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Italian public administration targeted by hackers

Cyber Security

CIO Bulletin
2018-11-20

Roberto Baldoni, the person helming Italy’s cybersecurity in a news conference has announced that unknown miscreants had gained access to “Italian certified email accounts.” These email accounts included those of security officials and magistrates.

He went on to say that this was the worst attack the country has seen since January of this year but the situation is under control now. The attack happened on November 12 and targeted a server near Rome that is responsible for handling certified email accounts of public administration officials.

The cybersecurity official speculated that the attack could have helped the hackers access data of around 500,000 accounts. These included around 9,000 magistrates as well as members of a “top inter-governmental security agency.” Because of the cyber attack, the IT system used by Italy’s appeals court has been suspended as of now.

In a preliminary investigation, one thing is clear, that the attack was not launched from Italy. Thus, opening up the possibility of a state-sponsored attack. Mr. Baldoni further explained that even though the attack at first didn’t look very technical, it was definitely a serious attack. He has asked his fellow citizens with certified email accounts to change their passwords immediately.