The Guardia Civil has arrested three people in the towns of Manacor (Balearic Islands), Huelva and Seville for their alleged involvement in denial of service cyberattacks against public institutions and strategic sectors in Spain and other NATO countries. Their homes have been searched, and various computer and documentary material of interest has been seized.
These cyberattacks were organised by the hacktivist group NoName057(16), which was born after the beginning of the war resulting from the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and one of the most active since then. In its own founding manifesto, this group recognises that it “will respond proportionally in response to the hostile and openly anti-Russian actions of Western Russophobes”.
The main activity of this group is carrying out Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against websites of public and private organisations in the government sectors, critical infrastructures and essential services, in those countries that have positioned themselves in favour of Ukraine in the context of the armed conflict.
The peculiarity of the cyberattacks carried out by NoName057(16) is that they are carried out using software developed by the group itself, software called “DDoSia”, which is used voluntarily by individuals who support the aims of this hacktivist organisation.
The Guardia Civil is continuing with several lines of investigation to continue identifying participants in the attacks.