By SDCN Staff
Washington, D.C.–The Justice Department has unsealed two federal indictments in the Central District of California charging a Ukrainian national with helping orchestrate Russian-backed cyberattacks on critical infrastructure and other targets worldwide.
Federal prosecutors said Victoria Eduardovna Dubranova, 33, also known as Vika, Tory, and SovaSonya, played a key role in cyber operations conducted in support of Russia’s geopolitical objectives. She was extradited to the United States earlier this year to face charges related to her work with the group CyberArmyofRussia_Reborn, or CARR, and has since been arraigned on a second indictment tied to the group NoName057(16), or NoName.
Dubranova pleaded not guilty to charges in both cases. Trial in the NoName matter is scheduled for Feb. 3, 2026, and in the CARR case for April 7, 2026.
According to the indictments, CARR and NoName conducted widespread cyberattacks against government agencies, public utilities, financial institutions, and other entities, including U.S. critical infrastructure. Prosecutors say both groups received financial and operational backing from the Russian government. CARR allegedly used Russian funding to purchase access to cybercriminal tools, including distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attack services. NoName, prosecutors say, operated as a state-sanctioned project partially run by an information-technology organization created by order of the Russian president in 2018.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said the indictments reflect ongoing efforts to deter Russian state-linked cyber operations.
“Today’s actions demonstrate the Department’s commitment to disrupting malicious Russian cyber activity, whether conducted directly by state actors or their criminal proxies,” Eisenberg said.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California called the groups a significant threat to national security, citing attacks targeting American critical infrastructure and pro-NATO interests abroad.
The FBI said it continues to work with international partners to identify and disrupt state-sponsored hacking campaigns.
“When pro-Russia hacktivist groups target our infrastructure, the FBI will use all available tools to expose their activity and hold them accountable,” said Brett Leatherman, assistant director of the FBI Cyber Division.
The Environmental Protection Agency said some attacks linked to CARR damaged public water systems in multiple states. EPA Acting Assistant Administrator Craig Pritzlaff said Dubranova’s actions “put communities and the nation’s drinking water resources at risk.”
Prosecutors say CARR, also known as Z-Pentest, was founded and directed by the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, or GRU, and claimed credit for hundreds of cyberattacks. Victims included drinking water systems, which in some cases saw spills of hundreds of thousands of gallons of water; a Los Angeles meat processing plant, where an attack caused spoilage of thousands of pounds of meat and an ammonia leak; U.S. election-related systems; and nuclear regulatory websites.
Prosecutors also described involvement by an individual using the alias “Cyber_1ce_Killer,” tied to at least one GRU officer, who allegedly directed CARR on target selection and provided funding for hacking tools.
CARR at times had more than 100 members and tens of thousands of followers on Telegram, according to the indictment.
Dubranova faces charges in the CARR case, including conspiracy to damage protected computers and tamper with public water systems, damaging protected computers, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft. The counts carry a maximum possible sentence of 27 years in federal prison.
NoName, whose participants allegedly included employees of the Center for the Study and Network Monitoring of the Youth Environment-an IT entity created by Russian presidential order-also claimed hundreds of attacks worldwide, prosecutors said. The group allegedly operated a proprietary DDoS tool called DDoSia and recruited global volunteers, offering cryptocurrency payments to top participants.
In the NoName case, Dubranova is charged with one count of conspiracy to damage protected computers, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.
