Centre1

Centre1 operates as a news outlet, providing news coverage and information to its audience. It functions under the alias Centre1, which is used to identify the organisation in public reporting. The organisation's primary activity is the dissemination of news and current affairs content.

The organisation's headquarters are located in Uzbekistan, placing its operational base within the country. This location situates Centre1 within Uzbekistan's media landscape.

Centre1 was explicitly named as a target of cyberattacks carried out by Uzbekistan's National Security Service Unit 02616. The attacks aimed to surveil journalists, dissidents, and human rights activists, with Centre1 cited as one of the news outlets affected. Off‑the‑shelf surveillance tools from vendors such as FinFisher and former Hacking Team services were employed in the operation. The state‑sponsored effort also utilised the internally developed Sharpa hacking framework to compromise devices.

The source material does not disclose any details about Centre1's ownership, parent company, or subsidiary structure. Therefore, no information on its corporate governance or affiliations can be provided from the available data.

The incident highlights the risks faced by media organisations in Uzbekistan when covering topics deemed sensitive by the state. Centre1's experience illustrates how state actors may use cyber capabilities to monitor and gather compromising material on news outlets. Such actions are intended to enable surveillance and to discredit government opponents through the acquisition of private information. The case underscores the broader pattern of state‑linked cyber operations targeting domestic critics in the country.