Eurojust has announced the neutralization of the hacker group NoName057(16), which was behind numerous DDoS attacks on critical infrastructure throughout Europe. Additionally, EU authorities have issued seven arrest warrants and publicly released information on five suspects. According to The Agency, all of them are Russian citizens, and two are heads of the IT organization Center for Youth Study and Online Monitoring (CYSOM), established by order of Vladimir Putin to protect young people from harmful online content.
Details:
According to Eurojust, the international operation Eastwood involved 11 European countries and the United States. Intelligence services successfully dismantled a botnet that used hundreds of servers to carry out global attacks. Authorities issued seven international arrest warrants. Two suspects were identified by Eurojust as the key figures behind NoName057(16)’s operations.
- Europol’s wanted list now includes five individuals connected to Operation Eastwood. The Agency confirmed that two of them — Mikhail Burlakov and Maksim Lupin — are leaders of the Center for Youth Study and Online Monitoring (CYSOM). The Center’s main mission was officially to track harmful online content. The government has already allocated at least 2 billion rubles to the Center. Meduza reported that the Center monitored teenagers online. Both Burlakov and Lupin attended Putin’s address to the Federal Assembly in 2023.
Group Members Identified:
- Mikhail Burlakov, 38
Listed on Europol’s website as “one of the key members of NoName057(16).” Intelligence services allege he operated under the alias darkklogo and held a leadership role within the group, making decisions on software development for attacks and paying for illegal server rentals.
Burlakov is a programmer and PhD in technical sciences, according to The Agency. He is an associate professor in the cybersecurity department at Samara University and deputy head of CYSOM. Previously, he was an associate professor at the Cryptology and Cybersecurity department of the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI and a senior programmer at the Federal Research Center for Physical Culture and Sports. He has authored several dozen scientific papers, including on cybersecurity and neural networks. His dissertation work was implemented at Rosneft’s subsidiary Orenburgneft and the IT company Yutek NN, where he has worked since 2017. - Maksim Lupin, 36
Europol suspects him of operating an illegal online trading platform. Throughout his career, he has primarily held positions as IT director or project manager. Since the mid-2010s, he has worked with pro-government organizations, including as a cybersecurity specialist for the war veterans’ group Combat Brotherhood, and as a project manager for ZephyrLab, a company that builds websites for federal ministries. A week before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Lupin became head of the Center for Youth Study and Online Monitoring. As director, he attended meetings of the Presidential Council, the State Council Commission, and the Congress of Young Scientists in Sirius, which was also attended by Putin. - Olga Evstratova, 21
Also identified by Europol as “one of the key members of NoName057(16).” She reportedly operated under the pseudonym olechochek and worked on optimizing the DDoSia attack software. Evstratova graduated from RTU MIREA, according to her VKontakte profile. While still a student, she participated in developer competitions and wrote IT articles for the journal Young Scientist. - Andrei Abrosimov, 45
Wanted by Europol for supporting the group and committing 83 acts of computer sabotage. The Agency identified him as a resident of Novodvinsk in the Arkhangelsk region. In the early 2010s, he worked as an auto mechanic. By 2021, he was earning income from companies involved in industrial insulation, including the Yekaterinburg branch of Firma Energozashchita, which services nuclear power plants, gas pipelines, and petrochemical facilities. - Andrei Muravyov, 48
Also wanted by Europol for allegedly supporting NoName057(16). The Agency identified him as a Z-artist from Chertanovo. He paints works on the war in Ukraine. In his Telegram channel, Muravyov claimed that the reason for his being wanted was creating logos and stickers for the “patriotic channel” NoName057(16). However, the channel’s manifesto states that it is run by the hacker group of the same name, whose stated mission is to fight against the West.