Italian Foreign Ministry’s Website Restored After Hacker Attack

The website of Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is back online following a cyberattack, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani confirmed on Sunday, as reported by the local news agency ANSA.

The attack, announced on Friday, had rendered the websites of the Foreign Ministry and Milan’s Linate Airport inaccessible, while the Malpensa Airport site experienced intermittent functionality, as reported by the local news outlet Il Fatto Quotidiano (FQ).

Reuters explains that iIn these types of attacks, known as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS), involve hackers flooding a network with overwhelming data traffic to disrupt its functionality.

According to an earlier report by ANSA, the attack targeted only public-facing portals rather than the entire IT system, resulting in limited disruptions, such as the inability to check flight arrivals and departures, without affecting the overall operation of the airports.

The pro-Russian hacker group NoName057(16) claimed responsibility for the attack in a Telegram post, stating they had targeted several sites, including those of the Foreign Ministry and the two Milan airports. Unlike other pro-Russian groups, NoName057(16) operates independently, using a custom-made DDoSia toolkit, as noted by The Record.

While the Foreign Ministry’s website was quickly restored, the airport sites faced greater challenges, causing disruptions for travelers seeking information. However, there were no reported impacts on air traffic, says FQ. Additionally, Medium noted that the airports’ mobile apps stayed operational despite the website outages.

“This is the third cyberattack in three days,” Minister Tajani stated during a Senate session, as reported by FQ.

He also announced that he had instructed the Ministry’s Secretary-General to initiate reforms, including the establishment of a dedicated Directorate-General for cybersecurity and AI, as reported by FQ.