Dutch financial crime investigators raided two data centres and shut down 800 servers operated by WorkTitans and MIRhosting. The servers were suspected of violating EU sanctions by providing hosting infrastructure to entities controlled by sanctioned individuals. Two men were arrested: Youssef Zinad, owner of WorkTitans, and Andrey Nesterenko, founder of MIRhosting. The investigation traced the hosting activity to Moldovan brothers Iurie and Ivan Neculiti, who ran Stark Industries Solutions and were sanctioned by the European Union in May 2025 for enabling Russian state-sponsored cyberattacks and destabilising activities. The brothers reportedly received advance warning about the sanctions and allegedly moved infrastructure to avoid enforcement.
"Dutch financial crime investigators have seized 800 servers and arrested two men in a crackdown on hosting companies that provided infrastructure for Russian state-sponsored cyberattacks across Europe. The Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service ( FIOD) raided two data centres last week and shut down servers operated by WorkTitans and MIRhosting, two companies suspected of violating EU sanctions by renting server space to entities controlled by sanctioned individuals."
"The arrests targeted Youssef Zinad, the 57-year-old owner of WorkTitans, and Andrey Nesterenko, the 39-year-old founder of MIRhosting. Nesterenko, a Russian citizen based in the Netherlands, is a prize-winning concert pianist. He denied wrongdoing in a LinkedIn message, saying he had cut off the relationship with the sanctioned individuals after they were blacklisted and that MIRhosting had not seen anything suspicious originating from its network."
"The case traces back to Iurie and Ivan Neculiti, two Moldovan brothers who ran Stark Industries Solutions, a hosting company that became one of the most prolific enablers of Russian cyberattacks in Europe after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In May 2025, the European Union sanctioned the Neculiti brothers and their companies for helping Russian state-sponsored hackers conduct cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, and other destabilising activities against EU member states."
#cybercrime #sanctions-evasion #hosting-infrastructure #russian-state-sponsored-hacking #european-union-enforcement
Read at TNW | Data-Security
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