ROME -- New attacks from pro-Russian hacker, Noname057(16), have targeted several Italian institutions. According to reports from the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN), they intercepted hackers attacking the personal website of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the Ministries of Infrastructure and Economic Development, and a subdomain of the Guardia di Finanza. 

  As claimed by Noname057(16) on their Telegram channel, the cyberattacks began at 9a.m. on Tuesday morning, with the ACN alerting authorities and initiating countermeasures. The sites have remained intact and can continue to be reached. 

  “Italy is preparing a new military aid package for the criminal regime in Kyiv.” the hackers announced via their Telegram channel. “It will be presented at the G7 summit in June and its key element is the Samp-T air defence system, developed with France. We remind the Italian authorities of the consequences of aiding the criminal Zelensky regime.” 

  Previous attacks were launched by the hacking group in March 2023, once again targeting institutional Italian websites. These included Atac, the Ministry of Transport, the Transport Regulatory Authority, Bologna Airport, Camera.it, Difesa.it, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the government website. In Aug 2023, Noname057(16) shifted focus to 16 Italian banks: Bper, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Banca popolare di Sondrio, Fineco, and Chebanca.

  These kinds of cyberattacks are known as a ‘Distributed denial of service’ (DDOS), where the sites are blocked by the hackers flooding them with access requests. While these DDOS attacks do not usually cause damage to the sites, this type of hacking is can be used to send a political message or spread propaganda. 

lw