Law enforcement agencies across multiple countries, including Germany, France and the United States, have reportedly dealt a significant blow to the pro-Russian hacktivist group “NoName057(16)” in a coordinated international operation. Europol announced the involvement of these agencies over the past several days.
The Frankfurt General Public Prosecutor’s Office and the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) confirmed that they initiated action against individuals and infrastructure associated with the group on Tuesday. These measures, coordinated primarily by the Central Office for Combatting Cybercrime (ZIT) and the BKA, formed a component of the international police operation known as “Eastwood.
The globally coordinated effort resulted in the disruption of a botnet comprising hundreds of servers worldwide, which had been utilized for targeted Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. These attacks can severely impact online services and have potentially wide-ranging consequences.
In Germany, six arrest warrants have been issued against Russian nationals or individuals residing in Russia. Two of these warrants reportedly allege the suspects to be key figures behind “NoName057(16)”. A further arrest warrant was issued by Spanish authorities. International and, in some instances, public searches are underway to locate all suspects.
Furthermore, law enforcement executed searches at 24 locations suspected of supporting the group, including one in Berlin and two in Bavaria. Seized evidence is currently undergoing analysis.
“Organized DDoS campaigns can have grave consequences, even for the security feeling of the population” stated BKA President Holger Münch. “They must therefore be consistently prosecuted and prevented wherever possible. Our internationally coordinated measures demonstrate that we, together with our partners, are able to investigate attacks in the digital realm and counteract the increased threat situation in cyberspace with police measures”.
