Russia-Backed Hacker Ruined 2,000 Pounds Of Meat In LA County Cyberattack: DOJ

LOS ANGELES, CA — A Ukrainian woman is facing federal charges claiming she played a key part in Russian state-sponsored cyberattacks, including tampering with public water systems and an attack on a Los Angeles County company that led to the spoilage of more than 2,000 pounds of meat.

Victoria Eduardovna Dubranova, 33 — also known as "Vika," "Tory" and "SovaSonya" — faces charges in two indictments. She was extradited to the U.S. earlier this year, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The first indictment charges Dubranova with working as an operative for Cyber Army of Russia Reborn (CARR). The organization, which is also known as Z-Pentest, is funded and directed by the Russian Armed Forces, according to prosectors.

The group primarily hacked industrial control facilities and conducted DDoS attacks, a kind of malicious attempt to disrupt normal traffic to web services.

"CARR’s victims included public drinking water systems across several states in the U.S., resulting in damage to controls and the spilling of hundreds of thousands of gallons of drinking water," the U.S. Attorney's Office wrote.

"CARR also attacked a meat processing facility in Los Angeles in November 2024, spoiling thousands of pounds of meat and triggering an ammonia leak in the facility. CARR has attacked U.S. election infrastructure during U.S. elections, and websites for U.S. nuclear regulatory entities, among other sensitive targets," prosecutors wrote.

Dubranova faces charges of one count of conspiracy to damage protected computers and tamper with public water systems, one count of damaging protected computers, one count of access device fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft.

The other indictment charges Dubranova with working as an operative for NoName057(16), a "covert project" established by Russian President Vladimir Putin that purported to monitor the safety of the internet for Russian youth, though prosecutors say the organization in fact claimed credit for hundreds of cyberattacks worldwide.

"NoName’s victims included government agencies, financial institutions, and critical infrastructure, such as public railways and ports. NoName recruited volunteers from around the world to download DDoSia and used their computers to launch DDoS attacks on the victims that NoName leaders selected. NoName also published a daily leaderboard of volunteers who launched the most DDoS attacks on its Telegram channel and paid top-ranking volunteers in cryptocurrency for their attacks," prosecutors wrote.

Dubranova faces charges of one count of conspiracy to damage protected computers.

The U.S. State Department on Tuesday offered potential rewards of up to $2 million for information on people associated with CARR and up to $10 million for those associated with NoName.

City News Service contributed to this report.