Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has pointed to pro-Russian hackers as responsible for releasing Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani's personal information on the dark web. In remarks distributed by ANSA on Saturday, Meloni characterized the distribution of government officials' data as a matter of serious national concern.
Tajani disclosed on X that the hackers had been circulating his information for several days and were actively seeking additional details about him and his relatives, offering payment in exchange. He attributed the targeting to Italy's backing of Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.
I will not be intimidated in any way
Antonio Tajani, on X
While neither official identified the perpetrators by name, Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano reported, according to LaPresse, that NoName057(16), a pro-Russian hacking collective, was behind the leak. TNW has not independently verified this attribution.
NoName057(16) has gained notoriety primarily for conducting distributed denial-of-service attacks designed to overwhelm and disable websites. In May, Dutch law enforcement dismantled 800 servers connected to the group.
According to LaPresse, other Italian officials faced similar targeting, including Francesco Lo Voi, Rome's chief prosecutor, and Ivano Gabrielli, director of Italy's cyber police force. Prosecutors in Rome have opened an investigation, LaPresse reported, citing Il Fatto Quotidiano.
Bloomberg reported, citing ANSA, that Tajani intends to raise the issue of hybrid attacks as a priority topic at a G7 meeting scheduled for Monday in Paris. The Kremlin declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg.
Source: The Next Web
