### Arrests and Seizures The **FIOD** arrested a 57-year-old director of the implicated web hosting company and a 39-year-old head of a separate firm providing internet connectivity. Authorities allege that the suspects indirectly provided economic resources to Russian and Belarusian entities under **EU** sanctions. ### Stark Industries and Sanctions The investigation focuses on the activities of web hosting firm **Stark Industries**, established shortly before Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 10, 2022. "The [Dutch] web hosting company, according to the research team, provided support to actions by the Russian Federation that undermine democracy and security, including through information manipulation and disruption of public and economic systems," **FIOD** stated in a press release. The **EU** added **Stark Industries** to its list of sanctioned entities on May 20 of the previous year. Subsequently, the web hosting infrastructure was reportedly transferred to a newly formed Dutch company, suspected by investigators to be a front for the sanctioned entities. ### Raids and Evidence Collection The recent operation involved multiple raids on data centers in Dronten and Schiphol-Rijk, along with searches in Enschede and Almere. During these raids, authorities seized 800 servers, laptops, phones, and administrative records.  ### WorkTitans B.V. and THE.Hosting According to a report by **De Volkskrant**, the Dutch entity in question is named **WorkTitans B.V.**, which provides hosting services under the brand **THE.Hosting**. The same publication alleges that Danish authorities and infrastructure providers have linked **WorkTitans** to attacks carried out by the pro-Russian hacktivist group **NoName057(16)**, which has previously targeted key organizations with distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. ### Mirhosting's Role **Mirhosting**, based in Almere, allegedly operated physical servers, provided colocation services, and supplied high-capacity connectivity to major internet exchanges in Amsterdam and Frankfurt. This setup served as the transport layer through which **Stark's** traffic entered Europe, ultimately reaching the **WorkTitans** infrastructure. **WorkTitans** did not respond to **De Volkskrant's** requests for comment. **Mirhosting**, however, denied knowingly supporting illegal operations, asserting that they promptly intervened upon receiving abuse complaints.