Ethical Hacking News
The UK government has warned about the persistent targeting of critical infrastructure by Russia-linked hacktivists carrying out DDoS attacks. These groups are ideologically motivated, aiming to disrupt networks against Western support for Ukraine. The NCSC urges organisations to strengthen their defenses and be prepared to respond to these attacks.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has issued an alert about persistent targeting of UK organisations by Russian state-aligned hacktivist groups. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are being carried out against critical infrastructure and local government systems. These attacks can cause significant disruption, operational damage, and financial harm despite being technically simple. The attacks are motivated by ideological opposition to Western support for Ukraine. NoName057(16) has been identified as a pro-Russian hacker responsible for numerous DDoS attacks against government and private organisations across NATO and Europe. Organisations must review their defenses and be prepared to respond to DoS attacks to protect critical infrastructure from the disruptive effects of DDoS attacks.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a part of GCHQ, has issued an alert warning about the persistent targeting of UK organisations by Russian state-aligned hacktivist groups. These groups are continuing to carry out Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against critical infrastructure and local government systems.
The NCSC has highlighted that these DDoS attacks are technically simple yet can cause significant disruption, operational damage, and financial harm. The alert emphasizes that organisations, particularly those in the public sector and operators of critical national infrastructure, must review their defenses and be prepared to respond to DoS attacks.
These attacks are not carried out by financially motivated entities but rather by Russian-aligned hacktivist groups with an ideological motivation against Western support for Ukraine. These groups have been identified as pro-Russian hackers, such as NoName057(16), who have launched frequent DDoS attacks against government and private organisations across NATO and Europe.
NoName057(16) has been active since 2022 and has targeted numerous entities, including the Swedish government, banking sites, over 250 German entities in 14 attack waves, disrupted events such as the Ukraine Peace Summit, and was linked to an attack during a recent NATO summit by Dutch authorities. These attacks were mitigated without major disruptions.
The group employs a self-built botnet composed of hundreds of servers, which they use to spread propaganda and recruit new members through social media platforms, forums, and niche chat apps. The attackers exploit poorly secured Virtual Private Network (VNC) connections to access operational technology (OT) devices in critical infrastructure, causing varying impacts, including physical damage, primarily targeting sectors such as water, food, agriculture, and energy.
The UK's NCSC has repeatedly warned about the threat posed by Russian-linked hacktivists who now also target operational technology systems. The centre urges all OT owners to follow recommended mitigation advice to harden their cyber defenses.
In light of this ongoing threat, the NCSC is advising organisations, especially those in critical infrastructure and local governments, to take necessary precautions against DDoS attacks linked to Russian-aligned groups. This includes understanding weak points in services, using Internet Service Provider (ISP) and third-party DDoS protections, enabling scalable infrastructure, preparing response plans, and regularly testing and monitoring systems to quickly detect and handle attacks.
These measures are essential to protect critical infrastructure from the disruptive effects of DDoS attacks, which may not be financially motivated but can still cause significant operational and financial damage. The NCSC's warning highlights the evolving nature of this threat and the need for organisations to stay vigilant in their cyber defenses against Russian-linked hacktivists.
Related Information:
https://www.ethicalhackingnews.com/articles/Russia-Linked-Hacktivists-Continue-to-Disrupt-Critical-Infrastructure-with-DDoS-Attacks-ehn.shtml
Published: Tue Jan 20 03:12:45 2026 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
