Dutch authorities help take down pro-Russia hacking group after NATO Summit attacks

The notorious pro-Russian hacker group NoName057(16) has been taken offline in an international police and justice operation. Europol, Eurojust, and the police revealed the results on Wednesday. The Netherlands participated in the operation.

NoName057(16) is being held responsible for multiple DDoS attacks around the NATO summit last month in The Hague. The group is also accused of taking down websites of Dutch municipalities and provinces in March and April

When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the Netherlands in 2023, NoName057(16) reportedly took down the websites of the Judiciary and the Senate. The hackers also targeted the websites of the ports of Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Vlissingen, Terneuzen, Den Helder, and Eemshaven/Delfzijl.

NoName057(16) has committed many digital attacks on Ukrainian allies, including the Netherlands. Two people were arrested in the investigation. The arrests happened in Spain and France. Additionally, seven arrest warrants have been issued, six of them by Germany. These warrants target individuals residing in Russia.

"More than a thousand alleged supporters have been notified that the prosecution has them in its sights." One hundred servers have been disrupted, and the group’s infrastructure is said to have been taken offline. Furthermore, 24 houses were searched, half of which were in Spain.

Europol has placed five of the suspects on the most wanted list. They are Andrej Moeravjov (48, hacker name DaZBastaDraw), Maksim Loepin (36, alias s3rmax), Olga Evstratova (21, olechocheck), Mihail Boerlakov (38, Ddosator3000), and Andrej Avrosimov (ponyaska).

Besides the Netherlands, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Lithuania also took part in the operation.