In the last few days, a new hot topic and keyword spread across the darknet. “Darknet Parliament” At first glance, it feels like one of the multiple made-up stories told on Youtube to entice an audience and bring some weird outlook of what lies within the Darknet. However, this never-before-heard-of group is legit and consists of three prominent forces joining together. Killnet, Anonymous Sudan, and REvil met and coined themselves as “Darknet Parliament.” But why would they do such a thing? Let’s delve into this group. 

Killnet Announce The Darknet Parliament

On June 16th, in a new Telegram post from one of the most popular cybercriminals groups, Killnet, the team announced upcoming plans. They announced their orchestrated plans to attack five traditional payment methods as a sanction against the EU banking system. These include SEPA, SWIFT, WIRE, WISE, and IBAN. 

What made this post particularly peculiar was their casual mention of “Darknet Parliament” as if the world was already aware of it. This wasn’t some new Darknet Market, nor a group who are selling anything through the darknet. They are hacktivists with a message. 

“72 hours ago, three heads of hacker groups from Russia and Sudan held a regular meeting in the DARKNET parliament, and came to a common decision”– Killnet Telegram post.

The three “Heads of hacker groups” refer to Killnet, Anonymous Sudan, and REvil.

• Killnet: The most popular of the three, Killnet is a hacker group that aligned itself with pro-Russian interests and allegedly carried out DDoS attacks targeting various government institutions and private companies. They became particularly popular during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• Anonymous Sudan: An Islamic hacktivist group likely financed by Vladimir Putin or somebody close to him. The group have been particularly active in recent months, carrying out dozens of attacks on Western government-run organisations. Most recently, they exploited a Mircosoft vulnerability.
• REvil: A Russian ransomware-focused group thought to have been disbanded by Russian LE. The group primarily worked as extortion attack experts but seemed to push pro-Russian agendas since the war on Ukraine began. 

These three Russian groups have come together and claim to be the leaders in the field running the Darknet. They see themselves as Darknet Parliament.

Darknet Parliament Attack EU Banking

As Killnet announced its attack on EU, it gave the banking system about 24 hours to prepare. Their full announcement read

“72 hours ago, three heads of hacker groups from Russia and Sudan held a regular meeting in the DARKNET parliament and came to a common decision:

× SOLUTION №0191

Today, we are starting to impose sanctions on the European banking transfer systems SEPA, IBAN, WIRE, SWIFT, and WISE.”Killnet

And Anonymous Sudan re-iterated their partnership in a separate Telegram post. 

“Russian hackers announced a massive attack on the Western financial system within the next 48 hours. The first task is to paralyze Swift. 

According to our information, guys from the KillNet, Revil, and Anonymous Sudan groups have united in this campaign. They plan to “repel the maniacs according to the formula: no money – no weapons – no Kyiv regime.” Among the targets: European and US banks, SWIFT, and the US Federal Reserve System.”Anonymous Sudan

And so they followed through on their promise. Just two days later the European Investment Bank (EIB) confirmed that they had experienced a cyber attack. Although they did not name Killnet or Darknet Parliament as the threat actors

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This particular attack went on for a full day as the EIB team attempted to counter the attack. While this attack didnt pause SWIFT entirely, as Killnet aimed to do, it proved they were being serious. 

Darknet Parliament Motives

All parties in this alleged Parliament belong to hacktivists from Russia who have worked together with an agenda. As seen in recent attacks by Killnet, they are in favor of the war on Ukraine. They’ve consistantly attacked NATO members throughout their known career. 

Their announcement to attack the EIB came shortly after the EU pledged an additional $100 million in aid to Ukraine’s swift recovery as a nation. The funds were meant to be used for municipalities and energy infrastructure repairs. 

“In addition to our €1 billion for fast recovery to support critical sectors, the agreed EU guarantee allows EIB to lend to Ukraine an additional €100 million on very favourable terms. We are determined to bring back life to all the communities in Ukraine that suffer from Russia’s aggression.”

The Parliament clearly found that their efforts were never ending and needed to come to an end. Until this point, the European Union had already sent €70 billion to aid Ukraine and its people.

Killnet and their compadres are taking on some major opponents, but are happy to show their teeth and refuse to back down. 

Conclusion. 

The Darknet Parliament’s attack on the European Investment Bank confirmed their seriousness and ability to disrupt financial institutions. While the EIB did not explicitly name Killnet or Darknet Parliament as the perpetrators, the cyber attack lasted a full day, indicating the groups’ determination. The motivations behind the Darknet Parliament’s actions appear rooted in their support for the war on Ukraine and opposition to Western measures against Russia.

One thing is clear. This unknown group will continue in their efforts going forwards.