Cyber ​​attacks on Italian ministries: Who is behind it?

Cyber ​​attacks on Italian ministries: Who is behind it?

In an alarming wave of cyber attacks, the pro-Russian hacker group Noname057 (16) targeted numerous websites of Italian ministries and institutions on Saturday. The attack even included a variety of official pages, including that of the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Transport and the Carabinieri. Reports from krone.at this DDOS attack led to temporary disorders, but the effects were significantly reduced by IT experts with measures such as geofencing and data traffic redirection. In many cases, the websites remained unavailable for about an hour, but this was not classified as particularly critical.

The hackers justified their attacks with the support that Italy promises Italy in Ukraine. At a meeting with the Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj, the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made it clear that Italy continues to be alongside Ukraine and that the support would not decrease. Against the background of these events, it should be mentioned that Italy has recently repeatedly target top-class cyber attacks, including an incident in December that affects the IT systems of the Milan airports.

Focus on cyber attacks in Germany

tagesschau.de , websites were affected by ministries in several federal states. Information on the nature of these attacks indicates targeted overload of the servers. In Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in particular, ministries and the state police were temporarily paralyzed. The authorities are currently working intensively to clarify the incidents and prevent future waves of attack.

Surprisingly, a connection between the attacks on German websites and ongoing attacks against a new platform of the Federal Ministry of Development is suspected, which is intended to serve as a central point of contact for reconstruction in Ukraine. So far, this platform has been able to withstand the attacks. Interestingly, similar DDOS attacks also took place in Finland, in direct connection with NATO accession, which reinforces urgency to improve cyber security across Europe.