NCSC Warns of Russian Hacktivists Targeting UK

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has issued a warning about persistent activity by Russian-aligned hacktivist groups, with a focus on disrupting operations, taking websites offline and disabling services both in the UK and globally. At the centre of this activity is a group known as NoName057(16), active since March 2022 and explicitly targeting government and private sector entities in NATO member states and other nations perceived as hostile to Russian geopolitical interests.

The group’s tactic is primarily Distributed Denial of Service attacks, which have frequently targeted UK local government, and they operate mainly through Telegram channels while using GitHub and other sites to host the DDoSia tool and share tactics. These attackers are ideologically motivated rather than financially, marking an evolution in the threat landscape toward disruption and reputational damage, including greater focus on operational technology.

To mitigate the risk, organisations are urged to ensure their services can rapidly scale, consider cloud-native APIs or modern virtualization, and implement a robust response plan with graceful degradation, while reviewing heightened cyber threat guidance and hardening OT defenses.