NoName057(16) – the Pro-Russian hacktivist group targeting NATO
January 2023 by SentinelOne
NoName057(16) has been noted since March 2022, and at the end of last year, its activity disrupted the Polish government website after the Republic of Poland officially recognised Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism in mid-December 2022. Most recently, the group targeted the Danish financial sector, impacting leading financial institutions as reported by Reuters.
Also known as NoName05716, 05716nnm or Nnm05716, the group is primarily focused on disrupting websites important to nations critical of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Its initial attacks focused on Ukrainian news websites, while later shifting to NATO associated targets.
The group is using Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks as the method of conducting such disruption efforts.
Key findings:
Pro-Russia hacktivist group NoName057(16) is conducting a campaign of DDoS attacks on Ukraine and NATO organisations that began in the early days of the war in Ukraine. Targets have included government organisations and critical infrastructure.
NoName057(16) was responsible for disrupting services across the financial sector of Denmark this week. Other recent attacks include organisations and businesses across Poland, Lithuania and others.
On 11th January, SentinelLabs observed NoName057(16) targeting 2023 Czech presidential election candidates’ websites.
SentinelLabs has identified how the group operates over public Telegram channels, a volunteer-fuelled DDoS payment programme, a multi-OS supported toolkit, and GitHub.
Conclusion
NoName057(16) is yet another hacktivist group to emerge following the war in Ukraine. While not technically sophisticated, they are still capable of having an impact on service availability– even if generally short lived. This group represents an increased interest in volunteer-fuelled attacks, while now adding in payments to its most impactful contributors. It is anticipated that such groups will continue to thrive in today’s highly contentious political climate.