ROME: Italy has thwarted “a sequence of cyberattacks” of “Russian origin” focusing on the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, the international minister mentioned Wednesday (Feb 4), as safety operations ramp up with simply hours to go earlier than the opening ceremony.
The assaults have been “on international ministry workplaces, beginning with Washington, and likewise some Winter Olympics websites, together with accommodations in Cortina”, Antonio Tajani mentioned throughout a visit to the US metropolis.
His workplace didn’t present additional particulars, nor did the Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) instantly reply to a request for remark.
However a Russian hacker group claimed duty for the assault, which it mentioned was in response to the Italian government’s support for Ukraine.
“The professional-Ukrainian course of the Italian authorities results in the truth that help for Ukrainian terrorists is punishable by our DDoS missiles on web sites,” learn a press release on a Telegram channel purporting to symbolize the group Noname057.
DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) assaults halt entry to a web site by overloading its servers with visitors.
AFP was not capable of instantly confirm the account’s possession however its statements seem to match these cited by cybersecurity analysts on-line.
The group mentioned it had attacked the web sites of a number of accommodations in Cortina d’Ampezzo, one of many cities internet hosting occasions for the February 6-22 Video games.
Entry to one among them remained blocked on Wednesday afternoon.
