On July 16, Eurojust announced a major international operation that disrupted the hacker group NoName057(16), believed to be behind large-scale DDoS attacks targeting critical infrastructure, defense contractors, energy companies, and government institutions.
The coordinated action took place a day earlier, on July 15, and involved law enforcement agencies from 12 countries, including the United States. As part of the operation, authorities dismantled a botnet that had used hundreds of servers worldwide to carry out the attacks.
Germany and Spain have issued arrest warrants for seven suspected members of the group, including its organizers believed to be located in Russia, according to Reuters. In addition, 24 searches were carried out in various countries at locations linked to volunteers the hackers had recruited to assist in the attacks.
According to Eurojust and the German prosecutor’s office, NoName057(16) recruited participants via Telegram, social media, gaming platforms, and hacker forums. More than 4,000 volunteers were involved in the group’s attack infrastructure.
In Germany alone, the group carried out 14 cyberattacks, some lasting several days and affecting a total of 230 organizations, including defense manufacturers. Government websites and banks in Sweden were also targeted, while in Switzerland the attacks coincided with President Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to parliament in June 2023 and the Ukraine peace conference in the summer of 2024. One of the group’s most recent cyber operations occurred during the NATO summit in the Netherlands in late June.
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