Global Crackdown by Europol Dismantles Russian-backed Cybercrime Ring

THE HAGUE – Europol, the European Union’s police agency, announced Wednesday that an international coordinated effort targeted the infrastructure of a pro-Russian cybercrime network involved in denial of service attacks against Ukraine and its allies.

The operation, named Eastwood, focused on the NoName057(16) group. This group was recently identified by Dutch authorities for conducting denial-of-service attacks on municipalities and organizations connected to a NATO summit in the Netherlands.

Europol said that the cybercrime network also was involved in attacks in Sweden, Germany and Switzerland.

The agency reported that the international effort successfully disrupted an infrastructure comprising over one hundred computer systems worldwide. Additionally, significant components of the group’s central server infrastructure were taken offline.

Judicial authorities in Germany issued six arrest warrants for suspects in Russia, two of them accused of being the main leaders of the group, Europol said. Five of them were identified on Europol’s Europe’s Most Wanted website.

One suspect was placed under preliminary arrest in France and another detained in Spain, Europol said. In the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was involved in the operation.

Europol said members of the cybercrime group initially targeted Ukrainian institution, “but have shifted their focus to attacking countries that support Ukraine in the ongoing defence against the Russian war of aggression, many of which are members of NATO.”

Law enforcement authorities in countries involved in the operation contacted hundreds of people believed to support the group to inform them of the crackdown and their alleged liability for its actions.

“Individuals acting for NoName057(16) are mainly Russian-speaking sympathisers who use automated tools to carry out distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Operating without formal leadership or sophisticated technical skills, they are motivated by ideology and rewards,” Europol said.