Europol-coordinated global operation takes down pro-Russian cybercrime network
By MIKE CORDER
A coordinated international operation has hit the infrastructure of a pro-Russian cybercrime network linked to a string of denial of service attacks targeting Ukraine and its allies, the European Union's police agency Europol announced Wednesday.
Codenamed Eastwood, the operation targeted the so-called NoName057(16) group, which was identified last month by Dutch authorities as being behind a series of denial-of-service attacks on several municipalities and organizations linked to a NATO summit in the Netherlands.
Europol said that the cybercrime network was also involved in attacks in Sweden, Germany and Switzerland.
The police agency said the international operation 'led to the disruption of an attack-infrastructure consisting of over one hundred computer systems worldwide, while a major part of the group's central server infrastructure was taken offline.'
Law enforcement and judicial authorities from France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and the United States took simultaneous actions against offenders and infrastructure belonging to the pro-Russian cybercrime network, it said.
Western officials have accused Russia and its proxies of staging dozens of attacks, sabotage attempts and other incidents across Europe since the invasion of Ukraine, including cyberattacks. The Associated Press is tracking them in a detailed map that shows the breadth of efforts to sow division in European societies and undermine support for Ukraine.
As part of the latest operation, judicial authorities in Germany issued six arrest warrants for suspects in Russia, two of them accused of being the main leaders of the group, Europol said. Five of them were identified on Europol's Europe's Most Wanted website.
One suspect was placed under preliminary arrest in France and another detained in Spain, Europol said. The Paris prosecutor's office said one person is in custody in France and communications equipment has been seized. No charges have yet been filed. In the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was involved in the operation.
The attorney general's office in Switzerland, which is not an EU member country, said in a statement Wednesday that joint investigations between Europol and Swiss federal police helped identify three leading members of the group, which is alleged to have targeted more than 200 Swiss websites.
Swiss prosecutors opened a criminal case over the incidents in June 2023, and since then identified several other denial-of-service attacks attributed to the activist group. The attacks included a video address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the Swiss parliament and the popular Eurovision Song Contest, held in in Basel earlier this year.
Europol said members of the cybercrime group initially targeted Ukrainian institutions, 'but have shifted their focus to attacking countries that support Ukraine in the ongoing defence against the Russian war of aggression, many of which are members of NATO.'
Law enforcement authorities in countries involved in the operation contacted hundreds of people believed to support the group to inform them of the crackdown and their alleged liability for its actions.
'Individuals acting for NoName057(16) are mainly Russian-speaking sympathisers who use automated tools to carry out distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Operating without formal leadership or sophisticated technical skills, they are motivated by ideology and rewards,' Europol said.
It added that people recruited by the group were paid in cryptocurrency and motivated using online-gaming dynamics like leader boards and badges.
'This gamified manipulation, often targeted at younger offenders, was emotionally reinforced by a narrative of defending Russia or avenging political events,' Europol said.
Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Diplomat
a minute ago
- The Diplomat
Trump's Tariffs on India Imperil India-US Strategic Relationship
In addition to a 25 percent tariff on Indian exports, Trump has announced an 'unspecified penalty' on India for buying Russian oil and arms. President Donald Trump has announced a 25 percent tariff on all Indian exports to the United States, starting August 7. He also announced an 'unspecified penalty' on India for buying oil and weapons from Russia. The tariffs on India are higher than those Trump imposed on India's export peers in Asia, which will likely make Indian goods less competitive in the U.S. market. American importers will choose suppliers in Vietnam or Indonesia, whose goods will come under lower tariffs. Indian goods worth some $87 billion could be affected if the Trump administration implements the new tariffs. It would shave off 0.5 percent from India's GDP growth, according to some estimates. 'They have one of the highest tariffs in the world now, they're willing to cut it very substantially,' Trump told reporters after his social media post on July 30. 'We're talking to India now – we'll see what happens … You'll know by the end of this week,' he added, seemingly keeping a door open for more talks. A U.S. delegation is to arrive in India for more discussions but that will be well past the August 1 deadline set by Trump for countries to seal bilateral deals with Washington. India's reaction was measured. Its Commerce and Industry Ministry said the government had taken 'note' of Trump's remarks and was examining its implications. Both countries were engaged in talks for arriving at a 'fair, balanced and mutually beneficial' bilateral pact, and India remained 'committed' to that goal, it said. The ministry's statement placed India's red lines front and center – i.e., national interest would take precedence during talks with the U.S., as it had for pacts like the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement concluded between India and the U.K. on July 23-24. In his weekly media briefing today, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said ties between the two countries had 'weathered several transitions and challenges.' The focus, he said, was on the substantive agenda that India and the U.S. have committed to. Trump's announcement of punitive tariffs on India came after he announced trade deals with the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, the European Union (EU), and South Korea. Pakistan also secured a trade deal that saw its tariff rate lowered to 19 percent. U.S. talks with India's strategic rival, China, are said to be at an advanced stage. Beijing is expected to get off easier as it controls the rare earth elements supply chain that the U.S. industry cannot do without. In his 'Liberation Day' announcement on April 2, Trump had slapped India with 26 percent tariffs. Two Indian officials, whom The Diplomat spoke to separately, said that taking a cue from U.S. deals with Japan, Indonesia, and others, New Delhi had been expecting Washington to impose a 15-17 percent tariff rate on India. India is also upset with the 'unspecified penalty' Trump has imposed on it for its purchase of oil and weapons from Russia. After all, New Delhi has not made any big-ticket arms purchases from Russia since the $5.5 billion S400 Triumf missile system deal in 2018. As a result of its strong ties with the former Soviet Union during the Cold War, a large part of India's defense hardware continues to be of Soviet/Russian origin. However, Moscow's share in Indian defense purchases has fallen over the years. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, India's arms imports from Russia fell from 72 percent of its total defense purchases in 2010-14 to 55 percent in 2015-19 and 36 percent in 2024. India has been diversifying its defense acquisitions, and France, Israel, and the United States have emerged among its top procurement sources. Additionally, India is also stressing self-reliance in defense procurement. It hopes to purchase more military hardware manufactured by local companies. It does seem that India's refusal to condemn Russia's war in Ukraine, its purchase of discounted Russian oil, and participation in BRICS meetings underlie Trump's imposition of an 'unspecified penalty' on India. Trump's harsh treatment of India has taken New Delhi by surprise. In February, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump had what seemed to be a successful White House meeting, when the start of talks for a trade pact was announced. Both Modi and Trump had then agreed to boost bilateral trade, which is currently worth $129 billion, to $500 billion by 2030. 'Recognizing that this level of ambition would require new, fair-trade terms, the leaders announced plans to negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by fall of 2025,' a joint statement issued after the Modi-Trump talks said. However, things did not unfold as India expected. Several rounds of talks have followed since then in New Delhi and Washington. But these have not narrowed the differences between the two sides. U.S. demands that India open up its sensitive farm and dairy sectors to U.S. imports, and its seeking of relaxed laws on data storage and digital trade, remain sticking points. Ironically, India was among the few countries that was not worried about Trump's second stint in the White House. It had worked well with the first Trump administration, and New Delhi expected Trump 2.0 to be easy to handle. However, Trump's focus on trade, righting deficits, and abandoning friend-shoring for onshoring has put India in a difficult spot. Trump's tariffs will have implications that go beyond trade. It is likely to have a dampening effect on the India-U.S. strategic relationship, which has been carefully nurtured over the past 25 years by the leadership of both countries across administrations, including Trump himself during his first term in office (2017-2021). In recent decades, India and the U.S. have described themselves as 'engaged democracies' rather than 'estranged democracies' as they were known during the Cold War years, when they were on opposite sides. India-U.S. ties have been warming since the year 2000. The high-water mark came when they signed the 2008 India-U.S. civil nuclear deal that helped integrate Asia's third-largest economy into the global nuclear commerce. With the enhancement of strategic trust, India has also been buying defense hardware from the United States. Since 2008, defense procurement from India has shot up to over $20 billion. U.S. Navy ships now make regular calls at Indian ports, and both sides engage in joint military exercises in India and the U.S. India has been looking to emerge as a pole in a multipolar world with help from strategic partners like the U.S. to achieve its ambition of becoming a developed economy by 2047. Trump's intemperate remarks against the India-Russia partnership, his outreach to Pakistan, which he berated in his first term for its support for terrorism, and his overtures to China, besides pressuring India with high tariffs, have cast a shadow over the India-U.S. strategic partnership. Trump is said to have sought a telephone call with Modi. But it is unclear what the Indian prime minister can offer Trump at this stage to get him to reduce the tariff rate. India had been counting on measures like increased purchases of fuel and military hardware from the U.S., besides making changes in its civil nuclear liability law to remove provisions that penalize suppliers of equipment than operators of plants, to woo Trump. Amendments to India's civil nuclear pact would open the doors for U.S. companies to set up plants in energy-starved India, which currently imports more than 80 percent of its fuel requirements. India does not have the resources to promise reciprocal investments, the central offering made by the EU, Japan, and South Korea in their trade deals with the United States. In the short term, India will have to focus on minimizing the consequences of Trump's punitive tariffs, particularly the ones relating to Russian oil. That is because any disruption in supplies will have a major impact on the Indian economy. In the medium term, a Trump visit to India, planned for September-October, may be deferred if there is no trade deal. This could place a question mark over the future of the Quad and the Indo-Pacific. And in the long run, India may have to examine the consequences of an increasingly unreliable United States. There is talk of a revival of the Russia-India-China or RIC trilateral. Russia has been keen to revive the grouping, while India has seemed noncommittal without an explicit no. Any move to revive the group is likely to anger Trump who sees groupings like RIC and BRICS as anti-U.S. In times of global uncertainty, middle and smaller powers do hedge their bets. In India's case though, China is not a partner it can rely on, given its largely acrimonious relationship with Beijing. Given Russia's current heavy dependence on China, Moscow too may not be the partner to India that it once was. That leaves India with not too many options except for making the best of an existing bad situation — a daunting challenge indeed for Indian diplomacy.
Asahi Shimbun
14 hours ago
- Asahi Shimbun
Taiwan says 20% U.S tariff rate is temporary, aiming to get lower figure
U.S. imported beef is pictured at a supermarket, as the U.S. prepares to announce tariffs on Taiwan, in Taipei, Taiwan July 31, 2025. (REUTERS) TAIPEI--Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Friday that the new 20% tariff rate set by the Trump administration on goods imported from the island is 'temporary', and the government expects to negotiate a lower figure. 'The 20% tariff rate was never Taiwan's target to begin with. We will continue negotiations and strive for a rate that's more favorable for Taiwan,' he told a press briefing. Lai also said specific rates for Taiwanese semiconductors, electronics, as well as information and communication technology are still to be worked out. Those items, which form the backbone of Taiwan's economy and are key to the U.S. efforts to maintain its tech lead over China, are expected to have different rates than the overall Taiwan tariff rate. Rates on such items are currently the subject of a U.S. national security probe, which is being conducted under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Lai said once the results of the probe are resolved, Taiwan's negotiating team will enter into further talks. The U.S. plans to announce the results of the probe in two weeks, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday. A Thursday executive order from U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs ranging from 10% to 41% on U.S. imports from dozens of trading partners. While the 20% rate for Taiwan is less than the 32% threatened in April, it notably exceeds the 15% rates declared for Japan, South Korea and the European Union. A U.S. official said Lai's statement that negotiations were continuing was 'accurate.' 'The interim rate is lower than the original rate, and it's much lower than that of several other major trading partners with ongoing negotiations. We can interpret this as Taiwan's offer being well received and being close to a final agreement,' said the official who declined to be identified, given the sensitivity of the issue. Taiwan had the sixth-largest trade deficit with the U.S. last year, exporting about $74 billion more to the U.S. than it took in, according to data from the U.S. and Taiwan governments. According to Yuanta Securities, the so-called reciprocal rate that currently stands at 20% would only affect about a quarter of Taiwan's exports to the United States. 'This tariff rate is only an outpost battle in the intense Taiwan-U.S. tariff negotiations,' it said in a note to clients on Friday. Taiwan is home to TSMC, the world's biggest contract chip manufacturer and producer of advanced AI chips, as well as a raft of other semiconductor-related companies. TSMC, which counts Nvidia and Apple as key clients, announced plans for a $100 billion U.S. investment with Trump at the White House in March. That came on top of $65 billion pledged for three plants in the state of Arizona. The TAIEX stock index fell 1.3% in early Friday trade but later pared losses to 0.3%.
Japan Today
15 hours ago
- Japan Today
Trump's new higher tariffs for Japan, others to take effect on Aug. 7
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that hits nearly all trading partners with higher tariffs ranging from 10 percent to 41 percent, effective on Aug. 7, including the authorization of a 15 percent rate on goods imported from Japan. Trump's order, which threatens to disrupt the global trade system, came just hours before the planned expiration of his monthslong pause on sweeping tariffs targeting dozens of countries with which the United States runs trade deficits. He was due to impose a broad set of country-specific higher tariffs on Friday as part of his campaign to revive American manufacturing, after pausing them for nearly four months to negotiate individual deals with key trading partners. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said earlier in the day at a press conference, "Tomorrow, August 1, the reciprocal rates will be going into effect," as Trump had repeatedly suggested. But following the disclosure of the executive order, the White House confirmed that the tariff rates will instead begin Aug. 7. A White House official said the delay was created to provide "ample time" for customs authorities to fully implement the new tariffs. The existing duty rates remain in place until then. Trump announced "Liberation Day" tariffs on April 2, before pausing them for 90 days to create time for negotiations. His administration later extended the pause to Friday, since little progress was made in talks with major trading partners. But it managed to clinch deals before the deadline with some in recent weeks, including Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and the European Union. The administration's baseline, or universal, tariff of 10 percent covering imports from almost all countries in the world, did not fall under the scope of the pause. As for Japan, the United States will maintain the 10 percent tariff rate on many imports, excluding cars and other products covered by separate sectoral duties, until it begins imposing the 15 percent levy on Aug. 7. Except for those subject to individual tariff rates, Trump's order said all others will face a 10 percent tariff rate, and it will also take effect on Aug. 7. The order listed new tariff rates for about 70 countries and areas, many of which have yet to secure deals with the United States. Among those in Asia, Taiwan, a leading exporter of semiconductors, will be hit with a rate of 20 percent, Thailand with 19 percent, India with 25 percent and Laos with 40 percent. Trump said in the directive that some "do not sufficiently address imbalances in our trading relationship or have failed to align sufficiently with the United States on economic and national security matters." It said goods determined to have been transshipped to evade U.S. tariffs will be subject to a 40 percent duty plus an unspecified "fine or penalty." It also said the new tariffs will not apply to goods that are loaded onto ships before Aug. 7 and enter the United States for consumption by Oct. 5. Last week, the Trump administration reached a trade deal with Japan under which Trump's special tariff rate for the country was lowered to 15 percent from 25 percent in return for Tokyo committing to massive investments in the United States in the coming years. As Japan promised to buy more energy and agricultural products from the United States, the agreement also resulted in Japanese autos being subject to a 15 percent tariff, down from the hefty 27.5 percent rate that took effect in April. It remains unclear when the lowered 15 percent auto tariff will take effect, although Japan has sought its implementation as early as possible. After Japan, the United States struck similar deals with the EU and South Korea, with each securing tariff rates of 15 percent for the reciprocal and auto tariffs. The administration has decided to grant several other exceptions. On Thursday, Trump said he will continue with the current 25 percent tariff on some Mexican goods imported into the United States for 90 days, holding off on the higher 30 percent tariff that he has threatened while the neighbors negotiate. A separate Trump order issued in the evening raised Canada's tariff rate from 25 percent to 35 percent, beginning Friday. With China, the United States has a different 90-day tariff truce that is set to expire Aug. 12. In May, the two countries suspended most of the hefty tariffs levied on each other's goods for that duration. © KYODO
