Russian hackers target Romanian state websites on election day

A Russian-linked hacktivist group known as NoName057(16) claimed responsibility for cyberattacks on several Romanian websites over the weekend, as voters headed to the polls to elect a new president.

Among the targets of the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks were the official websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Romanian government, the Constitutional Court and several presidential candidates.

Romania’s National Directorate for Cyber Security (DNSC) confirmed the attacks, saying the affected websites had been restored. DDoS attacks typically flood targeted sites with traffic, making them unreachable.

NoName057(16) was established at the onset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and is known for orchestrating relatively simple and short-lived DDoS attacks with the help of hundreds of volunteers. The group has primarily targeted European countries, including Poland, Czechia, Lithuania and Italy.

Last week, the group attacked several Dutch and European organizations in retaliation for the Netherlands’ military support for Ukraine.

In a statement on Sunday, NoName057 said it had delivered a “DDoS surprise” to Romania on the day of the election rerun.

In December, Romania’s Constitutional Court annulled the first round of the presidential election after declassified intelligence revealed that Russian interference, including a sophisticated guerilla campaign on TikTok and other social media sites, had influenced the results.

The winner of Sunday’s rerun, George Simion, is the far-right leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR). He opposes military aid to Ukraine and is an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump.

According to media reports, Simion’s campaign published dozens of TikTok videos each day, many of them filmed in rural areas. The campaign also received support from meme pages and nationalist influencers, helping to amplify his message among younger voters.