The Russia-linked hacktivist group NoName057(16) has announced a joint attack on Swedish internet infrastructure along with the groups: People’s CyberArmy, 22C, CyberDragon, Horus Team, UserSec, and Phoenix – according to the OSINT analysts at Check Point Research. Among the targets of the pro-Russian hackers were also the mPay.pl and obywatel.gov.pl websites.
The Russia-linked hacker groups claim they have attacked websites of numerous Swedish authorities, as well as obywatel.gov.pl, the Polish mobile payment operator mPay, and websites related to the authorities of the Czech Republic. The DDoS attack on Polish institutions was announced by the NoName057(16) group on their Telegram channel.
Currently, both Polish websites are operating smoothly, therefore, the pro-Russian hacker’s actions turned out once again to be ineffective, and at best only briefly disrupted the operation of Polish portals. “The goal of Russian groups is to disrupt the smooth operation of public institutions and to increase anxiety in Poland as an active partner supporting Ukraine during the war,” commented Wojciech Głażewski, country manager of Check Point Software in Poland, on earlier attempts at attacks.
Increasingly frequent DDoS attacks are not the only threat. Check Point Research specialists draw attention to the phenomenon of increasing hacktivism, supported by states (mainly Russia), with a noticeable increase in cyber activities related to geopolitical conflicts. Cybercriminals are believed to be using increasingly sophisticated techniques, exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities, to carry out ransom attacks. “In 2023 alone, over 5000 victims of ransom attacks were recorded – an increase of 90% compared to 2022. Ransomware now accounts for 10% of all malicious programs attacking computer networks worldwide,” warn the authors of Check Point’s 2024 Cyber Security Report.
