Premier Giorgia Meloni's government on
Monday held a meeting of top cybersecurity officials after Italy
was among several countries hit by a wave of attacks by hackers
on Sunday, saying the attacks were probably not from a hostile
state but perpetrated by criminal hackers who intended to exact
ransom money..
The attacks compromised dozens of IT systems in Italy in both
the public and private sectors, according to reports.
Cabinet Secretary Alfredo Mantovano, who is extremely close to
Meloni, National Cybersecurity Agency Director Roberto Baldoni
and Elisabetta Belloni, the director of the information and
security department, were among the officials taking part in the
meeting.
After the meeting, the premier's office at Palazzo Chigi said
that critical sectors of the Italian economy and public
administration had not been hit in the wave of attacks.
They said the wave was probably the result of action by
professional criminal hackers.
The office also said that those who had not protected themselves
"paid the effects" of their lack of protection.
Palazzo Chigi stressed the need to intensify protection
measures.
"With regard to the worldwide hacker attack, the meeting held
this morning at Palazzo Chigi, coordinated by Undersecretary
with responsibility for cybersecurity Alfredo Mantovano, with
engineer Roberto Baldoni and Ambassador Elisabetta Belloni,
served to verify that, despite the seriousness of the incident,
in Italy no primary institution or company operating in sectors
critical to national security was affected", said Palazzo Chigi
in a statement.
"In the course of the initial reconnaissance activities carried
out by the ACN-National Cybersecurity Agency, together with the
Postal Police, no evidence has emerged that points to an attack
by a state subject or one similar to a hostile state; instead,
the action of cybercriminals, who demand the payment of a
'ransom', is probable".
The statement further said that since February 2021, cyber
attacks "had been identified by ACN as hypothetically possible"
and "the Agency had alerted all sensitive actors to take the
necessary protective measures. Some took the warning into due
consideration, others did not, and unfortunately today they are
paying the consequences'.
It explained further, using an analogy: "It is as if in February
2021 a particularly aggressive virus had started to circulate,
the health authorities had urged fragile people to take
appropriate preventive measures, and after a while the damage to
health emerged for those who did not."
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