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Update: Nestle recently announced that it would cease the distribution of many brands in Russia, including KitKat and Nesquik, only days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy criticized the world’s largest consumer products business for continuing to operate in the country.
We are suspending renowned Nestlé brands such as KitKat and Nesquik. We have already halted non-essential imports and exports into and out of Russia, stopped all advertising, and suspended all capital investment in the country.
Founded in 2004, Anonymous is a decentralized multinational activist-and hacktivist collective and movement that is most known for its multiple hacks against governments, governmental institutions and government agencies, companies, and the Church of Scientology, among other targets.
What Happened?
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Nestle has been under fire from customers, environmentalists, and politicians in recent weeks for not completely withdrawing from the country. In a series of statements, the Swiss manufacturer of Maggi and Nescafe has said that it would continue to provide Russia with vital foods such as baby formula and medical nutrition assistance.
Anonymous had put the Swiss food and beverage multinational near the top of its list of what it considers to be outcast corporations as it believes have done too little to distance themselves from Russia in the wake of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
JUST IN: The #Anonymous collective has leaked the database of the largest food company in the world, Nestlé. Leaked 10GB data of emails, passwords, Nestlé business costumers, etc. #OpRussia #boycottnestle #PullOutOfRussia pic.twitter.com/rvVkn0ygxj
— Anonymous TV ?? (@YourAnonTV) March 22, 2022
BREAKING NEWS: Hacker group Anonymous has released 10 GB of data from Swiss company Nestlé. This is the collective’s retaliation for continuing the company’s business in Russia. pic.twitter.com/TQjJJrCWZr
— Anonymous (@LatestAnonPress) March 22, 2022
#BoycottNestle: 10GB Nestle Database Leaked
Leak: https://t.co/5jzc7NWjf1
Via @Ksecureteamlab pic.twitter.com/9RCkvwIB3d
— Anonymous (@LatestAnonPress) March 22, 2022
The hacktivist group has reportedly followed through on its threat to go after large corporations that have not withdrawn out of Russia — claiming to have exposed a wealth of data belonging to food giant Nestlé as evidence of its intentions.
Nestlé, as the death toll rises, you have been warned and are now being breached.
The Anonymous collective has released the database of Nestlé, the world’s biggest food manufacturer.
The Cybernews reporters who examined the files containing the leaked information – which were identified on Telegram as Nestle Orders.txt, Nestle partial 1.txt, Nestle Passwords.txt, and Nestle Payments.txt – discovered that the data sample released by Anonymous weighed in at 5.7MB, which is a fraction of the total data load if the group’s claims are correct.
According to Kelvin Security, a grey-hat hacking outfit that generally offers to patch vulnerabilities for a charge, this specific data breach was perpetrated by Anonymous.
Mission accomplished Nestle withdraws from Russiahttps://t.co/521V9rBOqh
— kelvinsecurity (@Ksecureteamlab) March 23, 2022
Nestle published an official statement regarding their position and the decision they’ve made to not leave the Russian market.
As the war rages in Ukraine, our activities in Russia will focus on providing essential food, such as infant food and medical/hospital nutrition — not on making a profit. This approach is in line with our purpose and values. It upholds the principle of ensuring the basic right to food.
Going forward, we are suspending renowned Nestlé brands such as KitKat and Nesquik, among others. We have already halted non-essential imports and exports into and out of Russia, stopped all advertising, and suspended all capital investment in the country. Of course, we are fully complying with all international sanctions on Russia.
While we do not expect to make a profit in the country or pay any related taxes for the foreseeable future in Russia, any profit will be donated to humanitarian relief organizations.
This is in addition to the hundreds of tons of food supplies and significant financial assistance that we have already contributed to support the people in Ukraine and refugees in neighboring countries. And these efforts will continue. We stand with the people of Ukraine and our 5,800 employees there.
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Dora is a digital marketing specialist within Heimdal™ Security. She is a content creator at heart - always curious about technology and passionate about finding out everything there is to know about cybersecurity.
