German and Spanish authorities have issued arrest warrants for seven suspected members of NoName057(16), a pro-Russian hacking group accused of launching cyberattacks against European companies and institutions, officials announced Wednesday.
According to a European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) press release, Germany issued six arrest warrants for individuals residing in Russia, including two alleged ringleaders believed to be directing NoName057(16)’s operations. Spain issued an additional warrant for another suspect.
All seven individuals are now internationally wanted. Five of them: Andrey Muravyov, Maxim Lupin, Olga Evstratova, Mihail Evgeyevich Burlakov, and Andrej Stanislavovich Avrosimow, have also been added to the EU’s Most Wanted website.
The issuance of the warrants followed the launch of Operation Eastwood, a joint international crackdown led by Europol, with the participation of 19 countries, including the United States, France, and Switzerland.
As part of the operation, law enforcement searched 24 locations linked to NoName057(16), including one site in Berlin and two in Bavaria, southeastern Germany.
Europol said 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.”
The agency said the operation also led to the arrest of one individual in France and another in Spain.
According to European authorities, since 2022, NoName057(16) has carried out cyberattacks targeting companies and institutions in countries allied with Ukraine, including Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Authorities said the group operated under centralized command from Russia.
Europol said the group used Telegram to recruit over 4,000 volunteers, supplying them with software and target lists to flood servers with malicious traffic. Participants were paid in cryptocurrency and incentivized through gamified tactics, including leaderboards and badges.
