HackNeT — Hacktivist Profile
HackNeT is a pro-Russian hacktivist collective that began posting on Telegram in February 2023, conducting distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) campaigns against government, transportation, healthcare, and political websites in Ukraine, NATO member states, and the wider EU. It routinely coordinates joint operations with other Russia-aligned Telegram hacktivist groups — most often NoName057(16), the Cyber Army of Russia Reborn / People's Cyber Army, CyberDragon, 22C, and UserSec Collective — sharing target lists and claiming attacks through its own Telegram channel (roughly 1,000-27,000 subscribers across 2024 reporting). During the June 6-9, 2024 European Parliament elections, HackNeT claimed 18 DDoS attacks on government and transport sites across multiple EU states, including Ireland's Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus, the voter.ie registration portal, and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland; Irish authorities said the attempts caused no meaningful disruption because the targeted sites were well-prepared. The following month it joined an allied 'trial' DDoS campaign against French sites (including the Grand Palais) ahead of the Paris Olympics. HackNeT is explicitly unrelated to the separate, Sandworm-linked 'XakNet Team' despite the similar name — vendors note the two are distinct groups.
Vendor research
Countries linked to this actor
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