Pro-Russian Hacker Group Targeting Ukraine And Allies Dismantled In Europe

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) The operation, codenamed Eastwood was reported by Ukrinform citing Europol's official website .

“Between 14 and 17 July, a joint international operation, known as Eastwood and coordinated by Europol and Eurojust, targeted the cybercrime network NoName057(16). Law enforcement and judicial authorities from Czechia, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United States took simultaneous actions against offenders and infrastructure belonging to the pro-Russian cybercrime network,” the statement reads.

The agencies emphasized that NoName057(16) had been demonstrating support for Russia since the beginning of its full-scale war against Ukraine.

The operation led to the disruption of an attack-infrastructure consisting of over one hundred computer systems worldwide, while a major part of the group's central server infrastructure was taken offline

As a result, two individuals were arrested - one in France, one in Spain. Germany issued six arrest warrants for suspects residing in Russia, two of whom are believed to be the group's main organizers. In total, seven arrest warrants were issued for six Russian nationals.

According to European agencies, the group is responsible for numerous attacks on critical infrastructure targets, including power suppliers and public transport systems across Europe.

The hackers primarily used DDoS attacks - flooding websites and applications with malicious traffic to make them unavailable.

“Offenders associated to the NoName057(16) cybercrime network targeted primarily Ukraine, but have shifted their focus to attacking countries that support Ukraine in the ongoing defense against the Russian war of aggression, many of which are members of NATO,” the report stressed.

Read also: Ukraine extradites to U.S. hacker involved in over 2,400 cyberattacks worldwide

According to the report, the group carried out 14 attacks in Germany, some lasting for days and affecting around 230 organizations, including arms factories, power companies, and government institutions. Attacks occurred across Europe during the European elections. In Sweden, government and banking websites were hit. Several attacks were launched during President Zelensky's video address to the European Parliament in June 2023, and during the Peace Summit in Switzerland in June 2024. In late 2024, the group claimed responsibility for attacks on websites of several French cities. Most recently, the Netherlands was targeted during the NATO summit in June 2025.

Earlier in May 2024, another joint operation between Europe and the U.S. dismantled a Russian hacker network that had infected over 300,000 computers.

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