A pro-Russian hacker group accused by European authorities of carrying out cyberattacks against governments, banks and infrastructure across the West has turned participation in cybercrime into what it calls a “patriotic online game,” recruiting volunteers through Telegram and rewarding them with cryptocurrency.

The group, NoName057(16), has claimed responsibility for waves of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on public institutions and private companies across Europe since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Western intelligence agencies and Europol say the hackers function as part of Russia’s broader hybrid war against countries supporting Kyiv.

An…