates false cells and fake Wi-Fi. He was a member of the presidential administration. He spent most of his time in Ukraine, where his official wife lives, as well as in Thailand. In October 2016, he was detained by the FSB when he was heading from Ukraine to St. Petersburg.

Junior partner

Humpty. IT specialist from St. Petersburg. He worked as a system administrator on a number of resources controlled by Boltay. After the creation of the Humpty Dumpty project, he left for Estonia. Has the citizenship of this country. It was Humpty who received the entire amount of information downloaded using false cells and false WI-FI. He studied content and selected from it belonging to officials, heads of state corporations and other persons from whom money could be obtained. Reported the results to Dumpty and Lewis. He, at the direction of the latter, posted content on the resources of "Humpty Dumpty". From the total earnings of the project Humpty received 20-30%. Was a junior non-voting partner.

Vladimir Anikeev - founder of the hacker group

Ordinary participants

Alice. Citizen of Ukraine. In Russia, she changed several professions until she got a job as an instructor in the St. Petersburg fitness center, where Anikeev worked out. The young people became close, after which Alice began to carry out Lewis's instructions. An attractive girl sitting with a laptop in cafes and restaurants where employees of the presidential administration gather did not arouse suspicion. In fact, content from visitors' phones and tablets was downloaded to this laptop. Alisa was also engaged in "cashing out" bitcoins in Kyiv, earned by "Humpty Dumpty" on the sale of someone else's correspondence.

The Hatter and the March Hare. IT specialists who worked in the Russian regions. Later they moved to Moscow, where they worked as system administrators on various resources. During one of the parties, we met Anikeev. They began to carry out his one-time orders. After the creation of the Humpty Dumpty project, we moved to Thailand. Managed the bookkeeping of the resource, processed the received content, and performed various technical work. In the summer of 2016, together with Anikeev, they created a company in Thailand that provides tourists with real estate rental services.

German Alexandrov

"Life", 01/30/17, "High-ranking officials appeared in the Shaltai-Boltai case"

Intelligence agencies are studying materials on representatives of government agencies and businessmen who collaborated with hackers or paid them for not disclosing compromising information about themselves.

The Shaltai Dumpty case promises to be the largest cybersecurity trial in Russia. As Life found out, 6 people have now been arrested associated with hacking phones and messengers of officials and businessmen, and a dozen more people are under development. Among them are employees of large government agencies, who will soon be summoned for interrogation. The special services are also studying materials on those “opened” officials and businessmen who paid hackers belonging to the “Humpty Dumpty” group: they can become defendants in corruption cases. It was for the non-disclosure of this information that they could pay.

Lewis Carroll

On December 31, 2013, the Anonymous International hacker group, better known as Humpty Dumpty, published the president's New Year's address on its resource. This was the group's first statement about its activities.

Then the correspondence of Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich was posted by hackers, and the Twitter account of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was opened. Correspondences of a number of major officials and businessmen were made public.

As an interlocutor familiar with the investigation told Life, the hackers from Shaltai-Boltai have come to the attention of the FSB since the beginning of 2014. The development and establishment of their personalities were carried out for almost three years.

And in October 2016, the founder of the group, a certain Lewis Carroll, was detained (the hackers took their names from the children's book Alice in Wonderland). It turned out to be journalist Vladimir Anikeev. He was detained not in St. Petersburg, as some media say, but practically on the border of Belarus and Russia.

He flew to Minsk by plane (from which country it is not known for certain) and then went by car to St. Petersburg.

After Anikeev drove along the highway the village of Ezerishche and crossed the border of Belarus and Russia, the special services detained him, - the source of Life notes.

The founder of "Humpty" often visited St. Petersburg. And he constantly stayed at the Angleterre Hotel, where the poet Sergei Yesenin once died. The craving for life in a big way and the desire for fame, by the way, led to the fact that Lewis Carroll was still declassified. While giving an interview to Meduza in Bangkok, which aired in January 2015, Lewis made the mistake of allowing the journalist to take a picture of his hat as confirmation that the interview was real. Silly, of course, confirmation. But before that, on his page on the VKontakte social network, Vladimir Anikeev exhibited photos from Bangkok in this hat.

After the arrest, Anikeev-Lewis made a deal with the investigation and told the FSB investigators about everyone who somehow worked and collaborated with Shaltai-Boltai.

Nothing personal, just business

Life's sources say that over the years of work to identify the members of the Anonymous International, it has been established that it was not just an association of altruists and supporters of goodness, truth and justice. The Shaltaevites worked in conjunction with officials, top managers of large companies and representatives of law enforcement agencies.

A serious base is documented. Over the years, it became clear who and what has to do with hackers. During the detention of Lewis Carroll, the information was confirmed. The executors, customers and founders have been identified, - notes one of the interlocutors in the investigation.

Currently, 6 people are under arrest. Four detainees are known: journalist Vladimir Anikeev, head of the FSB Information Security Center Sergei Mikhailov and his right hand Dmitry Dokuchaev, as well as the head of the computer incident investigation department at Kaspersky Lab Ruslan Stoyanov.

The last three were arrested after Anikeev's detention. Mikhailov and Dokuchaev have been charged with treason, while Anikeev and Stoyanov are charged with article 272 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Illegal access to computer information”).

There are two versions of the cooperation between a high-ranking FSB officer and Shaltai-Boltai. According to the first, Mikhailov was instructed to establish who the "Anonymous International" was, and, having found out this, he led their work, which provided a significant profit to all participants. The blackmailing of officials and businessmen by their personal correspondence brought colossal dividends.

According to another version, initially "Humpty Dumpty" was created with the participation of the above-mentioned persons. But both versions say that the main ideology of the hacker group was "business" - extorting money from high-ranking officials.

According to Life, many civil servants and businessmen bought their correspondence even before it was put up for public auction. Hackers were paid by more than 30 officials (regional and federal) and representatives of the business community. More than a hundred victims of publications, who at least somehow appeared in correspondence.

"Humpty Dumpty" was also engaged in opening correspondence "on order". According to Life, the collected base can lead to any level of official and businessman who either collaborated with hackers or protected them. In the near future, some high-ranking representatives of state structures will be summoned for interrogation in the Shaltai-Boltai case.

Paying for Silence

According to the materials of the case, many Russian high-ranking officials and businessmen paid Shaltai-Boltai so that their correspondence would not only not be sold to others and not published, but that it would not even be put up for auction.

The correspondence of those who did not make a deal with hackers for two reasons was published - either the “opened” had nothing to hide, or they were sure that their roof was stronger and the publication of compromising evidence would not lead to their resignation or to other consequences. Those who were afraid of revealing some corruption schemes and their dishonest attitude towards partners were ready to pay huge sums of money for the silence of Shaltai.

With his victims, "Humpty Dumpty" worked according to several schemes.

As part of the first, “opened” officials or businessmen were immediately sent a message that hackers were ready not to publish correspondence for a certain amount. The amount was set, of course, by the hackers themselves. The official either agreed and paid, or refused.

According to the second scheme, the opened correspondence was put up for auction. A message was sent about this victim, and he had to give a larger amount than the other participants in the auction, if any.

The third scenario: an official or a businessman learned from an intermediary that he had been opened. And the mediator helped to negotiate with Shaltai Dumpty. If a person could not pay the established amount, then part of the correspondence was still exhibited, but not all.

Now, as part of the investigation of the Anonymous International case, the special services are also checking those who paid for the correspondence and materials of this correspondence, which may have a serious prospect in investigating the corruption schemes of officials and businessmen close to them.

Many of them paid just to ensure that information about corrupt deals and tenders in which they were tied up did not become public. Now it is possible that they will become defendants in cases - but not as victims, but as accused, - says a source in the investigation team.

How did you get "Humpty Dumpty"

The blackmail of the Russian establishment brought a high income, the group's popularity grew, but they were known by fictitious names from Alice in Wonderland. Glory seems to be there, but it is impersonal.

The members of Anonymous International did not hide the fact that they love Asia and periodically visit Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. Yes, and to meet with their victims or their representatives they sent messengers, who were followed by surveillance.

Some oligarchs and officials hired detectives, conducted their own investigation, the results of which also became known to the special services. Abroad, the Shaltaevites and those involved in them were led, among other things, by private foreign intelligence structures. The ring around the hackers was shrinking.

Screenshot © L!FE

By the way, the fact that "Tsargrad" became the first media outlet that announced the connection of a high-ranking officer of the Center for Information Security of the FSB of the Russian Federation with the hacker group "Humpty Dumpty" is explained by the fact that the media owner Konstantin Malofeev is closely acquainted with a high-ranking official, whose correspondence was also opened "Humpty Dumpty", and at his request conducted his own investigation.

In addition, the same schemes used by Shaltai Dumpty itself were used - phishing letters through which they learned the passwords and logins of officials and businessmen, also through fake cells or fake Wi-Fi. For example, phishing emails were sent to the Internet addresses of the Shaltayevites, who fell into the hands of the special services. It was thanks to them that it was possible to connect the activities of the Central Security Bureau of the FSB, where Mikhailov worked, with Shaltai. The arrested Lewis Carroll finally confirmed the suspicion towards Mikhailov.

Ukraine and NGOs

A number of media outlets reported that members of Shaltai-Boltai worked with hackers from Cyberjunta, and Anikeev himself was very often in Ukraine.

The publication's sources explain that Shaltai-Boltai's only connection with Ukraine is a member of the Alisa group (the publication's real name is unknown). Alice is a former Kyiv prostitute. She, as a girl with low social responsibility, was still a kind of organizer of leisure at Shaltai: she “driven the girls” (since the guys didn’t particularly stand out in appearance and used the services of night butterflies), arranged trips, and had a large client base, in which were sometimes the right people.

There is no topic of Ukraine in the case file. But the theme of Donbass is present. As Life found out, the Anonymous International servers are located on the territory of the DPR. These servers store all the information about Shaltai Dumpty's activities. Neither Russian nor Ukrainian law applies there. In fact, the territory is outside the legal field, which was very convenient for hackers. However, it will still be easy for the Russian security forces to seize the servers, unless there are those in this territory who have already eliminated all the information on the servers.

But the international theme also appears in this case. One of the defenders of those arrested are representatives of the human rights organization Team 29. According to some reports, this NGO is sponsored by the Soros Foundation, and the Shaltaevites themselves often visited the United States.

"Team 29" was created by former employees of the Freedom of Information Foundation (IRSI). In 2014, the fund ceased its activities, as it was included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of foreign agents. By the way, the ex-wife of the head of Team 29, Ivan Pavlov, Jennifer Gaspard, was expelled from Russia on the basis of the conclusion of the FSB.

According to sources familiar with the investigation, the Shaltai-Boltai case affects almost all aspects of Russian politics. Yes, and during the investigation, data emerged pointing to famous and respected people.

All roles - the customer, the executor, the liaison, the guarantor, the witness, and so on - will be precisely established for each of the suspects. All those responsible will be punished, whatever their status. This case will definitely go to court, - one of the interlocutors of the publication claims, emphasizing that those who are involved in the activities of the group are currently trying to portray themselves as victims.

Alexander Zazykin

Vladimir Anikeev, who is considered the leader of the Anonymous International, could not help but incur the wrath of a serious department by writing a letter that was offensive to the Minister of Defense. "Humpty Dumpty" was not forgiven for the trolling of Sergei Shoigu and military counterintelligence.

"Anonymous International" hacked the correspondence of officials, politicians and businessmen for at least three years, for the time being - with impunity. "Fontanka" prompted the reason for the arrest of Anikeev, also known as Lewis. Apparently, this is not high treason, in which the officers of the FSB Information Security Center are accused, in which Lewis is not involved. He just didn't have to offend Sergei Shoigu, and then mock the army security officers.

"Humpty Dumpty", also posing as "Anonymous International", appeared on the Web at the very end of 2013. Since 2014, he began to play pranks seriously. Arrays of e-mails attributed to Deputy Prime Minister Dvorkovich, top management of VTB, members of the Sosny cooperative and functionaries of the Young Guard of United Russia turned out to be available on the Internet. It was interesting to read. Fontanka told about some of them: stories and the Internet Research Agency associated with Yevgeny Prigozhin in Olgino.

The holiday did not last long. In subsequent years, "Humpty Dumpty" continued to delight with big names. Vladislav Surkov, the press secretary of the Prime Minister Natalya Timakova and Dmitry Medvedev himself, the reflections of a certain Yevgeny Viktorovich about the members of the tandem, the owner of News Media Ashot Gabrelyanov are far from full list. But there is less information. "Humpty Dumpty" took an open course for commerce and no longer laid out the full contents of electronic mailboxes. Two or three letters with shabby data for the seed - and welcome to the exchange, buy archives for bitcoins.

The authors of The Anonymous International remained elusive for the time being. In November 2016, Vladimir Anikeev, who introduced himself as Lewis, was detained - he was called the creator and inspirer. In December 2016, Sergei Mikhailov, head of the second operational department of the FSB Information Security Center, Dmitry Dokuchaev, an operative of the same department, and Ruslan Stoyanov, head of the computer incident investigation department from Kaspersky Lab, were arrested. It is assumed that Mikhailov and Dokuchaev were associated with Anikeev, although it is not clear which of them acted as a source of information. In January, Chekists and Stoyanov were charged with treason, and there was talk of a connection with the CIA.

As far as Fontanka knows, Vladimir Anikeev has nothing to do with the CIA, and the reason for the sharp reaction in the form of an arrest is excessive arrogance. If games with the correspondence of businessmen and even very high-ranking, but civil officials got away with it, then the military does not understand humor on the Web.

The call for Shaltai Dumpty may have rung in August 2015, when Anonymous International published an open letter to the head of the military counterintelligence department, Colonel-General Alexander Bezverkhny. Humpty Dumpty, demonstrating concern for the safety of military secrets, published several letters from the mailbox of Xenia Bolshakova, who served as secretary to the head of the construction department of the Ministry of Defense Roman Filimonov, the former vice-governor of St. Petersburg.

“We are regretfully convinced of the complete incompetence of employees of a number of departments of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in the field of information security, and more specifically, of criminal negligence. Through free mail services such as yandex.ru, mail.ru and the American gmail.com, unencrypted official documents were transmitted, often representing classified information related to the defense capability of the Russian Federation, ”wrote Humpty Dumpty. And finished off: “In the records of the devices of Secretary Filimonov, Ksenia Bolshakova, there were passwords and access to the official mail servers of the Ministry of Defense. We note with sadness that if this information became available to us, then with a greater degree of probability it could also be available to the special services of a number of interested countries.

A complete archive of allegedly secret correspondence was put up on an electronic exchange for 350 bitcoins. Then one bitcoin cost less than 10 thousand rubles, today one bitcoin is 58.7 thousand rubles.

Anonymous International estimated its patriotism by half: “The array of Mr. Filimonov sold on the Information Exchange can be sold to military counterintelligence officers with a 50% discount. Subject to verification by us of these employees.

The signature said "Respectfully," but it looked fake.

It is not known whether anyone redeemed the letters from "Humpty Dumpty" and whether at the same time showed a counterintelligence certificate, but Anonymous International continued to mock with a comment on the stock exchange: “Sold. The lot was sold at a 50% discount.

According to Fontanka, Roman Filimonov was also offered to pay for the letters. He refused.

We do not know what words and to whom Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke, but, as informed interlocutors assured us, both the content and the tone were extremely convincing. The Department of Military Counterintelligence received a command. Apparently, in the same 2015, the identities of the members of Anonymous International, who acted under the names of the characters in Alice in Wonderland, were not a secret.

The Information Security Center of the FSB, whose people now flicker in conjunction with "Shaltai", most likely was engaged in "Anonymous International" in parallel and came into contact with Anikeev. How their relationship developed and who acted as a source of information is not yet clear. The interest could be mutual.

In November 2016, Anikeev, who was in Ukraine, according to Fontanka, was invited to a meeting in St. Petersburg. With whom? Either with the employees of the Central Intelligence Agency, or with the Chekists from the Department of Military Counterintelligence, since it seems that both of them were playing their game with him. Anikeev, agreeing to a conversation, then panicked, instead of an airplane he used a car, and he was detained out of harm's way at the Russian-Belarusian border. The choice, obviously, was not too rich: extortion or illegal access to computer information. Judging by the fact that, according to the media, he actively testifies and agreed to a deal with the investigation, you already guessed what he chose.

What is interesting is who is behind Lewis. Unless, of course, he is not an independent figure. Employees of the Central Information Bureau of the FSB are not suitable for this role - Anikeev contacted them, having already become Lewis.

Anikeev's biography does not give an answer. Of course, he is not a journalist. Although he worked in a related field, he professionally worked with information in one of the information and analytical agencies until 2013. As the acquaintances of the future Lewis assure Fontanka, he was not a computer genius and preferred old-fashioned but reliable methods: personal acquaintances, conversations over a glass of whiskey. Indeed, as noted earlier, he was not indifferent to the female sex.

It is authentically known that Anikeev left the employer in the middle of 2013. A few months later, "Humpty Dumpty" declared itself. Lewis practically left St. Petersburg. Whether he was in charge of the Anonymous International, we do not know. Those who knew him a few years ago remark: "Not a leader." It is impossible to calculate what amounts Shaltai-Boltai could bring from blackmail on the Web, but it is noticeable that Anikeev did not demonstrate overconsumption. Lived mostly in a house in Pattaya, with his wife and dog. I visited Momento Beach Restaurant, where they charge 7-15 dollars for a dish. From time to time I visited the island of Koh Chang with my wife, where I stayed in the "fours" without pretensions - Koh Chang Sea View Resort and Cliff resort. If I had limited myself to civilians, maybe I would have lived there further.

Denis Korotkov, Fontanka.ru