Inside Squad 303 – ‘largest hacking op in history’ waging cyber war on Russia

A powerful new hacking group has emerged in the battle against Russia – and it says it has already sent a whopping 20 million texts to people living under Putin’s regime.

Little is known about who is behind the mysterious Squad 303, but members say the Polish group is named after a fighter squadron from World War Two.

In a terrifying video posted to the site's Twitter, a masked and hooded avatar explains in a croaky voice: "You wouldn't notice us in the store, on the street or the subway.

"Ukrainians are fighting with real guns. We can at least with our smartphones. This is the largest and most successful cyber operation in the history of the world."

The hackers have set up a website that allows members of the public to send an SMS to random Russian phone numbers in an attempt to expose the truth about the brutal invasion of Ukraine.

They've also obtained an impressive 140 million email addresses owned by Russian individuals and companies, meaning millions of citizens in Russia face receiving unwelcome facts about the bloody war into their inbox.

Squad 303’s success hasn’t gone unnoticed and they have merged with infamous hacking collective Anonymous, who have previously targeted ISIS and racist hate groups.

One of the team told the BBC: “We work together with Anonymous all the time and I now consider myself a member of the Anonymous movement.”

He said he was "on the barricade with a rifle during the day and hacking with the Squad/Anonymous at night".

Hackers from the groups have been bombarding Russia’s online infrastructure in a self-declared cyber war against mad Russian president Vladimir Putin.

In one attack, Russian state TV channels were taken over to show a 12 minute video of horrific bomb explosions in Ukraine.

Another incident saw them steal data from the Kremlin and take down Russian websites.

One hacker explained: “I am ready to go and pick up a rifle for Ukraine, but at the moment my skills are better used at the computer.

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“So I'm here in my home with my two laptops, coordinating this IT resistance.

“These things are illegal and wrong until there is a threat to you or your relative."

But despite their huge power, Squad 303 has vowed to remain ethical and the group has explained they are simply trying to win the information war and would not steal or share any private information.

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