“Yesterday’s attack is just a warning.” The hacker group NoName057(16) is once again making headlines, which yesterday repeatedly tried to compromise, sometimes succeeding, sometimes not, the sites of the Carabinieri, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Defense, and private companies, such as the Tim Group, Banca Bper and A2A. The Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened a file on the case, the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN) is constantly monitoring the situation. As anticipated yesterday by La Stampa, new hacking attempts by pro-Russian or Russian-speaking groups are expected in the coming weeks. The possible targets, intelligence sources point out, are healthcare infrastructures, school infrastructures and private companies, as well as institutional sites. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani also spoke on yesterday’s attacks today, defining the cyber offensive “a threat, a warning” after Giorgia Meloni’s visit to Kiev.
Ukraine – Russia, today’s war news
Message from hackers: ‘Yesterday’s attacks just a warning’
One year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ferment of crime gangs on the web continues to be high. And propaganda remains one of the most significant voices. The same that is leading NoName057(16) to massively disseminate information on an imminent mass attack against Italy, considered «Russophobic» and too close to Ukraine. Especially after the announcement of the shipment of the sixth package of armaments to Kiev. «The Russophobic authorities of Italy understood everything correctly: the series of our cyber attacks on Italian sites is nothing more than a warning. If Italy continues to support the Zelensky regime, it will receive more cyberattacks,” write the hacktivists. So far the attacks conducted, as explained by the National Cybersecurity Agency yesterday, from a technical point of view have not been high in terms of volume but “directed at applications therefore more complex”. It is not excluded, intelligence sources explain, “an intensification in the next few days, even with more sophisticated initiatives than those observed so far, which are all in all very basic, almost trivial”. The suspicion is that ransomware can be used, i.e. situations such as to block internal networks that can only be released upon payment of a ransom.
Hacker attack on Italy: the sites of the carabinieri, banks and large companies are targeted. The signature of a pro-Russian collective
fabrizio goria, archangel rociola
The frequently used technique is that of the DDoS attack (Distributed Denial of Service) in which the attacker tries to exploit the fragility of the HTTP servers, sending a significant amount of partial requests for access to the site. Which ends up blocking access to the portal itself, as happened yesterday to that of the Carabinieri, causing inconvenience to the population. A technique frequently used by Kremlin propaganda, which acts through hacker groups from Belarus or from more or less dormant cells in the Balkans. It is no coincidence that more than one intelligence source warns of possible connections between NoName057(16) and Moscow. “There is an ongoing hybrid war scenario like today’s one, it is normal to expect an attempt to compromise strategic infrastructures capable of damaging daily life”, warn the sources.
Hacker vehicle of Russian propaganda in Italy
Yesterday’s attacks did little damage. These are, the experts explain, demonstrative attacks. Not intended to ask for a ransom, but to create a disservice. And get talked about. Hackers try to undermine citizens’ trust in institutions. In fact they are a vehicle of Russian propaganda. They claim it in their messages. This is confirmed by the actions carried out so far.
That they are demonstrative acts does not mean that they are not dangerous. This is demonstrated by the concern leaked yesterday by several Italian cybersecurity experts. The number of attacks on Italy is on the rise. In number and complexity. In 2022 alone, it grew by 40% compared to the previous year. And in recent months there has been further growth with attacks that have caused a stir, such as the one launched against the Roman utility Acea. Also in that case, behind the attack, a Russian-speaking collective: Killnet, author of several attacks last year also on Italian institutional sites. After a year of kinetic warfare in Ukraine, cyber warfare between Russia and the West is still a hot front.