Anonymous Trolls Putin with Epic Renaming of Yacht
An internet hacking consortium has made good on its threat to make life for Russian leader Vladimir Putin difficult. The group, Anonymous, has been a major player in exposing many injustices via the Internet over the past few decades. In many cases, the online vigilante group has made a mockery of the rich and famous by using their own words, images, or actions against them.
When Russia invaded Ukraine the world watched in horror. In response, many governments, such as the United States, immediately issued economic sanctions designed to cripple the Kremlin's economy. Which would normally be a great way to get the people to rise up against their leaders. But in Russia, rising up against anyone or anything of power has been known to lead to sudden unexplained disappearances.
This is where a group like Anonymous fits into the plan perfectly. As far as I know, Anonymous is not controlled by any particular government or political interest. They appear to be some very intelligent computer minded people who have a unique sense of justice and, in my opinion, a wicked cool sense of humor.
Apparently, the "team" at Anonymous has figured out that economic sanctions don't work against egomaniacs like Putin. I think we are all aware of how much Mr Putin likes him some Mr Putin. That mindset was not lost on a small offshoot of the larger vigilante group who decided to have some renaming fun at Vlad's expense.
Putin, who would be the poster child for Russian oligarchs is a very wealthy man. It's estimated his personal worth is $70 billion in U.S. Dollars. Among his prized possessions is a yacht that he named Graceful. From what we understand about the yacht it has a pool, a spa, a dance floor, a gym, a bar, a place to park the helicopter and then it's got some luxury items on it as well.
A maritime website, Vesseltracker, keeps track of ships like that across the globe. It's been a requirement for all passenger and commercial vessels since 2004. Normally, Mr Putin's vessel is tagged with the moniker Graceful, since that is the vessel's name. However, Anonymous has hacked into the ship's Automatic Identification System and renamed the vessel.
That's why on Vesseltracker now there is a ship named "FCKPTN" which I don't believe is Russian. In fact, I think we all know what Anonymous was going for with that name. Oh, they changed the vessel's location too. According to Vesseltracker the good ship FCKPTN is currently sailing in the waters of Hell.
The hacker group has also announced operations against Russian banks and infrastructure too. The group says they are not attacking the Russian people, their attack is solely against Putin and those controlled by him including government officials, state-owned companies, the state-controlled media, and other private businesses and individuals who support Putin and his actions.
Anonymous says their main goal in operations such as this is not to disable critical infrastructure but more so to keep Russian cyber experts busy defending their home turf so they can't launch cyberattacks against outside interests. And if they can embarrass Vladamir in the process, that's just one of the perks of the operation.
Can't afford a yacht but still want to get on the water? Okay, maybe the standards are a little lower than a yacht but it's still one heck of a good time.
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